Live Like You Mean It

by Ava Stone

  I typed her name in the search bar but she didn’t pop up. There were several Leah Willetts, but none of them were my Leah Willett. That was strange. Did she have a private page or something?

  I glanced back at my door, making sure neither Cade nor Daniel were about to barge into my room. Feeling like the coast was relatively clear, I went to Jason’s home page. I clicked on his friends link and plugged ‘Willett’ into the search. Michael Willett popped up. It was the only match.

  So I clicked on Michael Willett’s page. Honestly, I felt like a dick, like I was some kind of creepy stalker. But it wasn’t illegal. It was a public site. She could very easily be doing the same thing with my page right now. Damn, I needed to clean that page up. Fast.

  But at that moment, I was staring at the face of Leah’s brother. Michael Willett, wearing a Wheston baseball cap. It was definitely her brother. He had the same eyes she did, but his hair was a shade lighter, at least it was on my computer. His banner was a beach sunset, all oranges and pinks across the sky.

  First baseman at Wheston University.

  Shit. I wasn’t a weakling, but Michael Willett looked like he could kick my ass. That was something to keep in the back of my mind.

  Lives in Wheston, Virginia. From Wheston, Virginia.

  So they were local? I guess that made sense. Jason was from town too, though most of Wheston’s students were from somewhere else. Elite, East Coast private school. I’m from Atlanta. Cade’s from Seattle. And Daniel’s from all over. Military brat.

  I clicked on Michael Willett’s about link and then family and relationships. He was in a relationship with Meghan Hemmings. That name sounded familiar. Not that I’d come to this page to scope out Willett’s girlfriend. It was his sister who’d held my interest since the first moment I’d seen her. I scrolled through his list of family but it wasn’t long. Leah was listed as his sister, but there was no hyperlink to her page, just her name and the generic blue Facebook silhouette that meant she didn’t have an account.

  Who didn’t have a Facebook account? Well, so much for my spying attempt. It would have been helpful to gather something on her boyfriend, though. It would be nice to know what I’m up against. But on the upside, even if Cade and Daniel went through each one of Jason’s forty-eight hundred friends, they’d never find Leah. And since she didn’t have a page, she probably wasn’t looking at my page…

  Which reminded me, I still ought to clean that page up a little, just in case. It’s something my father had demanded some months ago. My page looked like a neverending orgy, according to him. I was to take it down immediately and stop embarrassing him. Which meant I had to add a fresh set of selfies of me and a multitude of scantily clad girls just to get under his skin. I was never going to find a decent job. Employers looked at Facebook pages, didn’t I know that? He hadn’t spent a small fortune sending me to Wheston only to have an unemployable son at the end of my college career. I’d added more pictures in response.

  What my father didn’t get was I don’t want to be an exec in a business suit 40 plus hours a week until my hair turns gray and I die. I’ve never wanted that. I wanted a career in music. I wanted the freedom to create art and have life swirl around me. I wanted bright lights and arena tours. I wanted my life. I didn’t want his.

  And picture after picture of me having a good time with hot girls in various locales added to my brand. But… I didn’t really want to sell that brand to Leah. She already thought I was a player. So I spent the next half hour untagging myself in some pictures and deleting others all together before heading to class.

  My father would be thrilled. That was the one drawback.

  I looked one last time at myself in the visor mirror in my car. I pressed my lips together, making sure my lipstick was perfect, or at least smoothed out well. I looked ok. Probably not as gorgeous as the girls he usually dated, but ok for me. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking slightly. I shouldn’t have worn a dress with no pockets. I’d never hide my trembling.

  What was wrong with me? It wasn’t like I hadn’t ever been on a date before. But it had been a while, a very long while. And Brody… I smiled at myself in the mirror at just the thought of him. Brody was the kind of guy girls dreamed about. Handsome, funny, seductive. I was way out of my league and I knew it.

  “You can do this,” I said to my reflection. “Just don’t be an idiot.” That was easier said than done, though. “This is just to thank you for the driver’s license.” But even as those words came out of my mouth, I knew they were a lie. This dinner was more than a thank you. If I gave him the slightest bit of encouragement, if I let my guard down for even a minute, I’d end up in his bed so fast, I wouldn’t even know how I got there. I really shouldn’t have worn the dress.

  A hand knocked on my window and I squealed in surprise. And then Brody’s face appeared on the other side of the glass. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  But everything about him scared me. I shouldn’t trust myself alone with him for even five minutes, let alone an entire evening. I flashed him a nervous smile as I closed my visor mirror. “I’m fine,” I lied.

  He opened my door and reached out his hand for me like some gentleman might have done in some bygone era.

  “God, you are hot,” he said, as I stood before him, his gaze drinking me in.

  I know I blushed. My cheeks almost stung from it. “Yeah,” I said, sounding more composed than I felt. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls.”

  He winked at me, and I swallowed nervously. “But I don’t always mean it.” And then he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.

  I could have died right then and there. Brody Campbell was kissing me. It was the softest, sweetest kiss, completely unexpected. Tingles raced across my skin and I couldn’t help but lean into him.

  And then it was over.

  He pulled back from me, his blue eyes twinkling under the light of the yellow street lamps that lit the parking lot. And he looked at me as if I was the prettiest girl in Virginia, which I knew I wasn’t. But when he looked at me like that, it was easy to forget.

  “What was that?” I whispered, because finding my voice was next to impossible.

  Brody’s seductive smile only heated me more than I already was. “Best to get that first kiss out of the way.”

  “What?” If my mind wasn’t jumbled, I probably could’ve uttered more than one word in response to that.

  He leaned in close, pressing me back up against my car and said softly, “I didn’t want you wondering all night if I was going to kiss you.” Then he brushed one finger across my cheek. “I’m going to kiss you again, Leah. Many times.”

  “So you just want me to spend the night wondering when you’ll kiss me again?”

  “No need to wonder,” he said softly, pressing his lips to mine once more.

  It was heaven and lust rolled into one. And I never wanted it to end. It was like something had awakened in me. Something that had lain dormant for a very long time.

  I cupped his jaw with both hands and let his tongue sweep into my mouth. Damn. It was a good thing the car was at my back because I could never have stood on my own.

  My nipples tightened against the cotton of my dress, and Brody pressed against me. Even through his jeans I could feel his hard-on against my belly.

  What was I doing?

  Being that idiot I’d warned myself not to be. But that thought evaporated the instant it entered my mind. How could I think about anything right now?

  I could only feel. His tongue tangled with mine. His muscles rippled beneath my touch. My panties were damp against my skin. As though I had an itch that hadn’t been scratched in so long, I brushed my chest against his, wanting to be closer, so much closer than we were.

  A horn honked just a few feet away, bringing us both back into this world.

  Brody cleared his throat and rose back to his full height. “Damn,” he said with a slow smile that sent my heart racing even more. “S
hould we just forget dinner and go back to your place?”

  My place? With Mom and Aiden…

  The thought of Aiden was like someone had doused me with bucket of ice water. I was the only parent he had, and I had to keep my shit together. No falling for players. No reckless behavior. No getting myself into situations that were going to screw up my life again. No Brody Campbell. I just didn’t trust myself.

  I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have come,” I said. “I’m sorry. Just forget this happened. Ok?”

  Forget this happened? It was the best thing that had happened to me in I didn’t know how long. Not the first time I’d kissed a girl, but… I was into her. I was really into her.

  And I was so hard, thinking straight was difficult. “No, no, no,” I said, trying to buy my brain enough time to figure out the right thing to say. “I promised you dinner. You gotta at least let me buy you dinner.”

  Her gray eyes were clouded in worry. No, guilt. It was guilt. Damn her fucking boyfriend.

  “I’ll be on my best behavior,” I promised, flashing her the peace symbol with my right hand, which, of course, started to hurt again. But I pushed through the pain of that and added, “Scout’s honor.”

  Her brow furrowed and she bit her bottom lip. “Were you ever a scout?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “Does that matter?”

  A laugh escaped her, and my pulse started to slow a bit. If I had her laughing, she wouldn’t ditch me in the middle of the grill’s parking lot, right?

  “Just dinner,” she stressed.

  And I nodded to put her at ease. I’d have said or done anything to keep her from hopping back into her car and speeding away. “Yeah, just dinner.”

  I gestured toward the grill’s entrance and followed right behind her. I’d wanted to hold her hand, to walk side-by-side with her, but I was afraid that might make her flee. So I settled for watching the little flowers of her dress swish across her cute ass instead. God, I wanted to reach out and grab it with both hands. I was so hypnotized by her, the last thing I expected was…

  “Brody!” came a voice as familiar as my own from a few feet away.

  Braden? I almost tripped as I tore my gaze from Leah’s ass and turned around. Sure enough, my younger brother was navigating the parked cars in the lot to get to me, waving his hand in the air as if I didn’t see him.

  “Hey Bray,” I said. “What are you doing here?” Wheston wasn’t a huge town. Certainly nothing like Atlanta. The truth is, I should have run into my brother more often than I did. And even though we’re both business majors, we ran with different crowds. We always have.

  Leah turned back and came to stand at my side. She was so close, her perfume drifted up to me. Calvin Klein. Damn, she smelled great.

  “Did you hear from Dad?” Braden asked before his gaze shifted to Leah. My brother looks like me, but he’s slightly taller and a little leaner. And I didn’t like the look in his eyes just then. I could almost read his thoughts about her.

  “What about Dad?” I asked as I draped my arm around Leah’s shoulders. A nonverbal that told my brother to take at least one step backward. Luckily, Leah moved even closer to me instead of shaking out of my hold. That had to be a good sign, right?

  Braden, however, didn’t take a step away from us. He’d never been particularly adept at reading nonverbals. “He’s coming to Wheston for Homecoming.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, but they both heard me.

  Leah looked up at me and Braden smirked. “It’s not that bad,” my brother said.

  I suppose not if you’re Braden. The good son. Dad’s golden boy. “Thanks for the warning,” I grumbled and started to direct Leah into the grill.

  But Braden was right there beside us. He reached out his hand in greeting. “Braden Campbell,” he said.

  Leah took his hand and quickly introduced herself before I could usher her away from my brother, whom I sent a scathing glare. As far as nonverbals went, I was as obvious as I could be. Even Braden got my meaning to back the fuck off.

  The waitress quickly found us a small table near the front window and Leah and I dropped into wooden chairs across from each other. It was loud. Too damn loud to hear much. So I moved my chair to be catty-corner from her. I only had one dinner at this point and I couldn’t waste any valuable time not being able to talk to her.

  We ordered two Pepsis, which always went against my Atlanta roots, but they didn’t have Coke at the Royal Grill. Then we scanned the menu.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked me.

  That there was nothing else in the world I’d like more than to have her straddle me. “Royal burger,” I said. “You?”

  She twisted up her face just slightly. “I haven’t decided.”

  She could take as long as she wanted to order, to eat, whatever would make the night last as long as possible. Anything to give me enough time to figure out my next move.

  “Your brother attends Wheston too?” she asked looking up from her menu.

  “Bryce before me, Braden after me. Dad’s alumni. Wanted us all to be Wheston men.” Mostly he wanted us to all be cookie cutters of himself. Bryce was still trying, Braden was on the path to do so too, but I didn’t want any of it. I never had.

  “You don’t get along with your brother.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement. She must have caught all the nonverbals Braden had missed.

  “We don’t really see eye-to-eye on much,” I said. “Not that I dislike either of my brothers, we just don’t get each other.”

  She leaned forward and took a sip from her straw. Damn lucky straw. What I wouldn’t do to trade places with that scrap of plastic, for her to wrap her lips around me and suck. I stiffened up just thinking about it and shifted in my seat.

  “That’s true for my brother and me too,” she said, completely oblivious to what she was doing to me.

  “He plays baseball, right?” I asked and then wanted to kick myself. This was why I shouldn’t stalk people on Facebook. I’d make a shit spy.

  “First base,” she said with a nod. “Do you know Mike?”

  Just what I’d seen on his profile page. I shrugged. “No. I think Jason must’ve mentioned it,” I lied.

  Thank God she bought it. She smiled widely. “Ended last season with a 4.63 batting average.”

  That must be good with the way she was smiling. “Out of five?” I asked. “That’s real good.”

  “Out of ten.” She laughed and shook her head. Her long hair spilled over her shoulders and brushed against her tits. “Not a baseball fan, I take it.”

  Well, I’d been found out so I leaned back slightly in my chair. “No sports for me. Growing up, I spent all my free time teaching myself to play guitar.”

  “Teaching yourself?” Her gray eyes widened. “No lessons?”

  I laughed at the thought. “My father didn’t - doesn’t - find it a ‘noble pursuit’ – his words. He never did anything to encourage my love of music.” And the fact that I was good at it drove him half-crazy, which I enjoyed almost as much as I loved music.

  The waitress showed back up. Took our orders - my burger, her chef salad. And then left us alone once more.

  “Jason says you’re really good. I think it’s awesome you taught yourself. I could never do that.” She tilted her head to the side to see me better.

  Jason? I snorted. “That all he said?”

  She shook her head once more and flashed me the prettiest smile I’d ever seen. God, I could just stare at her all day. “But that’s all I’ll repeat.”

  In other words, it was the only nice thing the jackass had ever said about me. In all fairness though, it was one thing nicer than I’d ever said about him. “Fine with me.” I sat forward again and brushed my fingers across the top of her hand. “He’s the last person I want to talk about tonight anyway.”

  Damn, she had such soft skin. If I could just touch every inch of her to make sure she was that soft everywhere. With the way she’d kissed me, I’d be obsessed
with that from now on until I could find out for sure. One thing was standing in my way of that, though.

  “So who is this guy?” I asked, keeping my eyes trained on her, looking for any sort of reaction that might help me in any way.

  “Which guy?” She blinked at me.

  “Your—uh—boyfriend?”

  Leah’s brow creased as if I’d just started speaking in Latin. “My boyfriend?”

  We were speaking the same language, right? I knew I hadn’t dreamed her telling me about her work schedule. “You said you have a standing date on your nights off.”

  She bit her lips and her gaze dropped to her napkin, still folded on the table in front of her. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said, and her voice sounded shaky all of a sudden. “I have a son.”

  A son? If she’d bashed me over the head with a frying pan I’d have been less surprised. Damn it. A boyfriend I could have gotten around, eventually. But a kid? What about a husband? “You divorced? Separated?” I asked before I could truly think straight.

  “Never been married.” Her eyes shot back to mine and she looked so vulnerable, like a puppy who’d been kicked over and over. “I’ll understand if you want to leave. No hard feelings.”

  Damn. I felt so exposed. Brody’s eyes held mine, and he looked so confused. I just waited for him to get up, toss a few dollars on the table to pay for our order, and then leave me alone.

  I hadn’t planned on telling him about Aiden. I never would have except I’d been so blown away when he asked about my nonexistent boyfriend. I guess I can see how he got that idea, but I’d never meant to give him that impression.

  “Why would I want to leave you?” he asked, leaning closer to me as if to better hear me in the crowd.

  Why wouldn’t he want to leave me? The majority of my friends had done so back in high school when they found out I was pregnant. Back then I was a pariah that no one wanted to be seen with. But now… “Well, I can’t really lead the worry-free college life everyone else does. Staying out all night, partying, dating. You know.”