A Bridge of Her Own (3 page)

Lacey often replied, “Please, if even ten percent of Europeans are as good-looking as him, I do not want to be tied down. I’ll sample them all."

They planned on ringing in the New Year in London after spending Christmas in Paris and touring Holland. Lacey was really pushing for a day in Amsterdam to try the local coffee house wares. The trip-planning was becoming so much fun that they discussed doing the same thing the next year with Australia in mind, seeing as how the weather would be summerlike there that time of year. Or maybe even New Zealand.

Chapter 4

Once back at school to start their junior year, they again opted for a dorm over an apartment so they could still have access to the cafeteria and save funds. Plus, it just worked for them. With all of their prerequisites completed the year before, they sadly did not share any drool-worthy professors this year.

Before they knew it, it was holiday break again, and they were holding hands as they sat in their seats wanting for the plane to take off. The night before their flight they had again made their annual pilgrimage to their favorite Tacky Light Tour houses. Trip or no trip, they could not miss that.

This was Lacey's first trip overseas and Jane's second. Lacey leaned on Jane during their time in France. Jane spoke choppy French, but since she had been there so recently, they somewhat recreated the trip she had taken with her parents. Lacey had one special request. They had to go to the Moulin Rouge, and it was amazing.

Once they were in London, Lacey had all of the details of the hottest spot in town to celebrate New Year's. Otherwise, they went to all of the main attractions; Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and Big Ben. They even managed to get their picture taken in one of those red telephone booths. Then, they rode around (freezing) on the upper level of a double-decker tour bus. Lastly, on New Year's Eve they recreated the Abbey Road album cover with a couple of random cute boys Lacey sweet talked. The boys had nothing planned that night so the girls now conveniently had dates!

When New Year's came, Lacey
smooched her Brit, and Jane gave her Brit a chaste kiss on the cheek. Their trip was well worth all those hours washing and folding spa towels the summer before. They returned to school ready to take on the rest of their junior year.

Not long after their European vacation, Lacey began dating Liam. That was how Jane met Wyatt Huntington III. She had been on a few casual dates throughout college but had mainly kept her head down and focused on her class work. Lacey, on the other hand, sometimes seemed to be majoring in boys. Lacey, now dating Liam, had talked Jane into going on a double date with his friend, Wyatt.

Wyatt Huntington III was a celebrity of sorts on campus. He resembled Robert Redford in his hay day, and all the girls wanted to date him. Lacey had purposefully omitted that Wyatt was the blind date because Jane never would have agreed to come otherwise. She would be far too nervous. As they approached the table, Lacey observed Jane’s eyes widen in recognition and look around the restaurant for emergency exits. When they sat and ordered, Wyatt was a perfect gentleman, and Lacey was thrilled for her friend.

Wyatt was well-liked on campus and seemed to be as interested in Jane as she was in him. On their first solo date, he took her to a local restaurant just off campus. It was crowded with other college students, and many of them seemed to recognize Wyatt and were curious who the pretty brunette was with him. When they were seated, Jane nervously began twisting her napkin on her lap. When she realized Wyatt was watching her, she flushed.

"Nervous?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Don't be." He was very charming. "Ever been here before?" he asked.

She shook her head no.

"You should try the risotto. It is wonderful."

When the waiter returned to take their orders, he seemed pleased when she did order what he had recommended, though she was taken aback by Wyatt’s attitude toward the waiter. Her father had always told her that people who mistreated waiters and other clerks were the ones to watch out for. She thought about it, but then let it go because he was being so sweet and attentive to her.

After dinner, they both went back to Jane's dorm. As they rode the elevator to her floor, he pulled her against his body and ran his hands up and down her back. Lacey had plans for the evening so she had thought she would still be out. Lacey wasn't. Wyatt actually seemed pretty annoyed that Lacey was there and left shortly after.

Jane sent him a text apologizing but got no response. She could not fall asleep that night, unable to stop thinking about the evening and stressing. What if she had ruined
things, and Wyatt didn’t like her anymore? He was the first guy to have really shown interest in her, and she thought he was very attractive. She worried that he could have even thought she was a tease and had lied about Lacey being out.

The next morning, she explained her concerns to Lacey. Lacey sat listening with a very perplexed look on her face. When Jane had finished, Lacey asked her why she was so stressed out about a guy she's barely gone out with. Jane couldn't describe her attraction to him. Lacey rolled her eyes and told her not to worry.

"You weren't going to sleep with him were you?" Lacey asked surprised.

"I don't know," Jane admitted honestly.

Lacey stared at her open-mouthed. Lacey was no virgin, but as Jane's best friend, knew that Jane was.

"I'm not going to tell you not to do this, but I am going to say I think you should get to know Wyatt a bit more before you do anything with him" Lacey advised.

Jane could agree with her logic, but she also felt that Wyatt was the type of guy that could be bored easily. Besides, if they ended up dating seriously, what would it matter how long they waited before becoming intimate, she thought.

Lacey shook her head at Jane and said, "Just use protection, darling."

Jane blushed and nodded.

Here she was, discussing her possible first time. Then she remembered how annoyed Wyatt looked when he left. She figured she wouldn’t hear from him again and went on about her day. She was thrilled when she received a text back from him that afternoon. He wrote that he was going to a party that night and would she want to meet him there.

She replied back right away that she would love to. Wanting tonight to be perfect, she asked Lacey if she could raid her closet. Lacey raised her eyebrow at her but otherwise agreed. It was cold outside so Jane ended up wearing a pair of slim jeans tucked into black boots. She picked a pretty emerald top of Lacey's, somewhat low cut. Under it all, she purposely wore her prettiest underwear set just in case. Lacey and Liam were also going to the same party, and Jane rode with them.

Chapter 5

When they got there, Wyatt was already buzzed, sitting in a lazy boy in the living room with a pretty blonde on his lap. Jane was mortified and rushed to a bathroom to compose herself. Lacey followed her after looking pointedly at Liam. When he just shrugged, she threw her hands up and left him standing there. She followed Jane into the bathroom. Jane stood there, fanning her face.

"Who is that girl?" she cried. "Do you think he saw me?" Lacey did her best to calm her friend down.

Lacey offered to take her back to the dorm and stay with her. Jane was adamant that she wanted to stay because she wasn’t sure if he had seen her or not. In that case, Lacey thought, she should have Wyatt come to her because she should under no circumstances acknowledge him or that girl. In fact, she recommended Jane talk to any other guy at the party instead. Jane stared at her open-mouthed as though she were speaking in tongues.

Lacey huffed and said, "Fine. I'll introduce you to some people I know."

Jane couldn't help but look over at Wyatt every so often. At one point, he caught her eye and waved her over.

Lacey murmured, "No way. Make him come to you." But Jane was already on her way over to him.

As she approached, he evicted the pretty blonde from his lap. She frowned at Jane and walked away. He motioned for Jane to sit with him.

When she hesitated, he said, "She was just keeping your seat warm, babe.”

She shrugged and sat down. Her perch allowed him a clear view down her shirt.

“You look really hot tonight," he murmured, drinking her in.

She giggled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and nipped at her neck.

"You coming home with me tonight?" he asked.

She met his gaze and slowly nodded.

He had a couple more drinks and got a bit
handsy with her in front of his friends. Lacey couldn't help but notice and was concerned for her friend. They barely knew each other, and he was clearly trashed. When Jane went up to go to the bathroom, she went to check on her.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Of course," Jane exclaimed happily. "He wants me to go home with him."

"So not
gonna do that whole ‘get to know him better’ thing we talked about earlier." Lacey mused.

Jane shook her head.

"My little girl is growing up." Lacey joked. "But seriously," she continued, "be safe and make him take his time. You better tell me all about it tomorrow."

Jane solemnly promised to, and they returned to the party.

When Jane got back to Wyatt, he said "This party blows. Let's get out of here."

He lived a very short walk from where the party was. Once in his apartment, Jane looked around. It was really nice in comparison to other college apartments she had seen. There was actual framed art on the walls, and it was very clean.
Too clean for a college guy. She wondered if he had a cleaning service.

He took her coat and rested it on the back of a chair near the door. Taking her hand, he led her to the living room and sat down in front of her on the sofa. Picking up a remote, he turned on a stereo somewhere. The speakers were hooked up to a surround system, and the room filled with classic rock. Feeling self-conscious because she was still standing, Jane went to sit next to him.

"Uh-uh," he said, stopping her. "Take off your clothes." He leaned back and watched her.

She blushed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't be a prude." he said. She uncrossed her arms and went to slip off her boots and socks.

"Do it
more sexy." Wyatt demanded.

Isn't taking your clothes off in front of someone already sexy, she thought to herself. She continued to remove her boots and began rocking her hips slightly to the beat of the music. She pulled her shirt over her head and began unbuttoning her jeans. Once they were unbuttoned, he brought his hands up to slide them down her legs. She stood there for a moment in just her bra and underwear. She took a deep breath and unhooked her bra then shrugged it off.

"I thought you had bigger boobs," he said, staring at her chest.

She brought her arms up to cover herself. He placed his hands on her hips and brought her a step forward to him and then slowly pulled her underwear down. She stepped out of them and moved one hand to cover herself. He stood up and told her to undress him. She slowly unbuttoned his oxford shirt. Possibly thinking she was taking too long, he brushed her hands off and quickly finished undressing.

He stood naked in front of her, and taking her hands, he said, "Make me hard."

She gingerly touched him with her fingertips, unsure of what she was doing. It seemed to be working, though. Once he was fully aroused, he led her to his bedroom and motioned her to lie down. He quickly took a condom from a box on his bedside table and put it on. He then covered her with his body and pushed deeply into her.

She would have cried out in pain, but she bit her lip not wanting ruin it for him. He went on like that for a few minutes at one point sitting back and pulling her legs up and placing them on each of his shoulders to enter her deeper. She moaned in what she hoped he would think pleasure. When he was finished he got up and went into the bathroom to clean up.

Reentering the room, he asked, "You sleeping here tonight?"

"If you want me to," Jane replied, unsure.

"Alright, but you have to leave early because I have to go somewhere tomorrow."

She cringed inwardly. "That's okay," she said.

He lay down next to her and pulled the covers over them.

"I'm just going to run to the bathroom."Jane said, getting up.

After using the bathroom, she splashed cold water on her face and looked in the mirror.

"Be cool," she said to herself and went back to the bedroom.

When she got back into his bed, she realized he was already asleep. She hugged herself, resolving to be exactly what Wyatt wanted in a girl so he would fall in love with her. She woke to him taking one of her nipples in his mouth, his hand parting her legs and his fingers entering her.

"You wet?" he whispered in her ear.

When he mounted her this time it didn't hurt as bad as the previous time. When he finished, he went to take a shower. As he dressed, he told her he would drop her off at her place on his way out. She went to retrieve her clothes from the living room and quickly dressed. She grabbed a piece of gum from her purse but desperately wished for a toothbrush.