Love Unexpected (14 page)

I was halfway into my PB & J toast when Nalee and Tanya walked in the apartment.

They were giggling. They must have gone to Yoga or Pilates. I was more of a runner and swimmer. Sometimes, I joined them in their exercise classes for the fun of it.

Tanya grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and poured it in a tall glass, "Whew! That was a good workout. You should come with us, Sedona."
 

Nalee sat on the chair across from me, "Yup. Zumba works out all you
r muscles."
 

Just the mention of muscles hurt. My arms were sore. My neck had a
permanent kink on it.
 

“
Next time, you're going with us. Wait,” Tanya’s voice needed to dial down, “Are you hung-over?"

I nodded. My ears hurt. Life was a bitch after margaritas and mojitos.
 

"I thought you were out doing laps at the beach or at the gym. It’s Saturday,” Nalee said.

"Yeah, maybe later. I’m kind of feeling sore. I'll ask Zander if he wants to go."

A pair of green and a pair of hazel eyes z
oomed in on me.
 

Tanya recovered fir
st, "Zander?!"
 

"Zander? THE Zander?" Was Nalee
screaming too?
 

I covered my ears. Too much stimulation was not good
for a hangover.
 

They were not going to let me out of this kitchen without spilling details. I told them what happened last night. I left out the hiccupping cure and details. I just told them we kissed.
 

Nalee's eyes bulged at the mention of the kiss. They both knew that I didn’t go around kissing random men. "Sweetheart, he's a player. Jerome is a
player. I hate it. I’m just so used to it. But you, you're fragile; you can get out before everything becomes complicated. Don't get sucked into it."
 

Fragile? Was that what she thought of me? Just because I was a virgin didn
't mean I was fragile.
 

"Nales, Zander said that he only hung out with those girls. He didn't take them home or anything." I sounded lame. I believed Zander‘s explanation about the women last night.
 

"You're sure of that? I'm stuck with Jerome because I got sucked into his lies. One day, I'll probably get out and tell him to just fuck himself. But look at me, I'm sick of his lies but I hang onto them. If I knew this was going to be my life, I would have told myself, ‘Self get out while you can', years ago. Just because he said he didn't take them home or didn't do anything with t
hem doesn’t mean it’s true."
 

My appetite was gone. I had no desire to finish the rest of my toast. Nalee was right. What was I thinking? Just because he said he wasn't a man whore, didn't ac
tually mean that he wasn't.
 

Tanya looked at Nalee and me, "I
t's true."
 

Nalee
asked first, "What's true?"
 

Tanya’s
emerald gaze went back and forth between Nalee and I. "Zander's telling the truth. Two of the girls in Chatty Pepper's website are my sorority sisters. I'm not close to them but we all got together for an event a few days ago. Those girls happened to be there. I overheard those two comparing notes about Zander. They both said he was a great guy, but they thought he was gay. He didn't even attempt anything with them. They must have pulled out all their charms. He's a great catch. He was a complete gentleman. He took them out to dinner, separate times, of course, and that was it."
 

I exhaled. Relief rushed through me. He was a good guy.
My instincts weren't wrong.
 

"Then why did you send me all those pics, Tanya? I was assuming that he was dating all these other girl
s," I couldn't help but ask.
 

In Tanya-like fashion, she propped her hands on her hips, and said, "Honey, I wanted you to figure it out. I knew you had the hots for him. Totally. I wanted you to
see what you were losing."
 

"What was I losing? A man whore?!" My
head pounded, but I laughed.
 

They were now both laughing with me.
 

Tanya exclaimed, "No! That wasn't the message I was trying to get across. I was trying to tell you that you were letting a fine specimen of a man
go because of whatever hang-up you had with Brennan and there are tons of other girls waiting in line, if you let him go."
 

Nalee burst
into another giggle, "Tanya dear, next time you want to send a message across, can you write the actual message? I was thinking the same thing that Sedona was thinking, that Zander was a player and wasn't worth spending time with."
 

Tanya huffed, "Oh well! Fine, next time, if there is a next time, I will send you messages with underlines and highlighted points so you guys
won’t miss what I'm trying to say. I'll even include a synopsis of my message."
 

Nalee and I burst into laughter.

Zander
 

5
couldn't come soon enough.
 

Football practice was great. If it was possible to ride high on excitement, I was on board that flight and back. My face was plastered with a grin all morning. John even
commented, "That good huh?"
 

“
Whatcha talking about, man?"
 

"Your date. Your night. Whatever. It was that good? You have this stupid grin all morning." Of course, he noticed. I was in a quasi-angry/irritated/bored state f
or the past couple of weeks.
 

I nodded.
 

“Whoever she is, keep her. We need her to go to Division Championships,” he smirked, “You were sucking big time. You looke
d like your old self today.”
 

"Whatever dude," I threw an empty water bottle at him. He was a good f
riend.
 

He was right. I was one with the turf today. I felt it when I stepped on the field. My throws were great. She brought my ‘mojo’
, as Xavier called it, back.
 

Last night was hot. She gave new meaning to hot. Her mouth was so responsive. Just thinking about it was giving me another erection. I took care of one after I went home and again, this morning. It was hard for me to stop kissing her. When she zonked out on me, I had no choice but to stop. She was a deep sleeper. One minute she was kissing me. Then, all of a sudden, she
was lights out. I tried to fix her body position in her bed but she kept wriggling in my hands, so I covered her with a light pink blanket. I couldn't help but look around her room.
 

She was so organized. Her computer desk was tidy. Not a paper or pencil out of place. She had a mini dresser with a mirror on the far end of the room, close to the bathroom. I walked to her bathroom and took a leak. I noticed her vanilla-scented soap was dated
with a black marker, 02/10. Wow. She freakin' put a date on her hand wash. Didn't they have expiration dates printed on them?! Her bathroom was straight out of a magazine. No clutter. Feminine. Towels lined up in order. Mine was nothing compared to hers.
 

I looked at her profile in the bed. The lamp by her door cast a dim shadow on her face. I sank back in her bed. She was truly one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. Her long,
dark hair was spread on her pillow. Her eyelashes were so long. Her lips were slightly swollen from my kisses. I lightly touched a finger to her lips; she stirred and moaned, "Zander."
 

T
hat did me in. When my name slipped from her lips, I promised myself that there was no way she was getting away from me. I had left her alone for far too long. I stood up, took one last look at her face, and walked out of her room. Tomorrow, or today, did not come fast enough.
 

I was a punctual
guy so at exactly 5 PM, I was ringing the doorbell of her apartment. Tanya, the red head, answered the door. Nalee was close behind.
Uh oh
. Interrogation time.
 

They didn't even bother to hide it. As soon as I plopped my ass on the couch, Nalee said, "Listen here, buddy. Sedona's not the flavor of the
day or week. She's a great girl. You better leave now if you know you're just going to play her."
 

Tanya gushed, "Jeez, Nalee. Simmer down
. Don't go scaring the boy."
 

They were pretty funny. I knew they were watching out for
their friend.
 

I was about to say something when Tanya shus
hed me. She just shushed me.
 

She said her piece, "Look, you hurt our girl, you're going to pay. I don't care if you're Mr. Wundershit. I have connections in high places too. If you hurt her, in any way, shape, or form, your ass, no matter how
delectable it is, is toast!"
 

She just threatened me while flirting with me. I
have to hand it to her - the girl had talent. John should definitely pursue her.
 

I wasn't going to be railroaded by these women. My intentions towards Sedona were between her and me. They were concerned about their friend. From what I gathered from Sedona last night
, I was labeled a ‘player’.
 

"Ladies, please let me get a word in." Where was Sedona, was she ready to go?
 

They quieted down.
 

"I just want to say that Pepper website exaggerated stuff. You probably got the idea that I dated tons of girls but that’s not the truth. I may have gone out with a couple of them. Isn’t that what single guys do? Now, I know you’re watching out for your friend and that’s totally cool. I would probably be doing the same thing for my friend. In less obvious ways, of course."

Tanya's mouth twitched. She r
eminded me of a supermodel.
 

They gave me the floor so I took it, "Your girl, she's the only one I want to keep seeing. I've no idea where this is going to take us, but I sure hope she gets on it because I am kinda getting tired here. I am exhausted
from having her run through my mind for weeks."
 

I must have said something right because Nalee smiled. Her face went from average to really pretty when she smiled.

Tanya said, "Zander, I didn't know you could spout stuff like that. No wonde
r you got my girl in knots."
 

I had Sedona in knots? Good. Because she had my balls tied in t
riple knots.
 

"Where's your
girl, by the way?" I asked.
 

"She's coming. Her dad called so she said she'll be coming out in a few," Nalee said, "You
want anything to drink?"
 

"No thanks, I'm
good. I'll just wait here."
 

I thought they were going to leave me alone. Nope. They just sat there and we got to talking about random stuff.

Tanya sounded interested in John. She asked a few questions about him. Nalee was a cheerful person. She was quite the storyteller. She talked about her volunteering for the orphaned kids. I was not bored. Sedona had gr
eat friends. Smart ones too.
 

I was in the middle of telling them about architectural design and stuff, when Sedona showed up. I literal
ly lost my train of thought.
 

She looked so natural
and feminine. Her jeans showed off a great ass and legs. And her top,
fuck
. It was sheer and flowy and showed a hint of cleavage. It made me want to rip it off of her. She looked sexy as hell.
 

Tanya burst into giggles.
 

"Man, never thought I’d see the day you could literally shock
a man to silence, Sedona."
 

Sedona's face turned red. Her eyes sparkled. She looked at me and a heated look passed between us. She
was remembering last night.
 

We needed to go. If I stayed here long enough, my dick would salute everyone here. It was alread
y uncomfortable down there.
 

I stood up, "Ready to go?"
 

She smiled, "Yes. Sorry for the grilling. They probably did that while I was in there," she eyed Tan
ya and Nalee affectionately.
 

"No problem. They're your friends and
they're great"