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SCOTT PLACED HIS HAND on the small of my back as we entered an Italian Restaurant in downtown Miami. The Maitre’d seated us by a table with a great view of the evening sky. The ride over here was quick. He’d talked about an upcoming away game that the football team had next weekend, before Fall Break, and my life began to feel normal again. Mom had called me about five times on the drive to this restaurant and I knew that she had a ton of advice. Mainly that Scott shouldn’t come up to my dorm room and that I shouldn’t kiss him on the first date.
“You look beautiful tonight,” Scott told me and closed his menu.
I gave him a smile. “You look very handsome yourself. You’re always dressed so sharp that I wanted to look nice beside you.”
“Although I appreciate the thought, you look more than nice—every time I’ve seen you. You don’t have to put any effort into it,” he said. “So, I’ve gotta say that I didn’t expect Hunter to be inside your room last night. I don’t think your parents had either.”
“That won’t happen again. And no, they didn’t like it. But they like you. What did you guys talk about on your way to my room?”
“They asked me about my major, and my future plans.” My parents had acted exactly the way I’d dreaded that they would. It wasn’t like Scott and I were serious or going to ever be. While he was great tonight, his bachelor days weren’t remotely over. I knew about the girl he’d had in his room Saturday night. “My parent’s have asked every guy my sister has dated the same question and she’s not even in college yet,” he said with a laugh. “I guess your parents are like mine are—traditional. I bet your parents would be a few tables from us, chaperoning, if they didn’t think you’d call off the date altogether.”
I lowered my voice. “Unfortunately, that sounds like something they’d do.”
After we finished our meals, Scott ordered another glass of red wine.
“You can have a glass,” he told me. “They’re not going to ask for your ID. I come here all the time and they haven’t IDed any of my dates.”
I eyed him with my brows lowered to look put off. “Great to know that I am one in a long line of girls for you,” I quipped.
Scott swigged some of his wine and gave a sharp shake of his head. A line creased his forehead and he drew in a shaky breath. “Nah, I meant that you can have anything on the menu.”
I hadn’t seen Scott nervous before, and I wished that his con
scientious nature made my stomach flip like talking to Hunter last night had. Fighting a smile at the idea that I could make a great guy like Scott question himself, I pulled my lips inward. “I don’t mind that you’ve been here with many girls.”
A look of interest lit up his handsome face. “Why’s that? That isn’t the kind of information that leads to a second time,” he tried to say with mirth.
“Because, out of all the girls you’ve been with, surely you know that not all of them have the same things to offer you. And you were patient when I was twenty minutes late, because I couldn’t decide which heels to wear with this dress.”
Scott crookedly smiled at me. “I’ll take that. But I’ll admit that I don’t want Hunter to be one of the dudes you date after me. I heard what he did to my boy and he can’t handle being in the same room as people who drink. Did you see how he was crawling out of his skin during Beth’s birthday?”
My throat tightened as I recalled how unsettled Hunter had looked at her party. At first, I’d assumed that he hadn’t wanted to be next to me, but, as various emotions flashed in his eyes for that one rare instant, it was clear that he wanted to have a beer, but he’d fought against that craving. I gave Scott a nod and drank some of my soda.
“What’s he going to do? Get with a chick who is in”—He made air quotes—“recovery like him or who doesn’t drink or even smoke some weed? No girl will stick with him.”
“My co-worker wants to get with him. Someone may think he’s worth the sacrifice. Or think that it’s not a sacrifice at all.”
Scott nodded coolly and took a long drink of his wine. “But I think, eventually, any chick would resent him.” He titled his chin up. “It’s just that, from where I was standing last night, I thought for a minute that he was feeling you.”
I let out a laugh and I felt my face grow warm at the memory of Hunter stroking his finger along my inner wall as his tongue swirled between the lips of my sex. I tried to shake it off. “I think your mind was playing tricks on you.”
“Yeah,” he said in a sleepy grin. “Or it could be the wine talking.”
After he drove us back to campus, he led me inside our residence hall. His face split into a wide grin and he took my hands. When my gaze shifted from our hands and toward his face, he pressed his lips to mine confidently. There was no awkward silence or any opportunity for me to ponder if we’d part ways without a kiss.
“Do I get to see you again?” He was pretty confident after that kiss.
I wound my hands on his shoulders and pretended to think it over. “Forlini’s was delicious. Thank you.” I leaned in to give him a quick hug, but he hung onto me for several minutes.
“I’ll take you to another place I like after Fall Break.”
Chapter 9
Hunter
DAD STORMED INTO MY room with long sheets of paper I’d rolled up and hid in my trunk at my tree house. Glaring at me with those intimidating hazel eyes that had likely convinced jurors of his arguments, he tore one sheet of paper in two. I felt like he punched me in the gut real hard. I’d worked my ass off trying to draw the lines accurately of the neighbors German shepherd, but he kept on growing and he seemed to have muscle on top of muscle whenever I saw him. The dog’s name was Jerry and he always ran toward me when Dad wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Hunter, how’d you get the pencils and drawing papers? I didn’t give you enough money to buy these things?”
