WAKING UP WITH Tessa was a revelation. I had a hard and fast rule about women: after the fucking, they were out. I hadn’t spent the entire night with a girl intentionally since I was in high school and I’d never (ever) wanted someone to curl up around me like an additional appendage. Sharing a bed with Tessa felt right.
When our breakfast arrived, Tess let out a laugh as she saw all I’d ordered, which was basically the entire menu. We were in the middle of eating when I made my play for the day.
“After breakfast how about you pack a bag and stay at my house for the rest of the day and night. The house might be horrible but my pool is the shit. We’ll lie out and then later we can go to dinner. You’ll want to pack casual, sweetness. What you wore last night would be perfect.”
Tess had hemmed and hawed all over the place before blurting, “Flynn, you’re moving too fast. I’m not going to have sex with you tonight. I don’t know what you’re used to, but I can’t be like that.”
I felt like a fucking ass. I’d not been specific enough and she thought I was trying to get into her panties. I totally wanted to of course, but I wasn’t stupid and I knew she wouldn’t be going for that.
“Sweetness, don’t even think those thoughts. I want you to spend the night, like what we did here last night. I want to hold you and wake up with you in the morning. No sex, I promise. I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable. I just need you near me. Whatever I was used to, I know you’re different and it’s exactly what I want. Don’t push me away, Tess. This is going to be something. Hell, it already is. Don’t start building walls.”
Her hesitant smile was like the sun coming out after the rain. “Okay. As soon as we’re finished eating, I’ll pack.”
After breakfast we were off to my house. Once we got there, I brought her to my bedroom and put her bag on the dresser. Her wide-eyed look of shock as she looked around the room made me laugh. Seeing it through her eyes showed me it really was ass ugly. Letting out a chuckle I pulled her to me and asked, “What do you think of this room? Cozy, right?”
She looked around and grimaced. Like almost every other room in the house, it was gray on gray. Pointing to the area rug in my bedroom sitting area she said, “Actually, the rug really ties the room together, man.”
Oh. My. GOD.
I started laughing and couldn’t stop. There was no question about it anymore. I was falling in love with her. She’d just quoted “The Big Lebowski” to me. It was my favorite movie and none of the other girls I’d ever been with would have even known what it was, much less have been cool enough to quote it.
“You’re the coolest girl on the face of the fucking planet, babe! I knew you were awesome, but you know “The Big Lebowski!” You just got an infinity amount of cool points. Wait till I tell my dad and Cole. They’re going to shit. It’s our favorite movie.”
Poking me in the stomach, she giggled. I loved the sound. “It’s mine and my dad’s favorite movie, too. We actually went to Lebowski-fest in Seattle two years ago. It was awesome!”
“Holy shit, there’s a fuckin’ Lebowski-fest? Why have I never heard of this?”
Pushing back from me, she gave me a shit-eating grin. “Guess you don’t have enough cool-points, slick. Stick with me and I’ll have you whipped into shape ASAP. For the record, there are a few Lebowski-fests every year. You absolutely must go to one.”
It sounded like a good fucking idea to me. “I’m totally going to look into this. I’m bummed I didn’t know before. I want to take you, my dad, your dad, and Cole. Wouldn’t it be epic?”
Pulling back, she gave a laugh. It sounded hollow and I just knew it was because she didn’t believe me. FUCK. Did she really think I was such a man-whore who made random offers to any girl who happened to be in close proximity? I realized I had a lot of work to do to get Tessa to see how serious I was.
I knew she was worth all the work, so I’d be doing it all with a smile. Gesturing to my bathroom I said, “You can change into your suit in there. I’m going to run into the bathroom next door and throw mine on. I’ll meet you in the living room when you’re finished.”
After giving me a smile, Tess went to her bag and grabbed her suit. It was a turquoise two-piece and I knew right away I was going to be struggling big time when I got a look at her in it. Grabbing my own suit from the closet, I went into the guest bathroom to put on my swim trunks.
While I waited for Tessa in the living room, I fooled around with my phone and checked Twitter. I was all about communicating with fans of the band, but my Twitter account was really more about me keeping up with my gram. I knew I was biased, but I thought she was one of the funniest people on earth. I laughed out loud when I got to her timeline and saw she’d tweeted she was with Pop and was going to be playing with balls for the day—bowling balls, that is. The woman was the queen of the double entendre.
Getting in on the joke, I responded to her tweet: Watch yourself around all those balls!
I was still laughing when Tess entered the living room, but my laugh came to a full stop when I saw her standing before me clad in her bikini. I’d either done something to earn God’s ire and he was torturing me with the perfection in front of me, or I’d done something great in a former life and Tessa was my reward. Either way, I had no intention of letting her go.
The metal circles holding the suit together on each of her hips and between her breasts were smoking hot. My impulse was to go to her and kiss the ever-loving hell out of her, and I decided to go for it. I couldn’t resist.
I crossed the room in three strides and pulled her into my arms before sliding my lips over hers. She fit into my arms perfectly, even with the height difference. Her lips opened for me, allowing me to plunder into her mouth. Nothing had ever felt so real or so right. I’d known our kiss in her hotel room had been amazing, but I don’t think I really realized just how exceptional the way we came together actually was until we were completely wrapped around one another.
I knew I was in deep. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be immersed in someone—her. I was holding on to Tessa—no matter what.