by Nicky Shanks
Clyde snickers. “Dude, be any more obvious?”
I clear my throat and reach for her bags. She’s a little taken aback by my boldness. I’m pretty sure she can tell I was instantly attracted to her, but I try my best to fight it as I brush past her and throw her bags next to mine in the back of the Jeep. I don’t wait to open her door for her before throwing myself into the driver’s seat and taking deep breaths. She even smelled delicious as I passed by her; the breeze caught her sunflower perfume and it’s going to drive me crazy.
Well, this is unexpected.
Once she gets into the Jeep and waves at Clyde, he waves back and then gives me the middle finger. I gotta admire his attitude—he obviously doesn’t trust too many people, which I can relate to.
I make sure her seatbelt is on before speeding off toward the grocery store to get the snacks, my mind racing and palms sweating against the steering wheel. She’s making it really hard to concentrate.
“I’m Julie.” Her voice is velvety and fills my head with sunshine, making it hard to focus and drive. I’ve gotta stop this. I nod my head in acknowledgment, my hair falling into my eye. “I guess that makes you Ollie?”
“My name is Oliver,” I snap at her on accident. “Oliver.”
I hear her gulp but don’t bother looking over at her. I do feel bad a little as the tension in the car rises between us, and I dodge several cars in the parking lot of the grocery store. After parking the Jeep, I don’t speak to her as I step out and shut the door behind me. My phone buzzes before I even make it to the front doors.
Casey: Dude, what the hell?
I stop on the sidewalk.
Oliver: What?
Casey: Julie doesn’t want to come, what did you do to her?
I raise my head and look back at the Jeep. I can see her staring out the window in the opposite direction of me, her forehead pressed against the glass, and I growl. I type to him, smashing my fingers on the pad.
Oliver: I’ll take her home.
His response comes quickly.
Casey: No! Please fix this!
I shove the phone into my pocket and walk back to the car, making sure I don’t startle her when I open the passenger door. My head’s still a little fuzzy as she lifts her huge blue eyes to meet my gaze. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s get some snacks.”
She rolls her eyes. Her thick, pouty lips form into a frown and I find myself wanting to bite her bottom one. “I’m staying here. I have someone coming to get me.”
“Hey, look, I’m sorry—”
“Leave me alone,” she barks. “Just go, and when you’re done I’ll be gone.”
A few women pass us and give me dirty looks. They eyeball Julie to make sure she’s okay before moving along. “Just call off your ride.” I grit my teeth and narrow my eyes at her, hoping my dominant attitude will make her squirm. “Just come in with me and help get snacks, and we can get through the next three hours as easily as possible and then be around people we actually like.”
She snorts. “Wow, nice talk.”
I watch her bite her bottom lip and my insides twist a little, like a fire is raging through my veins. She’s sexy, about six inches shorter than me, with a small waist and curvy hips—and she’s a few years younger too, which excites me even more. I want to trace her hips with my thumbs.
Heather is nothing next to this girl…and now I’m growling again, pissed that my cheating ex has entered my thoughts for the millionth time today.
Julie’s eyes widen. “Are you growling at me?”
I shake my head. “Of course not. Look, I’m sorry. Really, can we just forget I was an ass and go in for the snacks? I’ll let you pick them out.”
She smiles at me, taking her hair down and throwing the thick mass over her shoulder. “Deal.”
I nod. “Deal.”
She texts someone—no doubt to cancel her ride—and once again, this time with Julie in tow, I make my way back to the grocery store. Julie grabs a shopping basket, trying to pretend we didn’t arrive together. My cart is full of junk food like cookies and chips when she looks seriously at me for a few moments but doesn’t say anything.
“You think we’re missing something?” I ask.
Julie nods, soft blue eyes still holding mine. “Beer?”
I raise my eyebrows. “You drink beer?”
She smiles and nods again, batting her eyelashes.
“Okay, girl. Beer it is.”
I’m impressed.
After all, it’s so like me to make the best out of a weird situation, right?
Chapter Two
Julie
I make a mental note to thank Nora for her wonderful trip to a luxurious cabin in the woods.
Thank you, Nora.
Thank you so, so much.
The guy that picked me up is pretty much the biggest ass ever. To be fair, she did warn me. Oliver and Nora had met a few times before Casey even came into the picture, but Oliver didn’t remember her when Casey introduced them. If someone that looks like Oliver Jackson forgot about me, it would sting just a little.
I feel so out of place as I walk next to him toward the checkout counter. Several women around us all but drooled when Oliver walked past them, and I honestly couldn’t blame them because throughout this entire shopping trip, I’ve been sneaking peeks at his tall, muscular frame and drooling a little myself.
Until he opens his mouth to speak.
Regardless, I can tell what those women are thinking; it isn’t like I haven’t thought these things myself before:
I wonder how she got a guy like that.
They do not look like they belong together.
She is one lucky girl.
I shiver as the jealous women hover over us like vultures.
“Hey, Julie, do you want some candy or anything? I need some Skittles more than you know.” He smiles quickly at me and turns his gaze toward the candy choices even quicker. “Something to drink, maybe? We do have a long drive ahead of us.”
For a moment, I find myself drawn to his wide smile and bright eyes. There’s something about him that makes me feel weirder than I usually do—his green eyes look like they’re made from fire and brimstone as his hooded gaze watches me squirm. He knows what he does to women; he knows he gets underneath their skin.
“Plus, I’m not stopping again.”
And there it is.
I snort and roll my eyes at how pathetic he’s making me look. “Better watch out, your chivalry is showing,” I say, and he grabs an iced tea from the small beverage fridge, shaking it for my approval. I nod and he places it on the belt with a handful of candy bags, including his Skittles and an impulse cupcake purchase. Now the women are really judging me; I’m sure of it. Since he clearly looks like he doesn’t even know what candy tastes like—his perfect body doesn’t scream Skittles around the waist—the tons of junk food just have to be for me.
I blush from embarrassment. I know they aren’t really thinking that—it’s all that low self-esteem that Brandon has instilled in me. Honestly, I shouldn’t even have said yes to Nora when she begged me to go on this trip, no matter how much she cried and pouted. Doesn’t she remember the relationship I just broke free from? Brandon is my kryptonite, and the grip he had on me was no doubt superhuman.
The pain is still very raw as I scratch the scars over my heart.
I don’t hate him, though.
Oliver takes out his wallet and pays for the snacks. As I watch his muscles bulge, he lowers the bags into the cart and looks up at me for a quick moment—making sure I hadn’t run away yet, probably. I know, in this moment, no matter how small it is, all those jealous women want to be me. They want to be the one getting that quick smile he’s flashing at me.
“Ready?” His deep voice cuts through my thoughts.
I nod. “As I’ll ever be, I guess.”
He nods at the cute little cashier that bats her eyelashes at him and winks back at her. I shake my head at the two of them. I mean, okay, I’m righ
t here. When I pass her, she glares at me and then rolls her eyes. Oliver laughs a little as I storm off ahead of him and the cart of food. “Hey, wait up!” I hear him say, jogging lightly to catch up with me. His long legs finally come to level with my short ones, but that doesn’t stop me from pushing harder and trying to ignore him for the crap he just pulled inside.
I let myself into the Jeep and buckle myself in, waiting for him to load the groceries into the back with our luggage and put the cart away. He’s making sure to take his sweet time. Even for July, the air is stickier than usual and makes my skin crawl; it’s begging me to just take myself home and bury my head under the covers like I usually do.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asks me when he gets into the Jeep, his breathing heavy. I nod and mumble a quick, “I’m fine,” but he isn’t buying it. “Maybe I should just take you home; we’re still close enough.”
I scoff. “Yeah, maybe you should.”
His mouth opens, then closes slowly. “But, I thought—”
I wave him off. “Sorry, I just changed my mind. I’m not really ready for this.”
“What’s ‘this’?”
My throat is dry and itchy. “This, this whole—” I wave my arms around in a small circle. “—trip. I shouldn’t have said yes…I’m just not ready to be around people, I guess.” I lower my head and hear him let out a small sigh, followed by him shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.
“Hey.” His voice is low and I can feel myself start to get awkward and push myself away from his sadness. “I’m sorry for being an asshole.”
I scoff. “You were fine. It’s not you, it’s me.”
He laughs at my cheesy reference. “No, seriously. I know I was giving attitude and being a jerk. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have acted that way. But this week means a lot to my friend because he wants to be with your friend, so maybe we can both just…” His lips purse and he blows out air. “Pretend to be happy for their sake?”
I fake a huge smile. “I am happy.”
Oliver isn’t amused. “About the same as I am, I imagine. Look, I don’t know you or anything about you, but Casey is my best friend—he’s been there for me when no one else has been. I owe him a lot more than some weekend trip.”
I look out the window and sigh. “Fine.”
Oliver laughs, making my stomach drop a little. “Good.” I make a weird agreeing noise and he starts the Jeep. I don’t know what I’m even doing here; I told Randy I’d start looking for a new job. Now here I am, in a car with a man I don’t know, going out of town.
I can hear my phone start pinging after the Jeep lurches onto the freeway, heading out of town.
Nora’s name pops up on the screen.
Nora: How far are you?
I glance over at Oliver, whose gaze is dead ahead. He probably forgot I’m even here. I most definitely haven’t forgotten about him as I glance out the corner of my eye so I can look at him without getting caught.
Julie: Just getting on the freeway, we aren’t even half an hour in yet.
She sends me back a sad face.
Nora: Okay, drive safe. We had a change in rooms, just FYI.
I gasp a little louder than I probably should have.
“Is everything okay?” Oliver asks me without looking away from the road…not that he wants to even have a conversation, let alone make eye contact with me.
“Fine. I guess there’s a room issue; not quite sure of the facts,” I say coldly, listening to him suck in air between his teeth.
Oliver looks annoyed. “No, there shouldn’t be. There’s eight of us…a few of them can sleep together, right?”
“From the sound of it, some of them want to sleep together.” My mouth dries from having to say that sentence.
“Should you call her? I mean, we need to figure this out before we get there, don’t you think?” His voice is strained and nervous, but I hardly want to let Nora know this guy thinks I’m not worthy enough to sleep next to him. “You’d better call her before we lose service—before we’re all alone out here.”
I open the tea he’s grabbed for me and dial Nora. When she answers, I put her on speakerphone, which I can instantly tell is a big mistake. Once I realize that her voice is raspy and she’s out of breath I want to hang up the phone, but Oliver’s lips are turned up into a sexy, slight smile so I stay on the line. “What?” she breathes into the phone.
“Um, Nora? Your boyfriend’s friend wants to ask a question.” I am totally mortified.
“Okay?”
Oliver keeps his eyes forward. “What’s the problem with the rooms?”
Nora laughs. “Oh, that.”
“What do you mean, ‘Oh, that’?” His voice is thick with frustration.
“I mean…” She giggles and drags out her words. “…that it’s under control now. You guys will have to just room together, okay?”
I can feel the tension in the Jeep rise a little as Oliver thinks about sleeping in the same bed with me and gets annoyed. “I guess that will be okay,” he says in a low voice. He gets lost in his own thoughts as we drive down the dusky, winding roads.
“What happened to all the rooms?” I don’t want to sleep in the same room with him; I don’t even know him, and I’m not about to share a bed with a man who could crush me with a single bicep curl. Not to mention the fact that Oliver is so against even breathing in the same space as me.
“Well, there are four bedrooms,” Nora says and giggles again. We hear Casey’s voice in the background. “Casey and I are taking one, and there’s only one bed in each room, so the other guys are taking one and then Staci and Amber are taking the other one. That only leaves one—”
“I know how to do basic math, Nora,” Oliver says. “Never mind, I guess we’ll just be sleeping together, then.”
I’m so embarrassed that I start to tear up a little. “We’ll figure it out, okay? I can sleep on the floor in the girls’ room or on the sofa in the living room…something.”
I know that Oliver is just trying to make me feel comfortable, but a rush of heat washes over my body as I hang up the phone and bite my bottom lip, trying my best not to take it personally. Brandon didn’t want me, either, so I can’t expect that a stranger would.
Stupid Brandon.
I still don’t hate him.
“Hey.” His voice is smooth and sweet. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. We can sleep in the same bed—we’re adults, right?” I shake my head. I don’t dare take my eyes away from the window, even though I’m a little cold and really want him to turn on the heat. I doubt he would anyway, so I tuck my hands underneath my legs to try and keep them warm, my eyes locked on the outside world passing us by.
He finally looks over at me. “Are you cold?”
I shake my head again. I’m not exactly comfortable speaking to him right now.
“Are you going to ignore me the entire way there?”
“No,” I finally say, “I’m shaking my head, I’m not ignoring you.”
Oliver sighs and runs his fingers through his shaggy dark hair. I want to study him more, but he’s rude enough with me doing nothing to antagonize him, so I don’t want to muck up the waters any more than they already are. I do know that he smells delicious: manly and spicy, woodsy and strong.
“Are you cold, though?” he asks again.
I nod and blush. “A little.”
His lips curve into a small, sexy smile. “Well then, why didn’t you say so?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Didn’t feel like it.”
He lets the heat warm up the Jeep in a subtle way before turning it down again. “Better?”
I nod and smile warmly at him, but he doesn’t look back over.
“Better.” I pout and return my gaze to the window. Anything is better than sitting in awkward silence with a man who puts me off so badly. In the corner of my eye, I follow the length of his jeans, trying to be subtle. He has muscular legs and even more muscular arms, small bulges outlined u
nderneath his olive-green Henley.
And the first two buttons are unfastened.
Crap.
My stomach flutters with excitement. No, Julie, no.
“We have about an hour left; you can sleep if you want,” he says. The sky around the Jeep looks like it’s on fire from the sun setting as we race over the deserted road.
“Okay.” I bring my knees up into the seat with me, nearly kicking him on accident. I blush. “Can you wake me before we get there?”
He nods and I close my eyes.
Sure, anything for you, Julie.
Says no one.
Ever.
I can smell the cookies baking when someone says my name in a deep, sexy voice. Oliver appears in my dream, his jeans unbuttoned. He’s shirtless, lying on a bed and smiling at me, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “Hey, Julie.” He winks, biting his juicy bottom lip and sheepishly smiling. I saunter over to him and he pulls me onto the bed before pinning me underneath his hard, warm body and kissing my neck gently.
“Julie?”
Oh, crap.
“Wake up, sleepyhead, we’re almost there,” I hear Oliver say.
“Okay.” I rub my eyes and look around. It’s already dark and I can barely see anything outside now. “How much longer?”
“About ten minutes.”
Wow, he did what I asked.
“Thanks for waking me.” I fake a sweet smile that he returns with a genuine, warm, and gentle smirk from what I can see in the moonlight.
“Did you have a nice sex dream?” he asks me, laughter in his voice.
I gasp. “What?”
We pull onto a long, creepy road with trees hanging in a thick canopy over it. I smell the lake water and inhale it deep into my lungs.
Oliver smacks his lips. “You were making some interesting noises before I woke you up, Jules.”
Jules.
Oh. My. God.
“My name is Julie.” I stiffen my jaw. “Just like your name is Oliver, right?”