by Devon Ashley
We lay there motionless, his arms still wrapped snuggly around me as his body pressed atop mine, and I couldn’t care less that oxygen wasn’t making its way into my lungs. Our legs and arms were entangled like the good ol’ days, and I wondered if that was registering in his brain too. Those hazel orbs were dark out here, a stark contrast to the snow lit up by the moonlight, and they pierced my brown ones with a firm heat of passion. My eyes averted to his mouth, which he instinctively licked, and my body tingled at the thought of those luscious lips sweeping hard against mine. Whoa. Wait. What? When my temporary brain fart was over, I focused back on his eyes again, but they had softened, the fire suddenly subdued. His eyes narrowed playfully. “No more steering for you until we find a bunny run.”
He rolled off of me, and dug his second arm out from underneath me. We lay there splayed out on our backs in the snow. Giggles burst from my chest that refused to relent.
“But I’m a good driver,” I protested pathetically, waving my arms and legs a few times to make a snow angel.
“No, Princess, you’re not. At least not with a toboggan. But when we find an easier slope, you can try again.”
“Fair enough.”
There was a twenty-four hour diner in town between my place and the bookstore. We settled into a booth in the back and sipped on a few cups of coffee to get the blood circulating in our frozen fingers and toes again.
I think I was already beginning to lose the battle of the wills in terms of holding back a relationship. In theory, it made complete sense to go slow, to get to know one another again and allow my heart to fall further away from Robert. Unfortunately, reality spent the night handing me curve balls, putting me in moments that made me think with my hormones instead of my head.
I was a complete goner when Evan watched me from across the booth, a partial curl to his lips that made me wish I knew how to read minds. On accident, my foot bumped into his, but I repeatedly did it on purpose afterwards. Curiously, he didn’t do anything other than gaze back with a sexy twist of the lips.
We spent the majority of our time at the diner speaking with our eyes. And trust me, I was an expert when it came to decoding eye language, and those orbs were saying far dirtier things than Evan had ever let come out of his mouth before…which made me suspect he was deliberately trying to seduce me instead of waiting patiently for me to come along on my own.
Dirty little boy.
My lips continued the plan of evasive maneuvers, but I allowed his hand to grip mine the remaining two blocks to my home. My skin felt overheated, so I stripped the scarf from my neck. The crisp air was rejuvenating, and a few chills shivered down the length of my spine. The moment we reached the stoop to my building, I moved to untangle our fingers.
After about ten seconds of him standing there grinning like an idiot, I inquired, “You’re not waiting for me to invite you upstairs are you?” As if I was gonna do that after he spent the night trying to subtly turn me on.
“No.” Yet his eyes made me think differently.
“Good, ‘cause I literally live in a shoebox. There’s hardly enough room for me to move around in there.” He clearly thought I was dodging, and I was, but I wasn’t kidding about my minimalistic lifestyle. And knowing what a media buff he was, I casually threw in, “Not even room for a TV.”
Yep. There’s the eye roll.
“It’s called a flat-screen,” he deadpanned. “They hang on the wall now.”
“As if I could lift and hang the thing at the same time.”
Shrugging, he replied, “You could always ask me for help.”
“Have you met me yet? I realize the dream version may be slightly different than reality’s version, but when have I ever been willing to ask for help?”
His thumb scratched the area between his nose and mouth, and I couldn’t help but gaze at the lips whose curvature I used to know so well. Tantalizing tingles exploded within my belly. Curse him! Several seconds went by before I realized he was waiting for me to look up and acknowledge him as a whole. His voice deep and smooth, he answered, “I think we’ve both changed a little over the past two years.” He stepped forward, and shivers, that had nothing to do with the chilly wind blowing gently against us, covered my hidden skin with goosebumps. My feet stood their ground, but more likely, they were told to do so by my traitorous heart, whose beats were out of control; or by my mouth, whose lips ached for me to lean forward and connect with his. “And I don’t know about you, but I’d like to find out what those changes are.”
I swear his right eye just twinkled when his cheekbone lifted to make room for his ever growing smile. But then he turned and began walking away. “Goodnight, Jenna.”
“Wait. You’re leaving?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
He turned but kept walking backwards, farther and farther away from me, fading away into the blurry white haze coming off the mist produced by passing cars. “You didn’t invite me up.” His grin told me he wasn’t really mad at that, and in fact, was probably pretty happy to be leaving me wanting more.
Damn he’s good.
I sipped on my peppermint mocha at Delilah’s during my nightly break, casually skimming the bulletin board of various items for sale, community updates, services for sale, lost pets, etc. I was close to the front door that never seemed to stay closed, so the heat felt really good cupped within my grasp and sliding down my throat.
“So, am I picking you up tonight?” Evan softly said into my ear from behind. He was so close, random parts of his body rubbed against mine.
I cocked my head to the side, debating. With any luck, one whiff of my perfume would intoxicate him and pay him back for stirring up all those feelings last night, maybe even set off his own set of internal explosions. It’d only be fair. “I don’t know. It’s awfully last minute,” I said, all ho-hum-like.
“It is,” he agreed. His hand snaked around my back, stopping once his palm came to rest on my hip bone, lightly pressing me against him.
I should’ve known it was a trick, but I was sucked into the moment. Being somewhat wrapped up in his arms felt right, even though my head was trying to tell me otherwise. That was, until his other hand came out of nowhere and pinched beneath a rib, causing my body to snap so fast I was lucky I wasn’t wearing my coffee.
“Stop that!” I cried, swatting at him as I turned to face him head on. Damn those ticklish spots!
“That’s a yes, right?” And damn that delicious, irresistible half-grin.
“Yes. Whatever! Go.” I swatted again but he jumped out of reach this time.
Pushing and walking backwards out the front door, he asked, “Same time?”
“No. In front of my place. Ten o’clock.”
He was curious about the change in location, but with the arc of my eyebrows and the hand taking place at my hip, it kept him from questioning before officially leaving the building.
Jeesh. And men say we women were the teases…
I screamed internally. Why did he have this affect on me? Why was it every time he either touched or looked at me a certain way, I just turned to goo and melted to the floor? How was he capable of breaking down my defenses so easily? Damn…did he do it so easily the first time?
Well, two could play at this game.
I finished the last two hours of my shift with an unmovable smile plastered across my face that actually hurt by the time I got out of there. I had just enough time to rinse and smother my skin with berry body wash, change into a sexier, tighter sweater that I swiped from Sophie’s closet last November, and got downstairs again before the church bell across the street chimed ten times. It turned out Evan was already parked and waiting outside his truck, just three spots down.
For once I got to do the slow, sexy walk that demanded attention. Don’t think I couldn’t see the slight shake of the head or the partial eye roll on his part. I hoped it did screw with his head a bit – both of them. And yes, I intentionally waited until I was right up on him be
fore adding my coat to the ensemble and eliminating the special view he was taken to as I approached.
He exhaled pretty loudly, considering the wind was blowing hard. Thankfully, it blew against me and pushed my hair back instead of whipping crazily around my face. My eyes drifted down to check out the dark grey ribbed v-neck tunic and black jeans, both of which I knew would fit his structure in all the right places, but unfortunately was covered up by that damn wool pea coat again. I glanced up in time to catch him running the same check on me.
My laughter was silent, but the jerks in my chest were painfully obvious, so his eyes immediately found mine. And no, he didn’t blush over getting caught checking me out. He never did.
“Okay with what you see?” I inquired teasingly.
“Always.” His eyes definitely agreed. “You?”
“What makes you think I’m looking?” I asked innocently. He narrowed his eyes before opening the passenger door. A silent moment passed between us as his eyes bore down on me in a sexual manner. They finally diverted to my mouth, his thumb reaching up to sweep across my bottom lip just once, teasing me in a way that was gonna make me scream pretty soon. Damn! I can’t believe he was doing this to me! I shouldn’t be that desperate to kiss him, to feel his arms around me, to need my body pressed against his. “You know, for someone that’s supposed to be giving me time to adjust, you sure look ready to attack.”
That knowing smile was just evil. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kiss you.”
“No?” I had serious doubts he could hold off much longer. All of his teasing had to be eating away at him as much as it had me.
“Nope.” His eyes met mine as the pad of his thumb tickled my cheek bone now. “The next time we kiss, I want you to really kiss me back.” With a teasing smile, he added, “So I’m sorry if my interest is driving your hormones a little nuts, but I plan to wait until you ask me for it this time.”
Oh. My. God. Seriously? How I kept my jaw from dropping was beyond me. “Don’t think for one second you’re stirring anything up by playing these games. My hormones are in check, bucko.”
He exaggerated clearing his throat and sucked on the inside of his cheek as his hand slowly made its way down my neck and beneath the lapel of my wool jacket, coming to rest on my heart. You’d think I’d gasp with his hand suddenly splayed across the top of my breast, but I didn’t. Actually, I was trying my damnest to calm my heart, which was sputtering erratically, completely ratting out what his physical touch was doing to my body. “You sure about that? Because it’s thirty degrees out here, yet your cheeks are flushed with heat and your forehead’s a little moist. Care to explain that, Princess?”
Lucky for him that endearment was beginning to grow on me.
“Well, that depends,” I answered calmly, proud my voice didn’t crack. My left hand reached around his neck and I inched forward until our right cheeks were flush. My fingers slid into his hair and tugged on a few locks, and I exacted further torment by exhaling a warm, gentle breath over his ear. Don’t think I didn’t notice how his hand twitched over my chest, aching to do more than just feel for a heartbeat. My hand slid slowly down his neck until I felt the quickened pulsations beneath his lightly scented skin. Well lookey there, his throbbing heartbeats rivaled mine. Weakly chuckling my amusement, I whispered, “Is your explanation gonna be any different than mine?”
His head rolled back and I caught the excitement in his face. Busted. His hand retreated and grabbed the hand I had draped around his neck. His eyes locked onto mine, just mere inches away, and sensuously kissed the inside of my wrist. “Oh, I sure hope your answer is the same as mine.”
That brought a curve to my lips. “So what are we doing tonight?”
“Well, if you can keep your hands to yourself,” he said, his eyes rolling my way in an amusing manner, “I thought we could rent a movie and go back to my place.”
“Don’t you live with your parents?”
“Sort of. I live in the guest room above the garage. It was the only way I would agree to come home for the semester.”
“Smart boy.”
His arm motioned for me to get into the truck already, and we drove to the video store. Funny they still called it a video store since it didn’t have any video cassettes in the entire place. We played tug of war with our hands when I tried to lure him to the romantic comedies and he tried to get me into the fantasy/science fiction section.
“All right, all right.” His pull relented so I released mine. “How about we meet half way and get an action flick?”
“So long as there’s a romantic element to it.”
He laughed under his breath but eventually agreed. Something caught his attention over my shoulder and his happiness sorta diminished. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
Curiously, I scanned the area he was glaring at, expecting to see Melissa, or some other ex I wasn’t aware of yet. But it was actually a middle-aged couple that stood out. The woman was robust, with slightly frizzy, wind-blown brown hair that was cut just above the shoulders, and warm brown eyes. The man was several inches taller with green eyes and a receding grey hairline, and seemed to favor his right leg a bit. The woman was highly excited and grinning widely as she hurried towards us in front of the man, who had more of a look of apology on his face than anything.
“Honey, I didn’t know you were going to be here. Hanging out with the guys, you say?” she asked accusingly.
Well, until I commit to a little more physicality, I might as well be just one of the guys.
I tried to keep from overly smiling now that I knew these were his parents, and ‘cause he seemed to be a little horrified over the intrusion. His father continued with the sympathetic looks, but smiled when my glance caught his.
“Mom, Dad,” Evan acknowledged reluctantly. “This is Jenna. Jenna, my parents.”
“Hi,” I said meekly, offering a tiny wave.
Her eyes lit up and her outburst drew weird stares from the people around us. “Oh, Jenna! So nice to meet you!” she exclaimed, taking my hand and shaking it wildly a few times. “I’m sorry we missed you at the hospital.” She hesitated and caught Evan’s gaze before adding with a curious smile, “I guess now I know why Evan rushed us off so quickly that night.” And here I thought his face couldn’t look more distressed. “You’ll have to forgive my son. He’s deathly afraid I’ll embarrass him.”
“No chance of that, Mom,” Evan said sarcastically, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
“Oh, Jenna. I’d love for you to come to dinner sometime next week.”
I wasn’t really sure what to say to that, since Evan and I weren’t a couple. But luckily I didn’t have to say anything, ‘cause Evan cut in with a, “Mom…” the same time her husband let out a, “Diane…”
I just smiled as her hand dramatically shooed at her husband while he lightly pulled on her arm. “Let them be, Diane. Evan will bring her to dinner if he wants to.”
“Oh, pish-posh!”
Even as her husband pulled her off in the opposite direction, Mrs. Gilden faced us, demanding, “Evan, you be good to that girl and bring her to dinner.”
Groaning with his jaw clenched tight, Evan was thankful they finally left the store. No longer able to contain the giggles, I let a few out before asking, “What were the odds of that happening?”
“One in four, actually,” he muttered, still a bit lifeless.
“What?”
“Once a month my parents go on a Saturday date night. Typically, they come by here afterwards to get a movie for Sunday. I hadn’t kept up with their night out since I’m not directly staying in the house anymore.”
“Oh. Huh.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured. He truly looked taken aback.
“Oh, stop,” I said, nudging him in the arm, hoping it would knock that funky, uncomfortable look off his face. “It wasn’t that bad. Your mother’s cute.” A thousand times nicer than Robert’s mother ever was.
“Cute’s not the
word flashing through my head right now with bright neon lights.”
“You think that’s bad?” I joked. “I’ve decided I want a romantic comedy after all.” I winked and twirled, quietly laughing over the way he dramatically sighed in defeat. Tease me, will you? With any luck I’ll get a sense of payback if the movie bores him to death tonight.
Fifteen minutes later we were climbing up the wooden stairs to his current home, which tended to complain with each step. His family had a large one story home, but in the dark, all I could tell was the brick was a reddish-brown and the siding was in shades of light and dark browns. Evan unlocked the door, flipped the light switch and closed the door behind us. Gratefully, a black curtain covered the glass, so at least his mother couldn’t sneak a peek. And I had an inkling that was why he locked us in.
Obviously, his mother furnished and decorated the room, and Evan merely brought a few personal items. The first thing I was drawn to was the queen-sized bed pushed against the middle of the wall to the right of us. The bed had an abstract, dark blue and tan duvet cover with tan sheets. The room was bare of furniture other than a brown suede armchair and a chest of drawers with a flat-screen, so I guessed it was just used when relatives came to town. The game console was surely Evan’s. A door on the opposite end had to be the bathroom, possibly even shared with a closet. Evan must’ve been planning on us being here tonight ‘cause the room was immaculately clean for a college guy.
Five minutes later we were camped out on the bed on our stomachs, watching Sweet Home Alabama. Yeah, I knew…cruel. We’d barely gotten past Melanie’s engagement before he started shifting a lot. I tilted my head to better see him, a devilish smile breaking through. His smile matched mine for a long minute, then we both calmed to a sweeter, softer expression. My eyes scanned the features of his face. I imagined my hand caressing his cheek, my finger tracing the jaw line down, my thumb moving to trace the lips I was dying to kiss. Like he knew exactly what I was thinking, Evan wet his lips. For once my heart was calm, the jitters missing in action. I felt at peace right now, the warmth from our sides and shoulders pressed firmly against one another seeping underneath my skin.