"Would you let me see beneath your beautiful? Would you let me see beneath your perfect? Take it off now girl, take it off now girl...I wanna see inside...Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?" —Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth.
Scarlet's POV
"I really don't know how you avidly eat peanut butter," I said, taking a generous bite of the jam-based snack. It was barely 6:00 in the afternoon when we decided to take a break from the four-hour study session. We were lounging in his bedroom, me on his bed and him on the chair, eating the lunch that he prepared.
"You're just fucking weird because which sane ass person doesn't like peanut butter," Phoenix replied chomping on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Everything within the peanut family makes me nauseous. Cashews, Beans..." I began to count the items of food on my fingers. "Nuts, Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts."
"Oh and raisins," I added.
"Raisins aren't in the peanut family though," he corrected.
"I know but I just thought I'd add it seeing as though we were on the topic of the types of food I hated." I gave him a shrug before I shoved the last piece of my sandwich into my mouth. While munching on it, I glanced over at him only to find him smirking at me.
"What?" I asked in confusion.
"You chew very loudly."
"Sorry." Growing up when I ate around my parents or Lia they would constantly remind me of my bad etiquette. As I got older and as the chomping showed no signs of stopping, they eventually grew tired of trying to correct me. Old habits die hard indeed.
The good thing was that I hardly ever ate around others or if I did I was always far too nervous to ever lose myself in the food. But with Phoenix, I forgot.
"It's fine. I find it kind of cute actually."
Not wanting him to see the rapid heating of my cheeks I decided to tease. "Do you have some weird fetish, Mr. Knight?"
"So what if I find your obnoxious chewing sexy? What if I get off on hearing you gnaw on food? Wishing it was me that your saliva-coated and your tongue rolled around in your mouth? What–"
"Okay stop." I laughed, throwing a pillow at his face.
A laugh erupted through his chest as he caught the flying object with ease, stopping my assault. His laughter soon died down.
"In all seriousness though, it's kind of refreshing seeing a girl relaxed in my presence. On the off chance that I actually hang out with a female, they're usually too busy thinking about how they're gonna initiate sex to even try being relaxed." He played with the rings on his finger. "But you're just you when you're with me."
Why does he have to say stuff like that? I thought to myself. Saying things like that made it harder for my brain to stop my heart from falling.
"Thanks." My cheeks burned with scorching heat as I responded.
"Well if you're finished blushing, I think we should get back to work." He grabbed the opened textbook from his study table flipping through the pages.
"Um," I stuttered. Was there ever going to be a correct way to say what I had to say? "You know how the other day at the lake..." My hands were busy playing with the hem of my shirt and every part of me wanted to count all the gray fixtures in his bedroom but I couldn't do that while speaking. So instead I focused my attention on the intricate details of the stitching on my shirt.
"Go on," he pressed.
"I just wanted to formally apologize for what happened."
"Apologize for what exactly?" His perplexity at my statement seemed genuine.
YOU ARE READING
Beyond Redemption
Romance"You said you enjoy reading books." Phoenix's voice was reduced to a whisper of seduction. He leaned over the bed, the pad of his lip tickling my ear lobe. "Well an orgasm is similar to reading a book," He placed his hand on both of my wrists bringi...
