“What did you do?” A soft smile covered her lips.
“Nothing, but I know that Dirty Dancing just happens to be one of your favorite movies and it may or may not be playing tonight.”
“Oh my gosh. I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you.”
She threw her arms around my neck, plastering her body to mine and squealed in excitement. Her reaction was worth sucking up my pride and asking Nate to borrow his truck. I had known it was a pretty good idea, but I hadn’t expected this reaction.
“Come on, Princess, let’s get set up.”
We climbed out of the warm cab of the truck and into the cool autumn air. Luckily it wasn’t too cold outside yet, but as the evening wore on the temperature would drop. Cora helped me lay everything out in the bed of the truck so we could watch the movie comfortably. I felt like the fucking king of the world when she snuggled into my chest.
We watched the first twenty minutes of the movie in silence. She was enraptured with everything. The expressions dancing across her face reminded me of every other time we’d spent curled up watching movies. I rested my chin on her head and wrapped my arms around her. She shivered slightly.
“Are you cold, Princess?”
“A little.”
I pulled the blankets up tighter around us and she curled into my side more. Olivia and Cora had forced me to watch this movie a million times growing up, but watching it like this with Cora was better than any other time. When she slipped her fingers into the band of my pants, I couldn’t help the moan that slipped out. Her fingers worked the button on my jeans and I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Cora.” I grasped her hand in mine and lifted it to my lips. “I didn’t bring you out here for this.”
A light flush ran up her cheeks that was visible even in the dim light. She turned her face away so I wasn’t able to see her eyes. Cora being embarrassed was a new thing. This girl was never uncertain about what she wanted and she was never embarrassed about asking for something. “I know you didn’t, but I want to.”
This girl was going to be the death of me. I lifted her chin and made her look me in the eyes. “Princess, you don’t have to thank me with sex. I did this because I thought it would be something you might enjoy. It wasn’t to get laid.” Cora’s eyes looked damp. I sat up quickly, alarmed that I had done the wrong thing again. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”
“Nothing you idiot.” She took a deep breath. “No guy has ever done anything like this for me. Hell if a guy takes me out to dinner, than he expects me to be dessert. I just—I don’t—Thank you.”
I smiled and kissed her forehead.
“You’re welcome.”
We settled back down into the soft pillows to finish the movie. Cora loved the costumes and dancing. Both her and Olivia had some weird obsession with Patrick Swayze. I didn’t get it, but I didn’t care because it made her happy. Watching her face light up was worth all the shit I would get from the guys later. I laid my head back against the glass and closed my eyes.
Cora must have been waiting for my guard to drop because in one swift movement she was straddling my lap. As I opened my eyes, they caught the mischievous glint in her whiskey colored eyes. My hands rested lightly on her hips.
“What in the hell? We just talked about—”
“Just live in the moment. Don’t over analyze things,” she said, mimicking my words from earlier.
Her fingers threaded through my hair and I groaned as her lips met mine. She immediately opened to me, and I fought the urge to lay her down and fuck her in the bed of my best friend’s truck. It was torture the way she was grinding her hips down on mine. We kissed until we were both gasping for air. She rested her forehead against mine and smiled when we broke apart.
“That’s one hell of a way to say thank you, Princess.”
She grinned. “That’s not thank you; that comes later. The kiss was just because I wanted to.”
I yelped when she put her ice cold hands against my stomach. She giggled and I started to laugh with her.
“Behave!” I said, smacking her ass. She laughed and moved back next to me. The soft sigh that left her when she rested her head against my shoulder was almost indecipherable. I hoped that she would remember this forever because I sure as hell knew I would.
Cora was changing me.
Every little thing she did was new and exciting. It terrified me to think that she could walk away from this. She could call this whole thing off at any time. I just didn’t know what the hell I would do if she did.
____
I met Olivia at the coffee shop the next morning. She came in a few minutes late, wearing a huge smile that I was positive I didn’t want to know about.
“So how was your date last night?” she asked in a sing-song voice.
I stared at her for a beat. “What the hell? No good morning, brother? The weather sucks today. I’m so glad to see you because you light up my life.”
“Good morning, Finn. It’s very cold outside this morning.” She smirked. “Now, tell me everything about your mystery date.”
“Smartass,” I mumbled. “How did you even find out?”
She took the coffee cup I handed to her and grinned. “I bugged Nate after he said you borrowed his truck, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. When that didn’t work I bribed him with a blowjob.”
“Gross. Can you not tell me shit like that?” I shivered exaggeratedly. “I don’t need the image of Nate’s ass imprinted on my brain again.”
She laughed as I recalled the memory of walking in on them last year. I cringed and wanted to bleach my eyeballs. They both thought it was hilarious, but it was scarring to say the least.
“Tell me about your date and I won’t mention sex with your best friend again for a while.”
“Deal. I took her to the old drive-in theater and set up the bed of the truck with blankets and pillows. I also brought hot chocolate and snacks. I couldn’t do it in my car, so I asked to borrow Nate’s truck. Enough details for you?”
She sat back in her chair. “I’m impressed, Finn. You didn’t even ask for my help and you planned a perfect fairy tale date.”
I was a little impressed myself. Everything had gone off without a hitch and Cora had loved it.
“So who’s the girl?” she asked innocently, lifting her cup to her lips.
I should have known she would ask.
“Just someone.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to say anything and jinx it,” I said quickly.
Olivia narrowed her eyes. This was unusual for us. We normally told each other everything, so for me to keep her out of the loop was rough. It wasn’t that I wanted to keep this from her; I just worried about her reaction. Cora and I had agreed that we wouldn’t say anything yet, so I would keep my promise. But it would help me so much to be able to talk to my sister about all this shit.
“Okay, Finn. Keep your secrets for now.”
I nodded once and thankfully she let it go. We talked about my niece, Ellie. Olivia had given her up for adoption after she had gotten pregnant in high school.
My sister was one of the strongest people I knew. The relationship she had with her daughter’s adoptive parents was amazing. I was so proud of her and how she had handled herself during the whole process. Decisions she made regarding her daughter were far beyond anything someone our age would normally be able to make, but she had done it with grace. Ellie’s best interest was the most important thing to Olivia and I admired my sister more than she would ever know.
“Are you going to be okay without me there this year?”
I snapped back to our conversation.
“Huh?”
“Have you been paying attention to anything I’ve said?”
“Yeah, um…You’re,” I trailed off.
“Thanksgiving. Nate and I aren’t going to be there. We’re going to see Ellie, then we are going to go to his Mom’s house in Madison.”
I stared at her blankly. She was officially th
rowing me to the wolves. Dad would be intolerable without her there, but there was no way I would tell her that. She didn’t know how bad it had gotten when she left town during her pregnancy.
“It’s fine, Liv. Go have fun and kiss Ellie for me.”
I gathered my trash and stood up. “Finn, wait. If this is going to be an issue, we can change our plans. Or you can come with us. Noah and Abby would love to meet you.”
“Liv, I promise it’s not a problem. I just realized that I have a paper due on Friday.” Leaning down, I kissed her forehead. “Later sis.”
I didn’t really want to end our breakfast, but if I stayed, she would goad me into admitting that I wanted her to come back to Oxford with me instead of going to see Ellie. Something would slip out about how dad is still pressuring me to change my major back to business. That wasn’t fair to her. It wasn’t her fault that our parents resorted to guilt to get what they wanted. Typically it worked with me, but not this time. I wasn’t going to tell him that I was getting a business degree along with my early education degree. This decision was mine. I wanted to teach, but I wanted the security to open my own business if I changed my mind. I had ideas in the back of my head of how I could use both degrees together, but that was still a few years off. And frankly it was none of my dad’s business.
I felt Olivia’s gaze on my back through the windows as I made my way back into the cold autumn morning. She deserved to go see Ellie during break and I wouldn’t be the one to keep her from going. The only problem was that now I had to come up with a plan on how to stay out of my childhood home as much as possible during the break.
It was two days after my date with Finn and I still couldn’t get the goofy grin off my face. Thank goodness I hadn’t run into him on campus or I would feel like such an idiot. Things were changing between us and while that scared the hell out of me, it also made me excited to see what would come.
“Earth to Cora,” Hannah said, waving her hands in front of my face.
I jumped a little. “Hi. What did I miss?”
She laughed. “Nothing yet, but I asked if you wanted to go get dinner. We’ve been studying at this table for three hours.”
I looked up at the clock, just visible over the bookshelves. She was right, we hadn’t moved in hours. “Sorry,” I said, blushing. “I guess I was just lost in my head.”
There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she spoke. “Boy things? Don’t think I haven’t noticed the smile that won’t stop.”
Shit.
“No, it’s just—fine. Yes. It’s about the boy. My date the other night was amazing and I can’t get him out of my head.”
God, I was gushing.
Her eyes flicked behind me and the scent of cinnamon filled my senses.
“You should tell us more about this amazing guy.” Finn’s breath made goose bumps pop out on my arms. “He’s just so dreamy isn’t he?”
Why was he always here when I was embarrassing the hell out of myself?
“Trying to get pointers on how to treat a lady?”
He grinned. “I think I could plan a kick ass non-date if I wanted to.”
“Maybe, but you’ll have to prove it.” I glared at Finn as I grabbed my books and shoved them into my bag. “Hannah, are you ready to go?”
She bit her bottom lip as her eyes bounced back and forth between Finn and me. “Um…yeah?”
It came out more of a question than an answer. I willed her to put her books in her bag and hurry the fuck up. Being around Finn was difficult right this second because I wanted to climb him like a tree. After our date the other night we hadn’t been able to find a single second to spend alone together.
“Hey Cora?”
I looked at Finn and my breath caught in my throat as his gorgeous eyes met mine.
“Hm?”
He cleared his throat once, then again a second time. Was he nervous?
“How are you getting home for break?”
I frowned. “What are you talking about? I always ride back with you and—Oh. Liv’s going to visit Ellie?”
He nodded. “You can still ride with me if you want. It’ll be like old times before Olivia came back. I just wanted you to know about the change in plans.”
“Sure, I’m okay with that as long as you are. We’ve made the drive before,” I said slowly.
“Sounds good. We’ll leave Friday after class?”
“Yep.” I prayed that Hannah and Finn couldn’t hear my heart pounding in my chest. “Text me later and we’ll figure everything out.”
Finn shot me a lopsided smile and my heart wasn’t racing anymore, it was flip flopping around in my chest. I gave him a small wave and made my way towards the library doors. Hannah was quiet as we made our way over to the Union.
I sighed. “Just say what you want to.”
“I don’t want to say anything,” she said, quickly. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Okay, fine. Um, you guys are freaking adorable. There’s this insane sexual tension between you two. I am so happy that you two are toge—”
I laughed nervously. “Shh…Not so loud. We are still being really quiet about the whole thing. Plus I don’t know if I would call what we’re doing as being together.”
She opened the door and we stepped inside out of the cold. “Sorry. I think there’s something really good between you two whether you want to admit it or not.”
“It’s complicated. We need time to figure out if we can make an us work. Things are pretty awesome, but I’m not ready for anyone to know yet.” Time to change the subject. “Are you going to see your ex when you go home for break?”
She snorted a laugh. “Definitely not. After the shit he pulled last time, I’m going to avoid him like the plague.”
“Have you considered that maybe it’s time for you to start dating again?”
She made a face and I giggled.
“That didn’t end up so well last time. My date didn’t go as well as yours did the other day. Plus I don’t think I’ve found anyone I would be interested in. Guys are the last thing on my mind right now.”
“I get that. I’ve got daddy issues. Any man I end up with better me able to handle my particular brand of crazy.”
Hannah laughed. For now she was distracted, but it wouldn’t last long. I loved being able to talk to her about the crazy thing I had going with Finn, but it made me nervous too. She would never tell anyone intentionally, but she was so open I could see her accidentally saying something around the wrong person. It was hard, but I had to trust her. And trust didn’t exactly come easily to me. Hannah deserved it though, especially after everything she’d done for me so far.
____
A sharp knock on the door made me jump. I’d been studying for midterms and completely zoned out. The dorms were quiet for once and I was taking full advantage since most people had already left for break. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Olivia standing there.
“I thought you were already gone,” I said, sitting back down at my desk. She followed me in and sat down on the edge of Hannah’s bed.
“Not yet, but we’re leaving in a few hours. I wanted to talk to you about something first.”
My heart pounded in my chest. She couldn’t know about me and Finn.
Could she?
“What’s up?” I tried to sound normal, but it wasn’t happening. It felt like I had sandpaper in my throat and my palms were clammy. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m just worried about Finn. This is the first time I won’t be at home with him for a holiday. Dad has been riding him pretty hard to change his major and I’m afraid this trip will be more of the same. Except this time I won’t be there to help be a buffer. Finn thinks I don’t realize what’s going on, but I do.”
“What can I do to help? I’m not even going home anymore since my mom and stepdad are going to the Bahamas.”
Happy Thanksgiving to me.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. They called me this
morning as an afterthought, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
“Oh honey, I’m so sorry.”
“Seriously, I’m fine,” I said, waving her off. “What do you need me to do to help with Finn?”
“Why don’t you spend Thanksgiving at our house? My parents are assholes, but even they wouldn’t stoop that low. They treat you like family anyway and it would help me out.”
“Liv, I can just stay here and study. A week by myself sounds awesome.”
“No, this totally solves my dilemma. You can keep Finn from killing my Dad and you aren’t stuck alone on Thanksgiving.”
I picked at some lint on my sweater. “I don’t know, Liv. Have you run this plan by Finn? He might already have plans for break.”
“Doubtful,” she said, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder. “He’d probably do something stupid, like fuck his psycho ex; although he is pretty stuck on mystery girl, so maybe not. Either way you would be doing me a favor.”
The ache in my chest at Olivia mentioning Finn’s ex was awful. It was confusing and it made me want to tell Olivia no. For some reason, I had this gut feeling that I was going to get hurt when it came time to end things with Finn. Spending the break together like a real couple wasn’t a good idea. She sighed dramatically and I scrunched my eyes shut.
“Fine. If Finn is okay with it, then I’ll go with him. On one condition though.”
She cocked her head to the side. “What’s that?”
“That you have an amazing time with Ellie and Nate.”
She smiled and nodded. “I think that can definitely be arranged friend.”
Cora’s perfume filled the car, making me uncomfortable in my seat. I tried to adjust myself discreetly to get some relief, but the almost imperceptible smirk on her face told me I hadn’t got away with it at all.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, a light flush covering my cheeks. She snorted and turned to look out the window. What was it with her making me blush lately?
Waiting to Fall: Book Two of the Waiting Duet Page 13