“Yeah, I gotta couple of other ideas I’d rather try out on you,” he muttered, picking up all the trash from our meal and stomping to the kitchen.
I hid my smile until he was around the corner, then I let it stretch wide. There was something endearing about seeing him get so worked up over this stupid quiz. I really should cut him a break, but what was the fun in that? “C’mon, big guy. You can handle it. Only three questions left. Eight. What is she most insecure about? A. Her looks. B. Her crazy parents. C. Her childhood photos. D. What insecurities?”
“D. I’ve never met someone more confident than you.” And the way he said it made me wish it were true.
I swallowed hard, thinking back to those years as a kid, when I was swollen from the steroids and chemo and my hair was patchy at best. Yeah, I was good now. I’d made the decision years ago that fear was the lamest reason for not reaching my goals, because I refused to do anything except live my life to the fullest. But getting to this point was a journey I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And choice B? Overprotective didn’t even begin to describe it. There was a reason I chose to attend a college hundreds of miles from home, in a different time zone. Two reasons, in fact. Mom and Dad.
“Nope.” I didn’t hesitate, didn’t give him time to react to my answer. I rushed right into reading number nine, reciting the words on my phone, but my mind was back in West Virginia, looking out the window of the children’s hospital as my veins were pumped full of poison while people outside the hospital were busy with the task of living. Of doing. Of running and playing and going places without thinking first about the potential germ level and whether their white cell counts could handle the risk.
No, I was never going to be that person again.
Laird shifted in front of me, leaning against the wall two feet away, arms crossed over his chest. My eyes blinked away the past and he came back into focus. “Yup. You got that one right.” I had no idea what the question was. Or his answer. He could have the stupid point.
I cleared my throat, swallowing back the memories. “Last one. When you look at her, you picture A. Later that night, in your bed. Or hers. Wherever you end up. B. The wicked cool weekend away you two have scheduled for next month and the new things you’ll try together. C. That big event at the end of the season, the one you still need to rent a tux for. D. Whether your kids will have your eyes or hers.”
Oh.
Oh.
It was asking where he saw the relationship going. How long he thought this would last. I blinked, caught off guard. “Look, this quiz is stupid, you don’t have to ans—”
“All of them.”
“What do you mean, all of them?” My voice crept up with each word, ending in a near shriek.
His voice was rough, his eyes hooded as he repeated himself. “All. Of. Them.”
I laughed awkwardly, surely he didn’t mean—
“Reese. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought of you in my bed, under me, on top of me, tangled around me, in every fucking position you can imagine. In my shower. On the couch. The bench you’re sitting on right now, knees bent, ass in the air, tits pressed against the table with your fingers curled around the edges.”
He took a step closer. My pulse skyrocketed.
“I’ve imagined you in a tiny little bikini on the Gulf Shore, me rubbing sunscreen on your back, your legs wrapped tight around my waist while I held you in the ocean, us fishing for our dinner on my cousin’s boat.”
Another step. I bit my lip.
“Did you know the band is invited to the football banquet in January? I don’t normally go, but I wouldn’t pass up a chance to see you in some killer heels and a long dress with a slit up the side, teasing me with flashes of those thighs all night. I wouldn’t let anyone else dance with you.” He paused. “You’d be all mine.”
His arms caged me against the table he’d just talked about fucking me on from behind, and my vision went a little hazy.
“And kids? If we got to that point, I’d want a boy first. One who’d grow up big like me. And then a little girl, one just as gorgeous as you. But a boy first, so she’d always have a brother to watch out for her. To keep her safe when I wasn’t there to do it myself.”
There was a flicker in his eyes at the end, something dark and turbulent. It was gone before I could analyze it though, try to figure him out. He sucked in a breath. When he exhaled, he was inches away from me, his muscular chest bent over mine, forcing me backward at an angle.
His words came millimeters from my lips.
“Any other questions?”
Yes.
When, where, and how fast could we start?
My eyes drifted shut.
And I waited.
And waited.
I lifted my chin a bit, hoping it was enough to close the distance between us.
Nothing.
I peeked. His lips hovered just out of reach, his expression both soft and hungry at the same time. “Give me the words, Reese. Tell me off the field, I can have you. That you’re mine.”
Off the field.
It was like being doused with a bucketful of ice-cold reality.
My pride dueled with my wet panties.
And damn it all to hell, I had a vibrator in my dorm to handle my clit, but nothing to replace my self-respect and dignity if the guys on the line found out, if they treated me differently as a result. School hadn’t even started yet. Gaining a reputation as a slut who failed to make the cut before the first day wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
“I can’t.” The words were faint. I could hardly force them past my lips.
He growled dangerously. “Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Right now, both.”
I barely knew him, I reminded myself. He was beautiful and said things that made me want to spontaneously combust, but I barely knew him. If this turned out to be a mistake, a short fling—or worse, a one-night stand—how would the rest of the season play out?
Would I be around long enough to find out?
He pushed off the table. Blinked at me as if in utter disbelief, then turned away and rubbed his jaw. His voice was flat with disappointment. “Right. Let me grab a quick shower, a cold one, and I’ll take you home. There are more veggies in the freezer for your side while you wait.” He didn’t look at me, just disappeared through the door to my left, slamming it behind him.
I shivered, despite the heat of the townhouse.
Oscar poked me with his nose, then jumped onto the bench beside me and laid his head in my lap, as if offering himself as a consolation prize. I rubbed his soft, speckled ears and smiled sadly at him.
“Thanks, buddy.”
The sound of another door slamming and then running water broke the silence. Minutes passed. I didn’t want to put my sweaty shirt back on, but I didn’t want to be out here half-naked when he reappeared either.
He probably hated me now, I reasoned, as I rose from the bench and crossed to the door he’d gone through, the one I assumed led to his bedroom.
I cracked it open a tiny bit.
It was empty.
With as much quiet stealth as I could, I opened a random drawer on the dresser against the wall. Socks. I tried the one next to it and paused. Evidently, Laird preferred boxer briefs. But not just plain black ones. Orange, lime green, electric blue, and yellow options were jumbled up in a messy array. I touched the soft material of the one on top, unable to help myself from imagining him in only those, slowly lowering the fabric over his tight ass, until I could see—
The door behind me opened. I hadn’t even realized the water had cut off. I turned to face him.
Steam billowed around him as he stood in the open doorway, water dripping down his chest, the towel around his hips in danger of falling off.
“Change your mind?” He smirked.
“I—” Holy virgin mother of the sweet baby Jesus. “I was looking for a clean t-shirt to borrow. For the ride back.” Even though the towel covered more than the shorts he’d had on earlier today, the effect of him in a towel with a bed right beside us was almost more than I could take. I wiped my mouth surreptitiously for drool.
Four strides brought him to my side. He glanced down. “Snooping in my underwear drawer?” He plucked out the pair I’d been stroking, dark gray with a red waistband and red stripe right down the crotch. Without hesitation, he dropped the towel, and the glimpse I caught of him before he pulled the boxer briefs on confirmed his earlier statement.