Page 61 of Wicked Me
I smiled into my cup while pouring scalding coffee down my throat, and I didn’t even care.
She scooted off her stool and drained the last of her coffee. “There’s a fundraiser at the literacy center where I used to volunteer today, and I...I wondered if you would like to go with me to read with some kids.”
I gulped, trying not to flinch while the coffee blistered everything on its way to my stomach. “Kids?”
“Yeah.” She held a hand three feet or so over the floor. “You know, those people who are smaller than us?”
The teasing tone of her voice and the way she’d cocked her head made me want to run my tongue over every square inch of her. I shifted my weight to ease the stirring in my jeans.
“Read with them... Why?”
She gave an exasperated laugh. “To show them how fun reading can be. To get them talking and thinking about books.” She waved a hand at me. “To show them even cool people like to read.”
“So, I’m cool people now, huh?”
“Please.” She set her empty mug next to the sink. “You wrote the book on cool. The longish hair, the facial scruff, the leather jacket, the whole bad boy vibe. You were promoted to the cool people club a long time ago.”
“I see,” I said. “And are you or are you not a member of the club, too?”
“Of course,” she said and threw me a smile over her shoulder that tightened my jeans even more. “I started the club.”
“Right.” My gaze travelled down to those seductively swaying hips while she glided out of the kitchen. So,soright. “Okay. I’ll go.” How could I not?
But while I tossed back my coffee which hadn’t cooled much, my mind buzzed around how I would be able to keep my hands off of her if we spent more time together. But the question that fell out of my mouth when she came back was, “Bacon?”
Her laughter brightened her face to a not hungover normal. It brightened the whole fucking house.
“I like that you have priorities,” she said. “Yes, bacon. But I’ll take care of it while you go put a shirt on and get ready.”
I crossed my arms and screwed up my mouth into my best skeptical face. “Uhhhm...”
“Go. You can trust me with your bacon baby.”
“Train you, I did,” I said in a Yoda voice and left the kitchen with more of her laughter trailing behind me.
Best sound ever. If humanity ever needed saving, we should play her laugh on repeat. That, and old Metallica.
Dressed and properly baconated, we sat in my car at a red light while Paige weaved her fingers through her hair. It still hadn’t dried, and her spicy candy smell filled the tight confines of the car with every absentminded stroke she gave it. I was swimming in Paige and loving every second of it. All the muscles in my body were wound up so tight, ready and so willing to pull her into my lap and ravage her, but I kept my hands locked at ten and two.
Eyes on the road, soldier!my dad always used to tell me. Pretty much the only solid advice he’d ever given me.
Paige looked out her window, lost in thought, while Saturday morning traffic crept along. Silence didn’t usually bother me—in fact I often preferred it after only one cup of coffee—but with Paige, I felt like I needed to crawl deeper inside that beautiful brain of hers.
“When did you volunteer at the literacy center?” I asked.
“I used to every Saturday when I lived here. I knew it would look good on college applications, and once I started, I couldn’t stop.” She shrugged. “Until we moved to Wichita. It has a couple places like it, but I never got around to volunteering again. I miss it.”
“You were really thinking about college applications when you were fourteen.” It was a statement, not a question, because I could believe it of Paige.
“I started when I was twelve, not fourteen, and yes, I was thinking about college. Weren’t you?”
“Not at twelve,” I said.
Even when I wasincollege, I wasn’t thinking about college. I enrolled at Georgetown U my first semester because Dad wanted me to, said it would make an honest man of me. Maybe he should’ve gone instead. I went to all my classes. Okay, I went to some. Actually I just drove by the buildings when the classes were taking place, thinking all that honesty would filter into my skin through the open window. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t.
Paige nodded. “I’m pretty sure my parents started planning my future while I was in the womb, and they started talking to me about how important a career was when I was old enough to form sentences. They expected success of me with everything I did.” Her mouth formed a thin, tight line before she said, “Still do.”
Of course they did. Anyone could see the intelligence in those dark eyes. “Did you ever think about not going to college? Even for just a second?”
