Green - a werewolf story

29. Bad Habits

Later, Vanessa could only conclude that she'd fallen into a destructive pattern of completely forgetting what she was supposed to be doing, saying and thinking whenever Green touched her. When he wasn't touching her, she felt twitchy and irritable, like a junkie in search of her next hit. As soon as they came into physical contact elation replaced irritation and she forgot all about who she was and why touching him was a bad idea.

Then he let go of her, or they both had to let go because they realized they were about to get naked in the middle of a coffee shop and while people in San Francisco were unusually forgiving about public displays of affection, that was sort of where they drew the line.

"Are you okay?" Green asked, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

"Fine," Vanessa said and pulled her hand away. Her skin tingled where he'd touched her and she hurried to take a bite of her ciabatta sandwich to distract herself.

They had found a café on the other side of town. It had taken them nearly an hour to walk there and it had nearly been long enough for her blush to subside.

Green sighed. "I probably shouldn't have kissed you."

"No, you shouldn't have."

He frowned at her. "You shouldn't have tried to reject me."

"Considering what just happened, I think it's obvious that I should have."

"Oh, yeah?" Green said, folding his arms. "Because it wasn't me who tried to wrestle you to the floor to have my way with you."

Vanessa felt the blood rush back to her cheeks. She wished the madness of being physically close to him came with amnesia, but no. She remembered every moment of the kiss and her own fervent attempts to take it further.

"That's why we should put an end to this," she said. "Every time we kiss I... it gets out of control."

"You mean, you get out of control."

"You weren't exactly passive, either," Vanessa snapped.

While she had been trying to get him on his back, he had been doing his best to get her out of her clothes. Her t-shirt was torn in three places and the button of her jeans had been ripped off.

"Of course not. I couldn't let you have all the fun."

Vanessa glared at him, but he just smiled innocently at her. That smile did things to her and she suddenly wanted to get back to where they left off in the café. He must have noticed because his smile widened and he leaned closer.

She could move the rest of the way, she thought. It would be so easy to reach out, grab hold of him and pull... she took a large bite of her sandwich instead.

"Werewolves out of control are dangerous, you know that," she said between chews.

"Only when they're out in public," Green said, leaning back again. "Which is why I think we should head back to the hotel and... settle this."

Vanessa shook her head. "That would make it worse."

"Worse?" Green hissed. "How can it be worse? It feels like I have ants crawling under my skin and every time I look at you I..."

"You know it's always worse after," Vanessa said. "Well, usually. Unless they're absolutely awful in bed in which case..."

"Stop throwing your past lovers in my face!" Green roared.

Vanessa paused in her eating. As did everyone else in the café. Honestly, they should not go to cafés. They clearly couldn't handle being out in public.