My belly tightened. “And what’s that?”
“To kiss you,” he said simply.
I grinned.
“I think that might be okay,” I whispered nervously.
Oh, God. It felt like a whole freakin’ swarm of butterflies had taken flight in my belly. Like that massive migration that the butterflies took to the south every freakin’ year when the weather started to turn cold. Only, this swarm was all due to Banner and his wicked smile.
“I think that if I kissed you, I might not want to stop,” he said. “And we don’t know each other well enough to do that yet.”
He was right.
Sadly.
But that didn’t make him saying no to kissing me any better.
He walked over to my nightstand and picked up the remote, aiming at the television in the corner moments later.
“This is the smallest television in the world,” he said as he glanced at it.
Or squinted, more likely.
“I don’t spend much time in here watching television,” I admitted. “I’ve never needed anything bigger. If you want to watch a better TV, we can go to the game room.”
“You have a game room?” he asked.
I nodded. “We do.”
“Take me to it,” he ordered, holding out his hand.
I sat up and reached for it, trying to act like my heart wasn’t pounding a thousand miles a minute as I led him to where he wanted to go.
When we got there, he hissed. “This… this is… wow.”
I snorted. “My dad built this room for us. But then decided he needed a mancave because we talk too much during movies. Which then turned into him being in there, and us being in here. I think I spend more time in here than in my own bed half the time.”
He chuckled softly, causing warm tingles to dance along my skin.
“The couch looks more like a bed,” he said.
And the way he said it made me blush from the roots of my hair to the tops of my shoulders.
At least, that was all he could see, anyway.
He walked around the couch and sat down in the very corner, putting his legs up on the ottoman.
Then he held his hand out, ordering me without words to come sit next to him.
I did, but first I gathered up the remote from my usual spot and tossed it to him.
He caught it easily, turning it on and raising his arm again as he waited.
“I’m not sure what to watch,” he said. “What’s good? I don’t usually watch television at all.”
I didn’t either, usually.
“When I have time to waste, I always watch something on Netflix,” I said. “I hear they have a few good horrors that are out right now. The Haunting of Hill House has gotten excellent reviews.”
He looked at me side-eyed.
“You’re sure that you want to watch something scary?” he asked casually.
I looked at him with amusement.
“What, are you scared?” I asked. “You’re living by yourself. Maybe you don’t want to watch something like that.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s you.”
I scoffed and ordered him to cue it up.
He did, and I got comfortable at his side. Not necessarily leaning into him, but close enough that I could feel the heat emanating from his body.
The first part of the show started, and I tensed when I saw the funeral parlor.
“They just start right off with a bang, don’t they?” I murmured, staring at it.
A light touch on my arm had me looking over my shoulder with a gasp.
“Dad!” I cried out.
He rolled his eyes and gave me the pizza box. “Mom ordered some Cinnastix, too. If you want some, you’ll have to come fight us for them in the kitchen.” He paused. “Possibly an arm-wrestling match. Though, your mother would have to do it since I don’t really have an arm.”
I snickered and thanked him for the box. Then handed it to Banner as I stood to go get us drinks and towels.
When I came back, he was patiently waiting for me to get back before he handed me the first slice.
“There’s another pizza in there,” I said. “Don’t get all sad and eat less than you normally would.”
He flashed me a grin and hit play on the show we’d been about to watch.
I was happily nibbling on my third piece when I nearly choked to death.
Banner hit pause and slapped me on the back, looking at me with concern.
“Do you need me to give you the Heimlich?” he asked, not altogether joking.
I shook my head.
“No,” I wheezed, eyes watering. “I think that a little bite went down the wrong hole, though. I swear to God. That was bad.”
“The almost choking thing, or the dead girl not dead thing?” he asked curiously.
“Both,” I whispered, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
He grinned and took another slice, this time not hitting play as we continued to eat.
When I was finished, he was getting up to take the empty box into the kitchen. Just as I was about to go find him because he was taking too long, he came back with another couple of drinks, another pizza, and a box of Cinnastix.
“Wow,” I said. “Did you have to beg him for that?”
He grinned. “They got two boxes. But I did have to promise that I wouldn’t spill the icing.”
I rolled my eyes and took the smaller box from him, digging in while he polished off four more pieces.
“You weren’t joking,” I said around a bite of ooey goodness. “What’s your favorite pizza?”
He lifted the pepperoni as if in answer.
“I’m an original crust, pepperoni kind of guy,” he said. “I’ll try the other ones. But really if I’m going to eat, this is my jam.”
He pushed the half-eaten pizza away and eyed the dessert I was stuffing my face with.
“Am I going to get any of that?” he asked curiously.
I licked my finger clean and shrugged. “I guess I could be convinced to share.”
“Convinced?” he asked teasingly, his mouth kicked up into a smirk.
I nodded once, eyeing him innocently. “You just have to win an arm-wrestling contest.”
He choked and reached for the box, but I snatched it away before he could get his greedy hands on it. “Nuh-uh. I still have two pieces left before I get to half.”
“But you’re eating all the icing,” he teased, tickling my sides.
I started to giggle, and soon I stopped struggling altogether because I realized that he was practically laying on top of me.
Feeling feisty, I offered him my half-eaten piece and he ate it.
I grinned when it left behind some cinnamon and icing on his lips.
Lips that I very much wanted to kiss.
I leaned upward, about to lay my lips on his, and then my dad broke the moment. “I have a half a box left of the Cinna-shit if you want it!”
His yell had Banner reluctantly moving off of me.
Then he winked and took his half-eaten pizza back into the kitchen.
He came back moments later with the other half of my parents’ dessert and a smirk on his face.
“Did you know there’s an entire icing here untouched?” He wiggled it at me.
I rolled my eyes and finished off my last piece, then pushed the box toward him.
He finished off all of it.
There wasn’t a speck left as he leaned back with a groan.
“You’re gonna be slow as hell at practice tomorrow,” I teased, poking him with one toe.
He turned just his head to look at me.
“Worth it.”
I licked my fingers clean and then crawled back to my spot, this time managing to get just a little bit closer than I had been before.
He pressed play again on the show, and this time, I waited in anticipation for the next th
ing to happen.
It wasn’t long in coming.
The moment the next scary thing happened, I covered my face with my hands and peeked out between my fingers.
I could practically feel Banner’s attention centered on me, but I couldn’t stop myself.
This show was scary!
“Per?”
I looked over at him, not bothering to remove my hands.
“Yeah?” I asked.
He held his hand out, arm raised as if he wanted me to come cuddle.
And I didn’t even hesitate. One second I was on my cushion, and the next I was sharing his.
He felt warm, and solid, and hard and smelled yummy.
And he gave good cuddles.
“Perfect,” he rumbled, sounding content.
I resituated myself until I was lying with my head on his chest, but still able to see the show.
He rested his chin on my head, running his hand up and down the length of my arm.
When I started to shiver, he reached back and tugged the afghan off the back of the couch, covering me with it.
I moved until I was even closer to him, my legs resting against his thighs now.
But before I could get comfortable, he reached forward and tugged my lower legs to drape over his thighs.
I held my breath as his bare hand met my bare ankle, tingles starting to run through my body at his touch.
And as we moved through the next two episodes, I never once moved.
His hand, however, did.
He started out at my ankle and ended up at the outside of my thigh.
By the time he was hitting stop instead of play, I was damn near melted into a pile of needy goo on top of him.
He groaned and patted my thigh lightly with his palm. “As much as I’d like to stay, I have to go study for a history test and I need to get home and shower and do some laundry that I’ve been putting off for way too long.”
I reluctantly pulled myself out of his lap, shivering at the slight nip in the air.
This room always got colder than all the others. I never understood why.
But with my body pressed up against Banner’s, I hadn’t even noticed.
“I guess I should get to writing my English paper,” I admitted. “I don’t want to have to do it after our cross-country meet Thursday.”
He stood and gathered our trash, tossing it in the trashcan that was near the end of the couch before coming back to me and offering me his hand.
I took it, allowing him to peel my body from the couch where it’d accepted me as one of its own.
He grinned when the groan slipped free.
“Cold?” he asked, running his hands up the length of my arms.
I nodded. “It’s always cold in here.”
He winked and held out his arm like a gentleman.
“Walk me to the door, Perry Cat.”
“Perry Cat?” I laughed.
He winked. “My head is a weird place to be sometimes. Words just come out without me telling them to.”
I winked, pouting slightly when I realized he wasn’t going to give me more than that.
“Okay.” I sighed.
He grinned wickedly at me, making my heart start to beat rapidly in my chest.
Damn, the boy had a way with those lips.
And I doubted I’d even seen a hint of what he could do with them.
Which made me blush even more thinking about all the things that he could do, and all the things that I wanted him to do with them to me.
“What was that look for?” he asked curiously as we headed through my now-quiet house.
My parents had likely gone to their room over an hour ago.
Both of them had to be up extremely early for work.
Where my mom worked at the school, my dad worked at a plant as the paramedic on shift. It was actually a nuclear power plant where the makings for bombs were started.
Needless to say, my father needed to be there, alert and oriented. Hence the reason he got there so early and left so late.
Though, he made good money, according to him. So it was worth it.
We finally reached the door, and I was hit with a sudden wave of sadness that he had to go.
I literally just met Banner, yet it felt like I’d known him a lifetime.
When the door opened, I wanted to grab his hand to stop him.
Instead, I tucked my hands underneath my arms and stared at him with a neutral expression—at least, I thought it was a neutral expression.
He laughed when he saw my face, though, pulling me in tightly to his chest.
Before I could get comfortable, though, he was letting me go and jogging down the steps.
I would not let him see my disappointment. Which was why I decided to stop mooning and not watch him leave.
“Hey, Perry?”
I paused with the door almost closed.
“Yeah?” I asked quietly.
“Can we make this official?”
I blinked. “Make what official?”
He grinned wickedly. “You and me.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it, confusion. “You want to… with me?”
He all but laughed in my face as he leaned in, his breath close, and said. “Yeah. And this weekend I want you to meet my parents.”
I felt a nervous twitch go through me. “You want me to meet your parents?”
Did my voice sound as shrill as it seemed?
“Yes,” he said. “And my sister-in-law and my brother are going to be coming, too. And since my sister-in-law is pregnant, there’s no doubt in my mind that my mother will totally focus on her. You don’t have to worry. They’re cool.” He paused. “But, I’m just gonna tell you now, my dad’s part of a motorcycle club.”
My eyes widened. “Really?”
My face must’ve shown how shocked I was, because he immediately soothed my fears.
“Not like the killing people and running guns kind of thing you’re thinking of,” he said. “The Dixie Wardens. They’re a really popular club around here. They have chapters all over the south. But they’re not bad. My dad’s a cop. My mom was a teacher before we were born.”
I licked my lips.
“Maybe you should let me talk to them and visit this weekend before we tell my dad,” I admitted. “Because he might really not let me go if he doesn’t meet them first so he can judge their character.”
“Up to you,” he said. “So is that a yes?”
“Is it a yes to going, or a yes to the other thing you asked?” I fidgeted with my shirt.
His eyes went to where I was wringing it in my hands, then to my face.
“Both.”
I took a step forward, a boldness to my movements that I certainly didn’t feel, and walked until I was standing directly in front of him.
“I’m kind of a loner, Banner,” I said softly.
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I know.”
“And Symphony literally hates me. If you date me, she’s going to hate you by association,” I continued.
He ran his index finger down the bridge of my nose, looking at me softly.
“Yeah,” he said. “But I’ve had my fair share of hate the past few years. This is my last year of high school. I want to enjoy it… with you.”
I moved until I was pressing against him, my face resting against his chest.
“Okay,” I said. “Just… don’t break my heart, Banner Spurlock. I’m trusting you with it.”
The words that had just come out of my mouth made me want to pull them back inside the moment they were gone. To pretend that they didn’t really happen.
Because I had a feeling if anybody could hurt me, Banner could.
Not because he’d be trying to, but because he wouldn’t even realize he was doing it.
Banner Spurlock was dangerous, and he didn’t even know it.
Chapter 11
&nbs
p; Shit happens. I mean, look at your face.
-Perry to Banner
Perry
I groaned and rolled over, my eyes flickering open to stare at the morning sun streaming through my window.
I blinked once. Then twice. Then a third time before I realized that something was wrong.
I turned over in bed just as there was more pounding on the door.
I frowned and sat up, and then realized that it was half-past seven and I was supposed to be ready to go ten minutes ago.
“Shit!” I cried, jumping out of bed.
I ran down to the front door, yanked it open, then ran back upstairs.
“I overslept!” I cried out.
There was a deep, masculine chuckle and then Banner said, “Better hurry or we’ll both be late.”
I did hurry, going for jeans, a Kilgore Bulldogs t-shirt since we had a game today, and tennis shoes.
When I came back down after brushing my teeth and using the bathroom, it was to find Banner snacking on leftover pizza.
I halted in my tracks as I got my first good look at him this morning.
He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with his black leather vest over the top of the t-shirt.
He had a backward black baseball cap on, and he was staring at me with a piece of cold pizza half in his mouth.
My brows rose when he did nothing but stare.
I looked down at myself and frowned. “What?”
He shook his head, gesturing to my hair.
“Your hair is down,” he said as he trailed a finger through it. “I like it. It’s beautiful.” He paused. “Why don’t you wear it down more often?”
I took the half-eaten pizza slice out of his hand and popped it into the microwave without a plate.
As I heated up a piece of pizza that was left over from dinner the night before, I contemplated how my night had gone.
My dad, mom, and Banner had gotten along famously.
A little too good if I was being honest.
And over those two hours he was at my house, Banner and I had really gotten to know each other.
Then he’d asked me to be his girlfriend.
I was Banner Spurlock’s girlfriend.
Holy shit.
I hadn’t allowed myself the time to think about it last night. I’d had my own homework to do, and then I’d practically fallen into bed. Which had been why I’d gotten up so late because I forgot to set my alarm.
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