Her voice hitches, cracking at the end. Kylie's car really is about to go. I know she can't part with it, and it breaks my heart. It was her brother's car. Bryce gave it to her for her twenty-first birthday which was the same day he was killed. I would never push anything about the car on her, but I'd rather she be safe. She's like a sister to me, and I couldn't bear to lose her too. I also know she's too chicken to ask Aaron for anything since she's been in love with him our entire lives and he, in fact, feels the same way.
Unfortunately, ever since Bryce died, neither of them will go near the subject. The risks of whether or not they'd work out are also in the back of my mind. I would never choose either over the other and would support them if it were what they both wanted. It's one of the reasons I haven't pushed. They will work something out.
"I understand. Just make sure to tell them you want a detailed report before they do anything so they don't rip you off." Those places always try and get an extra 200 bucks out of me when my car is just fine. I don't want them screwing Kylie over for something as simple as an oil change.
She laughs. "Haha yea, girl. Dad already gave me the lecture. I'll text you after your class, and I'll see you at home tomorrow once I'm no longer a zombie. I'm excited for Angels this week."
"Me too. Just thinking about it is making me hungry, and I have to sit through a two-hour lecture. Loves ya, babe."
Angels is our favorite breakfast place. They have amazing scratch-made waffles and pancakes. I know I work at a café, but we are a South Carolina chain called Barrels of Snacks. Angels is family owned and operated. We try to go every Wednesday morning because our schedules are so crazy. Wednesday and Fridays are usually my only mornings off, which helps work around Kylie's NICU rotations. Last week, I couldn't go because of classes, and I had so many errands to run for supplies.
I hang up and run back inside the building. I head to my class quickly, grabbing a seat before Professor Ericks starts his lecture on Strategic Operations and Planning. This is the third class of the semester, two days a week, and two hours long with a much-needed break after fifty minutes. I'm taking four classes this semester since I plan on taking two summer courses to finish the program next fall. So far it’s looking to be a large amount of papers and a few big exams for me this term.
I take out a notebook and my tablet to follow the PowerPoint. I like to make additional notes since some of the professors speed through slides. It's my way of sticking to one at a time and making my own handwritten study notes along the way. I hear a voice clearing behind me, and I turn my head.
Oh my dang, it's Matt.
How come I didn't notice him last week?
He smiles and winks at me again. Those dang winks! My heart rate just went into overdrive. I nervously lick my lips as I stare at his gorgeous smile. His hair looks like it was styled neatly at some point but then messed with later. I tried not to drool in the coffee shop seeing him in his fitted charcoal gray button-down under a black fleece jacket and black pants that mold to his long legs. Even just waiting for our drinks, he had a heat radiating off of him that said, 'I could command this room if I wanted to, and there's nothing you can do about it'.
Resisting him is going to take a Herculean effort.
I can barely focus throughout the entire class knowing Matt is right behind me. I catch small whiffs of his cologne, and my efforts to not fantasize about him during class become increasingly difficult. This is going to be the longest two hours I've felt in a long time. I squirm in my seat to control the needs I'm having below, and my earlobe feels like Play-doh as I keep playing with it.
Even though he apologized for the concert situation, I'm still going to keep my distance. I've worked too hard to be distracted this early in the program. I'm freezing yet my skin is on fire from his presence. Every time I think I'm being sneaky and glancing back at him, his handsome face is looking right back at me. If he winks one more time, I'm tossing my books on the floor and running out of this room. A girl can only take so much hotness before chaos erupts, and I mean literally erupts, from wanting to feel his hands all over me. I wish I had a freaking cookie or could go on a run to settle my nerves right now.
I pack up my stuff a few minutes before eight, and once Professor Ericks gives us the okay to leave, I bolt out the door. I need to get some fresh air. I had put my headphones in and pretended to reread my notes during break to avoid talking to him mostly because I barely paid attention to the slides. I can't fall behind. It's non-negotiable that I do everything necessary to graduate this program with excellent grades in case my other plans fail. Normally, I don't like to be bothered when I'm on campus, which is why I wear my headphones. Most of my friends have graduated, and I don't really talk to my classmates except when we need to work on projects, so I just keep to myself when I'm trying to study.
Hopefully, Matt doesn't follow me. I want to get home as quickly as possible and throw myself into cooking. Cooking and baking are my therapeutic releases, and I need to focus on something other than Matt Reynolds.
I lose myself in a frenzy of cake batter and lamb chops for hours. No, I didn't mix those together. I'm testing out a new garlic pesto sauce for the lamb chops and leaving it for Kylie to eat tomorrow. The apple crumb cake is something she and I can enjoy the rest of the week.
My friends and family are a great support system for my culinary dreams. I had thought about going to culinary school, but I wanted the business degree to help be able run the business without hiring a bunch of 'figureheads'. I've been cooking and baking my whole life. I've always been intrigued by the idea that a simple meal can make a person's day and how creative recipes can be. For as long as I can remember, I've been stealing recipes from my gram when we'd visit her in Boca Raton and begging Kylie's dad for his grilling secrets.
Last night, Kylie was hard asleep when I came home from class, so I holed myself with my headphones to not bother her while I studied. She works too hard sometimes. She could have woken up at some point to eat, but my nose was buried in my books and my earphones were set at a deafening volume.
Every few minutes, my brain would veer off into thoughts of Matt. My body shivers at the scenes playing out in my head of him pushing me up against the wall of books in the graduate library and using his big, strong hands to make me come while trying not to get caught. Then there's the other one of him making love to me on a blanket by my favorite lake under the stars, worshipping my body, and letting me take care of his entire body with mine in return.
I tossed and turned all night going back and forth between all sorts of fantasies. I woke up with two fingers rubbing my clit and my heels digging into my mattress. The fantasy was so vivid I could smell Matt’s cologne as I envisioned his scruff rubbing against my hard nipples as he dropped kisses down my entire body. His dark eyes were locked lustfully on mine as he pushed two fingers inside of me massaging every inch of my walls until he hit that one spot that set me off like a roller coaster shooting through the tunnel. I woke up, cheeks burning, and my release on my fingers. I managed to catch my breath enough for the embarrassment to settle in.
I haven't had a vivid dream like that in years. Ones with celebrities don't count because those are pipe dreams. Half of them are married with children for goodness sake. The dreams about Matt are impossible because just thinking about his commanding personality makes me turn into a bowl of Jell-O. There is no way my fantasies will turn into reality.
While going about my morning work routine as best as possible, I realize I'm moving like a summer slug. My shift right now is beyond long and boring. Seriously, it’s like time is going so slow, it might as well be going backward.
The café is empty, so I try to reread my notes for my upcoming class.
I even chugged an energy drink, and it's only made my mind jumpy rather than waking me up.
Reality has officially come back into my brain. Even though he's the one who approached me, I remind myself that this is just one hopeless crush that's lasted almost a few m
onths. My stomach is in so many knots, and my heart is racing a mile a minute.
I stopped getting my hopes up a long time ago for having any luck at all in my love life. I really don't want to be the woman who chases someone she knows she can't have, but it's hard.
Why does my brain choose the person to be attracted to when it knows it has zero chance? How do you handle knowing someone could like you if they would just give you the time of day?
I'll admit I'm lonely. I randomly stop throughout the day wishing there was someone waiting for me with open arms and having those arms take care of me. I miss the feeling of having a strong and caring set of hands massage all over my skin in affection. I would love for Matt to take a real chance on me. Asking me out on a date is a step in a new direction, but I'm terrified it's not a good direction.
After Charlie runs outside to take her call, I head into the room and take a seat near the middle of the hall trying to gather my erratic thoughts. I sat in the same area last week and didn't see her. She must have sat behind me and then left before I was able to see her. Now, I need to come up with a way for her to say yes to going out with me.
My brain is going off in all directions. It’s like a hamster wheel that won't stop.
I can't believe I almost scared her off when I got mad about her accusation or that she'd think any guy would treat her like a joke. I’ll be having words with the guys about that. No one will make her feel unsure of herself as long as I have anything to say about it. She may not be mine yet, but I will show her I'm a decent human being. A smile forms on my face as I think about how amazing that toned body is going to feel with mine once she feels more comfortable around me.
An idea forms in my head. At our fifty-minute break, I'm going to run back to the coffee shop to ask another favor of the barista. I want to show Charlie that I'm thinking about her and do something to make her feel special even when I'm not around. Sometimes it's the little efforts made that can make someone's day, but I'm hoping the little things can turn into the big events later on. If she thinks someone would treat her as a joke or less than she deserves, then she needs someone to be by her side. Someone to make an effort and show her the value of her worth.
Charlie rushes inside and grabs a seat in the row in front of me. She put that perky heart-shaped ass right in my line of sight. I catch a whiff of her closeness, and it’s not helping my concentration in preparing for class.
She takes her stuff out to get ready for the lecture. Professor Ericks is a stickler for time, so we still have a few minutes before he walks in. If anyone walks in after he does, he makes them turn around and leave. He's been known to lock the doors a minute before the scheduled time. I'm perpetually early, so it's his prerogative on how he wants to run his class. I just want to get through the program unscathed by all of these damn papers I have scheduled.
As she settles into her seat, her scent surrounds me and my muscles tighten to avoid getting a hard-on in class. This is going to be a long ass lecture if I have to keep adjusting myself every time she moves. I lean forward and clear my throat, just loud enough for Charlie to hear me. When she turns around, I give her a real smile and a small wink just to let her know I see her in class. I will be talking to her again, there's no doubt about that. Her eyes may show me she is scared, yet I also see curiosity and some lust lingering, too.
She's so fucking gorgeous that my concentration is officially shot. I've only heard bits and pieces of the opening lecture. I count down the minutes until our break so I can accomplish my coffee shop goal and then get through the rest of this class with my dick still intact.
I wonder if she'll be in my next class tonight?
As soon as class lets out, Charlie rushes out the door. I linger back and figure I'll give her some space. I don't want to keep scaring her off. Watching her walk away is a damn good sight to see.
The barista went along with the plan I hatched during break, and I hope Charlie doesn't get too skittish.
My next class felt like a never-ending loop of boredom. I couldn’t focus for the life of me. Charlie's expressions were stuck on my mind, and all I wanted to do was take a cold shower. Leo left yesterday to head back to Chicago, and Jeremy is somewhere on campus until after ten, so I'll have the house to myself for a little bit to get my bearings together. We're not chicks who interrogate each other over our love lives, but since we've all been friends for twelve years, I know they will have a few questions.
When I get home, I immediately let the dogs run around in the backyard while I take a scalding shower instead of freezing my balls off. The water barely helps the tightness in my muscles, but my dick needs the warmth. I cup my balls to undo the tension that's built up the last few hours, and my dick is harder than stone, the tip hitting on my abs. I know if I touch my shaft too soon I will explode almost instantly. The images of Charlie skinny-dipping in my pool are at the forefront of my mind. The moonlight and water bouncing off of her skin, illuminating her angelic figure.
Ahh fuck it, I can't take it anymore. I hit the tiles of my shower with my back, keeping the scenes of her smiling and laughing in the pool as my hand grabs the base of my dick, rubbing up and down. It only takes a few pumps to feel the stiffness of my balls and the release crawling up my spine. With the image of Charlie climbing out of my pool, water dripping from her glowing skin, and a sexy smoldering smirk on her face, I come harder than I ever have before. Shudders crash through my body in an attempt to finally relax and get slight relief.
I'm pulled from my fantasies when I hear the dogs barking through the house, which means the garage is opening and Jeremy is back from campus. I towel off and throw on a pair of basketball shorts, and shake some of the water out of my hair. We make idle chitchat about classes and carpooling to work tomorrow.
After giving the dogs a quick treat, we settle in for another long and distracting night.
Since I made official introductions with Charlie at the concert last week, had several dick-torturing fantasies, and established a little groundwork that day in the coffee shop, it's not hard to spot her near the graduate library the next few days. I might have the perfect reason to talk to her. I gave her a little space so I wouldn't continue to scare her off, especially after she turned me down. She didn't avoid me, but she didn't go out of her way to see me either. She's formal and polite amongst the community when meeting new people. I still feel bad my temper got ahead of me. I want her to be herself around me.
Today that changes.
The perks of being at Broxton for night classes is that it's less crowded than during the day for all of the undergrad courses. The graduate building is bustling, though. I see her walking by the arches of the entrance to the main doors. Catching up to her, I tap her shoulder for her to turn around. "Hi, Charlotte."
She pulls her earbuds out of her ears. I wonder why she wears those all the time. "Oh hi, Matt. Thank you for the hot chocolate. You really didn't have to do that. How are you?"
"It's no trouble at all. I'm good. How about you?" Secretly, I’m fist-pumping myself that my plan to have her hot chocolates be set for at least a month worked out. The barista already knew Charlotte from past stop-ins, so she was easily recognized. It’s only been a few days after our first run-in, and I wonder when she will catch on to it lasting longer than a week.
"I'm good as well"—she points toward the graduate library on the second floor—
"I'm going to work on that Entrepreneur paper for Dr. Yin's class. What about you? Do you have her class?"
"I do, on Mondays after the one we share. I haven't finished mine yet. I'm still working on the paper between long and short-term benefits and losses. My calculations are done, though."
Shoving her bag up her shoulder, she replies, "I have my arguments done. I just need to double check my calculations and put it all together. I want to get everything done before tomorrow night's concert."
Well, damn, she beat me to my conversation topic. I remembered there was going to be a second concert tomo
rrow. I can't remember whom the performer is, so I ask, "Who’s performing?"
Her whole face lights up with excitement and adoration. "Cole Swindell. No opening act this time, and it's in The Barn rather than the amphitheater due to the weather predictions. Luckily, the parking garage feeds into the building so no walking outside in the potential downpour. I'm sure you're used to a lot of random wind, snow, and rainstorms after living in Chicago."
She remembered stuff about me. Nice. That part about moving the concert location, I didn't know. I'm even happier I ran into her.
I confirm my thoughts, "The freezing snow is something I definitely don't miss. I didn't know they moved the concert. Thanks for the tip. I like his stuff that's been playing on the radio. Is there an after party this time?"
"Yep. My friends are dragging me since they know I'll start bailing once the semester gets busier." She smiles while rolling her eyes.
In hopes to secure a visit with her at the concert, instead of ambushing her like last week, I make this exchange brief for her sake and my dick's.
I tap the top of her cheekbone. "Make sure you save a few dances for me then."
Her face slightly pales. Her gorgeous eyes darken, and the pupils widen over the color, and her breath hitches. As much as I want to stare into those beautiful eyes, I take that as my cue to leave.
Walking backward, I say in my best southern accent, "I'll see you tomorrow night, Miss Charlotte."
I watch as she stands there for a few more seconds before rushing into the building. Lord is she beautiful. I turn around and head toward the parking lot. I have another mentally long day of work tomorrow if I want to leave early for the concert.
The company pays me well, so I don't mind doing some work from home tonight and over the weekend in the attempt to balance out my schedule. When you want to be with someone or even get to know them, making time is important. Whether it's an hour or a day, I'll do everything it takes to make her smile. I already have a monstrous amount of questions to ask her. I want to know everything about her. She's not only insanely gorgeous, but she seems to be quite eloquent too.
The Eyes That Own Me (Timing is Everything Book 1) Page 4