You Can't Help But Like It

Heat roared up my neck—not just from humiliation, but something else, something hotter and sharper that made my pulse stutter. I bucked against her, but she just laughed and leaned in closer, her knees locking tighter around my thighs. "Aw, look at you," she teased, breath warm against my ear. "All red and flustered. Guess I was right after all." Her thumb brushed my wrist, and for some stupid reason, my breath hitched.

That's when it hit me—the horrible, undeniable truth. I *couldn't* break free. Not because she was freakishly strong (she wasn't), but because part of me didn't *want* to. The realization hit like a punch to the gut. All those years of pretending she annoyed me, of rolling my eyes at her relentless attention—bullshit. Absolute bullshit. My chest tightened as her laughter faded into a slow, knowing smile, like she'd been waiting for this moment forever.

"Say it," she whispered, her fingers loosening just enough to lace through mine. The TV droned on in the background, some forgotten Marvel movie casting flickering blue light across her face. My throat went dry. I could lie. I *should* lie. But the words clawed their way out anyway: "...Maybe I like it a little." Sanah's eyes lit up like fireworks, and suddenly she wasn't annoying. She was terrifying. She was everything.

She leaned down slowly—agonizingly—until her lips hovered a breath from mine. The scent of her strawberry gum and that stupid vanilla body spray she'd worn for years flooded my senses. "Say it *properly*," she demanded, and I realized with dawning horror that she'd known. Known for years. My hips jerked involuntarily against hers, betraying me completely.

The iPad clattered to the floor as she finally closed the distance, her mouth hot and insistent against mine. I made a noise I'd never admit to—half protest, half surrender—as her teeth grazed my bottom lip. Her fingers tightened around my wrists, pressing them deeper into the couch cushions. Some distant part of my brain registered the wet click of our mouths separating, her whispered "Told you so" against my swollen lips.