AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
The guy standing in the doorway is sexy as hell. He’s tall and muscular. His eyes are…
Well, it doesn’t matter. He’s off limits. Not even good to notice he’s hot. He smiles and says, “You must be Shelly.”
“And you must be Cooper,” I say with a smile.
“Shelly!” Courtney screams from somewhere inside the house. I hear footsteps inside and then her arms are around me. She runs so quickly that she almost knocks me back off the porch as we giggle and laugh. She backs up and looks me up and down. “You look good enough to make me regret we didn’t fool around after that Delta Phi party.”
I giggle and say, “No reason we can’t fix that now.” This is a common joke between the two of us. We both went to the frat party and had a little too much to drink. We started kissing back at the dorm room and then came to our senses.
She looks back at her boyfriend and says, “Don’t get any ideas.”
We stand there looking at each other, and then she squeals and grabs my hand, pulling me inside. “I have to show you your room!” She pulls me through what I guess is her living room toa small hallway and through a door. There is a guy in the living room dressed like Cooper, like a biker. As the door closes behind us, I wish she’d gone slowly so I could have gotten a closer look. What I saw was very, very nice to see indeed.
She says, “Okay, so I have a bed for you, a dresser, a vanity, and a desk.” She points as she announces the furniture. It’s all new. She opens the closet and she has a big fluffy bathrobe in there. “No way you’re borrowing mine,” she giggles. I think you might run out of numbers if you tried to count how many times I borrowed her robe back in the dorms.
“It’s really sweet of you to let me move in. I promise, it’s just until they promote me to an inside position. Six months at most.”
“You can stay six years,” she says with a smile, “or sixty years. You can stay six hundred years.”
We hug again, and that’s when there’s a knock at the door. She calls, “Come in,” and the man from the front room steps in holding one of my suitcases.
Yeah, the closer look is definitely worth it.
He is athletic and fit. He’s older than Cooper. I think Cooper is a few years older than Courtney, and this guy looks about five years older than Cooper. I guess that puts him about thirty, which makes him seven or eight years older than me.
He’s better looking than any guy my age I’ve ever seen.
His face is handsome as hell with high cheekbones that make him look aristocratic but there is enough stubble on his cheeks to keep that from making him look like some kind of a wimp. Of course, I see his biceps straining the fabric of his tee shirt sleeves and his muscular chest obvious even though he’s wearing a cutoff denim vest. Nobody is going to confuse this man with a wimp. “Thanks, Drake,” Courtney says, “you can just put it in the closet for now.”
Cooper shows up carrying a box. “Closet,” Courtney says. “Everything in the closet.”
The two leave and Courtney says, “I’m totally taking you out for dinner tonight. There aren’t any fancy restaurants in town, but you’ll still love Pine Tar Steaks.”
“I could go for something thick and juicy right now,” I say with a smile.
Courtney giggles. “That sounds like a thick-cut ribeye to me.”
It sounds like Drake to me,I think but don’t say.
Drake and Cooper pass us, carrying boxes. I can’t help but notice how Drake’s arms bulge, straining the sleeves of his t-shirt.
The guys make one more trip. Courtney thanks them, and we enjoy some lemonade in the kitchen and talk for a bit. When we finish our lemonade, Courtney tells Cooper. “Go change into something that isn’t covered in dust. We’re going to leave for dinner soon.”
“All right, baby,” he says, pecking her on the cheek. “Hey, is it cool if Drake comes with us to dinner?”
She rolls her eyes and says sarcastically, “No, your best friend who helped my best friend move can’t come to dinner. Of course he can, dummy!”
He walks closer and leans forward to whisper in her ear. I don’t catch what he says, but from the way Courtney reddens and giggles, I imagine Courtney will be enjoying a dessert as thick and juicy as her dinner.
My eyes stray toward Drake, and I notice him looking at me. I feel my cheeks heat up, and I’m grateful when Courtney saves me from an awkward moment by saying, “You’ll have to be Drake’s date for the evening so he’s not a loner.”
“That’s fine!” I say, too quickly and too eagerly. I notice Courtney start to lift her eyebrow and quickly add, “Come help me pick out an outfit.”
I rush to my new room, Courtney following. She giggles as she follows me, and when the door closes, she says, “He’s hot, isn’t he?”
“Cooper? Oh yeah, he’s very good looking.”
