“I’ll be counting the hours.” He bends down and his lips meet mine. Never have I been kissed and felt so cherished before. His tongue slowly licks to part mine and I sway into his body as our tongues slide back and forth with one another.
When he breaks away, I grip the counter and hold myself as he chuckles. “Me, too.” He backs away and I miss the heat from him immediately.
“Don’t be late.” He smacks my ass and I jump forward from surprise.
I stop at the door and commit him to memory. Pajama pants are hanging low on his hips. His bare chest and his fresh tattoo are on full display. A rush of excitement zings through my veins. He’s drop-dead gorgeous and I just spent the night with him. Hiding a squeal of unbelievable thrill, I exit through the door.
BY THE TIME I’m leaving my last class, my mind is numb. There’s no way I can process one more theory, formula, or equation. Since Rob texted me around noon, asking me to hit a movie with him after class, my feet are moving a little faster to the doors.
I weave by a few girls gossiping about some hook-up to reach the outside and hopefully my new, well, what is Rob exactly? I ponder the question in my head. We were roommates, then friends, but I have no clue if we’re exclusive. When I shove open the doors to the sun shining down, my mood lifts immediately and all the worries about what Rob and I are, evaporates.
I move to the side of the doors, basking in the sun. As my skin soaks in the Vitamin D, I wait for Rob to meet me. Just as my eyes begin to droop from the warmth, I hear my name.
“Very good feedback today, Miss Kensington,” Professor Bridges, my Economics professor, compliments as he breezes past me.
My head snaps down and I give a polite smile. “Thank you, Professor.” He startles me because Professor Bridges isn’t known to compliment a student. Persuading to think through negativity is his usual course of teaching.
He nods and my eyes search for Rob. Then my polite grin widens when I see him strutting up the stairs. His hair is gelled up and he’s got a black T-shirt on with some faded-out saying that’s supposed to make people laugh. Which they usually do. Paired with his low-slung jeans and converse shoes, he screams rock God, and from the amount of girls fighting for a second glance, I know I’m not his only admirer.
My stomach somersaults waiting for him to reach me, but he’s stopped at the top of the stairs by Professor Bridges. I creep over to them and am surprised by what I hear.
“Mr. Winters, have you returned to Western?”
“No.” Rob shoves his hands in his pockets and his eyes glance back and forth between me and Professor Bridges.
“Oh, I was hoping you had seen the light.”
“I have.” Rob stares up at the sky, smirking back down to him.
“One day, Mr. Winters, you’ll find that humor doesn’t deflect.” He slides by Rob and I’m surprised Rob doesn’t shoot back with a sarcastic comment. It’s not his style to not have the last word.
As though the confrontation didn’t just happen, Rob comes up to me, his arm sliding behind my back, as he kisses my neck. “I missed you.”
“How do you know Professor Bridges?”
His lips leave my skin, but his hand remains on the small of my back. “He’s the reason I dropped out.”
I pivot to face him, and even without hearing Rob’s side, my respect for Professor Bridges decreases. “Why?”
He slides his hand off my back and laces our fingers together. “The movie is going to start, let’s go.” He tugs me forward but I dig my heels in, staying firm. He finally figures out I’m not leaving without an answer and a long exasperated breath falls from his mouth. “You want details?” His shoulders fall.
“Yep.”
He props up on the cement ledge and I slide in to occupy the space between his legs, resting my hands on his thighs.
“It’s simple. He gave me shit in the middle of class. Spouting how I’m wasting my life and crap. I walked out and never returned.”
“What an ass.”
“Not really.”
My eyes shoot up to see his casual expression. “Why?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I deserved it. He was trying to bully me into studying, doing the class work, and being the student he recruited.”
“Recruited?”
How much do I not know about this man?
He inhales a deep breath and then releases it. “I was on a scholarship.”
My eyes must widen because he shakes his head. “Don’t look so surprised. The dipshit guitarist can read.”
I step back and huff from his assumption that I thought he was stupid. He jumps off the cement ledge. “Let’s just go.” He leaves me in the vacant strip of sidewalk between the buildings.
“Really? You actually think I’d be with you if I thought you were stupid?” I catch up to him before he can descend down the first step. “I’m just surprised you threw it away.”
His icy eyes flick to me and then forward again. “I’m not the same person. You don’t know the Rob from back then.”
I lightly grab his elbow to slow him down and he whips around already in defense mode. “I know the Rob now and you’re not stupid, far from it. So, how about you stop running and actually talk to me.”
He roams over to a bench and I follow, sitting down next to him. His arm rests along the top and his hand cups my shoulder, pulling for me to slide closer. Loving the warmth he gives me, I go. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles and kisses my temple. “Professor Bridges just has a way of making me see red.”
“Why?”
“Because he reminds me of my biggest regret.”
His lips dip down and I wish I had some way of cheering him up.
“Then come back.” The answer is simple, right?
“You don’t get it. Then he wins.”
“This isn’t about winning. You’re being stubborn.”
He unhooks his arm and stands. “Let’s just go home; I don’t want to go to the movies anymore.”
“Oh stop being such a lump. We can talk about this later, but you’re taking me to the movies.” I don’t wait for him to answer, but instead I stride straight to his illegally parked car.
At first I don’t hear the footsteps behind me, but he comes to his senses and before I reach the car door, he’s there opening it for me. When I peer up at him, arching my eyebrows, his eyes ping anywhere but at me. “You win, okay?”
I place my hand on the side of his stomach and step closer. “I don’t want to win. I want you to win.” With a small smile, I climb into his car.
In the solitude of his car for the limited time it takes him to jog around, I try to absorb the information he gave me. By no means did I think Rob was some slacker that Western kicked out, but a scholarship? That’s a whole other realm. Since it’s a touchy subject, I’m not going to press because regardless if he comes back or not, he has to make that decision.
“What are we going to see?” he asks once we’re on the road.
“You choose.”
“No, ladies choice.” His hand finds my thigh and I draw in a breath, relieved things aren’t awkward after the Professor Bridges and returning to school discussion.
“We can decide when we get there.”
“Sounds perfect.” He shoots a smile over to me in passing. It’s like a flick of a light switch how fast his mood can change. As though he’s gradually transforming back to who he is, or inspires to be.
WHAT THE HELL is wrong with me? Thank God we’re going to the movies so I can shove my mouth full of popcorn to the secrets stop spilling. She must think I’m an all-round fuck-up. First I tell her about the accident and Carly, now she knows I threw away a scholarship because of pride. Pride of what, I still don’t know.
Even without thinking about Paige, Professor Bridges threw me off my game. I should have figured out he was Paige’s professor and asked her to meet me at home, or down the street. When he whispered to call him as he sauntered by, it only brought guilt of what I did. If I even decide to
enroll again, our paths will cross, so maybe I should get the slaying of my ego over with and meet with the man who once referred to me as a new mind with brilliant ideas.
By the time we’re stepping up the stairs to the movie theater, with our arms filled with popcorn, drinks and candy, Professor Bridges has vanished from the depths of my mind with Paige’s swaying ass replacing him. She glances over her shoulder to make sure I’m following her. What, is she crazy? I’d follow her into a storm of gunfire.
I’m not sure why Paige’s choice to sit in the last row surprises me. Sometimes it’s like our minds are one. When I suggested a movie, you better be damned I expected some lip action. Especially since we’re back to platonic-a foot away-roommates with Dex and Chrissy’s return.
She sits down and peers around to the other six people sprinkled in the rows down from ours. “Is the last row okay with you?”
“Fuck yeah.” I plop down next to her, placing the pop in the cup holder between us.
She wiggles back and forth, as though she’s getting comfortable in her space. Imagining her ass wiggling into my cock this morning flicks to mind. The popcorn isn’t even in my lap before her hand is digging in the bucket. When I watch her dumbfounded in awe as she munches the buttery kernels, she notices and then cracks up. She stops chewing and her hand full of popcorn drops to her lap.
“You like your popcorn?” I joke with her, because it’s cute the way her tongue sneaks out and grabs each kernel, drawing it into her mouth. How can an act so normal be so sexual? Because it’s her.
“I’m starving,” she mumbles through a mouthful and then swallows. The more she becomes comfortable with me, the more attractive I find her. She helps herself to my gum or water in my car, and now she goes all caveman on the popcorn. I smile and confusion crosses her face, but I keep my thoughts to myself. Maybe because I’m still absorbing them myself.
The lights dim and the audio gets louder, signaling the movie is starting, or rather the twenty minutes of previews.
“I would have fed you,” I whisper in her ear and she shoos me with her hand.
“No, No. This is great.” She points at the popcorn in my lap and then relaxes back to her seat.
A half hour into the movie, the bad guys are chasing the good guy and I’m completely enthralled in what’s about to happen when Paige’s hand slips over our armrest. I shift in my seat as she cups my package through my jeans. Her palm rubs along the length of me as blood rushes to my dick that’s growing thicker with each swipe of her hand.
She leans over, and her tongue licks my neck up to my earlobe. “Relax,” she whispers and then a groan leaves my lips when she ventures back to her side.
I eye her as she moves our drink over to her side and slowly lifts the armrest between us. My blood begins pumping and I can’t keep my ass in the seat from the anticipation of what’s about to happen.
Bending over, her fingers unbutton my pants and she gently lowers my zipper. She withdraws my stiff dick and my eyes are already shutting. Then she stares up at me with hooded eyes and licks her lips in a dawdling pace.
Shit, I never thought she’d do something so public with others only a few rows down from us.
My breathing stops as I watch her move down to wrap her lips around me and then a slow stream of air flows through my lips once her warm mouth takes all of me. I look down to make sure no one hears us, but when her tongue licks the top of my cock as she holds the base in her hand, my head falls back against the seat and I could give one fuck what those people might see.
I suck in a breath when she takes me back into her mouth until the wetness and warmth relaxes me to release a stream of air. The more she works my dick, the more I’m thrusting up, craving more of her sucking.
It’s the vision of her between my legs as the screen flickers from bright light to dark that has me skyrocketing to the edge. My hand swipes her curly hair to the side so I can watch her work me better than anyone has before. Her head bobbing up and down as her saliva drips down my shaft. The action is hot and I’m trying to ignore the annoying buzz in my ear—how does she know exactly how to work me.
My fingers thread into her thick brown strands and I guide her head up and down in a frantic pace. She doesn’t care about the controlling movement because her other hand digs down my pants and fondles my balls. She’s moving so fast, my hands clench and my head leans back in the seat. When she speeds up, I bite my lip to keep from screaming her name as I come hard in her mouth.
She doesn’t hesitate to swallow my load, which is even hotter than her capability to get me off in the shortest amount of time ever. I’m still composing myself when she leans up and I grab her by the back of the neck, lugging her to me. I thrust my tongue in her mouth to show her exactly how hot she makes me.
She straddles me in the seat and my hands grip her ass. I kiss her neck when she bends down closer. “You’re so incredible.” She sits up and giggles to herself.
I miss her as soon as she shifts back over to her seat.
Damn, I’ll never watch another movie without thinking of Paige again.
“ROB!” MATTY RUNS across the room and straight into my arms.
I have to admit, I like this whole hero ego that comes over me when Matty sees me. In the past few weeks since Paige and I started dating, we’ve picked him up a few times to take him for ice cream, or out to eat. Today his begging to go to the zoo finally worked. Unfortunately, it’s not just the three of us; it’s the whole damn gang. Chrissy got wind of us going, which brought Sadie, who invited Jessa, who asked Trey. The caravan we’re traveling up there in makes me believe I should trade in the damn Mustang for a soccer mom mobile. As if that would ever happen.
“What’s up, little guy?” I throw him up in the air and he yelps. I squint my eyes from the loud noise. After our show last night, and a few too many Heinekens, I may be slightly hung-over. Which is probably where the animosity of everyone coming with us today forms.
“Aren’t you so excited, Matty? What’s your favorite animal?” Chrissy barrels into the room as her wavy blonde ponytail swings from side to side.
“Elephant,” Matty answers and then sits down at the table while I offer to pour him a bowl of cereal.
“Which one, bud?” I position the three boxes in front of him.
He whips around to face me, a smile from ear to ear. “You got me Avengers cereal?” There’s that whole I’m God persona I strive for. As much as I love how much he thinks I’m the coolest thing ever, I don’t forget that there’s no disappointing him, too. Although, I don’t see anything bad happening between me and Paige, if it does, Matty won’t understand if I’m not around.
“I did.” I snatch the credit until Paige comes in and narrows her eyes at me. “Well, your sister may have been with me,” I add and she laughs moving toward the fridge.
Chrissy sits down next to him. “Do you know that people call Dex, Hulk?”
“Don’t confuse the kid, Chris.” I step in front of Paige and she slips by me, but not without my hand cupping her tit. I hate the hiding in front of Chrissy; I’m growing tired of our secret relationship. I want Paige to sleep in with me instead of hightailing it out before Chrissy and Dex wake up. We’ll have to talk about that tonight, because at this point I’m invested enough that Chrissy will understand.
“Hulk?” Matty questions with wide eyes. “He has a lot of muscle.”
“Yes he does,” Chrissy agrees like the lovesick chick she is.
Moving over to the table, I lean over to Matty. “Bigger isn’t always better. Think of Spiderman, he can climb buildings.”
“Are you comparing yourself to Spiderman?” Chrissy arches her eyebrow at me.
“No. I don’t need to be compared to some super hero, I’m original.”
“That you are,” Paige whispers in my ear as she slides in the seat next to Matty. Her agreement spurs another zing of warmth right to my heart.
An hour later, we’re filing into the zoo like a pack of lions, Tre
y being the papa lion. He’s carting a wagon with Drew and a cooler. The kids are all in matching green shirts and he’s dictating our schedule before we even enter. Seriously, slap on a fanny pack at this point. Trey is all in daddy mode.
Matty hangs around Tara and Chloe, constantly running and laughing. I catch Paige smiling as she watches him acting so carefree, like a four year old should be.
“He really likes them?” Kailey walks alongside Paige.
“He does. Other than day care, he hasn’t had a lot of interaction with kids.” Paige is so honest it’s admirable.
“That’s a shame. He’s welcome at our house any time. Sometimes it’s easier with other kids in the house.” Kailey laughs and then the two of them begin talking about Matty and Paige’s mom. She surprises me that she’s so willing to let people into her business. Another sign she’s so much better than me.
“I’m sensing a secret.” Brady comes on the side of me. Sadie pushes the stroller for Jessa as the two of them chat away.
“You sense nothing.”
“You like her, do I dare say—”
“You don’t.” I end the conversation, looking around to make sure no one else hears him.
Brady laughs and then chats up Trey about what direction to go in.
“Matty!” Chrissy screams. “Elephants.” She points to the dirt grounds with four elephants on their feet with tails swinging and ears moving. I think I need to introduce him to some Tigers and Lions. Animals that run fast and are killer hunters.
Matty and the girls run over to the fence, stepping up on the ledge, peering over. “Whoa!” I yell, lunging over to them. “Don’t lean over. You don’t want to fall.”
Laugher erupts behind me. “Man, what kind of effect have you had on him?” Trey says to Matty, smirking over to me.
I tilt my head and narrow my eyes in a sarcastic movement. I won’t admit it now, but Matty just scared the shit out of me. Paige steps up next to me, her fingers grazing against mine and when I wheel around, she’s smiling. Suddenly, I don’t feel stupid for being overprotective of a kid I’m not even related to.
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