Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“I don’t hate you. Not anymore.”
He couldn’t help but smile slightly as he took in her hazy eyes and disheveled hair, knowing she most definitely would not have admitted that while sober.
The ride to her house was relatively quiet, and before long he found himself trying to get her back out of his car.
“It’s a good thing you’re so skinny,” he grunted, practically holding her up as they walked to the door. “Makes my job at least a little easier. Do you have a key?”
“You didn’t name me Stick Girl for nothin’,” she laughed, dipping a hand into the back pocket of her jeans and producing a key. “That wasn’t very nice, though.”
“Sorry,” he chuckled, taking the key from her and unlocking the door, ushering her inside a moment later. “I suppose I wasn’t feeling very nice that day.”
“You never feel nice.”
“What do you call what I’m doing now?” he asked quietly, guiding her up the dark stairs.
“I have no idea.”
He shook his head and remained quiet as she directed him toward her bedroom. With a little fumbling, he managed to get the door open and pull her, letting her collapse on the bed. He pried her shoes off and dropped them on the floor before looking back to her, unsure of what to do next.
“Well, goodnight then.”
Sebastian turned to leave, but her fingers on his wrist stopped him in his tracks.
“You should just stay,” she murmured sleepily, moving over in bed to make room for him.
“Talia, I don’t think-“
“Shut up and lie down,” she mumbled, tugging gently on his arm.
Unable to say no, Sebastian lowered onto the bed, slowly lying back until his head hit the pillow. She murmured something he couldn’t make out and latched onto him, falling asleep quickly.
He lay there barely breathing for a while, simply staring up at the glow-in-the-dark-star-covered ceiling as thoughts ripped through his mind, most of them about what the hell he was doing.
This-all of this-hadn’t been part of his plan. All he had wanted was to use Taliana to make Blair jealous, to get the cheater off his back. She’d wanted the same thing for Zak, making this ultimately a win-win situation, despite the fact that they could barely stand each other. That was the way it was supposed to stay.
But he was finding it progressively harder to feel anything against her, and they had formed some sort of tentative friendship. Hadn’t he sworn to hate the girl for all eternity? And to make matters worse, he was starting to question if all he felt for her was just friendly.
Unfortunately, what he felt was disgustingly familiar, an emotion he’d promised himself he wouldn’t feel again so soon. Last time it had resulted in a broken heart, and he’d built up walls to keep it from happening again, yet here Taliana was tearing them down one by one. No, this definitely hadn’t been part of his plan.
Her contented sigh drew him out of his thoughts, and he glanced down in time to see a smile flutter across her face. In sleep, she truly looked nothing like the raging monster he was used to. The angry creases in her brow were smoothed, the ever-present scowl was nowhere in sight, and the hands that could do so much damage were splayed unmoving across his chest. She looked so peaceful and-dare he say it- pretty that he could clearly see what had attracted him to her in the first place.
It was just a shame this wouldn’t last.
With a sigh, he kicked his shoes off and draped a blanket over himself and Taliana, trying hard to ignore how she’d just thrown a leg over his own, practically fusing herself to his side. Had she been awake and vaguely sober, she would’ve never dared to get this close. And he had no choice but to deal with it.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
Voices.
There were voices in Taliana’s head. At least, that was where she thought they were coming from.
“Oh my god, look at this! What the hell is going on?”
“What are you talking abou-
Holy shit . No way.”
“Way!”
“Didn’t she say they were only fake dating?”
“Does this look fake to you? He’s got his hand up her shirt!”
“It’s kind of cute, though, you have to admit.”
“Kind of cute?
Kind of cute? Not to me! I had dreams of dating him once their hoax was over. Now it looks like they’re together for real.”
Taliana heard a loud snort. “You’re such a drama queen, Marissa.”
“You would be too if you saw who you thought would be your future boyfriend spooning with your half-sister.” The voice paused thoughtfully. “Okay, but you’re right, it is kind of cute.”
“Told you.”
By that point, Taliana had regained enough consciousness to grunt and wave a sleepy hand as she muttered, “Shut up,” not wanting to hear about what they thought was cute or not.
Her request was met with giggles that were becoming more and more difficult to ignore, but in a last-ditch effort to fall back asleep, Taliana snuggled against the warm body behind her and sighed when an arm tightened around her waist. With that warmth, she could feel the soothing darkness taking over once more.
Unfortunately, the darkness vanished when it dawned on Taliana that someone else was in her bed. And she had a bad feeling she knew who it was.
She cracked open an eye and turned her head to see who was cuddled up to her, somehow managing not to groan when she spotted a sleepy-eyed Sebastian. Upon realizing his arms were wrapped around her, he jerked away and grunted in dismay, obviously as displeased by their situation as Taliana was. For once, they were on the same page.
“Hi, Sebastian,” a voice cooed from above them, and Taliana glanced up at Marissa. “I had no idea you stayed the night.”