It was amazing how normal it felt to be standing here talking to her. I had no fear of judgement like I felt with others. I was so relaxed and at ease.
“You heading back to the torture chamber you call your room?” I asked her and she smiled and nodded her head. “I’d ask you if you wanted to go grab something to eat, but I got Duke.” I allowed the idea of asking her out to sink in before I asked. I was hoping I had better luck than Landon did.
“So maybe another night?” I asked as a lump formed in my stomach. Suddenly I felt nervous she might say no.
“Yeah,” she replied, and I took in a deep breath hoping it wasn’t completely obvious that I was nervous. “I think that would be nice.”
“You think I could get your number?” I pulled my phone from my shorts pocket and handed it to her.
“Nice play list,” she said with a smile.
I watched her as she closed out my music file and clicked on the contacts tab.
After she added her number, she handed it back to me and backed away. “Now that you’ve got my number, use it.” She winked as she spun around and walked off toward campus.
I took a few minutes to appreciate her beauty, the sway of her hips bringing my attention to her ass.
I had a feeling Olivia was about to take me for one hell of a ride. And nothing about that terrified me; I couldn’t wait to get started.
Chapter Five
Olivia
I entered my dorm with a huge smile on my face. Apparently Keeton Pearce was not intimidated by my crazy. He found it cute.
Granted, I hoped it wasn’t cute as in the same way he might feel about a kid sister.
My cell vibrated and I pulled it from my pocket as the elevator doors closed.
Unknown: Sexy.
One word flashed on my screen. It was from an unknown number and I knew instantly it had to be from Keeton.
When it vibrated again the notion was confirmed.
Keeton: Just one more word I would use to describe you. How would you feel about dinner tomorrow night?
Okay so I guess it wasn’t kid sister cute he was referring too. Feeling brave, I immediately sent a text back.
Olivia: Dinner tomorrow sounds perfect. And the term sexy is so much better than cute. I was worried you may not like me the way I was hoping you did.
My heart raced waiting for him to respond.
Keeton: Gorgeous, yet another word. And I don’t think you have to worry about me liking you I think that part should be obvious by now. After all I didn’t run away.
I smiled as the elevator announced it had arrived on my floor. The vibration of my phone notified me of another message.
Keeton: 7:00 tomorrow? The Italian restaurant on Morgan Drive?
I paused at the door to my room and typed out another message before entering.
Olivia: Can’t wait.
I felt giddy like a school girl. That was until I opened my door to find my skanky roommate having sex with some hairy guy on my damn bed.
I may have yelled a few nasty words before slamming the door and storming off down the hall.
I tapped out my father’s number and waited for him to answer.
“Hey baby girl,” he sounded a little winded, and I could hear Rory or Rogan squealing in laughter. That damn homesick feeling pulled at me, threatening to wash away my irritation for only a moment. Until I closed my eyes and the vision of the hairy ass came back into view.
“She is nailing some hairy-ass guy in my bed. Not just in our room, Dad, but in my damn bed.” A few students in the hall gave me a weird look as they passed. “I can’t keep this up much longer before I stab her with a damn pencil in her sleep. This is so nasty.”
There was silence on the other line and I pulled it away from my ear to see if we were still connected. It showed fifty-eight seconds and the time was still ticking.
“Hello?” I said as I pressed it back against my ear.
“Hey sweetheart.” Amber was on the line now. “Your father sort of checked out for a moment. And by the purplish color of his face, I would have to guess he may be too angry to talk. So tell me what’s going on.”
“You need to work on him.” I leaned against the wall at the end of the hall and sunk to the floor. “I came home tonight to find Jeannette screwing some guy on my bed.” Amber groaned in disgust. “Yeah, tell me about it. I used to love that comforter and now I have to burn it.”
“I’ll talk to him,” she assured me. “Do you have somewhere to go tonight?”
“I’ll just stay over in Courtney’s room. But it pisses me off that I even have to.” My earlier mood had now faded.
“Me too, sweetheart,” Amber replied. “But I promise you we’ll get this figured out.”
I trusted her, because I knew Amber would do just about anything for me.
After we hung up, I dropped my phone in my lap. I just needed a few minutes to tame the Sawyer temper within me. Rarely did it show its ugly face, but I felt this situation warranted my current reaction.
I fully planned to send that bitch of a roommate a bill for the new bedding I planned to buy.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before I grabbed my phone and picked my ass up off the floor and climbed back into the elevator to go up another floor. The blue notification light flashed on my phone indicating I had something waiting.
That earlier light feeling returned when I found it was a text from Keeton.
I can’t wait either. Is it weird that I sorta miss your sweet smile already?
Tomorrow night could not come soon enough.
When I knocked on Courtney’s door, she opened it within seconds. “What happened?”
“The skank,” I said in explanation as I stepped inside her room and she closed the door behind me. Her roommate, Gina groaned in response. They were both very aware of the nasty girl I shared a room with. “She was seriously banging some hairy dude in my bed. It was the nastiest image, and I’m not only forced to have it now embedded in my memory, but she ruined my bedding in the process.”
They both stared back at me with blank expressions.
“And can you believe that neither one of them acknowledged my presence even after I screamed some pretty nasty shit at them before slamming the door?” I shivered as I remembered the image. “It resembled Jello, the way his ass and flabby back flopped in that unnatural way.”
Courtney pretended to gag and Gina curled her lip in disgust.
“I’m scarred for life, no joke,” I assured them.
I thought about sharing my other news with them, but with the yuck I faced only fifteen minutes ago, I decided I wanted to keep Keeton to myself for a little longer.
I fell asleep that night, curled on a loveseat tucked in a corner with images of that smile accompanied by the sexy dimple and all the shit was drowned out.
Chapter Six
Keeton
I stood outside the restaurant feeling anxious. I had been there for less than ten minutes when Olivia rounded the corner. For a moment I wasn’t sure I was breathing.
Sexy didn’t even begin to describe the way she looked tonight. The pale pink shirt hugged her perfectly, the V neck showing the swell of her breasts just enough to make my heart race. She paired it with black skinny jeans that stopped mid-calf. But the heels…the heels she matched with her outfit would honestly give any man a few fantasies.
Her hair hung in big waves and fell over her shoulders, making me want nothing more than to run my fingers through it.
“Hi,” she said, as she stood a few feet away and bit down on her lower lip.
I felt like a needed just a few minutes to regroup after the impact of her beauty.
She looked down at herself and then back up at me, arching her eyebrow in that adorable way. “Do I look okay?” she asked.
“You look fucking amazing.” The words fell from my lips before I could think twice about them.
A small giggle bubbled from her lips and I suddenly felt a little embarrassed about my outburst.
“Sorry,” I apologized.
“It’s okay,” she stepped closer. “You look pretty damn good yourself.”
In that moment, I found myself wondering if it would be too forward to kiss her. It was all that was running through my head at the moment.
Deciding against it, I reached out instead and when she placed her hand in mine, I led her toward the entrance of the restaurant.
As we were seated, I chose to sit in the empty space next to her instead of across from her. When she turned her head to the side and gave me a pleased smile, I knew I’d made the right choice.
I had my share of girls growing up. I’d used them as an escape from the shit at home. When I left for college and got my own place, that behavior slowly faded away. But I still dated and hooked up on occasion. My neighbor Lacy and I had hooked up a few times over the first year, but found we were better friends than anything else, so we decided to keep it just that in the future.
But this thing with Olivia felt different.
I found myself hoping for a long stretch of great dates rather than one that felt necessary prior to ending it in sex. Tonight was about more than just that. I found that I wanted to know Olivia. I wanted to hear more about her family and the crazy over-protective dad. Even though that kinda made my heart bottom out a bit, I’d face him when the time came, but it still made me more than nervous.
We spent the night talking about school and our majors. She was a little shocked when I told her about my interest in computer engineering. But she never once made me feel like she thought I wasn’t smart enough. She listened to me talk about everything I loved about it, and asked questions, showing full interest.