The Boyfriend Project (9 page)

I didn't know why Kendall needed to have so much order in her life. I figured some of it might have to do with her father's death. It had to be hard growing up without your dad—even if your dad tended to be a jerk like mine. In spite of everything, I did love him. Just didn't like him a whole lot.

Although based on things Kendall said, I knew she had liked her dad. A lot. She really missed him. So I tried to be understanding when it came to her need to control everything, because she hadn't had any control over his dying.

As Kendall and I went through the tiny grocery store, a couple of times I noticed her reaching to straighten something, then pulling her hand back. We quickly grabbed what we needed—including roasting skewers that had a
picture of people near a campfire—and headed back to the beach house.

We waited until near dusk before hauling everything down to the beach. Fletcher and I gathered driftwood and built a fire. After, Kendall and I sat on a blanket with her back to my chest, my arms around her as the sun set. It was pretty amazing. As night fell, a quiet hush seemed to come with it. Only a few people remained. I didn't figure they'd be staying much longer, but they weren't bothering us.

After skewering the wieners, we held them just beyond the reach of the dancing flames.

“This was such a good idea,” Avery said. She examined her wiener, then slid it into a bun and took a bite. “There's just something about roasting hot dogs over a campfire that makes them taste better.”

“It's the danger,” I said. “The fire. It's why guys like to cook outside using a grill. The kitchen is too tame.”

“And yet so many chefs are guys,” Avery pointed out.

“But you've seen the knives they wield, right?” I asked.

She laughed. “Yeah, some of them are pretty wicked looking.”

When everyone had their fill of hot dogs, Kendall broke out our dessert. “This reminds me a little of Girl Scout camp,” she said as she skewered a marshmallow.

“So should we start telling creepy stories?” Avery asked.

“No,” Kendall said as she plucked the gooey mess from the skewer and popped it into her mouth. “I won't be able to sleep.”

I slipped my arm around her. “I'll protect you.”

She gave an exaggerated shudder. “You'll try, but the guy is always the first to go.”

“Nah,” Fletcher said. “The guy is usually the danger, the one you least expect.”

“Oh, thanks,” Kendall said. “No more marshmallows for you.”

He shrugged. “No biggie. I've got my root beer.”

“Doesn't anything upset you?” Kendall asked.

“Not the small stuff.”

I'd really only gotten to know Fletcher after he started dating Avery. He was a year older than us, but in some ways he was a lot older than that. I'd only recently learned he'd had a really rough life. That was the thing about people. You didn't always know what was going on in their lives. I thought Kendall shared everything with me—but then she probably thought I did the same with her. She was probably going to be upset when she learned that I'd quit working at my dad's office, which was why I wasn't going to tell her until after our time here. I just wanted a few days without any hassles.

When most of the marshmallows were gone, Kendall packed everything away and then settled in against me
again. I put my arms around her and set my chin on her shoulder.

“You can really see the stars out here,” she said.

“Fletcher and I come out here a lot at night,” Avery said. “It's just a great place to unwind. We're really going to miss it when we go off to school.”

They were going to Austin. Kendall and I were going to College Station.

“I'm going to miss
you
,” Kendall said.

“Same goes,” Avery told her. “We should plan a trip for winter break. Maybe go skiing.”

“That sounds like fun,” Kendall said. She glanced back at me. “Don't you think?”

“Absolutely.” Not that my dad was going to fund a trip away with my girlfriend. But I'd cross that bridge later.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Avery began. “Dot called. Her mom did really well following the surgery. She'll be checking her out of the hospital and bringing her back here tomorrow, so this is our last night.”

“I'm glad for her mom,” Kendall said, “but I have to admit to being a little disappointed. I'm not ready to leave.”

“I know.” Avery shrugged. “But what can we do? They won't be here until the afternoon, but it is kind of a bummer.”

With Avery's news, we settled into a quiet stillness,
watching the flames growing smaller as they devoured the wood.

“Okay,” Avery said after a few interminable minutes where there was only the crackling of the fire and the chirping of insects. “We need to spice things up. How about a preview of the gun show?” She nudged Fletcher hard enough that he nearly toppled over.

“You're kidding, right?” he asked.

“No. Show us what you got.”

He looked at me, and I saw the challenge in his eyes. This guy was really going to take this seriously.

“I think we should wait to reveal what we've got until the appropriate time,” I said. “I don't want to broadcast any secret weapons I might have.”

With a laugh, Kendall snuggled against me. “Good strategy.”

“I think you're just chicken,” Fletcher said, and struck an exaggerated bodybuilder pose, which looked even more ridiculous because he was sitting on a beach towel covered in daisies.

“Think what you want. I'm not going to be goaded into giving anything away.”

With two fingers he pointed to his eyes, pointed to me, pointed back to his eyes. “I'll be watching you.”

I almost puffed out my chest. If a guy like Fletcher thought I was competition—

Who was I kidding? He had at least four inches and twenty pounds on me. Not to mention chicks like Volleyball Girl drooling over him. I didn't stand a chance. Sometimes I hated my realistic, pragmatic outlook on life.

When the fire burned itself out and cooled, Fletcher and I covered it with sand. We gathered everything up and began trudging back to the house.

“I call dibs on the shower first,” Kendall announced.

“First one back gets the shower,” Avery said, and she started running.

With a shriek Kendall raced after her.

“Not fair!” I called out as I shifted the cooler I was hauling.

Beside me, Fletcher laughed, then grew quiet. “So you know that I was just messing with you earlier? I don't really care who wins this thing, although Avery might care and if she does, then I do.”

“Yeah, well, I might surprise you and offer you some real competition.”

“I guess we won't be the only ones, right?”

“Probably not, but I have no idea who else might be involved.”

“Doesn't matter. We'll kick butt and take names.”

Had to admit it salvaged my pride to think that he thought I could at least do that.

Because Avery was an astonishing six feet tall and had long legs, she beat me to the house. Laughing, she dropped down onto the steps. “Go on. You can shower first.”

“Thanks.” I hesitated. “And thanks for inviting us. It's been great.”

“I remember when earlier in the summer you and Jeremy weren't getting much time alone.” She arched a brow, and I knew what she was asking.

“We're still not doing much more than kissing.” I sat beside her. “How about you and Fletcher?”

She lifted a shoulder. “A little more than kissing, but we're taking it slow. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.”

“You're right. There's not.” But still I wanted to make the most of tonight.

After I showered, while Jeremy was in the bathroom getting off all the sand, I shut out the pets for the night and set the four candles I'd brought around the room—two on the dresser, one on the nightstand, one on a short shelf that contained books and assorted shells. Lighting them, I inhaled the jasmine scent. So romantic. I turned down the covers on one bed. Then I switched off the lights.

I sat on the edge of the bed and waited. I was wearing a soft cotton tank and shorts that weren't particularly sexy, but I didn't want to be the one making all the moves. I just wanted to hint that I was ready for Jeremy to make some.

I heard Avery and Fletcher moving about in the next room. I really wished this house had thicker walls. Then they went quiet and all I could hear was the blood rushing between my ears. Footsteps in the hallway. The door opened—

The dogs rushed in ahead of Jeremy and leaped on me, causing me to fall back on the bed. “No!”

“Sorry,” he said with a laugh, trying to get the dogs off me.

“It's okay.” I managed to scramble out of the bed. I called the dogs over to the other one, and with several commands to “Stay!” I was able to get them settled where
they'd been the night before.

When I straightened, I saw Jeremy looking around. His gaze landed on me. “Wow!”

Suddenly I felt really self-conscious. “I wanted to do something special since it's our last night.”

He shut the door, walked over to me, and braced his hands on either side of my face. “I like it.”

He pressed his lips to mine. Somehow we fell onto the bed, without breaking off the kiss. I loved the way it felt when we were together like this. I slipped my hands beneath his T-shirt, felt the ripple of his muscles. Yeah, he had a few surprises awaiting Fletcher when they faced each other. My mind flashed to Fletcher doing his exaggerated poses. While I felt guilty that my thoughts traveled to unromantic places while Jeremy was kissing me, I couldn't seem to shake the image of Fletcher wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. It was pretty much all he wore. Maybe he didn't know how to coordinate clothes. Or maybe it was just that he knew he looked really good in them. Even this morning when we'd been on the beach, he hadn't been wearing swim trunks. Although Jeremy was now wearing gym shorts, earlier in the evening, he'd been wearing cargo shorts.

“What would you think of wearing jeans?” I asked against Jeremy's neck as I rained kisses over it.

“What?”

“For the gun show. Tight jeans are sexier than cargo shorts any day of the week.”

“Are we really talking about my wardrobe right now?” he asked.

I knew the timing was wrong, but it seemed a little late to backtrack since I'd broken the mood. Once we finished this discussion, my thoughts would clear and I could focus on Jeremy. Easing away, I tugged on his shirt. “It's just on my mind since Fletcher was challenging you earlier. I saw a muscle shirt at the souvenir shop that we might want to pick up tomorrow before we leave. It would hug your body the way I do. It was gray but maybe we could find it in red. I love you in red.”

“Anything else?”

I thought he sounded just a little irritated, except that Jeremy never got irritated. “Well, since you're asking, how about black sneakers instead of white?”

“What color should my socks be?”

“Might want to go with black there, too.”

“Boxers or briefs?”

“Probably boxer briefs, don't you think?”

Gently he pushed away from me and sat up. “What I think is that you have major control issues—”

“No, I don't.”

“Kendall, every time someone moves an item on the
table, you put it back where it was. You rearranged souvenirs.”

“If things have a place, they should be put back in their place.”

“You tried to discourage Avery from getting involved with Fletcher.”

“Because she's my friend and I care about her. And he didn't seem right for her at the time. I got that wrong.”

He twisted around until I could see him better. “You've encouraged me to grow out my hair, not shave, beef up, and now change my clothes.”

“I thought you wanted to beat Fletcher.” I'd just been trying to help but I could see now that maybe I'd taken it a bit too far. We just seemed so boring, and I guess I saw an opportunity for Jeremy to be different, for us to be different.

“But you make me feel like you think I don't have a chance in hell as I am,” he said.

I felt like he'd punched me. That wasn't at all what I'd wanted to do. I placed my hand on his back, felt him stiffen. “That's not what I meant. Don't take it so personal.”

“Little hard not to when you seem to be finding fault with everything.”

“Just forget everything I said. You're perfect.”

“Yeah, well, I'm not really feeling that way right now.
I'm going to sleep on the couch.” He got up and headed for the door.

“What? No. You can't do that.”

“Actually, I can.”

“Jeremy, don't leave in a huff. You're not the sort who leaves in a huff.”

He looked back over his shoulder. “Well, maybe tonight I'm
experimenting
, trying to be different.”

He walked out. The door closed with an ominous click that seemed to echo louder than if he'd slammed it. The dogs leaped onto my bed. I wrapped my arms around them and hugged them tightly, trying to figure out what had just happened.

I sat hunched on the outside steps. There was no reason to settle on the couch yet because I wasn't going to be able to go to sleep, anyway.

I had a clear view of the ocean, the moonlight reflecting off it, the whitecaps rolling in. I let the crash of the surf wash over me. I had to admit that maybe I'd overreacted a little to Kendall's latest suggestion. What did it matter what I wore?

But I guess with all the hints and suggestions she'd been making lately, I was starting to doubt whether she was really attracted to me, if she was content. I knew I wasn't the most exciting guy in the world, especially when I was standing next to Fletcher. I liked him, but the guy was a chick magnet and I wasn't at all. Then this stupid gun show had come along. . . .

I'd drop out, except then I'd feel like a total loser. And Kendall would be disappointed that I wasn't doing something that might bring in some bucks for the shelter. I hadn't thought I'd do too badly. I wasn't totally out of shape, but I hadn't been working out since graduation. I was no longer on the high school baseball team, hadn't gotten a baseball scholarship, so, yeah, I'd slacked off in the exercise department. So I could probably use some beefing up.

And the truth was, I did want to look good for Kendall.

I didn't turn around when I heard the door open and the soft patter of bare feet. I was very much aware of Kendall lowering herself beside me.

“Jeremy, I am so sorry that I've been so obsessed with how you should look at the competition.”

“No, I overreacted. My dad is always trying to shape me into his mold, and the suggestions you've been making lately—I thought maybe you were trying to shape me, too.”

“I don't want you to change.”

Except for trading in my car for a motorcycle, then changing my hair, stubble, physique, clothes. The outer stuff that wasn't really the measure of a person unless that person lived in my family. We were judged by everything. I looked over at her. “But you wouldn't mind me being a little different.”

“I don't want you to change,” she repeated.

“Too late now, you put the idea in my head. Guess we
ought to go buy that muscle shirt tomorrow.”

She laughed, but I heard tears in her voice when she said, “I love you, Jeremy.”

She was the last person in the world I wanted to make cry. I felt like such a jerk. “You're going to love me more when you get a load of the hot Jeremy.”

“I don't know if it's possible to love you more.”

“I just want you to be happy.” And I meant it. Nothing, no one mattered more to me.

“I am.”

“But you'll be happier if I collect the most money for this fund-raiser.”

“I don't know if
happier
is the right word, but I'd find some satisfaction in it,” she admitted. “Chase thinks he's top dog. I'm pretty sure that's why he suggested this idea, just to prove he's a stud muffin.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait a minute. Who's Chase?”

She shrugged. “This new guy at the shelter. He's a couple of years older and all the girls act like he's God's gift. They flirt so outrageously with him. No work is getting done. So I'm looking forward to you giving him a run for his money.” She beamed at me. “And giving Fletcher a run for his as well.”

Why had I thought she didn't have faith in me? I really needed to get my dad out of my head, had to stop viewing every suggestion Kendall made as though it came from the
same place as my dad's criticisms.

Standing, I took her hand, drew her to her feet, and led her back to our bedroom. The dogs looked up, seemed to think all was okay, and settled back in on the bed they were sharing. I pulled Kendall down onto the other and held her close.

With my thumb, I stroked her cheek. “I love you. I want to win this. I want to win it for you.”

“I love you, too, whether you win or not.”

Then she pressed her lips to mine, and I took the kiss deeper. I wished we didn't have to leave tomorrow. I wished I didn't have to get back to the real world of finding a job and getting my dad off my back. I wished I didn't have all these doubts about the way she viewed me.

I'd never been the popular guy in school. Hadn't realized until now that it bothered me that I'd never stood out. I wanted her to be proud of me.

And I would do whatever it took to make that happen.