“No, that’s okay. I have a ton of homework that’s due by Friday, and I don’t have clean clothes. I really need to shower.” Judging by the way his throat is working, I probably shouldn’t mention showers in front of him.
“Uh.” He flounders for a second before recovering. “I can take you by there and let you get everything you need. You can work on your homework and, uh, everything else you need to do at my place. If you want to. Just throwing it out there as an option, so you don’t have to be alone. No pressure.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
I try to stop the smirk from forming, but I’ve never been good at hiding my feelings. “I guess you didn’t expect me to take you up on it? You can take it back, you know. I’ll be fine at home.”
He shakes his head back and forth and laughs. “No, I knew you’d eventually agree, but I thought you’d be more stubborn about it. From what I’ve gathered from you so far, you never miss a good opportunity to be stubborn, so that tells me you really are afraid to be home alone.”
I shrug. “A little.”
“Yeah, uh-huh. Let’s go get your stuff.”
A mere five minutes later, I’m leading him into the residence hall. I tried to convince him he didn’t need to come up with me, but I’m beginning to think he’s just as stubborn as I am. As always, I hit the stairs. It may be four flights, but it’s usually the only exercise I get, so I make myself take them. Except I don’t normally have Wes’ eyes trained on my butt the entire time.
“God, I love these stairs.”
I look back, scowling. Well, at least I try to. Falling up stairs happens to be my specialty, so when I nearly stumble, I decide to let it go. When you have legs as short as mine, to climb steps, you have to lift them a little higher than most people. Forget that for one second, and bam. Faceplant.
“Wesley Baxter, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that was flirting. And I swore you told me you weren’t going to be doing any of that. Or looking at my ass.” I finally reach the landing and turn, waiting for him to catch up.
He seems completely unaffected. Not flushed or winded at all. Jerk. “I wasn’t flirting. I was just saying that I thought they were nice stairs. And to be fair, I can’t help but look when you put it in my direct line of sight. All I usually see of you is the top of your head.”
“Short joke. Yeah, I’ve heard ‘em all.” I yank the keys from my pocket and slip them into the knob. “Come on in and stay close. Wouldn’t want you to make a wrong turn and get lost.”
He snorts and follows me inside. As soon as I show him the kitchen, dining area, and living room, I expect him to settle onto the couch to wait like most guys would, maybe even turn the television on to pass the time. But not Wes. He follows me toward the bedrooms.
“What are you doing?” I ask, disturbed at the thought of him seeing my room. Did I have any panties lying around? Any dirty clothes in the floor? Acne cream on the nightstand? I can’t remember.
“I want to see your room.” He takes a wide step left into Makenna’s room. “This is definitely Makenna’s room. All girly and fuzzy and . . . pink.”
“Yes, she does love pink. Why don’t you go turn the TV on? I think we have a few sports channels. I’ll only be a minute.”
He takes two slow steps toward me with a devious grin spreading languidly across his lips. I take one step back in retreat, bumping into my closed door.
“What’s in your room that you don’t want me to see, Callie?”
“Nothing. It’s just . . . weird. I don’t want you in there. There’s no telling what’s been left out because I wasn’t expecting company.”
He continues to get closer until the wall of his chest presses into me. He dips his head down so that his face is only a few inches from mine, causing my heart to hammer wildly in my chest. I think he’s going to kiss me. I steel myself for it, waiting for the moment his mouth descends on mine. But I realize it’s all a ruse when I’m falling through my door. He distracted me just long enough to slip a hand past me to turn the doorknob. Luckily, he grabs my waist with one arm before I fall back into my desk.
His laughter echoes through the room, and I shove away from him, nearly stumbling into my desk anyway. The right guy should make you fall a little, but clearly the wrong guy makes you literally fall. I quickly scan my room for anything embarrassing, but I don’t come up with anything immediately. Thank God. I’m usually a neat person, and I like everything nicely organized, but Makenna had me leaving in such a rush that I just wasn’t sure how I left it.