The Hazards of a One Night Stand (21 page)

“I’d hate hearing you were with anyone else. It was hard enough watching you with Jack before. Now that I know how amazing you are, it would be much worse.”

I rested my head against his chest. “I don’t want to be with anyone else. I want you. I really don’t care what anyone else thinks, and right this second, there is only one thing I want.”

“And what’s that?” He gave me a teasing look, slowly pulling down my panties.

“You.”

“Hmm. I don’t know if I can arrange that.” He trailed kisses down my body.

“Yes, you can. That’s kind of your job as my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? Wow, are you sure you didn’t hit your head?”

I moaned, responding to the sensation of his lips against my skin. “Don’t you want me as your girlfriend?”

“I’ve considered you my girlfriend this whole time. You’re the one so concerned with terminology.”

“Well, then, boyfriend of mine. I hope you’re going to start clearing more time in your schedule.”

“I’d clear it all for you.” His eyes locked on mine, and I knew we weren’t just talking about sex. Colt was right from the beginning. Sex and friendship was completely different from a relationship.

“I think I’m ready for you to give me what I asked for.”

“I know you’re ready, but the question is whether I am.”

I grabbed him, stroking him gently. “I’d say you’re ready.”

He got up and grabbed a condom from his desk.

I waited impatiently for his return, feeling surprisingly comfortable in his dorm issued bed.

“You look really good in my sheets, pumpkin.” He hovered above me.

“Do I? Then why are you still so far away?”

“Far away, huh? Are you getting impatient? Normally, I’d think lack of sex would build up your appetite, but apparently when you get a little, you want a lot.”

“Are you trying to make me feel bad?”

“No. I like it. I also happen to like this feeling of power I have right now.”

“Power?” I tried not to whimper I wanted him so bad. He looked so good, and I was beyond ready for him.

“Yeah. You’d probably do anything to get me right now.”

“Oh, is that it? You’re on a power trip?”

He grinned.

“Colt, you’ve got about five seconds to get to work before I’m out of here.”

“Are you threatening to leave?”

“Yes.” I had no intention of following through with it.

“I really don’t like leaving you waiting.” He thrust into me. “Especially when you’re so good at welcoming me back.”

I wrapped my legs around him, keeping him close. He correctly deduced I wanted it hard and fast. I could barely contain myself as he moved.

Right before I reached the edge, he rolled us over so I was on top. I happily took over. I was in that position when the door burst open. We’d been so in the moment that I’d missed the sound of the key turning.

“Damn it, asshole,” Colt hissed as I tried to cover myself.

“Sorry, I forgot something.” Joe grabbed something off his desk and left.

I rolled off Colt and hid under his covers. It was like a splash of cold water. What was I doing? Was I really ready for an actual relationship with Colt? The doubt set in again. I thought about my dad’s warning which only put me less in the mood.

“Where were we?” Colt slipped under the covers next to me.

“Nowhere.” I rolled over.

“Uh uh. No way. You can’t go from being on fire like that to icing me out.”

“You can thank your roommate for that.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to barricade the door next time.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Come back over here.”

“I’m not in the mood.” All the fear was back. I’d been on such a high, could I really be right back where I started again?

“I can fix that.” His lips went to my neck and then moved down. I rolled over, giving him access to my body.

Within moments, I was right back where we were before the interruption. Colt had this uncanny ability to relax me. He was also impossible to resist. “I’m getting back on top.”

“Be my guest.” He smiled, happily rolling onto his back and easing me down onto him. “I happen to love this view.” He rested his hands on my hips, moving me. I leaned my head back. I was so free with him, so willing to try new things. He brought out a side in me I didn’t know I had.

I yelled out and he held onto me tighter. He released, and I fell down on top of him.

He stroked my back. “And to think you were worried I had a small dick.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I kind of assumed some things ran in the family.”

“Wait. Are you trying to tell me Jack…”

“Yeah. Don’t tell him I said anything, but I kind of assumed that’s just how it was.”

Colt laughed. “He was always such an ass to me when you guys were together.”

“He knew how I felt about you. I get that now.”

“Really? So you’re admitting you liked me before?”

“Oh yeah. I had such a crush on you.” I left tiny kisses on his chest.

“But Jack was older.”

“And he asked me out. You didn’t.”

“Because I didn’t think I’d have a chance.” He kissed my shoulder.

“Think of all the drama we could have avoided if you’d just gotten up the nerve.”

“Like you would have said yes.”

“I would have.”

“So all this crazy no younger guys stuff is since college?”

“Since Jack.”

“Okay…”

“He dumped me because I wasn’t good enough. I needed to feel good enough.”

“Because good enough and dating a guy a few months younger have something to do with each other? And besides…” He stopped.

“Besides what?”

He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No. Tell me.”

“I can’t.”

“Colton.” I pushed his arms and rolled over so I could look at him. “Tell me.”

“No. I’m not ruining this. I’m not ruining tonight.”

“Why’s it going to ruin anything?”

“Because it will.”

“Not telling me will ruin it too.”

He nodded as though he was thinking to himself. “How about this?”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you next weekend if you still want to know.”

“What’s next weekend?”

“Fall Fest.”

I sighed. “Oh. Can’t we skip that?” Colton and I were finally making a go of things, and going home could ruin it. Jack hadn’t come home for the town festival the last few years, but what if he decided to? How could I face him? Would it be awkward for Colt?

“No. We have to go. My family is expecting me. Yours is too.”

“You can go without me.” It would be easier for everyone.

He gently rubbed my back. “No, I can’t. You’re my ride.”

“You can just take my truck.”

“Nope. We’re going together. I always dreamed of going to Fall Fest with you on my arm.”

I nudged him. “You’re full of it.”

“It’s going to be good for us. Just trust me on this.”

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“Good. Now how tired are you?”

“Not very.” Colt had done an amazing job waking me up.

“Even better.”

“What are you thinking?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea about it.

“Give me a second.” He pushed a bookshelf in front of the door. His completely naked body was a sight to watch. He looked so damn good.

I was out of bed before I knew what I was doing. I put my arms around his neck and he picked me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Missed me that much?” He leaned his forehead against mine.

“Yeah. Kind of sad, huh?”

“Kind of awesome.” He carried me over to the bed and lay me down. “But you don’t have to miss me anymore tonight.”

“What’s Fall Fest exactly?” Juliet asked as she sat cross legged on my bed.

“Just this small town festival.”

“Oh my god. It’s like the Harvest Festival on Gilmore Girls!” Cara said excitedly. She was so obsessed with watching reruns of that show.

“Yeah, sort of.”

“We’re coming!” Juliet stood up. “I’ll call Reed.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about that?” Taking my friends home to Gasden? Not exactly. And their boyfriends? Forget it.

“Come on. It’ll be fun. I could use the break.” Juliet grinned. “Besides, I want to watch you prancing around your town with your new boy toy.”

“Prancing? Boy toy? You girls are insane.”

“We’re coming whether you like it or not.”

“My house isn’t that big.” We had a study that doubled as a guestroom, but that wasn’t going to house four people.

“The guys can stay at Colt’s house, or we could get a hotel.”

“A hotel? Do you realize how small Gasden is?”

“You have to have a hotel.”

“We do have an inn, but I promise it’s booked for Fall Fest.”

“We’ll sleep on your floor. The guys can stay with Colt. It’s set.”

“What if Colt doesn’t want them to?”

“He’s a pledge. Like he’s going to tell the pledge master and president that they can’t crash at his house?”

I sighed. “Is this really that important to you guys?”

“Yes!” they both yelled.

Cara grinned. “It’s going to be epic.”

“Gasden and epic don’t belong in the same sentence.” With a population of 1500 on a good day, Gasden boasted all of four traffic lights.

Juliet flipped some hair off her shoulder. “You are completely exaggerating about your town being small. I bet we’ll get there and it’s going to be the size of Bethesda.”

I laughed dryly. “Yeah, not quite. I’ll call my mom. If she says yes, then you guys can stay. The guys will have to talk to Colt.”

“I’ll handle that.” Cara picked up her phone. She didn’t need to tell me she was about to text Aaron.

“Wait. I can’t let them ambush Colt. I’ll call him.”

I grabbed my phone and called.

“Hey, pumpkin.” He still insisted on calling me that, but it was getting less annoying for some reason.

“Hey. Don’t hate me for this.”

“Uh oh. What is it?”

“My roommates invited themselves and the guys to Fall Fest.”

“And I’d hate you for that because…?”

“I think the guys are going to insist on staying with you. My parents won’t let them all stay at my house.”

“That’s not a problem. You know we have plenty of room.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell Aaron and Reed when I see them. Just promise me one thing?”

“Yeah?”

“We’ll still get some time together. I really want us to have some quality time away from campus.”

“My bet is they’ll get scared and run away the first night.” I looked right at the girls.

Juliet threw a pillow at me. “Not a chance. You make it sound like you don’t have running water.”

“You mean you guys had modern plumbing in your houses?”

“Oh, stop.” Cara laughed.

“Can I see you later?” Colt pulled my attention back.

“Maybe.” I tried to hold in a smile. I didn’t need to give my roommates any other ammo. They didn’t need to know just how much I wanted to see him. After giving them a hard time for months, I was due for payback.

“Only maybe? Didn’t my performance last night qualify me for an automatic yes?”

I tried to hide the blush I knew was crossing my face. “I’ll call you later.”

“Oh, go have sex with your boyfriend.” Juliet pushed my shoulder.

“Hey.”

“Hey, what? You’ve given me a hard time about Reed for months.”

“Tell Juliet she’s the best. I’ll be by in twenty.” Colton obviously heard her.

“And where are we going?”

“Our spot. I’ll even bring the ice cream.”

Colton knew the way to my heart. The mingling of his lips and Miss Lawson’s ice cream was irresistible. “Sounds great. See you soon.” I hung up.

“So cute,” Juliet said in this sugary sweet voice.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to be at the Kappa house?”

“Sorry, honey, but we pay dues here too.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I couldn’t stop smiling. Colton and ice cream may just have been my favorite combination.

Riding in cars puts me to sleep. There’s nothing I can do to stop it. Colton had happily accepted my keys and agreed to drive my truck back to town for Fall Fest. Aaron drove the others, and we caravanned the three hour drive. I tried to stay awake and enjoy some uninterrupted quality time with Colton, but my eyes drooped closed a few minutes in. By the time I woke up, we were already nearly back in town.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Colton smiled at me when I finally opened my eyes.

I rubbed my eyes, noticing that the sun had started to set. “I’m so sorry. I really tried to stay awake.”

“It’s fine. You needed sleep. How late were you up studying for your econ test last night?”

“Until two.” Unfortunately, all the studying didn’t seem to help. I’d be lucky if I got a “B” on the exam. I couldn’t afford a “B” in econ. I was going to have to start pushing it harder.

“That’s what I figured. You seemed pretty nervous.”

“I was. I had no idea intermediate micro econ would be so hard. I can’t even imagine what advanced would be like.”

“Do you have to take advanced for your business major?”

“No. I’ll be done with econ after this. Thank goodness.”

“Nice. I think I’m stopping with intro. I can think of a million more interesting things to study.”

“Have you decided on a major yet? Still leaning towards English?” Colt seemed to change his mind about it all the time.

“Yeah, I think so, but I’m not going to officially declare it until next year.” He turned off at the all too familiar exit.

I took a deep breath. Going home filled me with such mixed emotions.

“Stay calm, pumpkin. It’s just Gasden.”

“Gasden with four friends from school.” We passed the lone gas station. They still didn’t accept credit cards at the pump.

“Are you sure that’s what has you nervous? It’s not coming home with us as an item for the first time?” He looked in the rearview mirror, probably making sure Aaron was following.

“Why? Are you nervous about that?” I stared out at the crowded parking lot of the diner. By the looks of the place, half the town was there.

“No. I mean I’m a little nervous about seeing Jack, but he told me he doesn’t care. I know my mom’s going to be all over you with questions and stuff though.”