AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s beautiful. I am sure he would scoff at me if I told him that, but it is true. Camden Collins is a beautiful man and I can’t seem to take my eyes off him.
Camden’s hand squeezes my knee, and I am jerked out of my gawking. “You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to forget I’m trying to be a gentleman, Blaire.” He looks over and smirks. The one look tells me he would not do something I am not comfortable with.
“Hey, where does it say in the dating rulebook I can’t admire how good-looking my date is?” I ask him jokingly.
He laughs. “You can stare at me all you want, Gray Eyes. Even touching’s allowed. Here, go ahead, want me to take off my shirt for easier access?” He removes his hand from the steering wheel but keeps the car under control with his knee and reaches for the bottom of his shirt.
I cover my face with my hands, hiding my laugh. “Oh my gosh, could you not. You’re going to cause an accident.” Part of me is sad we are in a moving vehicle because part of me does want him to take his shirt off so I can admire that too.
His shirt falls back into place once he releases it, but not before I catch a glimpse of his tanned and toned stomach, and he places his hand back on the steering wheel. His other hand never left my thigh, but he does give me another tight squeeze.
We pull into my apartment a few minutes later. It was much quicker coming home than going to the aquarium since he didn’t take any of the backroads this time. Once the car is parked and he cuts the engine, we both take off our seat belts and make no effort to get out of the Jeep.
“I had a really nice time, Camden,” I tell him. Reaching forward, I interlock our fingers and rest our joined hands on my thigh.
His thumb rubs back and forth against the side of my hand. “Does this mean you’ll let me take you on another one?” he asks hopefully. There is a slight worry in his eyes, and I think a part of him is afraid I’ll say no.
“Did you doubt this wouldn’t be a one and done date? Come on, it was perfect,” I tell him honestly.
That bright smile appears, and it warms my heart. “I mean, it could have been bad if you were afraid of fish or something,” he jokes. “But seeing as your face lit up the entire time we were there, I’m going to go with yes, you’ll let me take you out again?”
Feeling bold, I reach both my hands forward and place them on either side of his face. His eyes widen. “Camden,” I say slowly while staring into his eyes, “I would love nothing more than for us to go out again. And maybe even another time after that.” I have a feeling there may be many more after today.
After releasing his face, I go to place my hands back in my lap, but Camden has other ideas. Reaching for my left hand, he grabs it and brings me closer, slightly leaning over the center console. His face is close to mine and he keeps looking between my lips and my eyes. I know he is going to kiss me, and the thought scares me. What if it makes me think of the last time I was kissed and I freak out? What if I like it but am bad at it?
As if he can sense my worry, Camden places his large, warm hand against my neck. “I’m not going to kiss you until you ask me. I can see the tennis match going on inside your mind of should we or shouldn’t we.” He smiles and that simple act makes me melt. “I don’t know what happened in your past for you to feel like you can’t trust me, but I will do anything to gain just an ounce of it, Blaire. I won’t push you. Everything is at your pace,” he tells me, his breath ghosting across my lips with the closeness.
“I’m trying,” I tell him as I lean into his hand resting against my neck.
He brushes his thumb across my cheek. “That’s more than I can ask for.” Ever so slowly, Camden leans forward and places a soft kiss on my cheek.
I can still feel his lips there after he walks me to my door.
14
BLAIRE
Safely in my apartment, I lean against the front door, clutching my purse to my chest and dropping my head back. Camden walked me to the door and left with a promise that he will see me again soon and to get ready for date number two. Even though I just left him after spending several hours together, I can’t wait to see him again.
“Bitch, you better get in here and tell me everything!” Emree yells from the living room.
After dropping my bag on the entryway table and kicking my shoes off, I head toward her. She is sitting on the love seat, her legs under her and a textbook on her lap. She shuts the book and tosses it on the cushion beside her.
“All right, first off, cutest outfit, B. Your legs look long and sexy in that,” she tells me. I look down and worry the dress is too short. “Don’t do that. It is still modest compared to what some girls on campus wear.”
“I know, I just worry it is too much for me. But Camden didn’t tell me where we were going today and only said to wear something casual and comfortable.” I take a seat on the sofa across from her, the very one Camden and I sat on together last week. I can’t believe it was only a week ago I met and talked to him and now we are sort of dating, I guess. At least I think we’re dating.
“Enough talk of the cute outfit,” she says with excitement in her eyes. “Where did he take you? How did you feel about it? What did you eat? Did he kiss you at all? Did you want him to kiss you?” Something crosses her mind, and her eyebrows pinch together. “If he tried kissing you and you weren’t ready, I will kick his balls in.”
“Okay, easy there, tiger.” I hold my hands up, hoping to help calm her down. “First off, no, he did not try anything with me. He was perfectly sweet.” I can’t help but smile at what he said at the end of our date about not kissing me until I ask him to. “And how about one question at a time, okay?”
For the next hour, we dive into all the details of the date. Emree swoons at the location and says the aquarium is an underrated date spot. I would have to agree with her there. She asks even more questions after I answer the ones she threw at me when I walked in, and it seems like she is satisfied with each of my responses.
Even though Emree and I haven’t been lifelong friends or anything, after she was witness to one of my few night terrors, I ended up telling her about what happened with Harvey when I was sixteen. She never looked at me with pity like I worry most people would. Instead, she hugged me fiercely and told me how brave I am.
Emree confessed to me that her mother was raped in college, resulting in her getting pregnant. Her mother never resented her and has always been open with Emree about what happened. She wanted her daughter to know that horrible things can happen in this world, and while people all over handle those situations differently, she felt she was strong enough to be the mother she knew her daughter would need. Emree and her mom are extremely close, and I feel like what happened to her mom formed a bond between the two like no other.
After I have answered all of Emree’s twenty questions, she gets up to grab us each our favorite ice creams. Hers is rocky road and mine is Ben & Jerry’s Americone Dream. As we fill ourselves with creamy goodness, Emree asks, “So when are you seeing him again?” around a mouthful of ice cream.
