Page 32 of And Then There's You

“More than okay.”

“Are you sure? Sorry I didn’t text you first. I just wanted to see you and wasn’t sure if you’d check your phone at work.” I’m still about a foot away from him.

“Come here.” He reaches out for me and pulls my body into him, both his arms wrapped around my neck and crossing over themselves. When he holds me like this, my head lands perfectly at the top of his chest. My arms wrap around his waist out of instinct. “You could show up anywhere and I’d be more than okay with it,” he mumbles into my hair.

I try to pull back from our hug, but he doesn’t let me. Instead, he tightens his hold, like he’s worried I’m going to leave him.

I stay close to him this time, but loosen my arms from around his back, letting my hands slide forward to his hips. “Dean?”

He relaxes his hold on me enough that I can see his face now, his dark brown eyes shifting over my face, his blond hair pushed to one side, and his face a little red from how cold it is. “Yeah?” His tone comes off…sad? Defeated?

I chicken out of what I actually want to ask him and say the first thing that comes to mind. “I’ve never kissed anyone on New Year's Eve before. I thought maybe you could help me with that.”

His smile is half-hearted. “Icanhelp you with that.” His arms loosen all the way from their hold around my neck, and he runs his hands down my arms. The way his entire body language exudes vulnerability for the first time in my presence gives me a moment of courage.

“Ummm…also…” I pause. My heart beats so loudly in my chest I can hardly hear my own thoughts. I’ve told Dean I like him before, and I’ve asked for clarification, but I’ve never beenthatclear on how I feel about him. I can’t expect it from him if I’m not willing to give it too. And I’m pretty confident we are on the same page.

He gently guides me back toward the stool. I push my feet off the floor, helping myself up to sit on the seat. He takes a step forward, positioning himself between my legs. My knees fall on either side of his thighs, as he holds me in place with his hands on my hips. He waits patiently for me to finish my thought. “I want to tell you…” I bite into my lip before continuing. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, like I need you. It kind of makes me want to throw up. Can we talk about us being officially in a relationship or what’s holding you back? Did you go through a bad breakup or something?” It all comes out of me in one breath that I breathe back in as soon as I’m finished. I can feel the tension and worry in my face as my lips pinch together in silence. I stare at him, waiting for his response.

A soft sigh comes out of him before any words. His eyes close for a moment, and when he opens them, the words come too. “No, this isn’t about anyone else. I’ve never been as serious about anyone as I am about you. But–”

“Hey, I’m here to check in.” A man’s voice comes from behind me and Dean’s attention shifts toward him.

Dean shakes his head as if to bring himself back to a world that consists of more than only us. “Hey, man. Yeah. 11:00?”

“Yeah!”

By the time Dean finishes checking the guy and his girlfriend in, there are a few other people waiting as well. I slide the stool to the back of the office so I’m out of his way while he’s working. All the possible options about whatever he was going to say are flashing through my head. I have to calm them. I pick up the book he’s been reading,Eat Smarter,and smile. I love that he reads books most people wouldn’t read even if they were assigned them in school. I open it and start reading.

The next almost hour flies by and with check in times every 15 minutes leading to midnight, Dean is constantly helping someone get set up with their room. When I checked earlier, my weather app said it would get to 35° tonight. I’m cold, even through my puffy black jacket. A 103° hot tub, looking at the stars? It sounds like a nice way to spend the evening. Although it kind of ruins it when I remember Dean telling us most people come here to hook up. I suppose after our sexcapade in the bar bathroom stall, I shouldn’t judge.

I check my phone at 11:58, as the only customers I can currently see are walking away from us, toward their room. As I look over to Dean, the guy who interrupted us earlier comes back into view. “Hey, I wanted to check to see if there was any way we could stay an extra half hour longer?”

“Oh yeah, of course. It’s not a problem.” Dean doesn’t seem bothered by the late request.

“Thanks, man. I thought my girl might want to go home after we got engaged, but turns out she wants to stay here. The stars are something else tonight, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s nice out here. Congrats, man. Take as long as you want.” I can’t see Dean’s face from where I'm sitting, but I can hear the genuineness in his voice. Right then he looks at his watch. “It’s almost midnight though, you should get back to your girl. Especially since I’m going to need a minute to kiss mine.” He doesn’t wait for the guy to respond before he turns toward me.

I don’t have time to smile in the two seconds it takes him to make the three steps that close the distance between us. As he does, both of his hands slide through my hair. His fingers are warm against my cold ears and hot air from his breath heats my face for a second before his mouth lands on mine. His intensity causes the entire stool to slide back until it hits the wall. A gasp slips from me, but he swallows it, as he deepens our kiss. It’s hot and needy, almost desperate, and I can’t get enough. As I pull him back between my knees, I feel him hard, against me. He groans into our kiss at the gained connection between us.

We are a tangle of tongues, our hands running all over each other’s fully clothed bodies for a half hour straight. We don’t stop until we finally notice the line of customers ready to check out. By then I’ve temporarily forgotten our conversation remained unfinished.

CHAPTER THIRTY

I’mdreadingthisentireweek. It’s the first week of the new quarter and nothing is going on besides going over the syllabus, but I still show up so I don’t miss anything. I grab for the metal door handle, but when I tug on it, a hand stops mine. Before I can look, I’m being pulled away. My heart races, and from the tingle shooting through my wrist and up my arm, I know it’s Dean before I confirm it. I always know.

He pushes through the exit door that leads to the stairwell, pulling me through and waiting for it to slam behind us. As soon as he hears the click, my back is against the wall, his fingers are threading into my hair and his mouth crashes into mine as if it’s an emergency only cured by my kiss. My arms finally relax, falling to his waist and pulling him into me. I’m addicted to the times he acts as if he has to be close to me.

His kissing slows, as if he got what he needs to survive and now only needs to make sure his life support doesn’t go anywhere. After what must be at least ten minutes, he pulls back enough for us to lock eyes for a moment. I’m about to question how he knew which class I had, but his eyes flick to the door as he says, “Let’s go back to my place.”

Ugh, why does he have to look the way he does when he wants something like that? He’s wearing dark khakis that fit him very well and a nice maroon and burnt orange flannel with the sleeves rolled above his sexy forearms. His hair has that messy, sexy thing going on, his smile looks like he’s up to something and he just looks like Oregon. I love everything about it. I’m so distracted by taking him in that I forget he asked me a question. “Maci, you coming?” He pulls me back to reality with his words and a single kiss.

“Umm, I have class.”

“Nooo, play hooky with me,” he whines, only a few inches from my face. This side of him is a little more playful than usual. He tugs on my wrist again.

“Fine, fine.” I wonder what’s different about today. I want to find out, so I let him lead me out of the building and toward his truck.

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