Behind Closed Doors (3 page)

“Midnight.”
He wipes the bar in front of me with a dishcloth before leaning his arms on it.

“Why, are you planning
to keep me company?”

If he only knew
how
I wanted to keep him company. “Are you looking for company?”

“Ooh, answering a question with a question. Someone is either fishing for information or is being shy.” He leans closer. “You don’t strike me as the shy type, seeing as you approached me and joined me for dinner, so…”

“What can I say? I’m playing detective.” I smile and take another sip of coffee, eying him over the rim.

“Well, let me know if you find anything interesting,
detective
.” His voice is low and sultry.

I lean over my coffee so my face is only inches from his. “I think I already have.”

His eyebrows rise, and he studies my face, trying to see if I’m serious. “Give me two minutes.” Before I can reply, Darren pushes off the bar and heads into the kitchen.

My heart races as I realize what he’s about to do. He’s leaving work early—for me. But I can’t take him back to my dorm, which means going to his place. I’m not crazy about the idea of being trapped at his place when I don’t even really know him. He could be just like Frat Boy, only in a totally sexy disguise. I’m in over my head.

Darren returns and walks around the bar, stopping at my stool. He threads his fingers through mine as if it’s a perfectly natural thing to do. I stare at our hands, and he pauses. “Did I read you wrong?”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “The girl I was here with earlier, she’s my roommate, and she and her boyfriend are back at my place.”

He gently pulls me off the stool and leans toward my ear, whispering, “I live alone.” His lips graze my ear, and goose bumps spread through me. I can hear Noelle’s voice in my head telling me not to get in a car with a guy I don’t know, especially after we’ve both been drinking, but as Darren pulls back and stares into my eyes, the voice fades away.

“Let’s go,” I say.

A hint of a smile plays at his lips as he turns and pulls me through the crowded restaurant. Caroline levels me with a glare as we pass by her and head out the door. Darren brings me to a BMW parked in the back lot.

“Nice car.” My car is a used Honda
Accord. When my parents gave it to me for my seventeenth birthday, Dad said new drivers shouldn’t have new cars. For the first time, I’m glad Timberland has the “no freshmen can have cars on campus” rule.

“It was my grandfather’s. He left it to me in his will.”

I’m not sure if I should say I’m sorry for his loss because I have no idea if his grandfather’s death was a recent event or not, so I settle for, “I like it.” Darren opens my door for me, and I slide onto the leather seats. The car still has that new car smell, but I can tell it’s not new. Darren must take really good care of it.

The drive to his place isn’t long at all, five minutes tops. He lives in a little neighborhood that seems to be separated from the rest of town. The house is split into two apartments, side by side. Before I can get out of the car, Darren’s at my side and giving me his hand. While it’s obvious what his intentions are, he’s being a real gentleman.

He walks me up the stairs and to the apartment on the left. His place is small, only three rooms and a bathroom, but it’s pretty neat for a guy’s apartment. He tosses his keys on the kitchen counter as we walk past and into the living room. I start for the couch, but he grabs my hand and gently tugs me back. My chest presses up against his, closing the distance between us.

“Is this okay?” he asks, brushing my hair behind my shoulder. His touch stirs up the desire inside me.

“Yeah.” I barely have the word out when his hand cups my face. But he pauses, staring into my eyes. I know he’s going to kiss me, but he’s making me wait and it’s killing me. Still, I’m afraid if I make the first move, he might get the wrong idea about me. Sure, I’m in his apartment just hours after I met him. It already looks exactly like what it is, but I want him to know I’m not usually like this. “Do you bring girls home from the bar a lot?” The question slips out.

“Do you make a habit of going home with guys you just met?”

It’s a fair question, but it still stings. “No.”

“Me either.” His breath sends tingles down my neck as he speaks.

“Then why me?”

“Why did you approach me tonight?” he counters.

“You looked lonely.”

He pulls away slightly and laughs. “Oh, so I could’ve been a sixty-five-year-old grandpa—”

“God no!” I lean into his hand, which is still cupping my cheek. “I was definitely attracted to you.”

“Was?”

“Am.”

He
inches closer, and his lips brush mine as he says, “Same here.”

My cell chimes with a text.
Not now!

“Do you need to get that?” He hasn’t backed away, and having his lips this close but not on mine is torture.

“Not even a little bit.”

The second I get the words out, his lips come crashing down on mine.

Chapter Three

He sucks my bottom lips into his mouth and gently nibbles on it. My lips part in response, inviting him in. His hand slides from my cheek into my hair and grips the back of my head while his other arm wraps around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His touch is like fire to every part of my body. Never has anyone held me like this. It’s like I can taste and feel his desire.

His hand slips under my shirt and up my back, unclasping my bra as if he’s done it a thousand times, which makes me tense up a bit as I wonder how many girls he’s been with. But my mind doesn’t stay on that thought for long because his lips leave mine, trailing down my neck as he cups my breast. I grab his sides and pull him closer as he buries his head in my neck. He’s found my weakness. The spot on my neck that makes me melt and want to jump out of my skin at the same time.

A moan escapes my lips, and Darren pulls away. No. I want his lips back. “What are you doing? Why did you stop?” I ask, searching his eyes with mine.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He’s being the nice guy again. As much as I can tell—feel—that he wants me, he’s not going to make me do anything I don’t want to do.

I nod, but he shakes his head. “I’m not doing this until you
tell
me it’s what you want. I need to be sure, and nodding is what people do when they can’t say the words.”

I reach up and lightly kiss his lips. “I’m.” I kiss them again, this time biting his lower lip. “Sure.”

He grabs me, lifting me off the floor and wrapping my legs around his waist. He carries me into his bedroom and places me on the edge of his bed where he kneels at my feet, removing my shirt and bra. He buries his head in my chest, raining kisses across both breasts before finally taking a nipple into his mouth. I moan again and pull him closer to me. He tilts his head back, and I crush my lips against his.

He wraps my arms around his neck and crawls up onto the bed, taking me with him. Once my head is on the pillow, he removes his shirt and lowers his body onto mine. For a moment he just kisses me, and I wonder if things are going to end here. If I’m okay with them ending here.

A rumbling sound near the bed makes me jump, and Darren pulls back. “It’s the air conditioning unit. It’s old, and it makes a weird sound when it kicks on.”

I laugh at my nerves. Maybe I’m not ready for this after all.

Darren reaches around me and tugs the sheets down. “Get under before you get cold. In a minute, it’s going to feel like the arctic in here.”

I scramble under the sheets. “Why do you set the air so high?”

“My landlord does it. I can’t change the setting. Like I said, the unit is old and it doesn’t exactly work well. It’s either too hot or too cold, and being that it’s summer, I prefer the too cold.”

He joins me under the sheets, but he doesn’t touch me and I can’t help wondering why.

“Did I do something wrong?” I hope I don’t sound my age by asking.

“Not at all.
I
don’t want to do something wrong. You said you don’t normally do this.”

“You said you don’t either.”

He smiles. “Then I guess we should take this slowly.” He reaches for the button on my shorts.

“Slow is good.” Since both guys I’ve been with only knew one speed, fast, I’m more than willing to take my time and make this last.

Darren kisses me as he slips my shorts off. Even though I’m lying naked in his bed, he doesn’t make a move to remove his pants. Instead, he focuses on me. For the first time ever, a guy just wants to please me. I get lost in his touch, savoring every moment and how it sends my blood coursing through my veins. And when Darren finally does remove his jeans, I can barely hold off any longer. But he makes me wait while he gets a condom. I don’t even have to ask or to remind him why he should wear it. And the moment our bodies connect, it’s like they were meant to be together.

***

Darren strokes my hair as we lay side by side in his bed. There are no words to describe what being with him was like. I’ve never felt this way after sex. Never felt this satisfied and content. All I know is I don’t want to give this up. This feeling, Darren—but I’m lying to him. He thinks I’m his age, that I’m attending Timberland as a grad student. If he finds out, this will all be over. We’ll be over.

I look at the clock on his nightstand. “I should go.”

“Do you have an early class?”

“Eight a.m. My roommate is a morning person.”

“Your roommate’s in the same grad program? That should come in handy for studying.”

I smile, not wanting to add any more lies to the heap. “Um, I should text her to come pick me up.”

“I can drive you home. It’s really no problem.” He sits up and pulls his shirt over his head.

“No, it’s fine. She doesn’t mind.” God, I can hear how lame I sound. I pull my clothes back on in a hurry before he can protest too much. “Can you just give me the address so I can tell her?”

“Sure. It’s 114 Sherman Place, but are you sure about this?”

I text as quickly as my fingers will move. “Yeah. Already sent the text. I don’t live far from here, so she should be here soon.”

My phone chimes.
You went back to his place?!

Just hurry up and get here,
I reply.

“She’s already on her way.” I cringe, knowing I’m lying again.

“Do you want to maybe get dinner tomorrow?” He fidgets with the bottom of his shirt, and I get the feeling that he’s wondering what our little get together means.

“I’d love to.” I smile, relieved that he wants to see me again and isn’t looking at this as a one-time thing.

We exchange numbers, and Darren says he’ll text me when he gets off work. My phone chimes.
I’m here.

“That’s my roommate. I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Darren walks me to the door and kisses me goodbye, his lips lingering on mine in a way that makes me melt.

“Night,” I say.

“Night.” He opens the door and watches me walk to the car. I give a wave before I get in, and Noelle hits me with a very reproachful stare.

“Just don’t,” I say as we pull out of the driveway. “It’s no different than how you and Andy got together so I don’t want to hear it. Look at you two now. You’re driving his car like it’s your own.”

She eyes me before turning back to the road. “You know most hook-ups don’t end up the way Andy and I did. We’re different.”

“And you don’t think Darren and I might be different, too?” I know the odds are against it, especially with our age difference, but I don’t care. Tonight was amazing. I’m not ready to let that go.

Noelle doesn’t say another word to me until morning. “Still feeling okay with what happened?” she asks as we walk to class.

I give her a look over my travel mug.

“Okay, fine. I won’t mention it again.”

“Thank you.”

We walk into Introduction to Art and I head for the back, but Noelle tugs on my arm. “No way. I need to do well in this class, or my parents are never going to let me declare art as my major.”

“You know this class is going to be a bunch of slides on the big screen. We’ll see just fine from the back.”

“Fine. Then we can also talk about what you did last night since we’ll be far away from the professor.” She smiles at me, knowing she’s won.

“You are so lucky I love you.”

“I know,” she practically sings as she pushes me toward the front of the class. She tries to make me sit in the front row, but I refuse.

“What if the professor is a spitter like Mr. Juskus?” Our senior year Trig teacher couldn’t get out a sentence without soaking the front row. 

“Ugh, good point.” Noelle moves back to the third row, and I give in because it’s the best I’m going to get out of her. She walks to the middle of the row, so we’re directly in front of the screen.

“You’re going to make me take notes, too, aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

“You know,
you
could take notes and let me photo copy them.” I raise my brow at her, but she hugs her notebook to her chest.

“Not happening.”

I finish my coffee and set the mug on the floor by my feet. Professor Monahan—according to my schedule—walks up to a podium at the front of the lecture hall and addresses us, saying that he moves quickly through the slides so we’ll need to pay close attention.
Thank you, Noelle, for making me take this stupid class.
I give her a look, but she just smiles in response. As Professor Monahan puts the first picture on the screen, I pretend to look like I’m going to take notes by taking out my notebook and a pen, but my mind immediately wanders.

I start thinking about Darren and how different he is. Maybe it’s because he’s older and more experienced, but he seemed to know every place on my body that drives me crazy. I look at the clock on the wall. I have an entire day to get through before I see Darren again, but even if I had to spend every one of those hours listening to Professor Monahan drone on and on about slide after slide, it would be worth it. Darren is my chance to have the kind of relationship Noelle and Andy have.

Even though I slept with Darren the first night I met him, I could tell he cared about making me happy. It wasn’t all about him. And he wouldn’t have asked me to dinner tonight if he didn’t see some sort of future for us—or at least want to get to know me. I smile, and Noelle nudges my arm. I sit up straight, hoping Professor Monahan didn’t call on me to answer a question. Do they do that in college? But he’s looking up at the back of the lecture hall.

“What?” I mouth to Noelle.

“That.” She points to the back of the room, and I twist to see what’s got her so freaked out.

As I turn around, Professor Monahan says, “Please welcome my new teaching assistant for the semester, Mr. McEntire.”

I freeze.

Holy shit, I slept with my T.A.