by C. A. Harms
“I’ll just stay over in Courtney’s room. But it pisses me off that I even have to.” My earlier mood had now faded.
“Me too, sweetheart,” Amber replied. “But I promise you we’ll get this figured out.”
I trusted her, because I knew Amber would do just about anything for me.
After we hung up, I dropped my phone in my lap. I just needed a few minutes to tame the Sawyer temper within me. Rarely did it show its ugly face, but I felt this situation warranted my current reaction.
I fully planned to send that bitch of a roommate a bill for the new bedding I planned to buy.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before I grabbed my phone and picked my ass up off the floor and climbed back into the elevator to go up another floor. The blue notification light flashed on my phone indicating I had something waiting.
That earlier light feeling returned when I found it was a text from Keeton.
I can’t wait either. Is it weird that I sorta miss your sweet smile already?
Tomorrow night could not come soon enough.
When I knocked on Courtney’s door, she opened it within seconds. “What happened?”
“The skank,” I said in explanation as I stepped inside her room and she closed the door behind me. Her roommate, Gina groaned in response. They were both very aware of the nasty girl I shared a room with. “She was seriously banging some hairy dude in my bed. It was the nastiest image, and I’m not only forced to have it now embedded in my memory, but she ruined my bedding in the process.”
They both stared back at me with blank expressions.
“And can you believe that neither one of them acknowledged my presence even after I screamed some pretty nasty shit at them before slamming the door?” I shivered as I remembered the image. “It resembled Jello, the way his ass and flabby back flopped in that unnatural way.”
Courtney pretended to gag and Gina curled her lip in disgust.
“I’m scarred for life, no joke,” I assured them.
I thought about sharing my other news with them, but with the yuck I faced only fifteen minutes ago, I decided I wanted to keep Keeton to myself for a little longer.
I fell asleep that night, curled on a loveseat tucked in a corner with images of that smile accompanied by the sexy dimple and all the shit was drowned out.
Chapter Six
Keeton
I stood outside the restaurant feeling anxious. I had been there for less than ten minutes when Olivia rounded the corner. For a moment I wasn’t sure I was breathing.
Sexy didn’t even begin to describe the way she looked tonight. The pale pink shirt hugged her perfectly, the V neck showing the swell of her breasts just enough to make my heart race. She paired it with black skinny jeans that stopped mid-calf. But the heels…the heels she matched with her outfit would honestly give any man a few fantasies.
Her hair hung in big waves and fell over her shoulders, making me want nothing more than to run my fingers through it.
“Hi,” she said, as she stood a few feet away and bit down on her lower lip.
I felt like a needed just a few minutes to regroup after the impact of her beauty.
She looked down at herself and then back up at me, arching her eyebrow in that adorable way. “Do I look okay?” she asked.
“You look fucking amazing.” The words fell from my lips before I could think twice about them.
A small giggle bubbled from her lips and I suddenly felt a little embarrassed about my outburst.
“Sorry,” I apologized.
“It’s okay,” she stepped closer. “You look pretty damn good yourself.”
In that moment, I found myself wondering if it would be too forward to kiss her. It was all that was running through my head at the moment.
Deciding against it, I reached out instead and when she placed her hand in mine, I led her toward the entrance of the restaurant.
As we were seated, I chose to sit in the empty space next to her instead of across from her. When she turned her head to the side and gave me a pleased smile, I knew I’d made the right choice.
I had my share of girls growing up. I’d used them as an escape from the shit at home. When I left for college and got my own place, that behavior slowly faded away. But I still dated and hooked up on occasion. My neighbor Lacy and I had hooked up a few times over the first year, but found we were better friends than anything else, so we decided to keep it just that in the future.
But this thing with Olivia felt different.
I found myself hoping for a long stretch of great dates rather than one that felt necessary prior to ending it in sex. Tonight was about more than just that. I found that I wanted to know Olivia. I wanted to hear more about her family and the crazy over-protective dad. Even though that kinda made my heart bottom out a bit, I’d face him when the time came, but it still made me more than nervous.
We spent the night talking about school and our majors. She was a little shocked when I told her about my interest in computer engineering. But she never once made me feel like she thought I wasn’t smart enough. She listened to me talk about everything I loved about it, and asked questions, showing full interest.
And when it was her turn, I watched her eyes light up when she talked about becoming a world history teacher. I could just feel the excitement rolling off her in waves as she went on and on about the love she had for teaching.
I believed in that moment, that in the presence of Olivia, it would be almost impossible not to feel happy.
When our food came she dug in without pause. It was refreshing to see her order a meal instead of some small salad. She even made small sighs of appreciation as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the flavor. I found myself more interested in her than my own meal.
She took her fork and scooped up a bite of pasta as she twisted it around and round. When it was secure she lifted her fork and turned to face me. “You have to taste this.”
I didn’t even hesitate as she held the fork close.
She smiled happily as I chewed the offered food.
“It’s good, right?” She waited in anticipation for my answer, but the only thing I could focus on was her lips. I hadn’t even really tasted the food I had just consumed.
She was so beautiful. Almost painfully so, as my stomach seemed to ache whenever I looked at her long enough.
“You didn’t like it, did you?” she asked, as the smile fell from her lips just enough for me to notice.
“No, it was good,” I assured her as I leaned in a little closer. Her eyes shifted to my mouth as I licked the sauce from my lips. “It’s just hard to focus on much more than you.”
I was torn between kissing her and shoveling food in my mouth to stop myself from coming off too forward.
“You can be pretty distracting too.” When she confessed she felt something, I honestly had a huge sense of relief rush through me. I was so damn worried about messing this up that it was holding me back from doing what I truly wanted to.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment you walked around that corner tonight, and I can’t seem to focus on much of anything else.” She tilted her head and looked up at me, with a smile tugging at her lips. “I’m thinking that maybe if I do, I’ll be able to tame just a small amount of this energy inside me.”
“Ya think so?” She wasn’t truly asking. It was more of a “Yeah, right,” statement.
“I definitely think I should give it a shot,” I told her, with a matching smile.
When she gave a little nod of approval I moved in closer and gently grazed her lips with mine. As her eyes fluttered shut I cupped the side of her neck and pressed my lips to hers.
A soft moan filled the air between us and I smiled against her lips. I teasingly sucked at her lower lip just before pulling back and she returned a smile.
“Did that help?” she asked.
“Nope,” I replied. “Because now I know what I’m missing.”
The waiter picked that time to a
sk if there was anything else we needed and I fought the urge to tell him to fuck off. I think Olivia picked up on my look of irritation when she laughed at me.
“I think we’re good,” she told the waiter. “Actually, can we get the check?”
He nodded his head and left to retrieve our check.
It would seem that Oliva and I were on the same wavelength.
We talked a little while longer, mostly about things we enjoyed doing. It felt more relaxed now that we got the first kiss out of the way. But it was hard to not grab hold of her and repeat that kiss over and over.
Chapter Seven
Olivia
Tonight was perfect.
Keeton was so much more than I anticipated. He was smart and gentle. He was so alluring at times, I found it almost impossible to focus on much more than his lips as they moved. The words coming out sort of got lost in the sheer twerk of his mouth or that dimple when he smiled.
He held my hand as he walked me into my dorm, then continued to hold me close to his side as we rode the elevator up to my floor.
“I had a really good time tonight,” I told him as we approached my room. I leaned against the wall next to my door looking up at him as he still held my hand securely in his.
Part of me was leery about going inside because I wasn’t sure what I would find. My roommate had no shame, and I really didn’t like the idea of Keeton seeing her walking around the room naked, or something worse.
Keeton turned his body to face me as he placed his hand against the wall just above my head. Leaning in, enough to bring his face just a little closer, he whispered, “Are you busy Thursday?”
I shook my head, focusing on his lips once again as they moved in closer right before they skimmed over my jaw, and my eyes fluttered shut. The moment he placed a soft kiss against my neck, beneath my ear, I sagged against the wall and he chuckled. “Because I would really like to see you again,” he whispered next to my ear.
“Me too.” It came out in more of a breathy pant. I couldn’t focus on much more than his closeness.
In my opinion, tonight had gone by entirely too fast. I wasn’t ready for it to end. I wanted to stay in this moment, for hours.
The way he made me feel was something I had only heard about. On more than one occasion growing up, I heard Amber and Bailey talk about the way Uncle Jackson and my dad made their hearts race and their knees weak, and I just couldn’t understand it. But right now, in this moment, I felt it, and it felt better than anything I ever imagined it to be.
I turned toward him and the tip of my nose brushed against his, making him smile as he flashed that dimple. It was time to take matters into my own hands. I arched my neck, pressing my lips to his. I had craved another kiss since the moment he kissed me at the restaurant and pulled away, entirely too quickly in my opinion.
I weaved my fingers through the hair at the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Pressing my tongue to his lips, he opened up willingly and accepted my advance.
I became so wrapped up in the moment that I didn’t notice my bedroom door open. The booming sound of my father’s voice startled me.
“What the hell?” he growled.
The demanding, irritated tone made me jump in response.
“Dad,” I gasped as I turned around and stood in front of Keeton. I wasn’t worried about me; it was the look of pure death he was giving Keeton that sort of freaked me out a bit. “What are you doing here?”
“That isn’t the question that needs to be answered right now,” my dad said as he looked between me and Keeton. “What I’d like to know is why you’re standing out here in the hall, letting this boy maul you?”
“He is not mauling me,” I said as I crossed my arms over my chest, immediately feeling defensive. “It was actually me mauling him.”
I fought the laughter bubbling in me as my dad’s face reddened in irritation. Keeton nudged me in the back and the laughter fell from my lips.
“Not funny, Liv,” my dad said, placing his hands on his hips and narrowing his eyes.
I shrugged. “I sorta thought it was funny.”
He was definitely unimpressed with my reaction to his question.
Which honestly only made it funnier. The humor faded when Keeton reached around me and held out his hand toward my dad. “It’s nice to meet you sir; I’m Keeton Pearce.”
I rolled my eyes when my dad just looked down at Keeton’s hand before looking back up to meet his stare. “Oh for the love of god, don’t be an ass,” I lectured him. “Or I’ll call Amber.”
My father and I shared a stare down before he reached out and finally shook Keeton’s hand. But he remained silent, giving Keeton the stink eye the entire time. If I wasn’t scared of the consequences, I would have shin kicked him for his sour, less than cordial etiquette.
“Well I guess I better get going,” Keeton insisted as he began to back away. I felt my stomach drop with the idea of my dad scaring him away.
I spun around to face him. “Are we still on for Thursday?” I asked.
He looked at me and then looked past me, I assumed at my sour faced father. I could feel the irritation boiling inside me. “Um, I’ll give ya a call.”
I only nodded my head as I watched him retreat down the hall like his ass was on fire.
“I can’t believe you,” I said turning around to glare at my dad.
“Me?” he questioned. “I came down here to look at these apartments you keep pushing for, but now I think I may be reconsidering. In fact I’m thinking the dorm may be the best place for you to be.”
I narrowed my eyes in anger and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re being ridiculous. I am not twelve anymore and you need to stop treating me like I am.” He tried to respond but I held up my hand to stop him. “I ain’t finished. In fact I’ve got a whole bag of reasons why you need to start treating me like an adult. That boy you just scared off is a complete gentleman. He was respectful to me and kind. Would you rather me be dating some ass who treats me like I am dispensable?”
“I’d actually rather you be dating no one,” he mumbled.
“I’m calling Amber,” I pushed past him and heard him say “Shit” as I started to dial her number.
If he scared off Keeton I was going to cause his life at home to be less than pleasant.
Chapter Eight
Keeton
It had been a few hours since I hurried off and left Olivia and her father staring after me. My nuts felt like they were in my damn stomach.
I’m not a small guy; I was pushing two hundred pounds and did all I could to stay in shape. But Olivia’s dad made me feel like a scrawny teenager. Maybe it was the fact I really liked his daughter and wanted nothing more than to impress him, but fuck, he seriously made me feel like the best option was to run and run fast.
My body was still humming with nervous energy. I was sitting in my living room, flipping repeatedly through the same channels in more of a nervous twitch than the need to watch anything. It was close to midnight when my phone beeped, indicating a new message had arrived.
I practically dove for my phone.
Olivia: Don’t let my dad freak you out, he is nicer than he appeared tonight. He just has a very hard time accepting that I am grown up.
No shit, I thought to myself. The guy obviously was not a fan of his daughter dating. I don’t think it mattered who the guy was; he would hate anyone.
Keeton: Really? I hadn’t noticed.
When a message didn’t come back immediately, I thought I had somehow pissed her off with my sarcasm.
But then my phone began to ring, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw it was her.
“Hey,” I said as I lifted the phone to my ear.
“I am so embarrassed by the way he acted.”
I could hear the irritation in her voice and chuckled. “Sweetheart, if I was a father, I am more than positive I would act the same way, if not worse.”
“I don’t think you have a mean bone in your bod
y,” she said.
“I like that you think that of me, but I do have a little bit of a temper. But only when I find it necessary,” I replied. “Is your dad still around?”
“He’s at his hotel,” she said. “He left after I called my stepmom and told on him.”
“You did not.” I laughed.
“Yep, I sure did.” She sounded proud. “Amber tore into him and he left my dorm room grumbling something about being teamed up on.”
There was a pause, and I was just about to say something to break the silence when she spoke.
“So are you still unsure if you wanna see me again?”
“What?” Had I really given her that impression?
“When I asked if we were still on for Thursday, you didn’t seem sure. So I just figured my dad had scared ya off.”
Well damn. I guess I had.
“Of course I want to go out with you again. I’d actually take you out tomorrow night if I didn’t have to work. Thursday is my next day off.” I could hear her let out a long breath and it made me smile.
It was nice to know that she wanted to see me as badly as I did.
***
Over the next week, I tried to see Olivia every chance I got. Even if it was only for five minutes before my class started, I took it.
Her father had gone back to Montana after they looked at a few apartments just off campus. He left without giving her a direct answer. It was funny listening to her ramble on about the stubborn-ass Sawyer men and their control issues. But something told me it wasn’t just the Sawyer men who were stubborn.
Olivia was a fireball; that much was obvious. She didn’t let things go easily. And the way she spouted out her opinion on pretty much anything was sometimes real damn funny.
Since our first date, we had gone out twice more. Dinner and a movie, followed by sneaking her into a club. She used a fake ID she’d had for months, but had failed to test it. She stuck to my side from the moment we entered until the time we left. Loud college kids, with even louder music; it was obvious it wasn’t her usual means of passing the time.
