Read Online Sleeping Awake by Gamali Noelle - Free Book Online Page B

of me made Anjali’s
face twist in the most unnatural manner. Bitch.
    Anjali and I previously had the displeasure of meeting
last summer. The day had been hellish with both of us practically clawing for
Bryn’s attention and making catty comments at each other when he went to the
restroom during lunch.
    The smile on my face was infectiously blinding as hers
as I raised my empty cup to her. “Anjali, darling!”
    The murderous glare disappeared and was replaced by
all-whites. “Noira, doll, how are you?”
    Without so much as giving me time to reply, she turned
to Bryn, eyelashes batting away again. With a voice so low that it was
pornographic she said, “Bryn, let’s go somewhere private.”
    Bryn, having melted into a pile of droopy butter, cast
me a narrow glance out of the corner of his eye. “You don’t mind, do you,
babe?”
    “Of course she doesn’t. She’s a big girl; she’ll be
fine.” Anjali didn’t so much as look back at me as she dragged a rather willing
Bryn away from me.
    How typical of him to just up and abandon me for a
girl. Such a pussy.
    Resolved to continue sulking until the time came where
I could safely go back upstairs, I shoved my way through the drunkards towards
the hot tub. In the minute that it had taken me to swim through the sweaty
masses, someone had invaded my oasis. One look at him, however, and my
annoyance was subsequently slashed into pieces. I didn’t know his name, but
there were two words to describe him: absolutely divine .
    Breathing became an irrelevance as he stood on his
toes and stretched, like a god, towards the heavens. He entered the hot tub as
if the clouds had descended to escort him, and a sudden craving for a juicy,
red apple engulfed me as I took in the sight of the curve that extended from
his lower back.
    He was too beautiful to be true; an Adonis come to
life. I knew then, as an unseen wind pushed me towards him, that he was the
real reason why fate had made me decide to go to the hot tub instead of
remaining in my dark corner, unnoticed by the rest of the world. I didn’t know
him, but I recognised him.
    “Mind if I join you?” I asked. The velvety voice of
lustful honey belonged to a woman transformed, overcome by her maddening
desire. My eyes ran along the contours of his body, taking my time to get a
good look at every inch of the exquisite creature before me. Not even so much
as a scar was to be seen on his figure and his perfection heightened my
arousal. A few minutes ago, I was lamenting the state of my miserable
existence, and now it seemed that after years of imprisonment, I was finally
being allowed to see the light.
    Our eyes locked: my blue-greys and his velvet mosses.
    He shook his head. “Not all. Free hot tub.”
    He had one of those intoxicating accents that made
women watch shows in languages that they did not understand.
    I made no attempts to hide the fact that I was watching
him as I got in. Beads of water dripped from his dark brown hair into his face.
The one that attracted me most started its journey between his eyebrows, ran
down to the tip of his nose, and dove into his mouth. I shivered.
    I desired nothing more than to trade places with that
droplet and to lose myself in his depths.
    “Cold?” He had the kind of smile that would lead the
most innocent astray.
    “No.” I took a seat across from him. He was even more
beautiful up close. To distract myself, I reached for my box of cigarettes.
    “Dunhills?” he observed. “Only old men smoke those.”
    I exhaled and watched as the misty gray creatures
curled themselves towards the starry night. “I can handle a lot more than
most.”
    “Apparently,” he said. There was the tiniest of smiles
on his face.
    I continued to stare, wanting nothing more than to
know every inch of his skin. I decided that I liked his jaw; it was very
angular. I was almost tempted to trace its shape with my fingers.
    “Like what you see?” he asked.
    “I do.”
    He let out a boisterous laugh.