Brett and Hannah (Soul Mates 101 Series) (10 page)

“
I have a stocked fridge and bar, and I can invite some of my hot friends,” she said enticingly.

Dylan was the first
to respond.

“I’
m totally down with that.”

All of them said they would come
except for Matt.

“I think I’
m going to stick around here today.”

“
Who’s that girl that was sucking face with Matt last night?” Brett asked Hannah.

“Morgan, and s
he’ll come over for sure.”

Brett
grinned. “Now you have a reason to go, bro.”

Hannah had Brett take her and Chelsea home, so she could
get things ready for them to come over.

She
called Jasmine and a few other girls before she called Morgan.

“Morgan, you have to come swim today. Brett and his friends are coming over.”

“Cool.”

“The only thing is, you can’t invite J.T. After wha
t happened with Nick last night, I think I better leave our guy friends out of the mix today, but Matt’s coming over.

“Oh I’ll be there, h
e’s so hot, and that kiss … damn that kiss was amazing.”

Hannah giggled. “I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details from last night when you get here.”

Hudson was off for the day, so Hannah told the weekend guard to let her friends in. After showering and putting on her shiny, teal bikini, she went to the kitchen to see what she could round up for snacks. Chelsea was the first to get there.

“So, how was he?” Chelsea asked as they set up stuff by the pool.

“We didn’t have sex.”

“What? Austin told me he wouldn’t do anything to you, but I didn’t believe it.”

“Believe me, it got hot and heavy, but he stopped us. He has more self-control than I do.”

“I’
ve never met a guy like him, Hannah. He’s so mysterious with the way he wants to protect you. Then the fact that he’s never dated anyone who wasn’t at least five years older than him is just weird.”

“Five years?”

“Austin told me he usually dates woman who are more like ten to fifteen years older.”

“I feel sick again.
I knew he preferred older women but not that old. What does he want with me? I think I’m mature for nineteen, but I can’t compete with that. No wonder he treats me like I’m sixteen.”

“
Austin said he’s never seen Brett like this before, and he said Brett’s never fought over a woman. You’re his first for a lot of things. Don’t read too much into this, OK? He likes you, and obviously he wants something different in his life now.”

“I guess,” Hannah said hesitantly.

Chelsea grinned. “Austin was amazing in bed, by the way. I really like him.”

“I can tell
, and it appears we’re going to get the exciting summer we hoped for.” Hannah smiled mischievously. “I’m going to go inside and wait a few minutes for the guys, so I’ll hear them when they get here.”

Brett and his friends parked their cars and walked up to the massive home.

“Dam
n, I knew it was going to be huge, but this house is insane,” Dylan said.

Brett rang the door
bell. After a few seconds, Hannah swung open the door. When Brett saw her, he realized the guys were going to see her beautiful skin and built body in a bikini. He hadn’t thought about it before they got there, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Hi, guys
. You all look like you’ve seen a ghost or something. I know the house is a lot to take in at first, but everyone seems to get used to it after they come here a few times. You can look around down here. I’m going to grab a t-shirt,” she said before she ran up the stairs to her room.

“OK, get that damn image out of your heads right now,” Brett said to his friends.

“Oh, man, you’re going to be so much fun to mess with if you date her,” Dylan said, laughing.

Brett and his friends were finally walking out to
the pool, and he didn’t think any of them noticed anything on the tour of the house other than Hannah’s ass walking in front of them.

“There’
s the bar, the bathrooms and we have towels,” she said, pointing to everything. The radio was cranked up and drinks were made.

Austin went st
raight to Chelsea. Brett saw him give her a passionate kiss. Three more of Hannah’s friends arrived, and Hannah introduced everyone. Brett only saw his friends’ behavior worsen as all the girls undressed down to their bikinis.

“Do you want to sit in the lounge chairs for a
while, or do you want to get in the pool?” Hannah asked.

“W
hatever you want, shortcake. I’m just here to see you.”

She tiptoed and gave him a peck on the lips.

“Let’s sit out for a while. This way I can talk to you better.”

Hannah took her t-shirt off. Brett
started thinking of all the things he wanted to do to her.

Giving her a
taste
the night before had also given him one, and it opened a door to a hunger for her that he didn’t know how long he’d be able to control.

“Can you rub lotion
on my back? It’s annoying how fair skinned I am. I have to use so much sunscreen.” She handed him the bottle and turned around.

“Um, OK.
Your skin’s beautiful.”

Hannah twisted her body around and lifted her shades.

“Thank you. That’s sweet.”

Brett
gave her a soft kiss on her rosy lips. The word “rub” already had him excited, and he knew the second his hands met her body with the cool, slick lotion, he wasn’t going to want to stop.

Man up and just do it.

Rubbing it in, and feeling it glide along her silky, ivory skin, ignited all his senses. When he finished, he leaned over and gave her one kiss to the neck as he slowly glided his hands down her arms.

He saw the goose bumps rising to the surface of her skin, and seeing her body respond just made him want her more.

“Um ... thanks, do you need any?”

“I’m good. I’
m in the sun so much from working that I pretty much keep a tan year round.” He watched Hannah through his shades as she covered the rest of her body in lotion.

He never knew he could want something as bad as he wanted her. He decided to talk to her to take his mind away from his inappropriate thoughts.

“Are you doing anything this summer?”

“I don’t have a jo
b if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t need to work, so I’ll wait until after college. I’m taking acting classes right now.”

“Do you have any siblings?” she asked.

“I have one sister. She’s five years older and lives in our hometown of Masonville. What about you?”

“No, I wish my mom would’
ve had another kid. It was lonely growing up since they traveled. I went with them a lot, but once I got older, I didn’t want to do it anymore. When I was young, I couldn’t keep friends because I was in and out of their lives too much to really bond with them.

“
Chelsea and I grew up with each other since our parents do business together and are friends. I don’t know what I’d do without her, and I have another really close friend who I attended private school with.

“
Her name’s Taylor. She’s been in New York the last year studying photography, but she isn’t happy there, so she’ll be at Vanderbilt this next semester.

“
I hope you get to meet her. She’s really different than my other friends. She’s super nice if you get to know her, but if not, she can come across as a ... well ... a snobby bitch,” she said, laughing.

“
She’s cool and even edgier than Jasmine.”

“Matt and I have been friends since grade school
and always planned to go to the same college. We met Austin, Dylan and Cody from classes we had together our freshman year. Austin’s parents own the house we live in. We just partied there the first couple months of school, but became good friends so quickly that Austin let us move in.”

Hannah grinned. “Yeah, I bet you all had some parties there.”

Brett chuckled. “There were some wild ones, but it gets old. We haven’t done that in a long time. We used to stay in our dorms occasionally to hang out with people and party, but not anymore. I have to ask you something. Have you and your friend Nick dated before?”

“No.
We met at the beginning of my freshman year and have been friends ever since. I only went to one party without him the last school year, and it was a disaster, so I thought he just stayed close to be nice and to keep an eye on me. He never acted jealous until I met you, but I guess I should’ve picked up on it.”

“I can tell you with cer
tainty that he likes you. Guys know how to pick up on that. It’s a territorial thing, you could say.”

“I don’t like him, and k
nowing he likes me won’t change that, either. I’m curious how he’ll be now that you and I are ... well, whatever we are. I’m getting hot, do you mind if we get in the pool?”

“No, let’s go.
” As Brett got into the pool, he thought about how it was really up to him as to what happened next between them. He didn’t have to ask Hannah. He could feel what she wanted.

Brett Looked up and saw Matt at the corner of the pool making out with Morgan. He worried about his buddies hurting Hannah’s friends. He knew he had nothing to worry about with Austin, but his other friends had only ever looked for one thing, and it wasn’t a relationship.

“Wow, there’s
been a lot of changes in the last few weeks,” Brett said.

Ha
nnah put her arms around his neck. “I have to say I’m pretty pleased with the changes.”

He
could feel her invitation and couldn’t resist touching her. He skimmed his tongue along her warm, red lips before slipping it into her moist mouth. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to feel her skin and wanted his hands to linger along all of her creamy, slick flesh.

Running his hands up and down her back
, he could feel how soft her skin was and how bad she wanted him to touch it, so he desperately wished they were alone in the pool. He picked her up, and for minutes that felt like an eternity they were enveloped in desire.

I
nvisible to anything outside of their cocoon, they possessed each other’s mouths slowly and sensuously. With every sweep of their tongues, he could feel the tightening of her legs around his waist, pushing her closer to his firm body.

The pass
ion surfacing between them only fueled his urges for her. As their lips separated, they gazed into each other’s striking eyes. Brett felt the build-up of emotions and craving between them. He didn’t know what else to do other than draw her to his chest and hold her in a tight embrace.

He
scanned the pool. Luckily, they were far away from everyone, but he was certain no one would’ve missed that kiss. Brett was thankful his friends were too preoccupied with their own hormones to call him out on it.

Hannah pulled back from him. He cupped her head on each side
and looked down into her eyes that appeared more turquoise than ever. He saw how they glistened from the sun hitting the water.

“I can’t e
ven begin to tell you what you’re doing to me. I can only imagine a few more things feeling better than that just did, and I hope I get to experience them with you, Hannah.”

“Do you care if we get
out of the pool?” she asked.

“No, are you OK?” He sensed
a change in her mood as she looked away.

“I’
m good. I need to run inside for a few minutes,” she said as she hurried out of the pool and grabbed a towel.

Brett s
tretched back out in the lounge chair and intertwined his fingers, resting his hands on his forehead.

“Brett, where’s Hannah?”

He looked up and saw Chelsea in front of him.

“She went inside. Everything was great, and then she suddenly seemed upset.”

“I’ll go see what’s up, but I know she’s worried you’re going to push her away again. Please don’t break her heart.”

He wanted to
find her, protect her like he had many times, but he couldn’t give her the promise she needed to hear. He felt a pain in his chest when he admitted it to himself. He knew he cared about her deeply, and he knew he couldn’t live with her seeing any other man, but something was still holding him back.

Hannah heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Chels. Can I come in, please?”

“Sure.” S
he blew her nose and wiped tears from her eyes.

“
What’s going on, Hannah? Brett’s worried about you.”

“
This is humiliating. Maybe there’s truth to him thinking younger girls are immature. We just shared what was for me, a life altering kiss.

“
I’m crying and freaking out because I realized about ten minutes ago that I’m not crushing on Brett. I love him.”

“That’s big, but he’s acting great
, so what’s the problem?”

“
I thought I loved a couple of guys when we were teenagers, but that wasn’t love. This is the real deal … with a man.”

Chelsea
sat next to Hannah on the bed and stroked her back.

“We had such a volatile start, and t
he ups and downs have been drastic. I don’t want to pressure him, but I need reassurance it’s only up from here.”

“Oh, I bet it’s up alright, especially after that kiss I witnessed in the pool,” Chelsea said, giggling.

Hannah swatted her leg.

“Stop, that’s gross. I’m being serious.”

“Yeah, wait until he works magic on you with that thing. You won’t be saying it’s gross then.”

“Chelsea!” Hannah tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it.

“I’m trying to cheer you up so you get your ass back out there.”

“
He said the sweetest things to me last night, but he didn’t say anything about us dating exclusively. I’ve decided if he pushes me away again, I’m not going to fight him. It’ll crush me, but I believe if he can let me go again, then he truly doesn’t care enough about me for us to have a relationship.”

“I think he really cares about you. Please don’
t worry about this. You need to get back outside. He’s waiting, and you’re going to scare him off from running into rooms and crying.”

“Exactly. Maybe he needs someone older.”

“Hannah Ray … you need to listen to me. You knew what you wanted, and you went after it. Now, go seal the deal, girlfriend.” Chelsea scowled at her.

Hannah went outside with sunglasses on. Brett noticed her other pair sitting in the chair and got a sick feeling she’d been crying. He sat up.

“Hannah, what’
s wrong? Sit and talk to me.”

She stretched out in the chair.
“I’m fine.”

Brett reached over and to
ok her hand, placing it in his.

“You’re not fine, so
tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I’m sorry I ran off. That kiss … it was different. It was hot like the others, but there wa
s something deeper to it. It scared me. That probably doesn’t make sense to you, but after everything, I’m scared of getting hurt.”

“I felt it, too when we kissed
. I don’t plan on hurting you, but this is so new that I can’t promise you that, and you shouldn’t be able to promise me this soon, either. I just about lost my opportunity with you, so I’m going to try hard not to screw this up. Can we just enjoy our time together and see where it takes us?”

Hannah smiled and squeezed his hand.
“Of course. Would you want to stay here for a while when everyone leaves? I can take you home in my car.”

“Only if yo
u’re sure.” Brett saw a middle aged man walking toward them.

“
What the hell is he doing here?” Hannah asked.

“Who’
s that?”

“
My dad’s best friend, Jim. Dad thinks he’s the best, but he’s not a good friend. He’s a creeper.”

Brett studied him close as he approached
.

“Jim, what are you doing here? You know m
y parents are on tour?”

“Your father asked me to get some p
apers for him out of his office before I fly out to see them soon.”

“OK, the door’
s unlocked.”

“Are
you going to introduce me to your friend here?” Jim asked, pointing to Brett.

“Sorry.
Brett, this is Jim, my dad’s closest friend.”

Brett
shook Jim’s hand.

“So, how did you two meet?”
Jim asked.

“Brett’
s doing the landscaping here, but we found out we go to college together.”

“Nice
to meet you, Brett. I guess I’ll get what I need and get out of here.”

“OK,” Hannah said
before Jim walked toward the house.

“
So ... why a creeper?”

“He was nice
to me when I was young, but once I got a figure, he started staring at my body. He does it every time I see him, and he … he made a pass at me recently.”

“Shit
, Hannah. What did your dad say?”

“I didn’t tell him. He’s been my dad’s best friend
since they were in high school, and it would ruin their friendship.”

“And I s
hook his hand. What an asshole.”

“
Don’t worry. I put him in his place. Afterwards, I thought about you breaking the arm off he grabbed me with.”

“This happened since I
met you, and he grabbed you?”

Brett felt
anger working its way through him.

“Oh
shit, I probably shouldn’t have told you that detail. You had stopped talking to me then.”

Brett closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“That makes me feel terrible. If I hadn’t pushed you away, I might’ve been with you, and maybe it wouldn’t have happened. You have to tell your dad. What if he does it again when I’m not around? I should go warn him to stay the hell away from you.”

“No, Brett.
I made it very clear to him that I’m not interested. My dad would be so hurt if he lost Jim as a friend.”

“I
can’t stand to think of someone touching you if you don’t want them to.”

“
I know. You’ve made that pretty obvious on several occasions,” Hannah said, giggling.

“I don’t want any man touching you but me.”
Brett leaned over and gave her a passionate kiss.

After four hours of partying and swimming
, everyone but Brett had left. Hannah took him inside and showed him around the rest of the house.

“I can’t believe the size of this place. It’s amazing.”

“It is pretty amazing. I don’t take it for granted,” Hannah said.

“Your bedroom is at least four times the size of mine, and I’
ve never seen a bathroom this big.” Brett stared at the large stand up shower and garden Jacuzzi tub. A flash of Hannah and him in her shower came to mind.

He felt uncomfortable
. No matter how normal Hannah wanted her life to appear, it wasn’t. He imagined there were a lot of men who’d love to end up in a relationship with someone who had her family’s kind of wealth, but he’d never placed value in material things. Feeling a need to take a step backwards, he decided to move slowly with her.

“
Let’s eat. I’m starved,” she said.

Gloria prepared mea
ls every week for Hannah to warm up while her parents were away. She placed a lasagna in the oven, and while it was cooking she fixed them a salad. During dinner they shared details about their childhoods.

Although
different in many ways, Brett saw that Hannah had went through some of the same struggles all kids experience. He listened to her speak and could see how mature and intelligent she was. Some of the time she talked, he found himself staring at her mouth when she smiled and her eyes that were so full of wonder.

She’
s infectious with her sweetness, her happiness and her gorgeous looks. Why does she have to be Lorna’s daughter?

Hannah took him back to her room
when they were finished eating. He felt anxious about going back there until Hannah opened two doors off of her bedroom.

They opened up to a sitting room
equipped with a large flat screen TV, sofa and chair. He also noticed a small refrigerator. The room had pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the walls and photos of her mother singing.

“Do you want to hang out in here?” she asked.

“Sure.” Brett tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

They sat on the couch and
talked for an hour, discussing college and their friends.

“You’re stories are hilarious and hard to beat, especially the ones about Dylan and Cody,” Hannah said, giggling.

“You’re really mature. I’ve been a real ass about the age thing. Here I thought you needed all this protecting. I see you’re independent and are used to being alone.

“
If you kept alcohol out of your system, you wouldn’t need me at all,” Brett said, smirking.

“That’s not true. OK,
I probably shouldn’t drink, but I need you. I didn’t realize how lonely I was until I met you. People looking in don’t see the drawbacks to this lifestyle. I’m torn often because I want to be in the entertainment business, but when I have kids, I don’t want them growing up like I did. I want them to have stability.”

It hit Brett that she may move away one day to be an actress. He found it distressing to think about.
“I guess I should get home. I need to be back here at nine in the morning.”

“I don’t want y
ou to leave.” Hannah gave him a mischievous grin.