by Julia Bright
Now she was lost in his smile. What the heck was happening to her? She was a smart, somewhat educated woman reduced to a quivering mess over a guy’s smile. She had to be in the Twilight Zone this was that bizarre.
“You okay?”
“I might’ve had too much to drink,” she confessed when her purse strap slid down her arm.
“We’ll sober you up. I wanna talk.” Roan extended a hand for her to walk in front of him. She didn’t budge a single step, even shaking her head no. No way was she walking out before him. She’d be awkward if she thought about him looking at her from behind.
“I’ll follow you,” she finally said. Roan arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to move as he clearly tried to understand why she wouldn’t go first. Humor still splayed across his lips. She didn’t think he was necessarily laughing at her, but that changed when she just shook her head in answer.
“You sure you’re gonna follow if I lead?” he asked, chuckling now. Since that was a valid question that she didn’t necessarily know the answer to, she cocked her own eyebrow in lieu of speaking.
He appeared to have a moment of indecision, but he finally moved, walking out of the small hall and back into the bar. Presley paused, contemplating whether she would actually follow, until her gaze landed on his ass pressed against the well-worn denim and she watched each succulent cheek swing with his natural strut. Her eyes traveled up to his thin, lean waist then all the way up to his thick, broad shoulders.
Oh yeah.
Slowly, she headed in the direction he did. About halfway to the main door, she turned to her friends who were now standing at their table. All heads were cocked in Roan’s direction, watching him pass by. When she got their attention, all she could do was throw her hands out, and give a serious what-the-hell-was-happening look. Their laughter had her looking over at Roan who had caught her silly move.
Of course he had, because this couldn’t get any more awkward if she tried.
Still with that amused smile, he waited near the exit, handing her the hoodie he held. She grabbed it without making eye contact and went straight for the door, pushing through before he got a chance to open the door for her. She knew he liked to do those things for women with all those ingrained manners he had, but whatever. Not one bit of this made any sense.
Chapter Two
Presley was silly and fun, very much her own person. That eased some of the natural seriousness always plaguing his life. When she came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the darkened parking lot, Roan took the opportunity provided. He came in right behind her, and for the first time since she’d landed in his lap all those years ago, he reached out to really touch her. He laid his whole hand on the base of her back, letting his palm linger there, fingers splayed to touch as much of her as possible. Not urging her to move like he should, he instead let the warmth of her body do fun things to his heart as he pointed in the direction of his brand new Porsche. Her eyes grew wide at his one big splurge before his father had decided the car was tacky and had his financial advisory company handle the rest of his sign-on bonus. When all had been said and done, they’d even taken a large portion of his future earnings, tightly tying the money up in investments.
The thought of his uptight family brought the usual anxiousness back, and he had to forcibly push them from his thoughts. His family always complicated everything. Without question, they’d never approve of Presley— And he shut the thought down right there. No more of that. He’d deal with them after he talked Presley into giving them a chance at a relationship.
“Where’s your truck?”
“I traded it in.” She started for the car, and since she was a short little thing, he changed his stride to keep his hand at her back. She clearly didn’t understand which car was his, passing his by for the Lexus in the space next to his, which allowed him to wrap an arm around her waist to redirect her. “This one.”
“What?” she asked, those pretty blue eyes lifting to him in startled confusion.
“I just got it.”
“It’s a Porsche,” she exclaimed, stopping in her tracks as he went for the passenger door.
“I know. I picked it out,” he teased, opening the door wide. She didn’t immediately move. When she did, she hesitantly walked toward him as if uncertain about his intentions. When she got closer, she ducked her head to look inside before her panicked gaze collided back with his.
“It’s really yours?”
“Yeah…” he answered as she started moving backward. His gaze tracked her every step, but he lost all her attention as she took in everything about the sports car.
“I can’t ride in that,” she declared, circling around the trunk to the driver side.
“Why not?” he asked, enjoying her reaction so much that he stood back and tucked his hands in his front jeans pockets and watched as she bent down to look inside the driver side window. He didn’t mention that, if she’d just get inside, she could see the whole dashboard much easier.
Her head popped up over the top of the car. “It’s a Porsche, Roan. Oh my God.”
That was the first time she’d ever used his name. The magical way she spoke swept across his heart in a simple, complete caress. Those unexpected tingles shot out across his body, making his grin grow. Man, he was so into this girl.
“It’s cooler from the inside. Come see.” He cocked his head, encouraging her back around to the passenger side. She stood straighter, but stayed rooted in her spot, staring at him over the top of the car.
“I’ll get it dirty,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No, you won’t!”
“I’ve been drinking, and I get car sick. What if something happens?” she countered.
“I’ll drive carefully. Come get in. You’re the first person to ride in it.” His words caused a skeptical look before she slowly moved back around to the passenger side. She adorably wiped her feet a few times on the pavement of the parking lot. He wasn’t exactly sure what she thought that might accomplish, but she finally got in. He quickly shut her door and rounded the trunk to go for his side before she changed her mind.
Roan slid in and let the engine roar to life as he worked the clutch and gearshift, then paused before he reversed out of the parking space. Their proximity was so close he could smell the fresh scent of her perfume. When she gave a questioning glance since they’d stopped moving, he could see her big blue eyes had small flecks of silver.
Man, he wanted a world where he could reach out and kiss those perfectly pouty lips whenever he wanted.
“It looks like a complicated NASA instrument panel,” she said, glancing at the dashboard. “How can you afford it?”
“My sign-on bonus,” he said, and her gaze shot back to his. The momentary reprieve from the hesitancy she’d had when he’d first walked up to the table now vanished. “I splurged. Maybe I shouldn’t have.”
Her uncertain gaze held his as she stared him straight in the eyes. He knew what she was asking in that stare. She couldn’t understand what she was doing there. Why he’d asked to talk to her. He’d watched her enough to know that she truly had no idea of her value. He guessed that had to do with the poverty of her childhood more than anything else. The silence hung between them as he tried to find his words. When they didn’t readily come, he moved a hand, working the gearshift, and lifted his gaze to the rearview mirror to back out of the parking space.
That silence caused a tension to build between them. Something intense yet electrifying. The faster he got them out of there, the sooner he’d know his fate. With his nervousness building, he started out of the parking lot and reached for the radio to push the power button on. “Find what you want to listen to. I’m easy. I like anything.”
Once out on the street, he finally looked over. She hadn’t changed the station, and her full concentration remained on him.
“It’s all right. I just want to talk,” he tried to reassure her.
“Talk about what?” she asked, and reache
d over to turn the volume down, silencing everything but the sounds of the road.
His thoughts stuttered again. He hadn’t gotten that far in his plan, and the two or three minutes out on the road hadn’t been enough time to formulate the right words. What could he say that wouldn’t completely freak her out? At her expectant gaze and frustrated little huff, he started speaking with no real direction.
“Well, I guess I need to start by saying I found out about Blaine tonight.”
“What do you know about Blaine?” she asked, defensively.
He hadn’t expected that response. Exiting the highway, he split his attention between her and the road, until he came to a red light. Could she possibly still be into Blaine? Certainly, not. He was such a douchebag. She had to see through all his bullshit.
Deciding, at this point, honesty was just the best option, he spoke the truth. “I know he messed around on you. That he’s down because the team cut him and that he’s dropping out of school. I know y’all broke up. I know all of that.”
“But I’m still friends with him. His life isn’t easy, and he’s very good to me. I won’t talk badly about him,” she said and turned forward, staring out the front window. The loss of their connection was immediate, like walls dropping in place, but more than that, he wanted those exceptional eyes focused back at him.
Okay, he got it. Blaine was a touchy subject.
“Can we just wait until we get back to my place before we say anything more?” he asked, taking off at the green light.
“Isn’t your place a hotel now?” she asked, turning her head back toward him.
Damn, he hadn’t thought about that. Yeah, it was. His dad sold the house he’d been living in for the last few years, closed on the property about a week ago. He’d been staying this last week of school at the local Hilton before taking off to Chicago. How would she have possibly interpreted that? Probably exactly like it sounded if he asked any girl to go back to his hotel room. Since everything in town was nearby, he’d already gotten close, so he took the turn into the hotel parking lot. Instead of driving to the front, he pulled the car off to the side to give him a chance to decide their options.
“Is it okay to go here? It’s all I’ve got for some privacy. If you’re not comfortable here, we could go back to your place.”
“I share an apartment with my friends. I guess I can ask them to stay gone a little longer,” she said, reaching for her purse. She started digging through her bag, but suddenly stilled her hands then cocked her head toward him, the confusion from minutes ago back on her face. “What’s going on, Roan? Aren’t you leaving, like tomorrow, to go to Chicago?”
“Yeah. I just heard tonight that you and Blaine broke up. I wanted to spend time with you before I had to go, but yeah, I’m supposed to head out in the morning,” he confirmed. Her gaze grew tense as she tried to understand.
“I know Blaine’s reputation; I don’t need anyone else telling me what they think I missed, and I don’t sleep around, no matter what the gossip’s saying about that,” she said firmly, in a very clear setting-him-straight tone.
“Trust me. I know that,” he replied honestly, then chuckled a bit at her stern look, resisting the urge to run on finger over the wrinkle in her brow that formed from such deep concentration. If anyone on the planet knew that Presley had been unbelievably loyal to that creep, it was him. When she finally looked away to pull her phone from her purse, he put a palm over her moving fingers to stop her as she started to text. Even at the prospect of everything a date at a hotel implied, they were still better off here than being interrupted at her apartment.
“Maybe we could have dinner in the grill, but on my honor, if we go to my room, you can trust me. I know you’re not that kind of girl.”
Frustration had her dropping her hands to her lap as she sat up a little straighter. Her tone showed he’d read her actions correctly as absurdity rang in every word spoken. “How in the world do you know that? The whole school thinks that Blaine and I had an open relationship.” She stopped speaking as her gaze grew wide, and she groaned a disgruntled little sound. “God, Roan. How did I not think of that before right this minute? I’m not gonna have sex with you tonight.”
Now he barked out a laugh right in her face. “I know that, and I know you didn’t mess around on Blaine. That’s crazy.” A honk behind him interrupted his words, causing him to look in the rearview mirror then quickly around the parking lot. He worked the clutch and gearshift, moving them toward a vacant parking spot closer to the front doors.
“There’s no way you know that,” she finally countered.
“I know more than you think,” he shot back, whipping into the empty space before turning off the car. Roan hooked an arm around the headrest of her seat, the other over the steering wheel as he turned more fully toward her.
“Like what?” she asked, but the confidence she’d rallied moments ago seemed to wane as she softly spoke those words.
He guessed right here in this car was as good a place as any to dump out his infatuation. Roan took a steadying breath, then blinked at her a couple of times as he tried to formulate the words until he just manned up and spoke from his heart.
“Well, you eat breakfast every morning in the commissary. It’s the same thing every day. Oatmeal and a banana. You’re a true athlete at heart—this cheerleading deal isn’t a game to you. You’re very good at team building and physical fitness. Your major is education. You seem to have a knack for that, but you take a lot of sports management classes. You volunteer with little league—I don’t know how you do that…how your time allows for that, but those little girls adore you.”
Presley opened her mouth to speak then closed it before opening again. Still no words came, but she also didn’t jump from the car, screaming stalker, so he took that as a good sign. Finally, he found humor in the confusion on her face and addressed what she had to be thinking in that pretty head of hers.
“I’m not a stalker. Well, at least I’m not a harmful one.”
“How do you know all that?” she asked, her expression completely astounded.
“I saw you bringing the little girls to the field. Y’all were all wearin’ the same T-shirts. I stuck around and watched you let them cheer in the stadium. You charmed the security guard, and he let you in until it grew dark.” He paused for a second and moved the hand hanging over her seat to her hair. He sifted the strands through his fingers, reminding him of how soft he remembered them to be. “By the way, you do that all the time. You charm people, but I don’t think you mean to.”
“Did you send the pizza?” she asked incredulously.
“I did,” he nodded. He’d sent seven large cheese pizzas and a case of bottled water to the field for the girls and their parents to enjoy.
“Roan…” She looked so confused until she lowered her head to her hands. “I wish I hadn’t been drinking,” she muttered to herself before her head popped up again. He’d let his hand move with her dropped head, so that it cupped the back now. He loved that she didn’t move away from his hold. Touching Presley eased his heart, battered through the long, lonely years he’d sat on the sidelines, watching this woman from afar. He moved his hand until his palm cupped her neck, his fingertips lightly skimming the soft skin. Sounding somewhat helpless, she finished, “I don’t understand.”
“I’m into you. I have been for a while,” he simply explained, deciding that she might need some easing into the fact that this was nothing less than love for him.
She did that cute thing again. Presley opened her mouth; nothing came out until she finally turned more forward in her seat, dislodging his hand, staring straight out the front window. He had no idea what that meant and didn’t press. Not yet. As much as he didn’t want to stop touching her, he pulled away, taking the keys from the ignition before opening the car door. When she didn’t move, he pushed himself out of the car then bent his head back through the opening to gauge her reaction. “I can either take you home or we can go have
dinner inside. It’s up to you.”
Since the first offer wasn’t really an option, he shut the door and walked to the hood of the car. He forced himself to wait, not wanting to crowd her by opening her door. She needed to make that move on her own. Luckily, she didn’t make him wait long as she opened her door, shrugging on her hoodie as she walked toward him then past him to the front doors of the hotel, without saying one word. He saw her flip her long hair out from under her hoodie and watched the tresses cascade down her back. She had a sensual sway to her hips. He focused on her ass as he clicked the key fob and took off after her. Still, she hadn’t given him any clue how she felt about what he’d confessed, but she also hadn’t demanded he take her home. So far, so good. She’d always kept him guessing, even now. He grinned, jogging the last couple of steps to reach for the door that she shoved open. Man, she was something else.
No one needed to ply themselves with coffee to sober up, that had to be folklore. No, all that was needed were a few crazily spoken words by Roan Westfield and the fog cleared instantly. Presley’s head raced with everything she’d just heard. Self-preservation kicked in. No way this was possible. The only feasible explanation had to be that this was some sort of senior class graduation prank. For what? Who knew, but men like Roan Westfield didn’t do things like silently harbor feelings for girls like her. That was truly insane no matter how well he’d executed his lie. Presley’s heart dipped a little as she came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the lobby. Of course, this was a class prank. Heck, there had to be money involved. Some sort of bet. Dang. And she had almost fallen for the joke.
What was her countermove? Where did she go from here?
Instead of stomping off crying, throwing a baby fit that she’d been included in some dumb guy-thing ritual, she scanned the nice hotel, looking for a restaurant. When Roan came in behind her, placing a hand at her back, she instantly moved away from the touch, deciding she’d play along, get a free meal, then call a cab and go home. But no way would she allow him to touch her. No. She had always put Roan above all the stupid bull-crap that Blaine and his friends would dish out. Having Roan knocked off that pedestal was going to take some getting used to. Did no one have integrity anymore?
