Just One Sip Read Free Page A

wearing it the day he broke up with me. But he hadn’t known. It was the only way to keep a piece of him close to my heart. His tone was quiet and deep, a whisper of what we always were to each other. “You still have it.”
    My voice was a hoarse croak. “Of course.” I miss you.
    His long, elegant fingers played with the ring gently as his gaze met mine. So quiet. So feral.
    Cold. Always so emotionless… If you didn’t understand him and know what to look for.
    With an easy motion, he carefully let the ring go. It thumped heavily between my breasts.
    He watched it sway…until his gaze caught on my book bag.
    Within a blink, he was bending before me. We were nose to nose.
    And he held a prescription bottle in his hand. My prescription bottle from my backpack.
    My lungs seized. I couldn’t move. My eyes were transfixed on my humiliation in his grip.
    Meticulously, his eyes scanned the label, slowly evaluating while his black brows furrowed.
    Just as quickly as he had grabbed the bottle, it was back in my bag.
    I was left staring after him as he stood and marched straight to the computer room.
    My chin began to quiver. I knew his schedule better than my own.
    Jet didn’t have a computer class this semester.

    “I’m coming!” I hollered. The rough knocking still didn’t stop at the front door. “I said I’m coming!”
    I jerked open the door, only to be slammed into from a guy barreling into my home. My back hit the wall of the foyer and the mirror next to my head vibrated with the force. Out of oxygen, I inhaled heavily. That scent. I loved that smell. Rainfall and spice. I peered up into ice blues. “What are you doing here, Jet?” He now knew my secret. He had been researching all day long on the computers at school, completely ignoring the rest of his classes.
    Leaning against me heavily, he swung his foot out and kicked my front door closed. His hands lifted and his palms landed on my neck. Gently, they ran over my jaw to cup my cheeks, holding me close. I shivered in remembrance, and he bent to press his forehead to mine. He whispered, “Severe anxiety?”
    I groaned quietly as my cheeks flushed. “Yeah.”
    “When were you diagnosed?”
    I closed my eyes at the mortification. “My mom took me to a shrink nine months ago when I could hardly get out of bed to go to school. It was around the same time your mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.” I felt his hard body stiffen against mine, flinching. I did open my eyes then. I peeked up at him under my lashes, and I shook my head lightly, rubbing our foreheads together. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you then. I was a mess…but I should have been there.”
    His jaw clenched, and the muscles showed in sharp relief. “I understand.” He peered so hard into my eyes, like he was trying to see soul deep. “And I should have been there for you, too. I shouldn’t have walked away like that. I should have listened to you.”
    I shook my head again and lifted my trembling arms to wrap them tight around his waist. “There’s nothing you could have done. It was all me. My mom helped me get the help I need.”
    “Are you still seeing a psychologist?”
    “Yeah, once a month now. It used to be twice a week, but I’ve been learning to cope.”
    “Anxiety attacks? I read about them today. I think I can help you get through—”
    I lifted on my tiptoes and pressed my mouth to his. I couldn’t wait another moment.
    His lips were heaven against mine. So damn perfect, I could taste them all day long.
    He growled deep in his throat, and his hands altered, sliding down my back to grab the back of my thighs. He lifted me in one smooth motion; over a foot taller than me and made of solid Italian strength, I knew he would never drop me. My legs wrapped around his lean waist and my arms went around his neck, holding our bodies flush against each other. As his heat permeated through my clothes, warming me as only he could, he started climbing the steps to my