“I’m sitting in the parking lot just outside of Margaret Hall in Holden’s truck.”
“Well, you two are late. Meet us at the Tasty Quesadilla.”
“I’ll let you know.” I don’t really know if Holden is going to be up to hang out with my friends. I don’t know if I’m up for Holden hanging out with my friends.
“Parker,” Autumn whines. “Put Holden on the phone.”
“I’ll text you.” I ignore her request.
“I’m going to keep blowing up your phone,” she tells me.
That’s fine. I can turn it off if I need to. “I’ll let you know.” I don’t wait for a reply before ending the call.
“What’s up?”
“That was Autumn. She and some of our friends are actually going to Mexican, so we can pick somewhere else.”
“What?” He furrows his brow. “Why would we do that?”
“I’m sure you don’t want to spend the afternoon hanging out with my friends.”
“I don’t care who’s there as long as you are, and you're sitting next to me. Everything else doesn’t matter to me.”
My heart races at his confession. How am I supposed to keep from falling for him when he says things like that? What’s worse is that I believe him. He’s looking at me, staring into my eyes, and this isn’t just a ploy to get me into his bed. If it is, he’s a damn good actor. He really just wants to hang out with me.
I place my hand over my heart. “You make my heart race, Holden Bailey,” I confess.
He places his hand over mine and entwines our fingers. “Good race or bad race?”
“Good race.”
He nods. “Text Autumn and tell her we’re on our way.” He pulls his hand from mine and buckles his seat belt.
“We really don’t have to.”
“Sure we do. They’re your friends, and you’ve all worked hard, putting another semester of college behind you. I was there just a couple of years ago. I know the relief. We’re going to celebrate.” He reaches over and pats my thigh. “Let’s do this.”
I do as he says, too stunned that he’s willing to hang out with my friends and me to argue. Once I’m strapped in, he backs out of the space and follows my directions to the Tasty Quesadilla. It’s maybe a five-minute drive from campus, and they’re cheap, which means it’s always packed full of college students.
“Holden, we don’t have to do this,” I say, my anxiety starting to rise. “We won’t be able to hide in the corner here. People will sure recognize you.”
“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” he asks. His voice is soft, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say my words hurt his feelings.
“No. That’s not it at all. You know people are going to talk. They’re going to see us arrive and leave together. Although I could get a ride with Autumn.”
“Are we hiding this, Parker?”
“What is this?” I question. “I don’t even know what we’re doing. I mean, I know it started out that we were going to take things slow and get to know one another on our own merit and not the media, but” I stop talking. I almost said too much.
“But what?”
I shake my head.
“No secrets, sweet pea. Not between us. Tell me what you were going to say.” He removes his seat belt and turns to face me. Thankfully we’re in the back of the parking lot, and I don’t think my friends know what he drives. Then again, this is Holden Bailey. They probably do.
“It feels like it’s more,” I say softly, staring down at my hands that are gripping the strap of my purse like my life depends on it.
“Parker.” He pauses. When I don’t look at him, his index fingers rest under my chin, and he lifts my eyes to his. “This is more. It didn’t start that way, but here we are.” He smiles, and I swear this man has a direct line to my heart as the organ squeezes in my chest every time he turns that smile on me.
“Here we are,” I repeat.
“We don’t have to figure it all out right now. We’re going to go inside and celebrate the end of the semester with your friends. Then I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, and we can talk about this. About us, or we can just hang out. I don’t care as long as I get to spend time with you. Five minutes with you on Monday morning is not enough time with you this week. So, now that classes are over, we’ll be fixing that.”
“Okay.” I nod. Then panic hits me. “Wait. They’re going to ask what’s going on with us.”
“Then we tell them the truth. We’re dating.”
“But what about the others?”
“What others?”
“The women.”
This time, it’s his hand that cradles my cheek as he leans impossibly close. His blue eyes bore into mine, willing me to believe every word he’s about to speak. “Baby, there is no one but you. You’re all I see.”
“So we’re dating. Exclusively?” I ask. I just need to be sure before I walk in there with all of my friends. I don’t want to be the laughingstock.
“We’re dating exclusively. As an only child, I’ve never been much of a sharer, and I sure as fuck don’t want to share you.”
“Well, I’m not an only child, but I-I don’t want to share you either.” It’s a huge confession coming from me, and we both know it.
“You’ll never have to. I promise you. I’m a man of my word, Parker. If this ever feels as though it’s not working, I’ll talk to you about it, and we can go from there.”
“You don’t do relationships,” I remind him.
“I didn’t.”
“You do now?” I don’t know why I keep harping on this, and in the parking lot of the Tasty Quesadilla at that.
“I do now.” He moves forward and presses his lips softly against mine. “We can talk all you want after this. For now, we’re dating. Only each other. That’s all they need to know. You and I can figure the rest out as we go.”
“This isn’t very slow.” I smile at him.
“Baby, we had no chance of ever going slow.” He taps my nose with his index finger, turns off the engine, and climbs out of the truck.
I fumble with my seat belt but manage to finally push open the door, and he’s there waiting for me. His strong hands grip my hips as he lifts me from the truck, kisses me quickly, and then places me on my feet. I step back so he can close the door.
“Ready?” he asks, offering me his hand.
“Let’s do this.”
He grins and links his fingers with mine. He leads me inside, and the door is barely closed behind us before Autumn is calling out for us. “It’s about time,” she yells, waving her hands in the air like a fool to get our attention.
Holden leads us to the long table and takes my coat, placing it on the back of my chair before pulling my chair out for me. “Damn, Holden Bailey has game,” Autumn comments.
“How many has she had?” I ask Kate.
“That’s her first,” she answers with a laugh.
Holden takes off his coat, places it on the back of his chair, and sits beside me. He places his arm on the back of my chair.