Chapter One

 

Tiffany was a beautiful girl and knew it. She did her best not to appear too smug. Her reputation was deeply important to her, and almost anything went into damaging or helping her reputation. That included everything she said and everything she wore and everything she did where others of her group or who knew people in her group might observe her.

She put a lot of time into her social media accounts to make sure that all of the pictures of her were just the right side of pretty bordering on sexy, without being too much. She neither wanted a reputation as a prude nor a slut. She didn't want people to think she was showing off, but she wanted those likes.

Her boyfriend had been carefully selected to enhance her reputation. He was the captain of the baseball team, tall and handsome, but also an A-student going on to university. He was smart, dressed well, and came from a nice family. He knew how to act in public and knew how to treat her. Their names also went well together - Tiffany and Todd sounding delightfully cute.

He also knew how to keep his mouth shut. At least as far as she knew. Certainly, she hadn't heard any gossip about exactly what her preferences were in bed, or what she looked like naked. Hopefully, Todd was a little over that adolescent type bragging that so many boys indulged in.

The dress she was wearing today was kind of sexy and also kind of sweet. The perfect signal that she was a good girl, but very sexy. It was a baby blue summer dress with puffy lacy sleeves and a darker blue pattern of vines climbing up the front. While it was rather tight and very short. It also had some cleavage across its square-cut neckline.

Certainly, everyone was looking at her as they passed. She knew she looked good in the dress, with her long, soft blonde hair stirring slowly in the breeze. She was leaning back against the wall as she waited for Todd to come out of the restaurant. It was a beautiful day and she was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her fair skin.

It was cold in the restaurant, at least for someone dressed in the thin little summer dress she had on. She had prepared for that, with little pads over her nipples so they wouldn't show through. Her nipples, unfortunately, though they were small and pink, grew very long and hard when aroused, or more often simply chilled.

She didn't think they were showing through, but it was good to get out in the warmth again. She wished summer lasted all year long. Maybe she'd be able to go to California when she was older. But right now she was fairly impoverished and scrambling to find a summer job to earn her some spending money before she left for college.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a lot of experience in anything. Her parents had felt it better for her to enjoy her youth, something she fully agreed with. But now that high school was over, they had changed their minds far too quickly. The only jobs available, though, were the ones in fast-food restaurants, which were quite frankly beneath her, or in clubs and bars where old guys would be hitting on her multiple times every night.

She was hoping to find some kind of retail store clerk job in a place that was respectable and wouldn't damage her reputation. That meant something like a fancy dress store, as opposed to Dollar General.

Suddenly a very loud, grumbling engine sound rose from her left. She turned her head and saw a green and black charger pulling into the parking lot and stopping. She liked those cars, for they were big and tough-looking and sounded very powerful. They weren't, of course, the sorts of cars that her group approved of. They were bound to be gas guzzlers. And everyone she knew was going for electric vehicles.

Todd drove a Tesla, a gift from his parents when he graduated high school. Tiffany had a Prius, which she had gotten for her eighteenth birthday. They were both far more environmentally responsible than that rumbling sports car.

A guy got out and closed the door before coming towards her. She recognized him, which produced a little ruffle of anxiety inside her. She just never knew how to act around Connor. He had been in her class at high school, but absolutely not from her group. He was a metalhead, a pothead, long suspected of selling drugs, if only the softer ones, and hung with a group of people who were absolutely not on her A-list.

He was not from a better-off family, she knew that much. She knew he wasn't going to college and had barely scraped through high school. He was one of the rough boys that everyone walked warily around. He was big, had longish hair, and broad shoulders with tattoos on his bare arms.

Everything about him said 'dangerous' to her. He was a dangerous guy who was known to get involved in fights. He was dangerously good-looking and had a lot of success with the girls, and quite the reputation as a stud. That meant simply being seen with him was dangerous to her reputation. He was also dangerous, though, in that he was dangerously attractive, and tended to make her pulse race every time she saw him.

She glanced away as he approached, turning to look towards the doors in hopes Todd showed up.

"Well, hello there, princess," he said, stopping before her.

"Hello Connor," she said.

She smiled but only a little, and kept her voice friendly but not much. It was important to convey the right impression. She didn't want him thinking she looked down on him or was treating him with disrespect. But didn't want to encourage him, either. Of course with unsophisticated guys, you could never tell how they would treat the message she was trying to give them.

"That's some kind of pretty dress," he said, his eyes sliding down onto her long bare legs.

She flushed, not displeased. She always liked compliments, after all, and Connor was a very good-looking guy. She also felt a little flutter of interest within her. No matter how often her mind told the rest of her that he was simply unsuitable, the rest of her continued to find him quite scrumptious to look at. He was a very sexy guy. And him being dangerous only seemed to make him sexier.

"Thank you," she said, smiling a bit more.

"You should've shown off these beautiful long legs of yours at school more when I could've seen them."

She blushed a bit more. "The school has a dress code. I couldn't have worn a dress this short."

"What kind of a moron would pass a rule that doesn't allow a gorgeous girl like you to wear a dress in a way which shows off just how sexy she is?"

She giggled slightly. "I think they thought girls in short skirts would be distracting to the boys."

"Yeah, well there a lot of times we could've used some distracting in those boring classes. Anyway, if they think boys aren't spending all their time staring at girls like you during class, they must've lost their memories from when they were young."

"I don't recall seeing you staring at me," she said in a voice she recognized was starting to sound a bit flirty.

"Those of us with a little more class, know how to look without being seen. But you better believe we notice it when a girl like you walks into the room."

He was entirely too close, she realized as she cocked her head back. This might not look good if Todd came out just now. But she felt her pulse racing as he looked down at her, his lips only a few inches away, and his dark eyes smoldering as they bored into hers.

"You still hanging around that baseball guy?" he asked.

She smirked back. "You know very well that Todd is my boyfriend."

"Yeah, well, anytime you get bored of old Todd, you just give me a call, baby. I'll show you another side of life."

And then suddenly his hand shot up and closed firmly around her throat, tightening and kind of lifting her up off of her slouch as his lips came in and crushed hers. Tiffany was so startled she didn't even react, at first, as his tongue slid in to brush lightly across hers and his lips moved passionately, hungrily, as if trying to force his way into her open mouth.

She had been kissed roughly before, and it had always been unpleasant. This was entirely different. His mouth was warm, soft, and seemed to transmit an incredible sexual rush that spread through her body even as he held her there firmly under his control. Her heart beat wildly as the kiss went on, his lips sliding smoothly across hers as he leaned into her.

He drew back suddenly, dropping his hand and leaving her gasping as he continued on into the restaurant. She had barely enough time to get control of herself and start to think of what indignant statement she should utter when he pulled the door open and disappeared inside.

Of all the nerve! She stared at the closing door, open-mouthed. She shuddered briefly, then leaned back against the wall licking her lips nervously. That had, she had to admit, been an awfully, awfully good kiss. In fact, she felt a little shaky, and had goosebumps on her arms. Her nipples were also rock hard, she realized.

Wow! No wonder that guy had such a reputation! She wondered what else he could do with that mouth of his...