Bet Me Something (Something Series Book 3) (22 page)

He answered on
the first ring. “Hey, you doing okay?”

“I’ve been
better. And I feel terrible saying this, but, uh, I need a raincheck for
tonight.” I was in the shittiest of moods, and the last thing I needed was for
him to know what a complete chicken I’d been with my mother. He’d already
caught enough of a glimpse of
that
girl at my graduation party.

“I understand,
but let me come over and we’ll talk.”

I hesitated, but
realized this wasn’t a state I wanted him to see me in. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Are you sure,
Kenz?”

I sighed. “Yeah.
I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ll
talk to you soon.”

After hanging up
the phone, I went into my bedroom and let the tears fall. How could my mom, the
woman who was supposed to love me more than anything, not listen to what I wanted
to do with my life? Then to insinuate I somehow owed her, and needed to come
home in order to pay up was unfair. The thing that upset me the most was that
she’d threatened my trust fund, the one set up by my father’s parents. It was
fighting dirty, and I didn’t understand why her motivation was so unwavering.

Not bothering to
take off my beautiful dress, I sank to the floor against the wall, put my head
on my knees, and cried tears of frustration.

Colby found me
in the same position forty minutes later. I must’ve dozed because I didn’t hear
him come into the apartment until he called my name as he walked through my
bedroom door.

“Sweetheart,
talk to me.” He sat beside me, his body beside mine against the wall.

“I’m not very
good company tonight.”

“So we won’t
have our date, but I want to be here for you as your friend. I brought snacks.”
He opened the bag in his hand, revealing pink snowballs.

I smiled at his
thoughtfulness, wiping my eyes on my sleeve. “I didn’t want you to see me ugly
cry, but this is kind of taking my mind off it. The pink ones are my favorite.”

“There’s nothing
ugly about you, I promise.” He unwrapped a package and handed me one, popping
the other one in his mouth. “Wow, these are—just Jesus—pure sugar, aren’t
they?”

I laughed at his
expression and then took a bite of my own with a sigh. “How did you get in?”

“Your brother
left your extra set of keys with me in case I needed to pick anything up for
you. What happened?”

“I was all ready
to go and thought maybe the knock meant it was you coming early. But when I
opened the door with a big goofy grin on my face, it was only to see my
mother’s pissed-off one on the other side.”

“I wish it had
been me. Why was she here?”

“She received the
insurance bills from the surgery and was pretty wounded I hadn’t told her about
the accident.” I revealed the rest of the conversation, waiting on his
reaction. I didn’t expect his anger.

“Would it kill
her to be supportive of you? I know there’s the saying that no one else can
talk ill about your relatives, but dammit, how hard is it to listen? Hell, if
she doesn’t wish to finance this decision, then so be it. However to make you
feel like you owe her as your parent is pure manipulative bullshit. You’ve been
nothing but grateful your entire life, Kenz.”

I leaned into
him, laying my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his bicep. My
fingers squeezed, enjoying the feel of his defined muscle. “Have I? Maybe I
should’ve been more thankful for my expensive graduation party or for her
allowing me to go to school across country. Stayed in touch with her more often
and, obviously, picked up the phone to let her know I’d been hit by a car.”
Great, now she had me questioning myself.

“You told her
thank you for the party, but how much are you supposed to gush for something
you didn’t ask for to begin with? You attended UCLA on a full scholarship, relieving
them of having to pay for your school for four years while they funded Harvard,
for Christ’s sake, for both of your brothers. As for calling her more often or
telling her about the accident, maybe if she didn’t put these types of guilt
trips on you, you’d be more inclined to do so.”

He stopped and
then sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to speak out of turn as I know she’s still
your mom.”

“It’s okay. I
appreciate you being on my side.” Hell, he’d technically known her longer than
I had as he and his family had been neighbors of my mother way before I was
born.

He tilted up my
chin so we were face to face, kissing me softly until the sound of his phone
disrupted. Reaching in his pocket, he took it out and looked at the screen. “This
is your brother calling again.”

“I’ll text him.”
I grabbed my phone and typed out a quick note to let Brian know I’d talk to him
tomorrow and not to worry. Afterwards, I leaned back, putting my head on
Colby’s shoulder again. “It sucks you always seem to see me hit by a car, either
literally or figuratively, but thanks for the snowballs. I only wish they were
a cure for weakness.”

“You’re anything
but weak. And if you ever doubt it, think about how you are on the lacrosse
field.”

“How would you
know?” He’d never seen me play.

“I came to watch
your last game, the week before your graduation. You were playing USC, I think.
You were fierce, physical, and you scored twice. It was impressive.”

I met his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Or that he’d been there at all.

He looked
slightly uneasy, as if he would rather not have confessed to it. “I was late,
and you were busy with your teammates afterwards. Then I forgot to mention it.
Anyhow, my point is: confidence allowed you to play college lacrosse for four
years and become the team captain. I’ve seen you absolutely fearless, Kenz, and
you’ll get there with this, eventually, too. Maybe, you simply need to practice
telling her how you feel and today was your trial run.”

I moved over his
thighs, straddling his lap and putting us inches apart, face to face, both of
us grinning. His hands settled comfortably on my hips. “Could it be you had a
thing for me, and that’s why you went to my game but didn’t mention it?”

“Your legs did
look incredible in those shorts, although I’m a bit on the fence when it comes
to the mouth guard being hot.”

I giggled. “I’m
glad you came over.” I leaned in and kissed down his neck, inhaling his scent.

“Me too. Whatcha
doing?”

I could feel him
shudder when I took his ear lobe between my teeth. “I’m showing you how
grateful I am for pink snowballs.”

He chuckled,
turning his head and taking my lips in a deep kiss. The moment his tongue
tangled with mine, I knew I didn’t want to stop. His hands shifted my hips into
his, grinding me against his erection.

“I realize this
isn’t what you had planned, but I need you,” I whispered.

He cupped my
face and searched my eyes. “What about date number five?”

“Later.”

He fumbled with
his back pocket, taking a condom out of his wallet while I nibbled on his
throat, moving one hand down to his zipper.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been
more so. The fact that you knew I needed both you and Hostess products means a
lot more than any date ever could. I want you. Deep. Inside. Of. Me,” I said
between kisses, undoing his jeans and exposing his heavy length. My hand
stroked up and down his shaft, feeling him grow longer and thicker with each motion.

After rolling
the condom on him, I rose up slightly, pushed my panties to the side and notched
his wide crown in line with my opening.

“Wait, you’re
not ready,” he voiced in a panic.

I eased down an
inch as he hissed out a breath. “Then rub my clit because I can’t wait another
second.” I slid another fraction, and both of us gasped together at the tight
fit.

While his
fingers worked my most sensitive spot, I eased off and then pushed back down,
taking him all the way in. We both exhaled harshly. I’d never felt so turned on
in all my life, thinking about us connected with the most intimate parts of our
bodies while still clothed. Meeting his gaze, I realized this position was more
than vulnerable, being face to face, breath to breath. There was no hiding, no
way not to be completely exposed like this.

His hands flexed
on my hips and then lifted me up some to sit me down on him again. “You’re not
sore?” he whispered.

I shook my head.
“No, you feel amazing.” My fingers traced his jawline while I searched his
eyes. Finding a rhythm, we moved in sync. “Is this too much?”

He seemed to
sense I was asking if this was too intimate, too raw. “No. Not with you, it
isn’t. Keep your eyes open. I want to watch as you fall apart for me.”

“Holy crap, it’s
like your words are magic. I’m going to—Ahhhh.” I rode him faster and faster,
chasing my orgasm.

His lips parted
in surprise as he rocked me into him, thrusting up with his own climax. He held
still, buried deep inside of me as we both fought to catch our breath. “I may
need to buy stock in Hostess.”

I laughed and
then scooted off of him carefully, lending him a hand to get to his feet once I
was on mine. “Do you think owning stock comes with a monthly supply?”

“I’m sure that
can be arranged.” He kissed me one more time before heading into the bathroom
to take care of the condom. When he came back in the bedroom, his hands were in
his pockets, and he looked unsure. “I can stay here with you, but your mom
could come back.”

“It’s okay. You
don’t have to.” Was he saying he wanted to go?

“If I start a
trail of Ho Hos out to my car, will you follow me to it and come to my place?”

“You have Ho
Hos, too?”

He smiled. “And
cupcakes and, depending on how you feel about Little Debbie Snacks, I may have
some of those too. I plan on keeping you in supply from this point forward.” He
held out his hand to me. “Come on, I have a lot of exploring to do.”

“What exploring?”

His grin turned
mischievous. “You’ll have to come back to my place to find out.”

***

When we arrived
at Colby’s house and walked into the living room, my breath hitched with the vision
of the table set for two, candles yet to be lit and roses.

“Guess you know
now why I planned to pick you up at your place. The chef put dinner in the
fridge if you’re hungry.”

Damn. My eyes
welled up with tears at all the effort he’d gone to, only to have it ruined.

“Hey, hey, no
crying. We both don’t do well with tears, remember?”

“Yeah, but I
can’t believe you went to all this trouble.”

He shushed me
with a kiss. “It was only to get you in the sack again, so now that’s happened
it’s takeout in sweatpants from now on.”

I watched him
curse before I could even react.

“Shit, that
sounded funnier in my head. I was trying to avoid tears and, of course, there
will be more dates. It wasn’t about the sex.”

I held up a
finger to his lips, grinning. “Considering you’re the one who made us wait, I
didn’t think otherwise for a second. Come on, I’m starving.” I took his hand,
leading him into the kitchen.

He took out some
containers, set me on the counter, and proceeded to feed me tidbits of dinner.
Turned out the tender pieces of steak, baby mushrooms, and potatoes were really
good, even cold. And sucking his fingers every time he put a morsel between my
lips was turning into quite the foreplay.

“There’s
chocolate cake for dessert, but I think we may need to wait until after my
exploration for that.”

I quirked a
brow. “You have me intrigued.”

He hauled me up
and over his shoulder, carrying me into the bedroom caveman style, which made
me giggle. After letting me down gently in the middle of the bed, he crawled
over me. “Now then, exploration consists of getting to know every inch of you.
Discovering what turns you on, where you’re ticklish, and tasting every inch of
your incredible body.”

I sucked in a
breath as he undressed me slowly, peeling down my panties last and gazing at me
with a burning intensity. Leaning up on my elbows, I met his eyes and smiled.
“What are you thinking?”

A grin spread
over his face. “I probably shouldn’t say this out loud, but since you’ve yet to
smack me thus far, here goes: this is the first time I’ve wanted to take my
time with a woman and savor every touch. Guess that’s why I wasn’t much of a
kisser before you.”

“What’s sex
normally like?” I winced, not meaning to ask him about his history. “You don’t
have to answer if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”

He swallowed
hard and then trailed his fingertips up my calf, massaging the muscle. “I can’t
speak for most people, but for me, I lost my virginity at fifteen and it
became—I don’t know—like eating without bothering to really take my time and
enjoy my food. Hell, most of the time, I didn’t even have to work for it, it
was always around me.” He paused, gauging my reaction. “I’m not proud of that
metaphor to describe most of my twenties.”