“Are you for real right now?” Penny asked from the other side of the room. I stood up and turned to look at her with a frown.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, not hiding my aggravation as I shoved the same chunk of hair out of my eyes for the thousandth time. It was times like these I really wanted to just hack the crap off.
Penny looked at me, dumbfounded. “Seriously? Ash, you brought every book and DVD you own.” She gestured toward the boxes near her. “Not to mention, it looks like you brought the entire contents of your mom’s upstairs linen closet.” She pointed accusingly at the large moving boxes stacked up against the wall.
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she held up a hand to stop me. “Don’t. You have no excuse. There is no reason you can give me to justify needing,” she paused and flipped through one box, “twenty-two towels. That doesn’t include the matching washcloths.”
I glared at her.
“And don’t get me started on the clothes,” she continued.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. Great, it was time for one of the infamous Penelope Anne Sutters Lectures. This was probably Number Eight: Aislinn Always Packs Way Too Much Shit. Whereas sometimes she let me off easy, this time the redhead let me have it with both barrels. Honestly? I stopped listening after the first forty-five seconds or so. I wasn’t entirely sure what all she said, but I could guarantee somewhere in the middle included a reference to my inconsiderate ass not thinking about the people helping me move.
Okay. She might have been right on that one. But just that one.
I crossed my arms and shifted my weight from one hip to the next as I waited her out. Given that she’d been complaining in a constant stream since we’d started loading the vehicles at six that morning, I knew we were going to be a while. Penny’d had the whole trip from Quincy to Gainesville to stew and build up a righteous justification for her lecture.
Fifteen minutes later I needed to pee, I was thirsty and completely confused. At some point, obviously while I wasn’t paying attention, we had changed from Lecture Number Eight to something else entirely. Now she’d moved on to something about how I expected her to hang out with my Douche Nozzle Brother Connor even after everything that had happened.
That focused my attention and had me straightening up, head tilted as I dropped my hands to my sides. My shock was an understatement and I had no idea what she meant. “What?” I looked at her, torn between confusion and seriously pissed off.
She started to respond when a head poked in through the doorway. “Hey! How’s it going, ladies?” an infuriatingly cheery voice asked.
“Just peachy,” I muttered, barely sparing my boyfriend a glance. I took a slow breath when I saw him frown and step into the room.
“Baby? What’s going on?”
I shrugged but kept my eyes on Penny. “I’m not sure. Penny here was just explaining to me how I seem to expect her to hang out with my brother,” I told him. He walked into the room a bit more.
“Is that so?” His face was carefully neutral.
I nodded. “I’m waiting for the rest of what should be a fascinating explanation.” I had no doubt the sarcasm ran deep and true just then. In fact, I counted on it.
I looked at my best friend of seven years with a raised eyebrow. The fact she would even say something like that bothered me more than I wanted to admit. I expected her to socialize with Connor? Hell, I could barely tolerate him right now. After what he’d done three months prior that almost cost me the best thing in my life, he was pretty high up on my fecal roster. What he’d done to Penny was almost as bad.
Connor had hooked up with an old ‘friend’ of Teagan’s and a friend of hers. He’d brought them back to his and Teagan’s place. Things went X-rated and afterward he passed out. Teagan was out of town at the time for a family emergency and had left his phone behind. His ex found the phone, took a suggestive photo of herself with her friend’s help, and texted it to me from Teagan’s phone. Needless to say, it didn’t go over well.
My brother’s involvement in the near breakup wouldn’t have been too bad after the mess had been resolved. Sure, I’d have been ticked off over it, but I could have recovered fairly quickly. But Penny was involved too. See, she’d had a major crush on Connor from the first day she’d met him so many years ago. He’d always blown her off until he and Teagan came home for spring break this year. It had been two years since he’d seen her, and, boy, did he notice her then. When the smoke cleared, I found out they’d started sort of seeing each other.
This meant the asshat had cheated on her.
Going through all of it in my head just pissed me off all over again. I glowered at Penny. “So, are you going to finish explaining to me how I’ve ever given you that impression?”
She studied me with an angry frown, and I could feel Teagan’s attention flipping between the two of us. It was like he was watching a ping pong match, and had I not been so pissed off, I’d have probably laughed at him.
“You know what?” Penny threw her hands up in defeat. “I’m done. I have a five-hour drive up to school. I’m going to head out,” she announced as she walked to the bed and picked up her bag. She dug through it until she found her keys then turned to me. “Maybe you do expect it, maybe you don’t, I don’t know. I just…I can’t be here.” She pursed her lips as she jingled the keys in her hand for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. She suddenly snapped her hand shut around the keyring and stepped forward, pulling me into a fierce hug.
I was in shock, arms hanging down by my sides, and there was no time for me to react before she pushed back from me. I tried to form words to ask her what was going on, but I could only open and close my mouth like a carp. After a second, I got myself under enough control that I could reach out and snag her arm as she began to turn away. “What the hell was that about?”
“Nothing,” she stated as she pulled away. “I just wanted to give you a hug goodbye.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so. That wasn’t a hug, bitch. That was strangling with affection.” I heard a cough as Teagan tried unsuccessfully to smother a laugh, and I shot him a glare. He quickly glanced down with an abashed look. I returned my attention to Penny. “What’s going on?”
Penny’s gaze dropped to the floor for a moment before she looked back up. When she did, my breath caught and I took a step toward her before I realized it. Her eyes were wet with tears. “I have to go, Aislinn. I can’t be here, okay? In case he…I just, I can’t. Please understand.”
I nodded with a jerk, and she gave me a grateful smile before she walked over to Teagan. She reached up and gave him a hug, and before anything else could be said, she was gone. Teagan came over to me and pulled me into his side and gave me a kiss on my temple.
“I wanna hate him,” I murmured.
He gave me a squeeze and then whispered, “I know.”
***
I stood at the sink, lost in thought as I rinsed the dishes to go into the dishwasher. Being at Teagan and Connor’s place left me with little to do and nothing to distract me mentally, so I was dwelling on everything that had happened. I found myself replaying the earlier incident with Penny over and over in my head. Did I somehow give her the impression I wanted her to make nice with Connor? The instant the thought entered my head, I dismissed it. He was my brother and I loved him, but I could barely stand to look at him at the moment.
I’d just closed the door to the dishwasher and was still bent over when I felt a warm, hard body press against my backside. I stood up as strong arms slipped around my waist and pulled me tight back against a well-muscled chest and stomach. My belly started doing little flip-flops as the man behind me nudged my hair out of his way and buried his face in my neck. I closed my eyes, leaning into him and enjoying the close quiet this moment held.
“I love you,” he murmured into my neck.
I smiled at the words. I never got tired of hearing him say it. I turned around and looped my arms around his neck, answering his smile with my own. My fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck, running casually through the short, silken strands. His eyes began to darken to the color of stormy skies and a shiver worked through me.
When his eyes changed like that, it always meant things were about to get interesting.
I bit my lip to hold back a gasp when the hands he’d clasped at the small of my back loosened and slid down until they rested at the top of the swell of my backside. We hadn’t spent much time alone over the summer, so the whole intimate making out thing was something I was still learning along the way. But the feelings he could evoke with a touch even this simple made me wonder what more would feel like. I shivered again at that thought, and I bit my lip harder to keep quiet.
“Christ, Aislinn,” he groaned. “I told you not to do that,” he muttered, bringing a hand around and using a thumb to gently pry my lip from between my teeth. I blushed as he watched his thumb stroke my abused flesh before he licked his lips, and suddenly his lips were molded to mine.
Any ability to think flew out the window. The firm smoothness of his mouth on mine and his arms pulling me tight against his hard body rendered me less intelligent than primordial ooze. I felt something against the small of my back and realized he’d backed me up to the counter. He broke away for a moment, my breath catching when he lifted me up to sit on the edge, stepping close between my legs and crashing his mouth back onto mine.
The kiss was hot and wet. Our breaths came out in loud pants when we separated long enough to suck in a lungful of air. My legs were as tight around his lean waist and I could manage, arms and hands clutching his hair and shoulders with frantic need. His grip on me was just as desperate.
Teagan moved a hand slowly up my side until his thumb brushed the underside of my breast. The sensation pulled a gasping moan from me, and he growled in response. His mouth moved from mine to trace its way down to my neck as he bent me back over the arm he had wrapped around my waist. Caught up in the heat, I could only arch back, instinctively giving him better access, and whimper my need as his hand twisted and he cupped my breast with his palm.
My head fell back more. “Teagan!” I gasped loudly as I tried desperately to pull him closer. He took his time, marking my skin with the heat of his attention. His tongue traced along my collarbone, and all I could do was make embarrassingly needy sounds and tug on his hair every time his thumb circled, moving higher with maddening patience. Just as I thought my head would explode from the building tension, he made his way back up to my jaw, pulling me upright. I gasped out his name again, the pleading tone obvious, but I couldn’t seem to care.
I felt his lips pull into a smile against my neck as he placed open-mouthed kisses along it. He nipped the delicate skin under my ear then soothed the sting with his tongue. By now I’d managed to pull his shirt up, and I ran my hands over the smooth skin stretched taut over his well-defined back. His tongue traced my ear and my hands clenched, nails digging in. The sound that erupted from his throat was almost animalistic.
“What the fuck is this shit?”
Teagan and I sprang apart so quickly I almost fell off the counter. Luckily, he was still close enough he caught me. His eyes were full of laughter, and I glared. Nothing about this was funny. I wanted to be mad. I felt the heat of a blush stealing across my face and down my neck. I licked my lips nervously and winced at how swollen they were. A quick glance at my boyfriend confirmed his mouth to be in a similar state. He winked at me and I couldn’t stop the grin. A throat being cleared pulled me back to the situation at hand.
“Care to explain, Aislinn?” Connor demanded with his arms crossed over his chest. He stood just inside the kitchen, glowering at me. Maybe it was because the Penny situation was still fresh, but something about the way he was looking at me pissed me off.
“No, Connor. I don’t care to explain.”
Connor’s eyes widened in surprise, and Teagan’s head whipped around so fast it was a wonder it stayed attached. I watched my brother’s face shift from shocked confusion to anger. There had been a point in our lives when I would have done anything not to see that look directed at me. That time had since passed, I suddenly realized.
“What the hell has gotten into you, Ash?”
I stood silently defiant, keeping my eyes locked with his. I sensed Teagan shift closer and took comfort in his quiet support. I didn’t completely understand why, but I knew what happened over the next few minutes, whatever I decided to do, would have a lasting impact on my life. Therefore, I refused to back down from this confrontation with Connor.
He narrowed his eyes as he studied me, and it took everything in me not to squirm under his regard. Just when I was about to admit defeat, turn tail, and run, he spoke and had me bristling in shocked outrage. “So,” he drawled, “I guess now that you’re eighteen and in college, you can just screw around anytime you like?”
My jaw dropped open in surprise, but he wasn’t done.
“Well, whatever, you’re not doing it here in my house,” he said mildly.
“What the—?” Teagan burst out. “Dude! It’s my house too. I pay rent here.”
Connor shrugged. “Don’t care.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” I shouted. “You used to sneak girls into the house all the time.” I pointed at him as I took a step toward him. “You have a lot of nerve, Connor Munroe. Where do you get off?”
I felt Teagan grab me by the arm and attempt to pull me back, but I was too angry to care. “After everything you’ve done, you have a problem with me making out with my boyfriend?” I demanded, incredulous at the whole situation. “Are you serious?”
Connor stared at me for a long moment, his face an unemotional mask, before he sighed and raked a hand through his hair. He scrubbed his face then looked at Teagan. I glanced at Teagan and saw he was returning Connor’s look with a steady one of his own. I frowned in confusion at what I could tell was a silent exchange of words. My brother finally nodded and relaxed.
“You’re right, sis,” he told me in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry.”
I revisited my carp impression, mouth gaping in disbelief. He obviously didn’t notice because he just turned and left. As the front door closed, Teagan came up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist. I leaned back against his chest with a sigh and shook my head. “What the hell just happened?”
“I think,” he said as he placed a kiss against my temple, “that your brother just treated you like an adult.”
A giddy feeling of warmth welled up inside me. Was it possible? Could that be true? Had I finally made some headway toward breaking that childhood barrier with Connor? I looked at Teagan and grinned like a loon.
Anything was possible.
***
I watched the other freshmen running around the campus with their schedules and maps and felt sorry for them. Thanks to dating a final semester senior, I knew the place like the back of my hand. Teagan had insisted on teaching me how to get to every class so I’d have no problems. Now that I was faced with first day madness, I was more than grateful he’d been so insistent. Not for the first time, I realized how lucky I was to have him in my life.
I had already suffered through calculus, physics and English classes that day. All that was left was my language class. I had originally chosen Arabic since my major required a year of foreign language. However, a couple of weeks ago an announcement was made that Russian would be offered for an initial year to test for interest. I had taken one glance at Zver and immediately switched classes. Teagan would never admit it, but I could tell he’d been pleased about the change too.
I entered the building where the class was held and fought through the unwashed masses. My nose wrinkled yet again at the differing, overpowering smells—too much perfume and cologne from the over-zealous freshmen and the smell of hangovers and stale cigarettes from everyone else. Once again, I found myself saying a silent thank you to my boyfriend who had prepared me for the olfactory chaos so I wasn’t a rocking, overwhelmed mess in a corner somewhere.
I found the class, and it was one of the standard college auditoriums I was getting used to. Unprepared for the sight of so many students, I missed a step and stumbled forward, almost falling down the stairs face first. If it hadn’t been for the strong arm wrapped around my waist, I’d have been an embarrassed, injured mess at the feet of the professor.
As it was, I was an embarrassed, rattled mess with a strange male arm wrapped around me. I stiffened when it became apparent said arm wasn’t moving. Only one person got to do this, and he wasn’t in this class. I tapped the arm to get the owner’s attention. “Excuse me? Do you mind?”
“Nah, sugar,” a deep masculine drawl said from behind my right shoulder. “I don’t mind at all.”
If possible, I stiffened more when the guy tightened his hold on me and tried to pull me closer.
“Why?” he asked low in my ear. “Do you?”
I tried to wiggle a hand under his arm to work out from under it. “Yes, I do mind! Let me go.” I kept my voice down, just barely. I had enough going on without embarrassing myself over a misunderstanding.
He chuckled but didn’t let go. Okay, so he totally knew what he was doing. I started to get worked up, and just when I was on the verge of causing bodily harm, either to myself or him, the professor spoke up.
“Mr. Caldwell, do we have a problem here?” the professor asked from down at the podium, his voice thick with a Russian accent. I looked at the man speaking and saw he was glaring over my shoulder. I glanced back and then looked again. I thought I managed to hide the double take.
Mr. Caldwell was hot.
A part of me felt I was being unfaithful by how attractive I thought he was. But the rational side of my brain reminded me there wasn’t a red-blooded female on campus who wouldn’t think he was hot. The smirk and twinkle in his eyes told me he knew it too. He let me go and I stepped away, not taking my eyes from him.
He was tall, though not as tall as Teagan. He had the body build of someone who played football, probably a running back or wide receiver. His light brown hair was cut so it was a bit shaggy, hanging down just shy of his hazel eyes and brushing his ears. The scruff covering his jaw was a nice contrast on his sun bronzed skin. His well-worn and washed out shirt and shorts showcased the muscles of his athletic body.
He was gorgeous. If I hadn’t had Teagan to compare, he’d easily have been the best looking guy I’d ever seen. The grin on his face proved he had the ego to match it all too. All that aside, though, he didn’t hold a candle to my boyfriend.
“What’s your name, gorgeous?”
Shocked laughter escaped as I stared at him. “Excuse me?”
He started to answer me but the professor informed us that class was starting. I scrambled around and found a seat in the general area of my usual preference and got myself situated. I was in the process of passing on the stack of papers containing the class syllabus and weekly exercises when I looked beside me and swallowed a groan of disbelief. At some point, Mr. Grabby had maneuvered himself into the empty seat beside mine. He smiled sweetly in response to my glare, took the papers from me, and passed them on. He leaned toward me.
“You never thanked me, you know,” he said quietly.
I shot him a bewildered look. “For what?”
He gestured toward the steps with the papers in his hand. “I saved your life. You never thanked me.”
I stared at him blankly. Was he serious? “You didn’t save my life. I was never in any danger of dying,” I said, completely ignoring the fact that the thought of death had flashed through my head at one point.
He hummed a disbelieving sound as he studied me. Without warning, he straightened in his seat and said, “I’m Ryan. You are…?”
I eyed him for a moment, all of Teagan’s warnings racing through my head. However, something told me avoiding him was an exercise in futility. I looked at his hand out for me to shake, and with a resigned sigh, I took it. “Aislinn. My name is Aislinn.”
Something told me I’d just made a very, very bad decision.
***
I trudged up the steps to Teagan and Connor’s townhouse in complete exhaustion. Between my first day of classes followed by five hours working in the student center, I was ready to drop. I knew college was going to be rough, but I had no idea it was going to be like this. And it was only my first full day. How was I going to last another seven semesters?
I opened the front door and smiled. Seated directly in the middle of the entryway was a giant mound of furry canine. As soon as I stepped through the entrance and closed the door, Zver bounded to me in doggy glee. Even as tired as I was, his exuberant licks and wiggles had me laughing and giving him the rubs and pats he loved so much.
“How was your first day?” Teagan asked from the top of the stairs. I looked up and my breath caught and my mouth went dry. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower, as his hair was still damp and he had a towel tossed over a shoulder.
A naked shoulder.
He had no shirt on and the sweat pants he wore rode low on his hips as he sauntered toward me. I could see every ridged muscle of his abs and gorgeous chest. While I stood there, taking in this visual feast, a thought occurred to me.
“Connor’s not here, is he?” I wondered out loud.
“Nope. Why?”
I shrugged and looked up at him from beneath my lashes. “Hmm, no reason in particular.” I grinned. “Any idea when he’ll be back?”
His smile widened. “A while.” He laughed when a massive yawn forced its way out of what felt like my entire being. “But it doesn’t matter because we’re going upstairs and getting some sleep.”
I pouted, but all the parts that had perked up at Teagan’s appearance gave way to exhaustion. I yawned again and nodded, although I was incredibly disappointed. We had been dating for almost five months and had barely hit second base. I was beginning to wonder if things were ever going to progress. My thoughts must have shown, because he leaned down and gave me a long kiss before pulling me into a hug.
“It’s all about timing, Aislinn. It needs to be right, and there needs to be plenty of time. So, trust me. I’m watching and waiting too,” he said with a grin and a wink that had me blushing. Chuckling, he took my hand and started back up the stairs. I followed him, so tired I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached his room and he tugged me inside.
I gave Teagan credit for one thing; he knew how to make me feel loved. After the whole Renee fiasco when I started coming and staying with him, he went out of his way to try to erase that memory. He rearranged his room, painted his walls, bought a new mattress and bed set. He said he wanted no reminders to taint the new memories we were creating. I’d defy anybody to tell me how I could not fall in love with that man all over again. They’d be wrong, because I totally just did.
I had been so lost in my exhausted mental wanderings I hadn’t realized he’d somehow removed my shoes, stripped my shorts off, and was in the process of putting me into bed. I peered at him in confusion. “How?” I gestured to my pile of stuff by the dresser. “I didn’t…”
“I’m just that good,” he said with a brow wiggle and a wink. I met that statement with a silent stare as he slipped into the bed next to me. “You’re about to fall out, sweetheart. It wasn’t that hard.”
I tried to respond but yawned again instead. I decided sleep sounded like a much better option and curled in close to his warmth. I hummed in contentment as he wrapped his arms around me and then brushed a kiss against my forehead.
“Goodnight, Aislinn. I love you.” I heard him whisper to me in the dark.
“I love you too,” I murmured, and that was the last thing I remembered.