Unexpected Packages

by Sindee Lynn

In a daze, she watched him saunter across the parking lot back to his bike and his friends. As she watched him pumping his gas, she wondered if they were really talking about her. How had she stacked up? Had they liked her? Were they comparing her to the other women Kenny had introduced them to? Were they comparing her to Lori? A few moments later, they climbed on their bikes and revved up. They all turned in her direction and waved before they stormed off as quickly as they’d come.

  Connie leaned against the counter a small smile on her face. Well, she’d been right. Kenny was out with someone as equally as gorgeous as he was. A giggle bubbled up and out of her throat.

  Chapter 24

  Sunday morning brought bright sunshine spilling into Connie's bedroom. She closed her eyes tight and pulled her pillow over her head. She thought she’d made sure to close her blinds when she’d gone to bed this morning. Reaching for the covers, she attempted to pull them up over her head but found them stuck on something. The more she tugged the more they resisted.

  “Ugh,” she said, throwing the pillow off her head.

  “I had you pegged for a morning person. I guess I was wrong,” a deep voice called from her room.

  Connie sat up in bed, her eyes wildly searching. When her tired, gritty eyes landed on a fresh looking Kenny, she told her heart to settle down.

  “You scared me,” she yelled. “How did you get in?” she asked, falling back on the bed, her hands across her eyes.

  She was in no mood to deal with him so early in the morning. Her body was still strumming from their encounter last night. She hadn’t had enough time to build up any kind of resistance. Connie glanced at her clock on her nightstand through her fingers. It was barely eight. She’d gotten off from work at three but hadn't managed to fall asleep until about six because her mind had been full of thoughts of him. She had replayed his visit to the store several times over, trying to decipher its meaning each time. So she’d only been asleep for roughly two hours. Definitely not enough time to deal with the maleness of him.

  “Your roommates let me in. I brought breakfast,” he said, lifting a bag from beside the chair where he was lounging comfortably.

  Connie peeked out from under her arm and saw the Krispy Crème donut bag. Oh, her weakness. In spite of her irritation over being awakened out of her much needed sleep, a part of her couldn't help but be touched that he remembered. She didn’t doubt that inside the bag were glazed donuts. Why was he making this so difficult for her?

  “What are you doing here, Kenny?”

  He got up from the chair he’d been occupying in the corner of her room and moved to sit on the bed beside her. He pushed her over a little to make room for himself.

  “Like I said, I brought you breakfast. I’ll just put it on the nightstand and let you get back to sleep.”

  Soft fingers brushed her wayward hair back from her forehead. Her eyes closed against the tenderness of his touch. He needed to leave before she did something stupid. No, not stupid. Before she did what she longed to do.

  “Kenny, please…” she pleaded.

  He had to know what his touch was doing to her.

  “Please what, Connie?”

  He stroked her cheek before moving down the long length of her neck. She tilted her head to the side to allow him access. His thumb rubbed sensually against her pulse point in her neck. She was sure he could feel the erratic beat of her pulse and know how his touch was affecting her. It was waking her body up more effectively than anything else could have done. Connie felt the familiar tightening of her nipples as the material of her night shirt scratched the peaks. She shifted her legs as an ache began to throb between them to match the beat of her pulse.

  “I need you,” she whispered, staring up into his darkened gaze.

  She slid her hand across his chest, feeling its hardness before pulling him down closer to her.

  “I need you, too, Connie. But I need you for longer than a few hours. And until you can wrap your beautiful mind around that I won’t settle for less.”

  Soft lips brushed hers. When she tried to deepen the kiss, he moved away and stood beside the bed staring down at her.

  “Good luck on finals this week. I’ll call you,” he said, stroking her hair once more before leaving her room.

  Connie blew out a frustrated breath. This was the oddest breakup she had ever been through. How was she ever supposed to get over him if every time she turned around he was there? Not to mention seeing him only served to remind her of what she was missing out on. Even after just a few minutes in his presence, she was wound so tight she wanted to scream in frustration. What was she going to do? Connie flipped over on her stomach, punching her pillow and prayed for the escape of sleep.

  *****

  Kenny stood outside Connie’s door, his head down with his eyes closed. He didn’t know where he’d found the will power to get up and leave. He’d seen the hardening of her nipples against her t-shirt, and it had caused an answering response in his own aroused body. His dick had stretched painfully against his zipper. As it was now, it was taking everything he had not to walk back into her room and put them both out of their misery.

  Feeling someone watching him, he lifted his head to find Tracy standing in front of him. She was the last roommate he’d met. She stood there a concerned look clearly showing in her amber eyes, but the hint of a small smile played around the corners of her mouth.

  “She kicked you out?”

  “Nope, I left on my own,” he replied, straightening.

  “Are you gonna stick it out or are you gonna run south with your tail between your legs?”

  The question caught him off guard and caused his temper to flare. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her who the hell she was to ask him a question like that, but he held his tongue.

  “I plan to stick it out,” he said, pushing away from the wall and moving down the hall.

  He needed as many people on his side as he could get, and Kenny didn’t think it would help his cause to alienate one of Connie’s roommates.

  “Do you know why she ran?” Tracy called after him.

  Kenny stopped in his tracks.

  “I have a pretty good idea.”

  “She’s had a pretty hard time with guys …. Well, with guys who look like you.”

  Kenny heard the hint of humor in her voice and again bit his tongue. Guys who looked like him. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

  “I got the impression it was guys in general,” he said, standing still his back towards her.

  “Yeah, Connie hasn’t done too well with ordinary guys either. But mostly it’s you pretty boys who have done the most damage.”

  She moved to stand beside him.

  “Come on, let’s go downstairs and talk. Connie would be pissed if she found out I was meddling.”

  Kenny followed her downstairs and into the kitchen where they found Jamie and Tammy sitting at the kitchen table. He was still smarting a little over the pretty boy comment, but any information they could give him to help him understand where Connie’s head was he would gladly take.

  “Good morning, gorgeous,” Tammy said, smiling at him.

  “Back at ya,” Kenny replied, returning her smile.

  “You want a cup of coffee? You look like you could use one,” Jamie said, turning from her position at the counter.

  Kenny took a seat at the table and ran a hand down his face. Yeah, he guessed he had looked and definitely felt better.

  “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

  “So did Tracy tell you why we wanted to talk to you?” Jamie asked, taking a seat with them at the table.

  He glanced at Tracy and shook his head.

  “We’ve known Connie since we all met in middle school. We have sat and watched her get into all the wrong relationships for years. With the worse of it being in high school,” Tammy began.

  Groans came from the other two women at the table as they recalled those times.

  “After a while we just stopped t
rying to tell her the guy was all wrong and let her find out for herself and would be here for her when it inevitably fell apart.”

  “Always when Connie found out, she swore it would never happen again. That she would never allow a guy to use her like that. Eventually, she just stopped dating anybody that looked halfway decent and then not at all,” Jamie said.

  “The first night you knocked on the door, I was like, “Oh, no, here we go again.” I mean it had been almost a year since Connie had dated anyone, and then for her first one to be with you,” Tammy gave a deep sigh that told of her frustration.

  All he could do was laugh. It explained a lot about the first night he’d met her.

  “I had wondered at the less than friendly greeting I received,” he commented, a smile on his face.

  “I’m sorry about that,” she said, laughing.

  “I guess I should apologize too then,” Jamie said, a smile on her face. Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement. “When I came downstairs and saw you standing in the foyer asking for Connie, I thought we were about to cover the same ground again, and I wasn’t having it. But when you looked at us but didn’t look at us, I knew there was something different about you. Does that make sense?”

  Laughter rumbled out of him as he looked over at Jamie. She really was cute.

  “Complete sense,” he said.

  “I wasn’t here that night, but when I got home and Tammy and Jamie were telling me about you, I must admit I was a little more skeptical then they were. Even after they told me how you had shut Brenda down, I was still reluctant to believe you could be different.”

  “And now?”

  A smile titled her lips up.

  “Now I believe you could be what our Connie needs in her life. She’s been so happy this past week. Even Brenda and her negative ass hasn’t been able to bring her down. Or so we thought,” Tracy said, glancing at her friends.

  “We just wanted you to know why Connie pushed you away. We didn’t want you to think it’s because she’s a basket case or something,” Tammy said.

  “She’s just somebody who hasn’t had the best of luck with guys who ….,” Tracy paused.

  “Who look like me,” he finished for her, nodding his head.

  He glanced around the table at Connie’s friends and wondered if she truly knew how lucky she was to have them. When he’d told his own friends about Connie, they had given him a hard time about her age, but they’d all been supportive and wanted to meet her. Then he’d had to explain she had dumped him. After their laughter had died down, they’d asked him what he was gonna do about it to which he’d responded without missing a beat that he was probably gonna marry her. Kenny could still recall the surprised looks on their faces. That was right before they began arguing about who would be best man.

  “So you are gonna stick around, right?” Tammy asked, a frown between her arched eyebrows.

  “Of course, he is,” Tracy answered for him. “He loves her. Don’t you?”

  The answering smile on his face said more than words ever could. A myriad of emotions registered across Tammy and Jamie’s faces before they each rushed from their chairs to embrace him. Kenny returned each of their hugs. Connie wasn’t the only one who was lucky to have friends like these.

  Chapter 25

  Kenny dragged a tired body through his door on Thursday evening. He loosened his tie as he threw his briefcase on the counter. Without turning on any lights, he moved to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. A sigh moved through his weary body as he tipped the ice cold bottle to his lips. He inhaled a deep breath and tried to let go of the past four days. He didn’t think he’d worked longer hours in his life. He packed as much into a day as he could and didn’t find himself leaving his office until sometimes eight or nine each night.

  He headed upstairs, his beer in hand. He knew what he was doing, and it wasn’t working. Dammit. He paused in his doorway. Another sigh moved through him before he walked into the room. Every time he looked at his bed, he saw Connie's curvaceous form in it. The sweet scent of jasmine still enticed him when he walked into his bathroom. When he closed his eyes too tired to keep them open any longer, it was dreams of Connie that came to him. The way she laughed. The way she looked as he thrust into her heated center.

  Sitting heavily on the side of his bed in his boxers, Kenny ran his fingers through his hair. He’d decided to let it grow out a little from his normal low cut. He loved the way Connie gripped his head when he was buried between her legs.

  He shot up from the side of the bed. Dammit. He had to stop this. Every thought was filled with her. Waking or sleeping. He was going insane. The only thing that made his suffering better was the knowledge she was suffering as much as he was. Her roommates attested to the fact. He felt almost bad about his continued torture of her since she was in the middle of finals. They were both suffering, but only she had the power to put them out of their misery. He sure as hell hoped she opted to do it soon.

  Kenny checked the time and reached for the phone. It was time for his nightly call. Since finals had begun, he’d opted to call instead of seeing her in person. Sunday had been enough for him to realize his will power wasn’t up to where it needed to be just yet for face to face visits. It had taken everything in his power to walk out of her room. Coward, his brain taunted, and his fingers paused over the number pad of the phone. He didn’t consider it being a coward. He considered it not pushing the limits of his control. But he had missed her, and he did want to see her. Kenny put the phone back on the base and moved towards his closet.

  Twenty minutes later, he headed downstairs dressed in jeans and t-shirt. He set his alarm, grabbed his house keys from the counter where he’d left them and left his house on foot.

  *****

  Connie slammed her book closed and placed her elbows on top of it. If she didn’t pull her mind back to the subject at hand, she’d fail her exam tomorrow. She pulled her gaze away from the clock over the stove. She’d come downstairs almost an hour ago to study at the kitchen table instead of her room but as of yet hadn’t accomplished much. Her gaze kept straying to the digital numbers of the clock. She had watched the time tick pass seven-thirty. Anticipation had begun to build. When the numbers displayed eight o’clock, a smile had come to her face, and she’d looked down at the cordless phone that lay on the table beside her. Any minute now it would ring. That’s what she’d been telling herself for the past thirty minutes.

  Rising from the table, Connie put the phone back on its cradle. Incredible sadness washed over her. She felt tears threatening at the backs of her eyes. Kenny hadn't failed to call her every night this week at eight o’clock on the dot. Sometimes he’d still be in his office or on the way home. Last night he’d called from his cell, the loud sounds of a people in the background. Connie had asked him about his location, not wanting to believe he’d call her while on a date with another woman. When he’d informed her he was at a business dinner and had been thinking of her, the smile that had split her face and the joy that had moved through her were unimaginable. To think he’d been in the middle of something and had stopped to call her. So why hadn’t he called tonight? What if something had happened to him? What if he had been in a car accident or worse? She didn’t exactly know what worse could be, but the thought had her heart pounding uncontrollably and her hand reaching for the phone again. This time to call him. Her hand paused midair as the thought of his being with another woman rushed across her mind. Oh god. A different kind of panic gripped her. What if she called him and he was on a date? No. She refused to think like that. There was some other reason why he hadn’t called her yet.

  “But how can you be sure,” Brenda’s voice sounded in her head. “You dumped him, remember? He’s a single hot, red-blooded male with a healthy sex drive. He has needs, Constance.”

  Her hand fell from the phone. Her fingernails dug into her skin as she squeezed her hand tight.

  “No,” Connie said aloud.

  Kenny was different than
any other guy she’d ever known before, and therefore he deserved a little more consideration than she’d given him. Even after she’d walked away from him, he’d remained in her life. A constant reminder of what he was offering her. If he wanted to date other people, then surely he would have said so. He wouldn't have made sure to call her every day. He wouldn't have introduced her to his friends.

  Connie reached for the receiver once more, this time she managed to punch in his home number. Her heart pounded in her ears as she waited anxiously for him to pick up. When his voice mail clicked on, the debate began over whether or not to leave a message. What would she say? I went into a panic when you didn’t call.

  “Kenny, it’s Connie. I just wanted to give you a call because …,” she hesitated before taking a deep breath. “I wanted to call because you were on my mind. Give me a call when you get a chance.”

  The doorbell chimed before she could scrutinize her message and its possible implications. She didn’t want to ponder on it too much. Besides it was done now and she couldn't take the message back.

  She was at the door when she hesitated. Maybe she should call one of her roommates down to answer it in case it was Brenda. She had been ducking her for the last few days and wasn’t ready to face her yet. Brenda didn’t know she and Kenny were no longer an item. She’d deliberately not told her because she hadn’t wanted to hear any of what her sister might have to say on the matter. And she definitely didn’t want to see the smug smile she was confident Brenda wouldn't even try to hide. Taking a deep breath when the bell chimed again, she opened the door. Kenny stood there smiling down at her. Relief hit her square in the face, and she pulled him inside and hugged him before she had a chance to think about it. He wasn’t hurt, and what’s more, he wasn’t out with another woman. Strong arms returned her hug. Connie closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his arms around her for just a moment longer before she moved away, embarrassed over her actions.

  “I take it that means you’re happy to see me,” Kenny said, his eyes moving slowly over her body.