***
I woke up the next morning, naked and wrapped in Worthy’s warm arms and there was nowhere else I’d rather be. “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “How’d you sleep?”
“Perfect.” I snuggled in more firmly against him and he hugged me tighter. I noticed the picture of his family on the T.V. stand and wondered about them. “Are you close to your family?”
He nuzzled my neck and nipped my ear. “I can tell you something I’d like to be closer to,” he said, pressing his hardness against my butt.
I rolled to face him, my desire to hear about his family vanishing in a lusty haze of desire. “Can you show me instead?” He lowered himself until his face was between my thighs and he showed me in explicit detail.
He brought me to orgasm almost too quickly and, when he seemed to want to continue my pleasure, I gripped his shoulders and pulled him up. “I want to taste you,” I said.
He hesitated only a moment. “Are you sure? I don’t have any expectations.”
“I’m sure I want to,” I said, but my heart thudded with an unexpected nervousness. “Only, I’ve never done it before, so maybe you could…”
“Tell you what to do?” He grinned and moved up to the head of the bed to wrap me back up in his arms. “Nah, I think you can figure it out. Just do what feels good to you, and I can guarantee it will feel good to me. It’s nearly impossible for you to do anything I don’t like when your mouth is on me.”
His words heated me in all the best ways and I slid down, pressing kisses to his beautiful body all the way. When I reached my target, I took his advice and did what felt right, but I also paid attention to the sounds he made and the way his hands fisted the sheets. I found it was more fun to tease him, to bring him to the edge and back off than to just hurry to completion. I discovered I really liked hearing him beg.
He warned me when he was close, but I didn’t back off. I held him in my mouth and tasted every part of him, loving the sounds he made almost as much as I loved the way he touched and tasted me.
I crawled back up his body and lay my cheek on his chest. “You are a tease and a very bad girl,” he said.
“You loved it, don’t pretend you didn’t.”
“I did love it,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I could get addicted to you very, very easily.”
“And the problem is…”
“No problems here,” he said. “You only have one class today, right?”
“Right,” I said.
“Go hiking with me after?”
“Sure.”
***
I stepped out onto the flat rock at the top of the mountain and blinked against the brilliant sunshine that hurt my eyes after the shade of the forest. After a few minutes, my eyes adjusted and I could see the view of the valley below us. “Wow,” I said. “Not bad.”
Worthy grabbed my waist and pulled me against him. “Doesn’t live up to your views back home?” he asked, a teasing lilt in his voice.
“Hmm,” I said. “Not really.”
“I guess you wouldn’t be interested in having dinner up here, then.”
My stomach rumbled loudly, but I looked out at the view and smiled. “I suppose we could eat, if you’ve gone to the trouble of lugging food all the way up here.”
He laughed and dropped his pack. He pulled out a blanket, spread it on the ground, and took deli sandwiches, potato salad, and lemonade from his pack. I dropped down to sit, taking in the view, the cool, crisp air, and the smell of the food. “This really is nice,” I said. “Very sweet.”
“My favorite girl in my favorite place,” he said.
I couldn’t help my smile, or the warmth that spread from my chest down to my toes. But I couldn’t lose myself to happiness quite yet. “I saw Frankie with that guy she’s dating, Duran. Who actually names their kid Duran, anyway?”
He pulled two paper plates from his bag and started loading one up with food. He didn’t say anything, just waited for me to go on.
“But I can’t say anything to her about him, because it just hurts her feelings. She’s too nice. I need to teach her to stick up for herself.”
“You’re a good friend to her,” he said, placing the plate of food in front of me and putting a hand on my knee. “You can’t feel guilty about her bad choices. You can only be there for her if she needs you.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But it doesn’t feel like enough. And I warned Harrison to stay away from her, which seems wrong now.”
“Harrison’s a nice guy,” Worthy said. “But he’s a serial dater, and I’ve never known him to get serious about any girl. Frankie wants a boyfriend, not a one-night stand.”
I shrugged, not willing to cut myself any slack. “Maybe Harrison would have been different with her. I should have just stayed out of it. It was a stupid, childish thing to warn him off before I really knew him.”
“Well,” Worthy said, his eyes twinkling. “You are still a child. Wisdom will come with age.”
I shoved his shoulder. “I’m practically the same age as you, you jerk.”
He smirked. “What? Did you age two years overnight?”
“No,” I said, smiling as I sensed victory. “I started college late, I’ll be twenty-one in November.”
He froze, his expression going cold. He recovered quickly, but I knew what I’d seen. For some reason, my age bothered him. He turned his attention to his food and stuffed a huge bite of sandwich in his mouth. I tried to ignore my own discomfort and worry. I was probably overreacting, anyway. There was no good reason for him to be bothered by my age.
I ate and waited for him to laugh or make another joke, I waited for him to touch me or kiss me, but he did nothing. He talked about econ class and about a frat party that weekend, but he looked out at the view instead of at me as he spoke. I reached out and touched his hand once, but he flinched and moved it away. As soon as we were done eating, he packed everything up and we hiked back down the mountain in silence. It wasn’t unusual for us to be quiet during a hike, but he didn’t speak when we got back to campus either.
I tried to make conversation, asking him about his job and his plans for the weekend, but he seemed distracted and answered each question with the fewest words possible. When we got back to my dorm, he walked me up to my door, patted my shoulder and turned away.
“What’s the hurry?” I asked. “You want to come in for a while?” The truth was I didn’t want to hang out with his moody ass anymore, but I did want to know what the heck was bothering him.
He faced me, but didn’t meet my eyes. “I have to work,” he said. “I’ll call you later.”
He was blowing me off. I probably should have had some pride and pretended I didn’t care, but that’s never been my M.O. “You said you don’t have to work until nine,” I said. “It’s only five.”
He frowned, and shook his head, like I was a pest he could shake off. “But I have that paper due tomorrow, remember?” he asked. “I need to work on it before I go into work.”
“Okay,” I said. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re suddenly being a moody asshole.”
His eyes finally met mine, and his expression softened. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I got some bad news while we were on the mountain. I guess I’m just preoccupied.”
“Bad news? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “It’s nothing too serious. I’ll see you later, okay?” He started to turn away from me, but I just couldn’t let it go.
“We didn’t have cell service on the mountain top,” I said. “How’d you get bad news? Smoke signals?”
He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets, irritation flashing on his face. “I got the text earlier, but I didn’t see it until we were on the mountain. Would you like to see the text?”
His snippy tone surprised me, he’d never been anything but gentle and sweet with me before, and I took a step back. “You made me promise never to lie to you, Worthy, and I expect the same from yo
u.”
He flinched. “Are you accusing me of lying to you?”
“Are you?” I asked, because every instinct I had was telling me he wasn’t being honest with me.
He dragged a hand through his hair and let out a ragged sigh. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you around.”
He left and I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to make him stay. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to stay. I had enough drama in my life without adding his moody weirdness to the mix. At least that’s what I told myself and I did my best to ignore the dull ache in the center of my chest.
I turned and headed toward the bakery two blocks away. I had an errand to run.
Frankie was in our room studying when I got back. She looked up at me and smiled. I put a dozen donuts on her bed. “This is the first of many apology gifts,” I said.
She smiled and shook her head. “Remy, you have nothing to apologize for.”
“Then consider it a consolation prize for having to put up with me and my nightmares, and my insane behavior caused by my lack of sleep. Also, it’s a promise that I will not interfere in your dating life or push my opinions about who you date on you.”
“You know how you could really make it up to me?” Frankie asked.
I didn’t like the gleam in her eyes. “How?”
“Let me take you shopping and buy you some cute clothes.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, wishing she’d suggested tarring and feathering. “I like the clothes I have.” Sure my entire wardrobe consisted of jeans, t-shirts, sports bras, and sweatshirts, but I didn’t see the problem. I was a college student.
“And they’re very nice clothes, but you could use something dressier for all the dates you’ve been going on. You have an amazing figure, and you should show it off.”
The truth was, I probably could use some new clothes. I’d torn my pants on a rock hiking with Worthy that afternoon, and I still hadn’t gotten the grass stains out of the clothes I’d worn to play touch football with the guys. My uncle paid my tuition, so the money I made working in the student cafeteria was to pay for food and clothes, and I had a couple hundred dollars saved up. “If I do this,” I said. “I’ll be truly forgiven?”
“I’ve already forgiven you,” Frankie said, but she didn’t look at me. “This is just a bonus.”
“Okay,” I said. “Anything to make you happy.”
She jumped off her bed and did a little happy dance. “Hurray!” She pounded on the wall. “Bell, she said yes!”
“Yippee,” Bell said, her voice monotone.
“I have to study tonight,” Frankie said, “but let’s go one weekend soon.”
I had another date that night and studying of my own to do. “Works for me,” I said.
I tried to put Worthy out of my mind and focus on getting enough schoolwork done to be able to enjoy my date that evening. Worthy hadn’t told me about his problem, so it didn’t make any sense for me to waste time worrying about it. At least, that’s what I told myself. So, when my date, a ripped guy named Bentley, who looked like he could easily bench press me, offered to buy me a beer, I accepted, and when he offered to buy me a second, I took that one, too.
I just wanted to stop thinking, to forget about my nightmares and unanswered questions for a little while. Plus, the more I had to drink, the funnier and more interesting Bentley became.
After we ate, Bentley scooted his chair closer to mine. “It’s so loud in this place,” he said. “I thought I could hear you better if I got closer.”
The restaurant was a bit raucous and full of half-drunk college students. He put his hand on my arm and leaned in a bit more. “Want to get some dessert?”
The way he said dessert, I was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about the edible kind. I grabbed a dessert menu, dislodging his hand, and started scanning the options. Was Bentley really flirting with me, or was the beer making me imagine it? If Bentley was flirting, did that mean Worthy had told all of the guys he was done with me? I pushed those thoughts aside and tried to focus on the menu. “Yum,” I said. “How about this death by chocolate cake?”
He smiled. “Sounds great. Why don’t we share it?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I don’t share dessert.”
He frowned, and I realized that refusing to share dessert probably wasn’t proper dating etiquette. I handed the dessert menu to Bentley, and gave him an apologetic smile. He was cute and he seemed nice enough, but he wasn’t Worthy and I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. I was only dating him to get back at my cousin, I thought I’d made that perfectly clear.
Bentley recovered pretty quickly from my refusal to share my chocolate, but decided to pass on dessert. “I’m trying to watch my carb intake,” he said, patting his firm stomach.
I was all for him doing whatever he needed to do to maintain his ripped physique, but avoiding dessert seemed a bit extreme. I mean, what was the point of life without dessert?
I ordered my death by chocolate cake and helped Bentley with his diet plan by not offering him even one bite of the most delicious cake I’d ever tasted. I think I saw tears in his eyes, but that may have been another beer hallucination.
Bentley suggested we go to this spot he knew and look at the stars, but I had a pretty good idea where he would expect that to lead, and I wasn’t going to tempt him with something I had no intention of sharing twice in one night. So, he took me back to my dorm and tried to kiss me at my door. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I never meant to give you the wrong idea. This was just supposed to be a fun, friends sort of date. I’m with Worthy.”
He didn’t look put out. He leaned in closer. “If that changes,” he said. “Call me. I’d love to take you out again.”
“Okay, I’d like that.” I kissed his cheek. “Thank you for a fun night.”
He walked off, and I couldn’t help but watch him go. He had a very, very nice body and I felt I was sort of obligated to appreciate it since he had skipped dessert to maintain it.
“Wow,” Ella said, stepping out next to me. “That is the best thing I’ve seen all day.”
Bentley looked back over his shoulder and winked like he’d heard Ella.
“Wow, did he hear me?” she asked in a whisper.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I said in an equally low voice. Bentley was out of sight, but I still felt the need to be quiet.
“Unless he’s a werewolf.”
“If he was a werewolf he would have eaten the cake,” I said.
Her brows pinched in confusion.
“He didn’t get dessert because he said he’s watching his carb intake. I don’t think werewolves
care about carb intake.”
“Right. Super-fast metabolism.”
“So, he’s probably not a werewolf, but he might have super-powered hearing or Spidey senses.”
She sighed. “I think I’m in love.”
“I can introduce you.”
She waved me away. “No, no. The last thing I need right now is a boyfriend. Thanks for the thought, though. I’m off to the library to study.”
I waved goodbye to her and headed up to my room.
***
“I don’t wear skirts,” I said for the tenth time that day, as Frankie handed me another skirt, this one flouncy and pink. Skirts were completely impractical. I mean who actually knew how to move in those things without flashing the whole world? Not me.
Frankie sighed and left the dressing room with the skirt. Bell took her nose out of her book long enough to scowl at me. “You have amazing legs, Remy. You need to own at least one skirt.” She leaned closer. “And you could make this a little easier on Frankie. She’s really trying here.”
I slumped down on the bench seat next to Bell and groaned. I was just so grumpy. I was in no state to be around other people. I needed to be outside for a run or a hike. I hadn’t heard from Worthy since our mountaintop picnic eight days before and Byron wasn’t giving me any information about him. And I was pissed. It had been Wort
hy’s idea for us to get together, he’d pursued me, and then he just inexplicably vanished? It didn’t make any sense. I’d called him, left notes on his door, and I’d heard nothing. He hadn’t even been in biology class. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m just in a bad mood.”
Bell wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “He was the first guy you’d ever dated, Remy. He seemed nice enough, but he’s an asshole. Find someone to help you forget him and move on.”
My throat tightened a bit at the thought of forgetting Worthy, but I wasn’t going to waste my life mooning over some guy who didn’t want me. Life was too short and I should enjoy as much dessert as possible. And by dessert I did not mean the edible, digestible stuff. I flipped my phone open and dialed Bentley.
“Remy,” he said, like he’d just been sitting by the phone waiting for me to call and was so happy to hear from me. Exactly the kind of man I needed in my life.
“Hi, Bentley,” I said, my mood improving already. “Want to go out tonight?”
“I’d love to,” he said. “There’s a new club that just opened. We could go dancing.”
“Perfect. Pick me up at eight.”
I hung up and pushed aside all thoughts of Worthy. Frankie walked back in with an armload of pants.
“I need a dancing skirt, Frankie,” I said. “I’m going out tonight.”
Frankie squealed and threw the pants at me.
***
Bentley put his hands on my hips and pulled me tight against him, swaying with me to the fast-beat of the bass, and I laughed. The club was packed, we’d been dancing so long I’d lost track of time, and I loved skirts. I loved the way Bentley’s eyes had lit up when he’d picked me up for our date, the way he’d scanned my body starting with my toes, and the way his attention had lingered on my bare legs. He wasn’t Worthy, but he was fun.
I tipped my head back and looked up at him. He leaned in and kissed me, pulling my hips tighter against his. I felt a moment’s guilt at kissing someone other than Worthy, before I reminded myself that Worthy had left me. I deserved to find happiness. So, I kissed Bentley back. He was a good kisser and he made me forget everything for a moment, but I didn’t feel the connection to him I’d felt to Worthy. I only felt sad. I pulled away from him, and danced with him some more, but it wasn’t the same. He had hope in his eyes, now, and I knew I couldn’t be that girl for him. Maybe with time, but I had to get Worthy out of my head first.
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