(No Control - 6. She's Not Afraid)

I guide her down the hall to the kitchen, lightly touching her back with my hand. We stand at the counter and I offer her another cocktail.

"Only if you promise not to make it,"  she says cheekily.

I raise my eyebrow at her. "Do you promise not to throw it all over me this time?"

She shakes her head. "I can't promise that. Especially if someone pushes into me, or you sneak up on me, or I want you take your shirt off."

What did she just say?! 

I can't help smiling again at her boldness, and the flush creeping up her face. "I told you, you only have to ask," I flirt. I'm not joking, either. She is seriously sexy and any guy would be a fool to turn her down.

"I haven't decided yet," she says indifferently. "I'll let you know."  

I grin as I turn away to make her drink. She's cheeky alright, and not giving anything away. I can't figure out if she's just a natural flirt, or if she likes me. She agreed to stay and have a drink so that's got to be a good sign. But she's playing it very cool. I finish making the cocktail and turn around to hand it to her. She sniffs it first which makes me smile, and then takes a sip.

"Have I redeemed myself?" I tease her.

"I suppose," she says, looking sideways at me. "For now."  

I wink at her and she blushes. "Better make sure I behave myself then," I say. "Shall we go and sit down?"

I lead the way through the lounge and find a little couch under the stairs that is empty. I wonder if this is private enough to make a move on her, but people keep walking past so I hold that thought for now. Ellie Goulding's new song Love Me Like You Do is playing while we talk about the people staring at us, and the curse of social media platforms. I take the opportunity to stare at Jess's face while she looks down at her phone and opens up Twitter to show me her 3 followers. I note her username - @jessie_braddy .

I laugh a lot when she tells me she only changed her Twitter profile picture from the egg the other day, and ask her who she follows.

"Just a bunch of randoms," she shrugs.

"Like...?" I press.

"Like random celebrities," she says and I can see her face reddening. I could let this drop, but I'm enjoying teasing her. She looks so cute when she gets embarrassed.

"Do you follow me?" I ask. I'm going to get this out of her.

"Um, dunno," she says, looking away, but I can tell that's a yes. "Probably. I follow loads of people." Her face is on fire. I feel a bit mean now.

I lean forward and touch her leg. Not in a pervy way. Just in a casual, make contact kind of way. At least I hope it doesn't come across as pervy. 

"I'm just teasing you," I smile. I'm trying to be smooth but I don't think it's working.

She turns her face back to me and suddenly we're much closer than before. She lowers her eyelids and drops her gaze  to my lips again. "I bet you tease all the girls," she says in a low voice.

Oh God, that is hot.

"Not all of them," I say, adopting the same sultry tone and looking down at her mouth. Fuck it, I'm going in for the kiss again. 

But before I can act on that thought she pulls away and straightens up, leaving me wondering where I went wrong. 

"So what brings you here tonight?" she asks, her voice back to normal.

The sexual tension is broken, and I have no choice but to answer her question. I explain I'm back for a week's break, that my flight landed early and I thought I'd drop in to see Grimmy.

"So why are you hanging out here with me?" she asks. For a minute I think she's trying to give me the brush off, but when I look at her she is smiling.

"Well, Nick wanted a night on the town and I wasn't really up for that after a 12 hour flight," I tell her. "He headed off a little while ago but I decided to stay behind for a bit and see what happened." 

Immediately I wish I hadn't said that last part - that wasn't cool. 

"Um, excuse me, Harry?" another voice says. I look up to see a pretty dark haired girl standing in front of us. "I'm Sophie and I'm a really big fan. Um, I was wondering if I could have a picture with you?"

"Sure," I say.

Jess stands up and says,"excuse me for a minute," before walking off into the hall in the direction of the bathroom. I watch her walk away as I pose for a picture with Sophie, and can't help smiling at how confident she is. My tiredness is gone, and all I can think about is how I can convince her to stay and hang out with me a little longer.