“You’re going out with Shep after he’s done, right?” Kelli asks.
“That’s the plan,” I confirm.
“I can’t go out like this.” Jade waves a hand at herself, the frown she’s wearing so deep I swear she’s going to give herself permanent wrinkles. “I look…”
“Beautiful,” I finish for her, which only makes her cheeks turn pinker.
“You’re so full of it,” she mutters and I chuckle, moving so I can sit in the spot her roommate just vacated.
“Just telling the truth.” I take hold of her hand, my arm pressed against hers and I’m ultra-aware of her scent, the way she feels next to me, her fingers curling around mine. “Hang out with me tonight, Jade. You’ve ditched me all week. I’ve missed you.”
She turns her incredulous gaze upon me, those big hazel eyes eating me up, I swear. “You missed me?”
Nodding, I bring our connected hands up between us and drop a light kiss to her knuckles. “Yeah.”
“You don’t even know me,” she whispers.
“I want to. Get to know you.” I kiss her knuckles again. Her skin is so soft. I want to kiss more than her knuckles. Hell, I want to kiss her all over. “Come over. I’ll ditch practice right now. We can leave together.”
“But Kelli.” She waves a hand at the spot where her roommate once stood.
“Is gone.” I need to send her flowers or something as a thank you for bringing Jade to me. “Come on, Jade. Let’s go.”
“Don’t you need to finish practice?”
“They’ll survive without me.” I stand and pull her up along with me, releasing her hand. There are a few stragglers sitting on the bleachers, most of them female and gawking shamelessly at the field. I’m guessing they’re here for the shirtless show. Speaking of my shirt…“Let me grab my stuff and we’ll go?”
“Okay.” She nods, a bunch of strands of wild red hair falling around her face and I give in to the urge, reaching out so I can tuck all that silky soft hair first behind one ear, then the other. I skim her face with my fingertips, hear the shuddery breath she sucks in and I know I’m not the only one buried deep in this.
We’re both feeling it. The chemistry that crackles between us, that’s been there from the start, from that first moment our gazes met in the mirror. I touch her chin, smooth my thumb across her lower lip and her eyelids waver.
“Stay here,” I murmur. “Don’t leave this spot, okay?”
She nods silently, her gaze dropping from mine to stare at my…chest.
Right. Because I’m not wearing a shirt. And I’m all sweaty and I probably smell and whoa, is that interest flaring in her eyes because that’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jade look at me like that.
“Five minutes,” I tell her, leaning in so I can press a quick kiss to her surprised lips. Who knew lips could be surprised? And they would taste so damn good? “Give me five minutes.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
I walk away from her backwards, like I can’t stop looking at her and truth be told, I can’t. Her lips curl into this mysterious little smile and she shakes her head. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” she calls right as I fucking stumble.
I right myself, quickly glancing over my shoulder before I look at her once again. “It would be worth it.”
Her cheeks go pink again and I swear to God, I’m going to make it my life’s mission to make her blush as much as possible.
I turn and head back to the field, snatching my T-shirt from where I flung it on the ground, then grab my phone and car keys. We’re so casual out here, I know none of these guys are going to take my shit. Gabe’s standing nearby, polishing off a bottle of Gatorade and I approach him.
“I’m out,” I tell him. He’s never been part of the summer soccer league. He just comes out here to practice when he has nothing else to do. I think he likes feeling like he belongs to something. “Tell the rest of the guys, okay?”
Gabe frowns. “Where you going?”
I slip my shirt on and shove my phone in my pocket. “Home.” The less I tell him the better. Tristan’s not home tonight. It’s his turn to manage the tables. I’ll be working Saturday night. Gabe’s on for tomorrow. We’ve decided to close on Sundays for the rest of the semester. Business is down and school’s almost over.
This means I have Jade all to myself tonight. No interruptions, no nothing.
Gabe scans the bleachers, his gaze snagging on Jade, no doubt. “You found the redhead.” He sends me a look. “Did she come here to tempt you or what?”
“She didn’t know I’d be here.” And I believe her. She’d looked too surprised, too mad at her roommate, for this to be a planned visit.
“Right. What a coincidence.” Gabe rolls his eyes and I clench my hands into fists. “You’re confusing me, bro. I don’t understand what’s going on here with you and the redhead.”
“Her name is Jade,” I bite out.
“Okay. Then I don’t know what’s going on with you and Jade.” He shakes his head. “Are you actually trying to pursue a relationship with her?”
Am I? I don’t know. “What does it matter?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s just weird to see you so twisted over a girl. A girl you don’t even know,” Gabe explains.
“Yeah well, that’s the thing. I want to get to know her. And fuck all that one and done crap, and it’s the rules and I’m breaking the rules or whatever. I don’t care about any of that. I just…” The words die in my throat and I glance over my shoulder, my gaze going unerringly to Jade. She hasn’t moved, just like I asked, and she’s watching me. I feel her eyes on me and I smile, my stomach tumbling when she smiles back.
Fuck. I’ve got it bad.
“I just like her,” I say to Gabe when I turn back to face him. “I can’t explain why and I can’t explain what exactly I’m doing, but I like her and I want to spend time with her.”
“No one and done?” Gabe asks, sounding genuinely—confused? Sincere? Perplexed? All of the above?
I shake my head. “I think I’m sick of that shit.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.” I start to laugh. “I think. We’ll see. I’m testing this out. One day at a time.”
“And that’s all you can do, man.” Gabe takes a step closer and slaps me on the back. “That’s all you can do.”
Fourteen
Shep
She’s waiting for me when I return to the bleachers and she stands without a word, approaching me with hurried steps, her gaze filled with unspoken…urgency. An urgency I’ve never seen before, but I’m not about to question it.
Instead, I settle my hand at the small of her back and guide her away from the bleachers, the field, the campus. We’re headed to the parking lot, toward my car and it’s so fucking deep in, practically at the end of the row in the middle of the lot. It’s like what you see on TV or movies, when the path stretches out for an eternity, and it seems endless, like you’ll never be able to find what you’re looking for.