Abby swallowed and licked her lips. "Okay."
Lance's gaze dropped to her mouth. He leaned forward slightly and Abby leaned back a little. His hand slid up her leg, from knee to mid thigh. "I'd like to kiss you now, Abby."
She swallowed again. "Okay." It came out as a breathy whisper. And then his mouth was on hers, almost before she could think. His lips were soft, softer than she'd expected. His hand slid from her thigh to her hip and around her back, pulling her closer to him. He pulled back for a breath, and kissed her again, more firmly. His other hand came up to cup her face. He angled his head and slid his tongue into her mouth. Abby tentatively slid her tongue against his and he deepened the kiss further.
When they broke apart Abby was breathing hard and her heart was racing. "Um, I think I better go."
Lance nodded and got out of the car, taking her hand as he walked her to her apartment. At her door he turned to her and kissed her again. He rested his forehead against hers for a moment before speaking. "This was a date, Abby. Tomorrow is too. I'll pick you up at noon."
Abby just nodded, not trusting her voice right then. She unlocked her door and cleared her throat. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
CHAPTER FIVE
"Who's the hottie dropping you off?"
Abby jumped, startled by Megan's voice. "God, Megan! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Abby pushed away from the door she'd just closed and turned to face Megan. "I didn't even think you'd still be here."
Megan was wearing a robe and had her hair wrapped in a towel. "I'm just getting ready to go. Isaac's picking me up at 8:30, so I've still got almost an hour." She narrowed her brown eyes at Abby. "Don't dodge the question. Who's the hottie?"
Abby rolled her eyes. "I'm not dodging anything. That was Lance." Abby flopped down on the couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table and pulling a throw pillow into her lap.
Megan crossed her arms and stared Abby down. "And how do we know Lance?"
"I met Lance at the party last night. Why? Do you know him?"
Megan shook her head. "No. He looks familiar, though."
"Maybe you've seen him in the business building? He said he was a marketing major."
"Was a marketing major?" Trust Megan to pick up on verb tenses. It must come from working as a tutor during the school year.
"Yeah, he just graduated."
Megan sat down, looking thoughtful. "Maybe. What else do you know about him?"
"Umm, he's working as a marketing intern over the summer and then he's going back to Texas in the fall."
"Hmm . . . anything else?"
Abby closed her eyes and thought back over their conversations. "Uh, he doesn't know how to do laundry?" Megan's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't interrupt and Abby kept talking. "Oh, he said he had a football scholarship, so I guess he played football."
"He's from Texas, he just graduated, and he played football." Megan paused scrunching her face while she thought. Then her face cleared and her eyes gleamed with excitement. "Oh my God! Do you mean Lance Kane?"
"Uh, maybe? He didn't tell me his last name."
"You're kissing some guy on our doorstep and you don't even know his last name?"
"Like you're one to talk. I walked in on you and Isaac doing more than that last week." It was Abby's turn to narrow her eyes. "Were you spying on me or something?"
Megan shrugged. "I heard something outside so I glanced out my window. You were kissing. So, was that your first kiss? How was it? Is he as good a kisser as the rumors say?"
Abby threw the pillow in her lap at Megan. "Really? I have to tell you the details?"
Megan threw the pillow back. "Yes, you do. It's only fair. I tell you all about my exploits."
"But I don't ever ask. You just volunteer that information."
Megan made a dismissive noise in her throat. "Whatever. You know you want to know, even if you won't admit it. So, c'mon! Fill me in."
"Fine. Our first kiss was in the car. The one you saw was the second kiss. Or maybe the third. I think technically he kissed me twice in the car."
"Oooh, a parking lot make out session. Was there tongue?" Megan wiggled her eyebrows.
"Well, you could hardly call it making out if there weren't any tongue, could you?"
Megan cackled in delight. "I'm going to take that as a yes. So, how was it?"
Abby smiled. Megan butted in before Abby could actually answer. "That good, huh?"
Abby laughed. "Yeah, that good."
"As good as the rumors?"
Abby shook her head. "I haven't heard the rumors. There are rumors about him?"
"Oh, yeah." Megan's face turned serious. "There are lots of rumors about that guy. He's a serial dater. He takes girls out, but rarely the same girl twice, and never more than that."
Abby frowned. "That makes him sound like a jerk."
Megan shrugged and shook her head. "No, no one seems to think he's a jerk. He just doesn't do relationships. But he's supposed to be a great kisser and really good in bed. So, you've found out about the first rumor. Any plans on finding out if there's truth to the second?"
Abby whacked Megan with the pillow again. "No. But I'm sure you'll pry it out of me if I change my mind."
Megan's eyes widened. "No? Why not?"
"You know I'm not like that, Megan. I don't do casual sex."
"Maybe you should give it a try. It might do you some good—help you loosen up."
Abby just shook her head. "Anyway, if what you say is true, we'll find out one way or another tomorrow."
"Why? What's tomorrow?"
"He's taking me out on a lunch date."
"A lunch date? That's not very sexy. Why a lunch date?"
"I told him I was busy in the evening, so he settled for lunch."
"What?!" Megan turned to face Abby and took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed to calm herself down. "Abby." Another deep breath, and she opened her eyes. "Abby, when a hot guy asks you out, why on earth would you say you're busy? Especially since it's apparently a second date. A second date that this particular hot guy doesn't do very often."
"Okay, for one thing I didn't know that about the second date thing or even that there were rumors about this guy. For another, he's already monopolized today and last night, so I wasn't sure if I wanted him taking up tomorrow night, too."
Megan sat back on the couch, resting her head against the back. "Hold on." She looked at the clock on the wall. "It's not even eight. And you're getting home from a date? Is he the one you were meeting earlier when you said you were hanging out with a friend?"
Abby nodded. "Yeah, I was meeting him. Well, he wouldn't let me meet him somewhere. He picked me up."
Megan looked at her like she'd grown another head or maybe a third arm. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't you let him pick you up for a date? And you went out with him wearing that?"
"I just put on clean clothes. I didn't know it was a date when he picked me up."
"What? How could you not know that?"
"He just texted me this afternoon and said he had bad news that he wanted to tell me in person. I told him I'd meet him somewhere and he insisted on picking me up."
"What bad news?"
"That he'd ruined my new light pink tank top."
"He ruined your new tank top? Why? How?"
"He washed it with his clothes and a new shirt bled in the laundry, turning it a weird color, he set the stain in it, and shrunk it about three sizes."
"He ruined your shirt in the laundry."
"Yes."
"Abby."
"Megan."
"Why was he washing your shirt?"
"Because it was stained and he was trying to get it out."
"Okaaay. Why did he have your stained shirt?"
"I left it at his house last night."
Megan put up one hand as though to stop Abby and pinched the bridge of her nose with the other, her eyes closed again. After a moment she dropped her hand and looked at Abby again. "Abby
, you just told me that the first time you kissed Lance was this evening. Right?"
"Right."
"Then what the hell were you doing at his house last night taking off your clothes?"
Abby waved a hand in the air. "It's nothing dirty, Megan. I bumped into him last night at the party and spilled my Jack and Coke all over both of us. I was soaked and sticky and ready to leave and he offered me a ride home."
"He was the friend that you caught a ride with last night?"
Abby nodded.
Megan opened her eyes and looked at Abby. "Did you know him before last night?"
"No."
"But you agreed to let him take you home."
"Yeah." Abby shrugged. "He seemed harmless enough and he wasn't drunk."
"Okay, fine. We'll revisit that later. How did you end up at his house?"
"He said he needed to make a pit stop and he went inside and changed his shirt. I waited in the car and when he came back out he asked if I wanted to go have pie with him and let me borrow one of his shirts. When I went in to change I accidentally left my shirt at his house and he decided to wash it for me. But he ruined it, so today he took me to buy a new shirt to replace the one he destroyed."
Megan stared at the ceiling while she processed this. "This is so weird."
"Tell me about it."
"Okay, but you left at like three thirty. He went shopping with you for over three hours?"
"No, we went and saw a movie."
"And then you made out in his car."
Abby snorted. "Pretty much."
"And you're going out tomorrow?"
"Yup."
"This doesn't fit with what I've heard about him."
Abby shrugged.
Megan pulled the towel off her head and stood up, her chin length mop of curls bouncing around her face. "Well, I've got to finish getting ready to go. Isaac's going to be here soon."
"Okay. Have fun at the party tonight. Don't get too wasted."
Megan laughed. When she got to her doorway she turned and looked back at Abby, her smile replaced with concern. "So, I know I said you should have some fun. But Lance has a reputation as a player. Be careful, yeah? I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Thanks for telling me. I'll be careful."
* * *
Abby stood in front of her closet wrapped in a towel. Lance was supposed to be picking her up in less than an hour and she was still basically naked.
The problem was that she didn't know what to wear. It was lunch, so it shouldn't be too fancy, right? But he'd actually told her it was a date beforehand, so shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops seemed too casual.
"Megan!"
She heard rustling fabric and the sound of something hitting the floor through her bedroom door. A minute later the door opened a few inches. Megan leaned her face on the door, one hand gripping the doorknob and her other side braced against the doorjamb. She leveled a glare at Abby. "You bellowed?"
"You know, you really ought to get over one hangover before giving yourself another one."
"Did you really just make me drag my ass to your room to lecture me about hangovers?"
"No." Abby waved a hand at her closet. "I need help deciding what to wear."
Megan stumbled her way over to Abby's bed and collapsed in a heap on top of it, throwing one arm over her face. "How about clothes? Or you could just wear the towel. I bet Lance wouldn't mind."
"Ha ha. You're so funny I might die from laughing too hard. Seriously, I need your help. You're better at this kind of thing than I am."
Megan sighed and put her arm down so she could look at Abby. "Fine. Where are you going?"
Abby started playing with her bottom lip. "I don't know."
Megan stared at her for a minute. "You're nervous?"
"What? No. Why would I be nervous?" Abby's denial didn't sound convincing even to her own ears and she kept messing with her lip.
Megan pointed at her. "You are nervous. I know that look. And you only play with your lip when you're nervous or deep in thought."
Abby forced her hand down to her side, clenching her fist to keep it there. "Maybe I'm deep in thought. I'm trying to decide what to wear, after all."
"Yeah. And you only do that when you're nervous about who you're seeing. The rest of the time you couldn't give two shits about your clothes."
"If you're not going to help, you can just go bury yourself under the blanket on the couch again." Abby turned back to her closet.
"Nope. I'm staying in your bed. You made me come in here, so here I am." Megan snuggled deeper into Abby's pillow. "Get me a blanket. I'm cold."
Abby stepped over to her bed and yanked the comforter out from under Megan and put it over her. "Why don't you wear more than shorts and a tank top since you always get cold when you have a hangover?"
"We're not here to discuss my wardrobe choices. Or my hangover recovery techniques." Megan pulled the comforter up to her chin and closed her eyes, humming her pleasure. "I love your comforter."
"Good. I'll buy you one just like it if you help me figure out what to wear for my date."
Megan cracked an eye open. "Liar."
"Fine. I won't drag your skinny butt out of my bed if you help me pick something out."
"Ass, Abby. You can say ass now. Your mom will never know as long as you don't cuss in front of her."
"Ass, then. Are you going to help me or not?" Abby had intended that to come out snappish and angry, but instead it sounded whiny and desperate. She cringed on the inside. It wasn't good that some guy she barely knew was turning her into this. Megan was right—she normally didn't care what people thought about her.
"You're going to lunch with the guy, not a masquerade ball. Wear something comfortable."
"Okay, but I don't want to look like a slob or something."
"Abby, he asked you out while you were wearing your Pluto t-shirt. I doubt he'd care if you wore a paper bag." Megan thought for a minute. "Just wear something dressy casual. Wear your sheer turquoise blouse over a white cami with your favorite shorts."
"Thank you." The relief in Abby's voice was audible. "Now get out so I can get dressed."
"Not gonna happen." Megan rolled over to face the wall. "You promised I could stay if I helped. I'm probably going to take a nap."
"Fine. Just promise you'll go puke in the bathroom."
Megan waved an arm at her. "I stopped puking two hours ago. I just need some sleep."
Summer Fling (Players of Marycliff University Book 1) Page 5