Romance: My First Time With The Tycoon

by Ally Nelson

  Was she staring at him? She suddenly started panicking. Was she freaking him out? She’d better go. She’d done what her mother had asked of her and now she could retreat back to her room and hide in her fantasies once again.

  But for some reason, her feet didn’t seem to want to turn around and walk away.

  She kept hearing Sara’s voice in her head.

  Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to…just have one little conversation?

  “My name’s Lindsey, by the way,” she found herself blurting out before she could control herself, not even sure where the sudden rush of confidence came from. Perhaps the desperate need to feel noticed and recognized by this guy she had such an insane crush on. “I’m not sure my mom actually introduced us or anything.”

  “Right yeah, I don’t think she did,” smiled Brett, offering out his hand politely. “Nice to finally meet you properly, Lindsey.”

  She glanced down at his hand, lost for a moment, then quickly reached out and shook it before he decided to retreat it again.

  As their hands met, she felt something akin to a bolt of electricity shooting upwards from her fingers to her arm to her shoulder and chest and down again.

  Then it went straight to her head and made her incredibly dizzy. She tried not to let it show, reaching her other hand out and resting it on the side of the wall as if she was just casually leaning there, not actually needing it for support so she didn’t hit the deck.

  “Yeah, my uh…my mom still treats me like a kid sometimes,” she continued speaking, shrugging her shoulders and trying her best to sound relaxed and confident. “Doesn’t involve me or introduce me to people and stuff. She forgets I’ll be twenty this year.” She really needed to get that in there if she was to stand any chance of Brett taking her seriously, she decided. And it was a good job she did, because almost immediately, Brett replied with:

  “Oh wow, I thought you were about fourteen or something,” he laughed.

  Lindsey didn’t. That was part of the problem. Again and again. Everyone thought she was so much younger than she was. It was infuriating.

  He seemed to pick up on her unease straight away. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it, when you get to my age, it’ll be a compliment if people think you look younger.”

  She supposed he was right. That was what her parents always told her too. “You do look younger though,” she answered, feeling more confident the longer she talked to him. He made it pretty easy. She didn’t feel uncomfortable or strange around him anymore, or at least, not as much as she had done when she’d first arrived on his doorstep merely a few minutes earlier. There was something about him that just put her at ease. Perhaps it was his smile, or the casual, relaxed manner in which he was talking to her. Whatever it was, it was working. “I’d have put you at about thirty-five. Mom says you’re forty-two, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, just turned forty-two a few days before I moved here and wow uh…thanks. I’d love to be thirty-five again,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Oh, no need to thank me, just telling the truth,” she shrugged then quickly decided she’d better bring this conversation to a close and leave it on a high rather than allow things to turn awkward between them. She didn’t actually know what to say to him next otherwise, or where to take their conversation after that. It was a good start though, and she was pleased with herself. She’d made Brett aware of her presence. He knew her name and how old she was. He didn’t know she was interested in him in that way yet, or at least, she hoped he didn’t, but now she was beginning to feel as though her dreams weren’t as unattainable as she’d once imagined. Even if she couldn’t get everything she desired, she could at least aid her own fantasies by talking to Brett, spending time with him…yes…spending as much time with him as possible. She’d initially thought that would be a bad idea, but now she was beginning to believe the opposite. As she dashed back to her room full of energy and buzzing with adrenalin and excitement, she was already beginning to think of more ways she could get to interact with Brett and praying that more lost packages came their way so she had an excuse to go over.

  Chapter Five

  The next opportunity actually came sooner than she’d expected, but still wasn’t a moment too soon.

  Two days later, her mom had asked her to pop out to the store in her car and pick up a few groceries. She was making a stew that night and there were a couple of ingredients she was missing. Lindsey didn’t really mind doing the odd chore like that. She was living in her parents’ house after all, and she got most things for free. She didn’t have to pay any bills or buy any food. The only thing she actually paid for was her own cell phone bill, which was fair enough. If her mom asked her to nip out and get some shopping in, it wasn’t really that much of a big deal, and sometimes it felt good to get out of the house and go for a drive anyway, especially if she’d been stuck in doing college work all weekend, as she had been.

  She headed off in the car and blasted out some of her favorite tunes, singing along happily with the window open and enjoying the last of the sunshine before it started to get dark.

  Once she’d arrived at the store some fifteen minutes later, she parked up and walked on inside, picking up a cart and pushing it around as she got the things off her mother’s list. It wasn’t very much and didn’t take her very long at all.

  She was on the final aisle and just about to head to the counters to pay when she saw Brett up ahead of her, studying some different cheeses and looking as though he was having a hard time deciding which one to get.

  Her heart skipped a beat.

  She was torn between spinning the cart right around and heading off in the opposite direction or going over there to talk to him.

  She knew that, logically, there was no reason for her to talk to him. She should just go and pay for her shopping and head on home before her mom wondered what had kept her so long. But then, at the same time, surely it would be rude of her not to speak to him, she reasoned. Surely, if you see your neighbor in the local store, you’re almost obliged to say hello. It’s just what people do.

  Besides, this was the opportunity she’d been waiting for, and a perfectly natural one at that. She didn’t even need to make up some excuse to go over to his house. This had just fallen into her lap like a gift from the heavens, and she was going to seize it with both hands. She’d be crazy not to. She could almost hear Sara egging her on inside her head.

  After that night, that first night she’d dropped the parcel around at Brett’s, she’d told Sara all about it over pizza and horror movies. She’d squealed and hugged her and gotten all excited on her behalf, encouraging her to take further steps and try to engage with him. It was just the kind of support she needed. She knew if she’d shared her little fantasies with some people, they would have disapproved, or told her she needed to aim for someone younger, someone more her own age. Sara did that to a certain extent, but she also knew about Lindsey’s interest in older guys and accepted it for what it was. She didn’t try to boss her around or tell her what to do, or voice any kind of disapproval. She was a good friend and was just there for her no matter what and, more than anything, she wanted to see Lindsey lose her virginity, which Lindsey suspected was one of the main reasons she was pushing for her to try and take things further with Brett.

  Take things further.

  She inwardly cringed at her own mind’s choice of words. They’d had one single conversation and she was already viewing it as if the two of them were dating. Well, Sara believed she could make it happen, which meant Lindsey had to start believing too. She knew she was an attractive girl, and now that Brett was aware of her age, maybe he would start to fancy her, if she put it out there that she was interested.

  Before she knew what she was doing, she was pushing her cart over in his direction, and pretended that she had just accidentally walked past him and only just spotted him there by the cheese.

  “Brett!” She smiled, feigning surprise.

  His surprise was genuine as
he turned to look at her and smiled back. “Oh hey, Lindsey.”

  She felt a little flush of excitement that he had actually remembered her name.

  “Doing some shopping?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “Just picking up a few things for my mom. She’s making stew tonight.”

  “Sounds yummy. D’you do much cooking yourself?”

  “Me. Oh heck no. There’s no need when my mom’s such an awesome cook, y’know? If it was up to me, I’d just get takeaway or shove things in the microwave.”

  “Ha, that’s pretty much what I do, to be honest.” He laughed.

  It felt so easy to talk to him. She was amazed, and very happy. Definitely a good decision to come over here, she told herself.

  “What are you getting now then?” She asked, nodding towards the cheese.

  “Oh, I don’t even know. I can’t resist a good grilled cheese sandwich, y’know…just thought I’d pick something up to make one.”

  “Ah, so you do make things…”

  “Only grilled cheese,” he laughed. “Anyone can do grilled cheese.”

  “I’d recommend this one.” She reached out and picked up a big block of cheese for him. “It’s the one we get, it’s pretty good.”

  “Ah, thanks.” He grinned at her and popped it in the basket that was resting over his arm, and the two of them headed to the counters together to pay.

  They didn’t talk, but there was a sort of easy silence between them that normally comes with two people who have been friends for a while.

  “So like, what do you do for a job?” She asked as they were waiting in the line together. She was genuinely interested to know.

  “I’m uh…I’m actually a lecturer, over at the University. Not the one you go to. The other one in town.”

  “Oh wow, no way! You’re like, our rival!”

  “Yeah, kinda,” he chuckled.

  “What do you teach? Like, what’s your specialty or whatever…”

  “Oh, English.”

  “That’s what I’m majoring in!” She gasped excitedly.

  “Yeah? How’s it going?”

  “Yeah, pretty good, thanks. Work load is intense though. Like, so much more than high school.”

  “Well yeah, it’s gotta be though.”

  “Yeah, I suppose I expected it. Just wasn’t really prepared.” She frowned a little and then, just as they’d both paid for their groceries and were heading out together to their cars and to go their separate ways back home, Brett said something completely unexpected and out of the blue.

  “Hey listen, if you’re ever stuck on anything, just give us a shout and I’ll point you in the right direction, I don’t mind.”

  She looked at him with slightly widened eyes, suddenly seeing the perfect opportunity for her to actually go and spend some time with him over at his house, and without her mother suspecting anything weird was going on. Like, of course she didn’t have a crush on their next door neighbor, he was just helping her out with her college work.

  “Actually, that would be really useful,” she replied. “There’s a few things I’m struggling with right now, to be honest.”

  “Yeah? Well…just come around whenever you like. I mean…obviously not during the day, because I’m out working and you’re probably out at college anyway. Say like…any time after 5? And weekends are cool too.”

  Lindsey smiled at him.

  Brett was different to anyone she’d ever met. He was different to the young, immature guys at college and yet, he had a youthfulness about him that was impossible to resist. He wasn’t a boring old guy either. He used words like ‘cool’ and seemed like he was in touch with modern society, not stuck up and judgmental like her father could be sometimes. Even though her dad and Brett were roughly the same age, they seemed like worlds apart.

  “Er…tomorrow then?”

  “Sure,” he smiled. “Tomorrow’s fine.”

  Chapter Six

  “I hope that’s um…a bit clearer,” Brett mumbled nervously after an hour of sitting together on the couch going through Lindsey’s coursework page by page.

  “Yeah, definitely. Thanks so much,” she smiled brightly at him and closed the book. She wasn’t just saying that either. It really had been helpful, especially since most of her work recently had been slipping due to her being so overly distracted by a certain handsome man next door, a certain handsome man who had just spent nearly over an hour helping her.

  “Awesome. I’m glad I could help in some way,” he shrugged and stood up, heading through to the kitchen. “Want another root beer?”

  “Mm, please,” she nodded and stood up, following him in there. She was wondering why he hadn’t invited her to leave just yet, but she wasn’t complaining. The longer she could stay there the better as far as she was concerned. Brett was interesting and gorgeous company. And that was the best thing about it. He wasn’t just attractive; he was intelligent too, another one of her major turn ons.

  “Seriously, thanks for taking the time out to do this…I mean, I should totally be paying you or something, I mean, it’s like your job so…”

  “Eh, it’s fine,” he waved a hand. “It didn’t take us very long. You pick up on things pretty quickly.”

  “Yeah, well not too quickly…there’s still one or two things I’d like you to go through with me next time?” She looked at him hopefully. She wanted there to be a next time. She didn’t want this to be their first and only lesson together.

  He laughed and passed her a can of root beer, already opened. “I’m sure there is.”

  She took a sip and glanced around the kitchen.

  “Wanna sit down?” he asked, gesturing towards the breakfast bar.

  “Sure.”

  She took a seat, and he took the one beside her. “I feel like we’ve spoken a fair few times now but I still don’t know very much about you at all,” he began, glancing at her with a warm smile and then taking a sip of his drink.

  “Yeah, me too,” she nodded. “I mean, I don’t really know anything about you either, y’know. Like uh…not even what movies you’re into or TV shows or music and stuff like that.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he grinned and nodded in agreement. “That’s the really important stuff, right? That’s the stuff that helps you decide whether you’re gonna be friends with someone or not, y’know?”

  “Oh yeah, definitely,” she agreed. “I mean, if you don’t like the same things then you’re not really going to get on, ultimately, are you?”

  “So all your friends are into the same stuff as you then?”

  “Mostly,” she nodded. “I mean, of course there’s one or two differences. We’re not absolutely identical and we don’t agree on everything because, well, that’d just be boring.”

  “Definitely,” he agreed with a nod, taking another sip of his drink and listening to her as if he was quite fascinated, giving her the utmost attention and all the while with a small smile on his face. “So, what kind of stuff do you like?”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah. You go first.”

  “Uh…well…in terms of movies, um…I really like horror, mostly.”

  “Oh yeah, me too! It’s gotta be the classic stuff though, for me.”

  “And me! Old black and white ones, or cheesy 80s ones with lots of blood and over the top acting.”

  “Yes, yes!” he laughed and nodded eagerly.

  “Wow, seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously. In fact, I’ve got loads of them on DVD, come on, I’ll show you.” He jumped up off the breakfast bar and led the way back through to the living room where they’d been before.

  They both put their cans down on the coffee table then Brett led her over to the television and the DVD collection that was piled high on a set of shelves set up next to it.

  She took one glance at them and gasped. “Oh my goodness, you’re right.”

  “I told you.”

  “You’ve got loads of them. Ah, I’m jealous.”

&nb
sp; “Oh hey, well, you’re welcome to borrow any anytime you like, y’know. Just come over and take your pick. Keep ‘em for as long as you like too.”

  “That’s so cool, thank you!” She grinned, completely forgetting about her crush on him for a moment in favor of geeking out over horror movies. But really, this just made it even better. They actually had something in common. “My parents hate this kind of stuff.”

  “Well, I’d like to think I’m a little cooler than your parents,” he chuckled and nudged her playfully in the shoulder. “I’m young at heart really, y’know.”

  “I can see that,” she laughed. “Age is only in the mind anyway.”

  “Yeah, definitely.”

  “So, what kind of music d’you like?”

  “Want to inspect my CD collection too?” He offered. “Now that my DVD collection has passed the test.”

  “Mm, yes please.”

  He grinned and led her over to the CD and record player on the other side of the room, stepping back and giving her time to look through everything he had.

  “Sorry, I don’t have any Justin Bieber,” he joked.

  Lindsey looked at him and rolled her eyes, then went back to perusing, occasionally dragging a CD out to get a closer look, smiling to herself. There was a lot of stuff she didn’t know; that she hadn’t even heard of even, but an equally large amount of music that she did, and some of which she had herself.

  “You’ve got pretty decent taste actually,” she smiled at him.

  “I have? Oh good, I’m glad. Thanks for letting me know.”

  She giggled. He was funny too. Yet another plus point. She walked back over to the couch and sat down, picking up her drink again. “We should have a movie and pizza night,” she announced out of the blue, the nearest she had come to asking him on a date, sort of.

  “A what?” he laughed a little and sat down next to her.

  “Um, well, it’s what I have with my friends sometimes. We just sort of get together, order in a pizza, and watch like, three movies in a row.”