"You can have the bed and I'll take the couch," he said.
"Seriously?" I leveled him with a look and raised my eyebrows. "We spent last night on your tiny sleeper bed. This bed is huge." I pointed to the king size monstrosity that took up most of the room. "There's no reason why we can't share. I'm not making you sleep on a couch for the next three weeks."
He looked torn and roughly ran a hand through his hair. "We can see how it goes."
I held my hands up. "I promise not to accost you while you're sleep. We can even put up a pillow wall between us," I suggested.
"It's not you I'm worried about," he grumbled quietly. "Hey, do you need a hair dryer?" he asked, effectively changing the subject. "Girls like those, right? Colton's girlfriend left one here if you want to use it."
"Seriously? Yes!" I practically screeched, and Travis winced from how loud it was. We both laughed and I shrugged sheepishly. "My hair can be really hard to manage if I don't dry it straight." I waved my hand towards the wide, natural waves.
Not knowing what else to do with it, I'd haphazardly thrown my hair back into a braid after the shower. But now, the rogue strands were barely contained, giving me a bit of finger-in-light-socket look.
Travis told me the dryer was under the bathroom sink, and said he'd be in the kitchen trying to figure out if they had any food. Apparently, Colton wasn't much of a grocery shopper.
While I was drying my hair, my mind wandered to what happened on the couch earlier. Just thinking about it made me throb between my thighs and I could feel a slickness beneath my damp panties.
I looked at my reflection as I ran the brush through my hair, which was now sleek and free of my usual messy waves. My cheeks were flushed and my lips were still a bit swollen from the make-out session.
Tilting my head to the side, I ran the tips of my fingers over the spot on my neck where Travis's mouth had latched on. There was no mark left behind, no evidence of where his lips had been. But I could still feel it.
Actually, I felt hot and tingly all over. Even my fingertips buzzed with excitement. All I could think about was how much I wanted to do it again, but I wasn't sure jumping on the guy was the best idea. Travis had looked just as taken aback by the encounter as I felt.
After I was done in the bathroom, Travis decided to take his turn in the shower.
I was in his bedroom sorting through my dirty laundry when I heard yelling. Or what I thought was yelling. At first I was alarmed, then I realized what the sound was.
Is that singing?
Travis wasn't kidding about singing in the shower. Or how bad it was.
It was terrible. Like a stampede of pissed-off elephants kind of terrible.
Holding a hand to my stomach, I doubled over from laughing so hard. His voice carried loudly above the sound of the running water, totally off-key. It was so bad I couldn't even make out what song he was singing.
Or attempting to sing.
It was pure, uninhibited hollering.
As I listened-because I had no choice to do otherwise-I made out a couple of words. At some point, he shouted ‘highway' and ‘drive', but it still didn't clue me in on the song.
I was still wiping tears from the corners of my eyes when Travis came out and my laughter died in my throat.
He was wearing a towel. Only a towel.
Drops of water still trailed down his chest and stomach. One drop was caught on his right nipple and my face grew hot at the thought of licking it off.
His face was clean-shaven now. Not only did it make him look younger, but it made his dimples pop more when he smiled.
And he was probably smiling because he caught me checking him out.
I realized I was staring but I couldn't stop. Travis slowly walked towards me until I could feel the heat coming off of his body. He brought his finger up to my face and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me.
When he pushed up on my chin, I realized he wasn't going to kiss me-he was closing my jaw for me because I was just gaping at him. I hadn't even realized my mouth was open.
I was one step away from drooling. Awesome.
Totally embarrassed, I glanced up to see him smirking at me and all I could do was shrug.
Terrible singing forgotten, I shuffled around him so he could get to his room to put some clothes on.
The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful. Travis and I watched some bad reality shows and after showing me what little food they had, he said we would need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. The contents of their fridge was seriously lacking. There was an old pizza box, a jar of pickles, bottled water, and beer. That was it.
I didn't put on makeup often because I'd never been very skilled at it. The mascara wand and I had a tumultuous history and I valued my eyesight.
Tonight, however, was sort of a special occasion. I hadn't been out with friends in forever. Distracted by funeral arrangements and grief, I'd even missed my senior prom.
Travis and Colton were new friends, but they were just about the best friends I had right now.
Sad? Yeah, sort of. But I was too excited to care.
Being very careful not to poke myself in the eye during the process, I applied foundation, blush, eyeliner and mascara, then finished off my look with some pink lip gloss.
Next I put on my sundress, which had a retro-style feel to it. It was navy blue with tiny white polka-dots and had a halter top that tied around my neck. The fabric was lightweight cotton and it was perfect for warmer days.
The flowy skirt fell to mid-thigh and I completed my summer look with white sequined flip-flops. My only other option were my Converse sneakers and I knew they wouldn't look right with a dress.
When I glanced in the mirror, I was pleased to notice my breasts look fuller from the shape of the sweetheart neckline. I even had some cleavage going on.
I wasn't a fashion guru, but I was satisfied with my look. Simple. Pretty.
After running the brush through my hair one more time, I came out of the bathroom and found Travis watching a baseball game on TV in the living room. His eyes flitted up to me and his jaw went slack.
TRAVIS
Angel was trying to kill me.
When she came into the living room in that dress, I had to clench my fists to fight off the urge to run my hand up the smooth skin on her thigh. My fingers itched to run through her hair, which looked even longer now that it was straight. The shiny blonde strands almost reached her waist.
She had makeup on, but somehow it made her look more innocent, with her eyes looking bigger, her cheeks pink, her lips plump and shiny. It looked like she'd even swiped a bit of blush onto the tip of her perfect nose.
And that dress … That fucking dress. She looked like a modern-day pin-up girl.
She was every fantasy I'd ever had, come to life.
After fidgeting for a couple seconds, she took a seat on the couch and tucked her feet underneath her thighs. She sent me a shy smile and I regretted choosing to sit in the chair instead of on the couch, where I could've been next to her.
It was a good thing Colton chose that moment to come home because I had no idea what to say. She'd rendered me speechless.
"Hey, roomie," he said to Angel when he saw her. He ruffled her hair as he walked by to the kitchen.
She made an exasperated sound as she tried to comb it back down with her fingers.
"Hi," she grumbled, but I could tell she wasn't mad because she was fighting a grin.
"You look beautiful," he said to her.
"Thank you," she beamed at him, and I felt a bolt of irrational jealousy.
I was suddenly pissed at myself for not telling her first. Actually, I didn't say anything to her. I just leered at her like a jackass.
"I'll be right back," I told Angel as I followed Colton into his room and shut the door behind me.
He just crossed his arms over his chest, raised his eyebrows, and waited for me to say what he already knew was coming.
I sighed heavily and hung my head. "I'm so fucking screwed, man."
"I know." He smiled. He was actually enjoying this. For the first time ever, he was seeing me twisted up over a girl. A girl I barely knew, at that.
"It's been less than two days, Colt. And I already like her. A lot," I admitted.
I filled him in on all the details of how she ended up coming back with me, most of which he overheard in the shop. Then I told him the things I didn't tell Hank-that she was a runaway. How we ended up falling asleep in the sleeper cab together, how we almost kissed in the truck, and how we did kiss here at the apartment.
"It's about time you found someone who can drive you crazy. And it's no wonder. She's hot. Seems really nice, too."
The look on my face must have clued him in on the uncharacteristic jealousy I was experiencing and he held his hands up. "Damn, dude. I'm not gonna hit on your girl. Besides, I'm already taken. You know I'm a one-woman kinda guy."