“I hope so,” I admitted. “I don’t know that I want any more whack me in the back of the head lessons.” If nothing else, the past weekend had left me reeling with its incredible peaks and desperate valleys. “I just want—I want to write the perfect essay. I want to finish school with the right GPA, and if I have to, I’ll take the SAT again.”
“Frankie, you got a 1550, you don’t need to take it again. That’s a good score.”
“But it’s not the highest score, and I need all the help I can get.”
“Your essays are good, and you have notebooks of writing you can submit as a portfolio. You’ve been writing some of the best pieces since freshman year. You’ve got good grades, you’ve got life experience, they would be fools to turn you down.” The absolute confidence in his voice buoyed me.
“You’re really good for my ego,” I said.
“Good. You ready to head back to my place, or want to ride around the lake some more?”
Both were tempting. “I’m good with either,” I admitted. “But first…” I leaned forward and he met me halfway. This time, I initiated the kiss, nibbling against his lower lip before teasing my tongue against his. His mouth opened so generously, and it was like falling and being caught in the same breath.
My stomach clenched as the tingles radiated out from where our mouths connected, and I leaned into him. Ian flexed his hand against my side and let out a low groan, before lifting his head. “I think back to my place where I can kiss you in comfort.”
I laughed. “We still have homework.”
“I know,” he agreed, nuzzling little kisses to my mouth. “But we also have a pool and swimming together is a good thing.”
Another shudder passed through me at the memory of being in his lap in the pool. Licking my lips, I tilted my head back and let him kiss past the strap of the helmet to my neck. The problem was the helmet was heavy, and I started to tip.
Chuckling, he balanced me and nudged my head up. “Definitely home. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Injured in make-out accident,” I intoned, eyes widening. “We’d never live that down.”
“Well, Bob, we’re down here at the lakefront where two teens decided that sitting astride a motorcycle while wearing their helmets was the perfect spot to re-enact every teen movie ever—except the sun was still up, there is no backseat, and our intrepid heroine fell over because the helmet she was wearing weighed too much. Fortunately, the helmet also protected her head from the hit it could have taken. So keep in mind kids, when we say safe sex, this wasn’t what we had in mind, but it is effective.”
I gaped for all of about three seconds before laughter swamped me. It was both horrifying and hilarious. Ian’s grin spread, infectious in its brightness, and he squeezed me closer.
He let out a happy sigh and then brushed my lips with another kiss before turning to start the bike. I settled against his back, arms around him and relaxed in a way I hadn’t been. Some of the day lifted away as he got us moving, and we did another circuit of the lake before he cut away and toward his place.
Unlike the last few times, his parents were already gone when we got there. Relief invaded me as he cruised the bike into the garage. Climbing off, I loosened my helmet. Fast on the heels of relief came guilt. Ian’s dad had done me a solid, even if it had been humiliating to have him see those pictures.
After hooking our helmets onto his bike, Ian slid his arms around me again. This time when he dipped his head, I could wrap my arms around his neck. He was all solid muscle and enthusiasm. With every lick of his tongue against mine, I clung tighter. This close, there was no way to miss the press of his erection or my own response. My nipples tightened as fever and chill raced in equal measure over my skin.
I was aware of everything. The spicy hint of the aftershave he used, the way his clothes smelled like him, the warmth of his skin, the faint rasp of stubble beginning to grace his jaw. The way our clothes rustled as we rubbed against each other. The solid grip of his hands as they clamped on my hips, then he lifted me—backpack and all—so I wasn’t tilting my head back or straining. Thighs hitched to his hips, I sank into the kiss.
I needed to breathe, but I didn’t care. One brief break for a rush of air, and then his mouth was open to mine again. My heart beat out a rapid cadence when he dragged his teeth lightly over my lower lip. Finally, we broke the kiss, but his forehead pressed to mine and we were panting in tandem.
Even in the shadows of the garage, his blue eyes were intense and his pupils huge. I had no idea what mine looked like, but I ached from kissing and wanted more in equal measure.
“Much better,” he managed in a rough voice that sent shivers eddying through me. Somewhere in all of that, he’d cupped his hands on my ass and held me in place. “Hey, Frankie,” he whispered.
“Hey, Ian.” I ran my fingers through his hair, unwilling to take my hands off of him, even if we needed to move. Honestly, I lost track of time, and if not for the fact I’d started to sweat, I might have been content to just stay there, staring at him as we tried to get our breathing under control.
“Hi, Angel,” he said as he carefully set me down. A thrill went through me at the nickname. After a briefer, but no less heated kiss, he turned me around and gave me a little nudge. “Go on inside and give me a minute.”
I paused to glance at him. “Are you okay?”
“Yep,” he said. “But I think I need about fifty laps in the pool.”
Oh.
I bit my lower lip, but before I could say anything, he made a shooing motion. “Go find a suit and get changed. We can swim and cool off,” he said before adding in a low mutter, “in more ways than one.”
Not wanting to make him more uncomfortable, I headed upstairs. I stared at the door to his room for a minute, then the guest room. It would be just as easy to walk in there, strip off, and let him walk in and find me, or I could do what he asked me to do.
The fact I was even considering the first washed over me, and my skin lit up. Wanting any of them was not a problem. Every single kiss pushed me closer, but Archie and I had already crossed that line, and what did it say about me if I did with all of them? Even if they knew about each other. Ian punched Archie about Friday night, but he wasn’t pulling away from me.
Eddies from earlier turned into a churn, and I diverted to the guest room. If I couldn’t answer that question without gut-wrenching nerves, then I didn’t need to be asking it yet. Ian was the one who said he needed a minute to get himself under control. And it wasn’t like I’d been pushing him away.
Stripping off the backpack, I set it on the guest bed. Then walked into the guest bathroom to check my face. My lips were swollen, and there was a little redness around my mouth and cheek—from his stubble. The fact I could see it gave me another little thrill. The hickeys I had courtesy of Jake and Coop were still there, faded—save for the one Jake added to Sunday night.
Fortunately, he’d kept it lower so I could hide it under my clothes. It was going to be very visible in a suit though. So would the ones on my thighs. Nerves practically vibrated in my stomach, and I pulled my hair down and ran my fingers through it.
Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring my suit. I’d worn it Saturday but hadn’t really gotten to show it off. The day had gone so epically sideways. The sound of Ian’s heavier tread on the stairs reached me, and I rolled my eyes at myself.
Friends, first. We’d all been friends first. Stripping, I changed into the bikini I’d picked up for myself and ran a comb through my hair before leaving my clothes folded neatly to put back on. Then snagging my backpack, I opened the door and found Ian standing just outside his bedroom door, arms folded.
He hadn’t changed yet.
His eyes flared as our gazes locked. “Wow…” Licking his lips, he lingered on my suit for a minute before blowing out a breath. “Really wow.”
“I got this last spring, I just… never wore it.” The look on his face made me wonder why I’d always been so reti
cent about bikinis. At the same time, I was happy I’d gone with it, even as my nerves decided to put on a fresh appearance. It was like being in a tug of war with a spring-loaded yo-yo. My emotions were all over the place.
“I like it.” He straightened. “And that answers that question.”
“What question?”
“Whether you wanted to just hang out in my room or go swimming…”
Did he mean? “If you want…”
“No, I mean—I do want. But I think swimming is better. Then homework, then music. Sound good?”
My stomach let out a gurgle, and Ian burst out laughing.
My face was probably the color of a cherry tomato. My gut was not known for its ladylike behavior.
“And food,” he promised. “Give me a sec.”
He was already pulling his shirt off as he walked into his room. When he didn’t close the door, it was like every cell in my body yearned to follow him in there. Shaking my head, I made myself turn to go down the stairs. Just because he hadn’t closed the door, didn’t mean he’d left it open for me to ogle him.
I got to do that enough by the pool. The fact I had sex on the brain wasn’t lost on me. Downstairs, I got us sodas from the fridge. There was a note on the counter from Ian’s mom with some cash. It said to order pizza and have a good night—they would be late getting back.
Date night.
That was right. His parents had a date night once a week. Sometimes his mom worked evening shifts, but they’d been heading out on a date last week. I left the note and cash where it was and took the sodas outside with my backpack. The umbrella was already opened over the table, so I set out my stuff.
Cheryl had messaged me about dress shopping again, and I groaned.
Me: Not sure. I have to work tomorrow and Thursday. Maybe Monday next week—maybe. If you have to go without me, it’s okay.
Cheryl: Girl, you gotta do the whole experience and trying on all the dresses together is part of that. When do you work this weekend?
Me: 10 to 6 Sat and Sun. Always 10 to 6.
Cheryl: Ugh. Fine. Saturday evening. Mitch will just have to do without me. You and I, Rockdale Mall, seven. Want me to pick you up?
I made a face.
Me: Can I think about it?
Cheryl: Absolutely not. You need a great dress, and the key is to have the right wingwoman. Lucky for you, I’m amazing and I know you’ll tell me if something makes me look like a creampuff.
I couldn’t help it, I laughed.
Me: I swear, I won’t let you look like a creampuff.
Cheryl: Thank you! So am I getting you girl or you meeting me?
Me: I’ll meet you. Where at Rockdale?
Cheryl: Big fountain entrance next to Maggie’s.
Maggie’s was a really nice boutique and catastrophically out of my price range. But she did say we were going to be looking.
Me: Deal. I’ll be there.
The door to the house opened, and Ian stepped outside in his trunks. The taper of his waist and the very clear lines where his abdomen descended into his Adonis belt had my mouth watering.
“You’re smiling,” he said.
“Yeah—Cheryl wants me to go dress shopping with her, and she’s hijacking my Saturday night.”
“What color are you getting?” He set his backpack on the table and reached for the Coke.
“I don’t know… do you have a preference since it’s your Homecoming date, too?”
“Whatever you wanna wear. I don’t think there’s a color that looks bad on you.” The ease of that compliment had my toes curling. “Just make sure you tell me so I can match you.”
“I promise,” I told him, then took a drink.
“Swim?” He curled his hand in invitation.
“You just want to make out in the pool again,” I teased him.
“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he retorted as we linked our fingers together.
“And you won’t—” I might have spoken too soon because he tugged me to him, and then we were airborne before plunging into the water. Even though the water was far from cold, it was definitely cooler than the air, and I came up spluttering as he laughed. With a growl, I launched toward him and he let out a shout as I managed to land on his shoulders and just barely dunked his head.
Before I could streak away though, he caught my leg and towed me back to him. Then he lifted me up and tossed me. Laughing when I came up this time, I pursued him across the pool. We spent the next hour laughing, dunking, and wrestling in the water, until I finally moved over to the steps and sat there, panting.
All the earlier nervous energy had been burned away, and my muscles protested the vigorous play, but I didn’t care. It had been fun. When Ian came to sit next to me, I leaned my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes as we just rested there.
“Feel better?” The quiet question nudged me from my near-doze state.
“How did you know?”
“You’ve been pretty wired the last few days,” Ian said. “Yesterday when you crashed out like that, I knew you’d probably had enough, and you worked so hard today at not letting anything bother you.”
I sighed. “Apparently not hard enough.”
“I pay attention,” he said, trailing his fingers up and down my arm soothingly. “I’m trying to anyway, and you have a way of smiling when it’s the last thing you want to be doing.”
Lifting my head, I twisted to face him. “I do?”
“Yeah. The smile is here,” he murmured, tracing my lips with his finger before gliding his touch up to brush against the corner of my eyes. “But it doesn’t reach here. You distract people because you can be solemn and you get harried and busy, so you don’t have to focus on any one thing. I still saw it.”
I swallowed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be seen like that.
“I’m not going to dig at you. This weekend had some epic suck moments.”
Yeah, it had.
“But,” he continued, cupping my face. “I think it had some good ones, too.”
“Sunday was nice—later. Sorta—I mean it was, but later in the day. Not first thing. That was…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about the stuff with my mom. I’d told Archie because it was about his dad, too. But the rest?
“I’m glad,” he continued, then tugged my wet hair gently. “If you ever need to talk, you know you can talk to me, right? About anything? Even—even the other guys.”
“You punched Archie when I talked to you about what happened, even when I said I was fine with it.”
He met my gaze unflinchingly. “He deserved that hit, and he’d be the first one to tell you he did.”
“So if I tell you about Jake or Coop, are you going to hit them, too?”
“If they’re dumber than a box of rocks, probably.” He blew out a breath. “But I will try to restrain it to those times when they really deserve it. And before you get started winding yourself up about that, I fully expect Jake or Archie or Coop to knock me on my ass if I’m stupid where you’re concerned.”
“So… when do I knock you guys on your ass when you’re stupid? Or who knocks me on mine?” Because I was genuinely curious.
Ian chuckled. “You’re the smart one, Frankie. You can very effectively knock us on our ass. As I recall—you flat out told us to get out. You said there were boundaries. And you said you wanted to date.” He coiled a lock of hair around his finger and tugged. “And no one is knocking you on your ass.” Then he reeled me closer and nuzzled a kiss. “Because anyone who tries to knock you down is going to have to get past us.”
I sighed as he teased kisses down my throat.
“Now,” he murmured against my throat. “We better get out of the pool, and I need to order the pizza.”
Laughter eddied through the shivers of his breath whispering against my skin. “We have a lot of homework to do.”
“Hmm-hmm…and I want to play you the new song and see what you think.”
“I love it,” I told him, and he
lifted his head.
“You haven’t heard it yet.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You have an amazing voice, and I love listening to you.”
Arms wrapped around me, he chuckled. “You’re good for my ego. I may have to keep you.”
“Oh, the horror,” I mock groaned.
“The horror, huh?” Then he had me up and I eyed him.
“Ian!”
“Oh, but it’s the horror…” And he tossed me into the water, and it was even chillier against my sun-warmed skin. When I resurfaced, he was standing on the side, hands on his hips—looking damn good. “So—pineapple?”
A delightful shiver went through my whole body at the look in his eyes. “Yes please.”
And it was my turn to do laps. Because all I wanted to do was climb him like a pole. When I finally abandoned the pool, he hauled me out and handed me a towel.
The next hour we actually spent on homework, but he kept my feet in his lap and would occasionally put a warm hand on my ankle while we worked through the calculus problems. The only break we took was for pizza, and then he dragged my feet back to rest against his thigh.
“Want to grab a shower and change before we head up to my room?”
I’d like a lot of things, but I’d settle for a shower. “Meet in your room when I’m done?”
“Hmm-hmm… unless you want to use my shower,” he offered.
“With you?”
He squeezed my ankle. “I’m not in a rush.”
Surprise flickered through me.
“Don’t get me wrong—I like making out with you, and I like having you here and I want to do more, but I’m not rushing anything. You’re important enough for me to take my time. You’re worth more than a rush.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest. Valued. Appreciated. Wanted. It was—a weirdly wonderful feeling. After another squeeze to my ankle, he started packing up his stuff.
“Besides,” he said as he stood and raked his gaze over me, smile teasing. “Anticipation is half the fun.”
Changes and Chocolates: Untouchable Book Two Page 21
