Authors: Michele G Miller
"You know, my mom was lucky. Her building is actually standing. Have you gone up Main? Once you get past Queens Street, the stores are just gone." Carter unwraps a sub sandwich of some sort and hands Jules one half. "Here."
She squints up the street and wishes she could see past the large dump trucks as she reaches over and takes the sandwich. "You don't have to feed me, you know."
"You didn't have to help me."
"I know."
"So why did you?"
Jules stretches her legs out into the street in front of her, scratching at the specks of green paint splattered across her shins. She looks at Carter Cooper from the corner of her eye and can instantly see why Tanya was interested in him. He is Abercrombie & Fitch-poster-boy fine.
"Did the paint fumes get to you?" He looks at her with a small smile.
"What? Oh, no. Sorry. I was just-"
"You were checking me out."
"No!" she cries, flustered beyond belief. "I mean, yeah, actually I was, but it’s not what you think. I'm not interested in you or anything."
He nods. "I know."
"I just...I was thinking of Tanya and how I could see why she liked you." She stops when his words finally register in her head. "What do you mean ‘you know’?"
He laughs, places his sandwich in his lap and takes a long swig of his water. "I've got eyes, Jules. I saw you with Rutledge at the funeral last week."
Her mouth forms a silent 'Oh' and he waggles his brows at her. "You've got balls girl, hanging onto him with your golden boy across the way. I can't imagine Daniels took that too well."
Her cheeks flush. Stuart was right. She and West
weren’t
in their own little bubble at that moment, and people definitely took notice.
"Daniels is a prick, anyway. You should dump him and go out with West. It's obvious there's a thing between you two."
"Wow, pry much?"
"Sorry, I just call it like I see it," he offers. He stuffs the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth with a grin. She's only taken two small bites of her own. Boys!
"Of course you think Stuart's a prick! He killed Rossview on the field three years in a row. Are you speaking from jealousy or from personal experience with him?"
Carter squints his eyes and Jules can tell she struck a nerve with the football jab. He stands abruptly and balls up his trash.
"Look, I don't really care
who
you date. I barely know you, but Tanya loved you so I was trying to be nice. Like I said
—
I like West, and I saw you two the other day. I should get back in there. Thanks for helping, Jules."
Jump back! How the hell did this escalate so quickly?
she wonders; her mouth dropping open as Carter starts to cross the street. She is about to apologize when a motorbike turns the corner and pulls to an abrupt stop in front of him. Jules would know that bike anywhere, and she fights the urge to crawl behind Carter's car and hide from West as he lifts the visor on his helmet.
"Hey man," she hears Carter call out when West turns the bike off.
West replies in an indistinguishable low voice and looks over his shoulder when Carter points to his mom's shop.
She forces herself to her feet and to her chagrin, the paper sack in her hand crackles as she wads it up. West leans his body to the side; his brown eyes peering around Carter at the sound. She watches his brows lift as his head snaps towards Carter, and his fingers go to the strap across his chin to unsnap it.
West pulls his helmet from his head and slides off his bike in one fluid movement. Setting the helmet on his seat, he leaves his bike sitting in the middle of the street and comes around it. Carter takes a step back when West steps towards him; raising his arms in defense.
"Whoa, man…she was just helping me paint the shop…nothing else."
She barely sees West with Carter's body blocking him from her view, but she can feel the tension rolling off him. When he finally speaks to Carter, relief runs through her.
"Excuse me." Two words, spoken deliberately and specifically, are all he has to say to make Carter jump to the side, and suddenly Jules is face to face with an unreadable West Rutledge. Only ten feet separate them.
They stare each other down for only seconds before his lips twitch; the left side pulling up slightly in a small, crooked smile.
He raises his hands, whispers 'Buffy', and she notes a spark in his golden brown eyes as his long legs take three strides to close the gap between them. Jules stumbles back, bumping into Carter's car, and her heart pounds so hard she is positive he can hear it. West's determination is obvious, although his intent is questionable. His chest bumps into hers, which causes a shiver to run through her and warm her to the core, even as her skin breaks out into goose bumps.
She opens her mouth to reply, but West swoops in and silences her with his lips. His hands move to the back of her head and his fingers slide into the hair at the base of her skull, holding her in place as his warm mouth claims hers.
She gives in immediately to the hard kiss and allows him to invade her mouth with no protest on her part. His large body pushes into hers and presses her against Carter's car; the grill digging into her bare thighs. The whole world goes silent while he kisses her, and the feeling of his fingers rubbing the back of her neck calms her senses.
Wow…I could stay lost in him all day
, she thinks. He makes a small groaning sound in his throat and finally lifts his mouth from hers. She almost moans at the loss as he kisses her cheek twice, grazing the side of her mouth.
"I'm not screwing this up again," he whispers. He plants a swift kiss on her mouth and lowers one of his arms from her head to encircle her waist; pressing against her lower back. "I'll be damned if I let another guy step in and get a chance with you before I do." He all but growls the words as his eyes meet hers.
"I..." she starts, but he covers her mouth again.
"Shut up and kiss me, Buffy," he orders softly into her mouth.
The lunch sack and water bottle slips from her fingers as she pulls him to her and kisses him hard; her hands fisting in the shirt at his back.
Carter coughs behind them. "Well I'll leave you two alone, I guess. Be careful of the paint job, Rutledge," Carter heckles.
Neither one of them reply as they continue to explore each other's mouths, this time a bit softer and slower. West's thumb rubs along her jaw as his teeth graze her bottom lip. He tugs it into his mouth gently and she sighs contentedly. His fingers skim the skin at her waist and cause her muscles to twitch.
"Why the hell are you hanging out with
Carter Cooper
?" he finally grumbles as he pulls away from her mouth reluctantly.
"You're going to let me speak now?" she asks; releasing her fingers from his shirt and flexing them.
"Actually..." He grins and tilts his mouth towards hers again; his eyes full of heat.
She laughs into his mouth when his lips touch hers and punches his side lightly. "I need air," she gasps playfully.
Her hand goes to her tingling lips and she tries to control her ragged breathing. They just stood in broad daylight making out for everyone to see! She feels the heat of a blush surge up her neck and into her cheeks, and sidesteps from West.
"What was that?" Jules asks with uncertainty, meaning the surprise kiss.
He tugs on the bottom of her shirt when she slips out of his arms, and his face openly questions her movement.
"How come you're hanging out with Carter?" he counters.
She laughs at him with a shake of her head. "I don't think so, bud. I asked you first."
She bends down to pick up the dropped lunch sack and tries to harness the emotions he awakened in her with his kiss as she waits for his reply.
"It was just a kiss."
"You kiss all the girls you know like that?" He smirks and her ire grows. "Nice way to accost a girl on the street, Rutledge," she scoffs, and brusquely knocks into his side as she tries to pass him.
He pulls her in by the waist when she tries to pass him, and she stiffens at the contact when her back presses against his chest. West leans over her and moves his lips to her ear, and her nostrils fill with his overly male scent. An interesting mixture of gasoline and spearmint teases her nose and makes her stomach flip.
His lips graze her ear as lightly as a butterfly kiss when he speaks into it. "You didn't seem to want to complain, Buffy."
Her knees go weak with his hot breath against her sensitive skin, and another shiver runs along her spine when his hand drops from her waist. Shaking off the chills, she turns on him with a snarky comment ready on her lips. However, as soon as her eyes take in his knowing grin, the words are silenced. She can’t whip up enough strength to tell him he is mistaken, because of course, he isn’t.
After a face-off, he repeats his earlier question. "You and Carter?"
"I was riding by and saw him. Asked if I could help."
"You're friends?"
"No." She is quick to point it out, although she feels as if they
are
actually friends now. Maybe. West's face scrunches up in bewilderment, and feeling as if more of an explanation is due, she continues. "Um, he went out with Tanya this summer. I guess, I don't know...when I saw him I just felt like I needed to stop and speak to him."
Understanding crosses his features. His face smoothes out and she watches his shoulders relax as his stance becomes more casual. Jules waits for him to say something more, but he stands there and looks at her; his brown eyes scanning her from head to toe and back.
"Well...um, thanks for that kiss, I guess," she finally babbles. She skirts past him to cross the street and throw her trash into the dumpster. The entire time, she feels the heat of his eyes boring a hole into her backside as he watches her walk away. She slows and her head is locked in an internal debate as to whether she should go back into Gail's and help Carter finish painting, grab her bike and flee, or beg West to kiss her again.
She's never craved a kiss the way she craves one from him, and it scares the hell out of her. When she first started dating Stuart she longed for his kisses, and there is no denying that he was able to get her excited and ignite passion in her, but West? West's kiss doesn’t merely ignite passion, it ignites
life
…a burning, crazy fire and zest for living that she's never felt before. Not ever.
"Damn you!" she hisses; spinning on her toes and stomping back to his side. "What the hell was that kiss for? Why did you walk away from me last week? You brushed me off after I opened up to you."
As she stomps and waves her hands in his face, a smile slowly grows across his lips. His eyes twinkle and Jules’ anger boils over.
"Don't you dare kiss me ever again," she blurts as she pushes against his chest. West laughs and catches her hands before she can pull them away. "You arrogant jacka-"
The slanderous name is swallowed by his lips as he fists a handful of hair and pulls her to his mouth. She wants to scream at him, yet the contact of his lips soothes her and makes her wilt turning into a gentle flower in the Texas heat.
He pulls his mouth away from hers enough to speak; their foreheads barely touching.
"I already established I was a major jerk the other night when I sent you texts saying I'm sorry, so let's not waste time repeating arguments or lying to each other. I'm a jerk, and you
sure
as hell want me to kiss you again."
"Am I wrong?" he asks when she stares into his eyes silently.
"No."
"Oh, you wound me," he confesses, and nudges her nose with his. "I was hoping you would at least disagree with the part about me being a jerk."
She throws her head back with a small shout of laughter. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you
are
a massive jerk," she points out, and West frowns. "But..."
"I like butts," he says with a wink.
Jules works hard to suppress the smile he brings on, and her free hand cups his face as she continues in a serious tone, "But you were right. I
do
want to kiss you, West Rutledge. Why fight it anymore?"
"So there's really nothing stopping us anymore?"
She shakes her head as his mouth works its way along her jaw.
"Then can you come with me now?"
"Where?" Jules feels drugged. One hand holds her wrist to his chest from where she pushed him, while the other drops her right hand and massages the base of her skull; lulling her into a relaxed state.
"Does it matter?"
"No."
And it doesn’t. She would go anywhere with this boy. She knows it right then and there. She takes his outstretched hand and follows him to his bike without looking back.
Twenty-One
Jules isn’t surprised when West pulls into the gravel trail that runs behind South Berry Farm. The acres and acres of cornstalks stand much as they did the week before when they were there, and Jules allows him to pull her along a trail deep into the crops before they fall to the ground.