by J. Lynn
“You’re actually a pretty good artist,” she said.
“I know.”
She made a sound that wasn’t exactly friendly.
I shifted the lever. “I’ve used a telescope a time or two in my life.”
“That’s random.”
“Okay. I used it when I had the class previously.” I flashed her a quick grin, then checked the positioning of the scope. “Man, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get anything before those clouds roll in.”
“Well, you better hurry then.”
“Bossy.”
Shortcake grinned.
“Come over here and I’ll show you how to use this.” Giving her just enough space to get in, I bit the inside of my cheek as her hip brushed mine, coming fucking close to where I literally ached. “Are you going to pay attention?”
“Not really.” She was still smiling.
“At least you’re honest.” I was into self-torture. That was the only excuse to why I leaned in, caging her with my arms. Her scent, that heavenly mixture of berries and musk, caused a lot of my body parts to twitch. I vaguely realized that she hadn’t stiffened. That was good.
“This is a Philips ToUcam Pro II.” I cleared my throat. “It hooks to the telescope. At these settings, you should be able to get a clear image of Saturn. Press this and it will capture an image.”
“Okay.” She tucked the sides of her hair back behind her ears. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be getting an image of Saturn.”
“Huh.” What the fuck was Saturn? All I could think about was how close we were, how I could feel the warmth rolling off her body. I didn’t even know why were on the roof. “Hey.”
She tipped her head back, causing the edges of her hair to glide over my cheek. My pulse pounded as I imagined that hair sliding over other parts of my body. “Hey what?”
“Go out with me.”
“Shut up.” A grin appeared as she leaned forward, peering into the telescope. Her body brushed mine again, and I bit back a groan. “I don’t see anything.”
My laugh sounded strangled. “That’s because I haven’t taken the lens cap off.”
She elbowed me in the stomach, which made me laugh again. “Asshole.”
I was pushing the boundaries tonight. Didn’t even know why, but I couldn’t stop myself as I reached for the lens, pressing against her back. She stilled then, and her soft inhale rattled through me. I waited for her to move away, because she could if she wanted to, but she didn’t.
I glanced down at her and saw that her thick lashes fanned her cheeks. “What?”
“It would’ve been easier for you to just go to the side and do that,” she said, her voice different, heavier.
“True.” I bent so that my mouth was beside her ear. “But what fun would that be?”
Avery shivered, and my entire body tensed. “Go have fun by yourself.”
She had no idea how often that was the case. “Well, that’s really no fun.” I paused, not moving. “Try it again.”
Hesitating for a moment, she then leaned forward, pressing her eye to the telescope. A couple of seconds passed. “Wow.”
“You see it?”
She straightened. “Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I’ve never really seen a planet in real life. I mean, like taken the time to do so. It’s pretty cool.”
“I think so, too.” I snatched a few strands of her hair, stopping them from hitting me in the eye. “What are we supposed to be looking at?”
“Sagittarius and then the Teapot asterism and its steam, whatever—”A nasty, cold raindrop splattered off her forehead and she jerked back against my chest. “Oh crap.”
Shortcake squeaked as another drop came down and she whirled, her eyes meeting mine. We were about to get soaked to the bone. Swearing under my breath, I grabbed her hand, pulling her across the roof. We were almost to dry land when the sky ripped open and freezing rain drenched us.
“Oh my God,” she shrieked. “It’s so freaking cold!”
Laughing, I stopped and spun around, hauling her against my chest. There was a brief second when her wide eyes met mine as rain poured down on us. My smile was my only warning.
I wrapped an arm around her slim waist as I dipped, lifting her off her feet and tossing her over my shoulder. Her surprised squeal caused me to laugh, and this balloon-like pressure—it was the only way I could explain it—expanded in my chest and it felt good, like scoring a goal.
“You were running too slow!”
Her fingers dug into the back of my sweater. “Put me down, you son of a—”
“Hold on!” I clamped my arm over her hips and took off.
Slipping in the deep puddles, we almost ate cement as I slid across the roof. The words that were coming out of her mouth, directed at me, would’ve burned the ears off of soldiers.
I skidded to a stop and yanked open the door, bending down as we escaped the rain. Turning so she wasn’t facing the wall, I grabbed her hips and lowered her down.
Sharp need punched right through me as her body slid down my front. My hands tightened on her hips and she tipped her head back. Her eyes darkened to a deep chocolate brown, and my brain clicked off as I somehow tugged her closer. I knew she had to feel my arousal, and considering we hadn’t even kissed, something about that seemed wrong, but I couldn’t let her go.
Her hands pressed against my chest, and I thought she was going to push me away, and swore to God right then and there, no matter how hard it would be, I would let her go if she did.
But she didn’t.
Avery’s hands flattened against my chest, above my pounding heart, and she had to have felt it.
My hand moved on its own accord, curving up her waist and then over her arm, to her throat and then her cheek. She gasped when my fingertips grazed her cheeks, catching the hair stuck to her temples. I tucked the strands back behind her ears, my hand lingering.
“You’re soaked.”
“So are you.”
I smoothed my thumb over the slant of her cheek. “I guess we’re going to have to try this another night.”
“Yeah,” she whispered as her eyes flickered shut and then swept back open.
“Maybe we should’ve checked the weather first.” When she smiled, I shifted my hips in response. Her body shuddered in such a mind-blowing way and her lashes lowered. Her lips parted even further, and I didn’t want to let her go. She felt too good this close.
Her chest rose in short, deep breaths as I lowered my head, wanting and needing to kiss her. Just once. That’s all I wanted. My eyes started to drift closed.
Avery suddenly jerked back, pressing a hand between her breasts. “I think we . . . we should call it a night.”
For a moment I couldn’t move and then leaned back, tipping my head against the wall. It took a couple of moments before I could speak. “Yeah, we should.”
The trip out of the building and back to the apartment wasn’t easy. I was still strung tight as a bow. Nothing seemed to make the raw edge go away. I tried reciting the alphabet backwards, tried thinking about the old lady who lived in the building nearby, who sometimes walked her dog in a white nightgown. The sight was not pretty, but it still didn’t work.
The rain was still coming down as we dashed across the parking lot and under the awning. I shook my head, spraying water everywhere. Avery stopped at the base of the stairwell leading up to our apartments, and I thought it was all the rain I’d just pelted her with. I opened my mouth to apologize, but she turned sideways, her face pale as she peered up at me.
A very different kind of ache sliced through my chest, stirring up that knot in there, at the stark confusion and fear in her eyes. Fear. I didn’t get it. Had I done that to her? No. I couldn’t believe that. Not the way she had reacted to me. I saw it in her eyes. She had wanted me to kiss her, probably even as badly as I wanted to kiss her, but she had pulled away because . . . I honestly didn’t know.
I thrust my hand through my hair, pulling it off my f
orehead. “Go out with me.”
“No,” she whispered.
I grinned slightly, and her chest fell, her shoulders relaxed, as if she needed to hear this. “There’s always tomorrow.”
She followed me up the stairs. “Tomorrow’s not going to change anything.”
“We’ll see.”
“There’s nothing to see. You’re wasting your time.”
“When it concerns you, it’s never a waste of my time.”
And that was the damn truth.
Ten
The Wednesday before fall break, I skipped nutrition again and searched Avery out, finding her where she always was during this class: in the Den with Brittany and Jacob. It was a good thing that I had. I discovered three important things.
Shortcake was talking about me to her friends, because they knew that I had been asking her out. Score for that.
And she also compared me to a serial killer.
Not that I was offended, but it wasn’t every day that one found himself mentioned in the same sentence as Ted Bundy.
But her friends totally supported a date. I liked them.
“Anyway,” Brittany was saying, her eyes glimmering with amusement as she stared at a blood-red, absolutely mortified Avery. “This is not about me and my vast knowledge of serial killers. I can wow you later about that. This is about you, Avery. This fine young gentleman, who is not a serial killer, is asking you out. You’re single. You’re young. You should say yes.”
“Oh my God.” She moaned, planting her hands against her face. “Is it time for all of you to go home yet?”
I laughed deeply. “Go out with me, Avery.”
She turned to me, somewhat surprised-looking. “No.”
“See?” I addressed Brittany and Jacob. “Keeps turning me down.”
Jacob looked dumbfounded. “You’re an idiot, Avery.”
“Whatever.” She stood, grabbing her bag. “I’m going to class.”
“We love you!” Jacob shouted.
She muttered, “Uh-huh,” but stopped to say good-bye. Fall break kicked off tomorrow and they were going home. I was still surprised that Avery was remaining behind. Traveling to Texas was a hell of trip for four days, but she could’ve gone home with one of them. Admittedly, I didn’t like the idea of her being alone here.
I waited until she was done and then followed her across the Den. She arched a brow at me. “Following me?”
“Like a true serial killer,” I replied.
“You know we weren’t being serious, right? And I’m sorry about saying something to them about it. They just started pestering me about you and the next thing I know—”
“It’s okay.” I dropped my arm over her shoulders, steering her toward the cluster of trees outside of the building. It was chilly and she hunkered down, pressing closer, whether she realized it or not. “I don’t care.”
“You don’t care?”
I shook my head. Maybe it should bother me that there was now an audience to my repeated rejection, but it just didn’t. I glanced down at her and smiled. Her attention was focused on one of the blue vans that were always on campus.
“Uh-oh,” I murmured.
“What?” She looked up at me.
I lowered my arm, catching a strand of hair blowing across her face and tucking it behind her ear. Ever since the night on the roof of Byrd, I took every freaking opportunity to touch her and she let me. “You’re thinking.”
“I am.”
“About?”
“Nothing important.” She smiled absently. It wasn’t a huge smile, but she was smiling more. “You going home this weekend?”
“I am.” I moved closer, gathering up her hair and separating it into two long sections. I smiled, thinking she looked cute like that. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning, bright and early. I’m not coming back until Sunday night. So, no eggs for you this week.”
“Boo.” Her face fell a little.
“Don’t cry too much about it.” I brushed the ends of her hair across her cheek and tried again with her doing something this weekend instead of being alone. “Are you going to take Brit up on her offer and go home with her?”
She shook her head no. “I’m just going to hang out here and get some reading done.”
“Nerd.”
“Jerk.”
I smiled as I spread her hair over her shoulders. “You know what?”
“What?”
Taking a deep breath, I stepped back and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “You should go out with me tonight since I’ll be gone all weekend.”
She laughed. “I’m not going out with you.”
“Then hang out with me.”
Her brow puckered. “How’s that any different from going out with you?”
“How is me asking you to hang out with me tonight any different than us hanging out on Sunday?”
The knit between her brows started to fade. “What do you want to do?”
I shrugged casually, but my heart was pounding like a drum. “Order some food in and watch a movie.”
She shifted her weight, wary. “That sounds like a date.”
“That’s not a date with me, sweetheart.” I laughed. “I’d take you out, like out in public. This is just two friends hanging out, watching a movie and eating food.”
Her lips formed a tight line as she looked away. Several moments passed, and I steeled myself for yet another rejection. For some reason, if she said no to this, it would sting worse than the others. I didn’t know why, but if I couldn’t get her to do this, I was really going to have to reevaluate what the hell I was doing.
Shortcake sighed. “Yeah, sure. Come over.”
Holy shit? She said yes? I had to force myself to play cool, because I was about to fist pump the sky or some shit. “Wow. Calm down before you get too excited.”
“I am excited.” She playfully shoved my shoulder. “When are you coming over?”
“How’s seven?”
She smiled as she fiddled with her bracelet. “Works for me. See you then.”
I let her get to the sidewalk before I stopped her. “Avery?”
“Yeah?” she replied, turning.
My lips curved up as a bolt of nervous energy rolled through me. “See you tonight.”
“You’re spending a lot of time with this girl.”
“Whoa!” I stepped out of the shower, buck-ass naked, finding Ollie standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “What the hell, man?”
“What?” He shrugged. “Not like I haven’t seen your junk before.”
Shaking my head, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips. “What in the hell are you yapping about? And can it wait? Kind of have stuff to do.” Namely dinner and movies to acquire.
Ollie followed me into my bedroom. “I was asking about Avery. You’ve been spending a lot of time with her.”
I didn’t respond as I pulled on a pair of jeans, buttoning them up and then dropping the towel.
“Free balling it tonight?” Ollie grinned as he smacked his hands on the upper frame of the door. “Planning on getting laid?”
I shot him a dark look as I turned and grabbed a shirt. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
He leaned forward, stretching out his arms. His hair fell forward, shielding most of his face. “Nope. Not at this moment.”
“Great.” I pulled the shirt on.
“Steve’s having a party tonight. You going?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
I arched a brow as I brushed him out the way, heading into the living room to find my sneakers. “If you’re not surprised, why did you ask?”
Ollie shrugged. “You used to go to all the parties.”
Sighing, I pulled my shoes on and straightened. That part was true. So was the fact that my face had been absent from all of them since late August. “I’ll go to the Halloween one. I won’t miss that.”
“Uh-huh.” Ollie plopped down on the couch.
> I looked at him a moment, then shook my head as I grabbed some movies off the rack. Sometimes I wondered if Ollie even knew what he was talking about or doing.
“Cam?”
“Yeah?”
He tipped his head back and grinned. “I think it’s pretty cool that you’re spending time with Avery. I like her. She’s nice.”
“Thank you.” The moment those words came out of my mouth, I had no idea why I said them. My cheeks heated when Ollie laughed. “Fuck you.”
Ollie’s laughter followed me out to the hall and down to my truck. Thank you? That didn’t even make any sense. What the hell was I thanking him for? But as I headed down to the nearby Chinese restaurant and ordered Avery’s favorite—shrimp stir-fry—I realized I felt thankful. Strangest damn thing, because all Shortcake had done was say yes to hanging out, but I knew she didn’t allow people to get very close to her. This . . . this was a big step she was taking.
Avery was such a mystery to me; a paradox of innocence and allure—a mystery I was determined to solve.
Eleven
“Let’s go with Resident Evil,” Avery said as she stood in front of the counter, doling out the shrimp stir-fry. Her hair hung in loose waves all the way to the middle of her back. She was dressed low-key, in a pair of tight workout pants and a loose-fitting shirt that slipped over one shoulder, revealing a swath of smooth, golden skin and a thin strap.
The girl had no idea how good she looked like that and I resisted the urge to move closer to her. When I’d walked up on her in the kitchen earlier, she had reacted strangely, stiffening and paling.
“A girl after my own heart,” I replied, picking up two DVDs and taking them into the living room. “Zombies for the win.”
A sudden soft glow alerted me to her presence. “What do you want to drink?” she asked.
I glanced over my shoulder. “Do you have milk?”
Her nose wrinkled. “You want that with Chinese food?”
“Need my calcium.”
She made a face and disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a glass of milk and a can of soda. “That’s kind of gross, you know?” She sat, tucking her legs under her. “Weird combination.”