Summer Fling (Players of Marycliff University Book 1) (11 page)

Abby inhaled sharply through her nose. "Lance, I—"

"Abby, stop arguing with me and just let me buy you dinner. You don't have much choice at this point anyway." He was still smiling at her.

Abby slumped back against her chair in defeat. Lance was calling this a date. That would make this their third date at least. She tried to suppress the fluttery feeling in her stomach that she got when he said he liked spending time with her. It was the same feeling she got every time he touched her.

"Why do you keep asking me out anyway? You're Lance Kane, right?"

His smile faded, and his expression turned a little wary. "Yeah. I'm Lance Kane. Why do you think I keep asking you out? I told you I like spending time with you. Why else would I ask you out?"

Abby leaned forward now, pressing her point. "But Lance Kane doesn't go out with a girl more than twice." She motioned with her finger back and forth between them. "What's the deal here, then? If you're calling this a date, that makes three."

Lance leaned back now, the smile completely gone from his face. "By my count it's four."
 

Abby's eyes widened. "You count bullying me into having pie with you as a date?"

Lance shrugged. "I invited you, you said yes, and I paid. Sounds pretty date-like to me."

"But, you didn't … we didn't …"

Lance leaned forward again and lowered his voice, his eyes fastened on hers. "We didn't … what? Kiss? We could have but you ran away before I got the chance."

Their waiter, with his knack for showing up at tense moments, came back with Lance's card. Neither of them had even noticed him take it away.

They walked out of the restaurant in silence. Lance rested his hand on the small of Abby's back, and then ran his hand down her arm to hold her hand as they walked from the restaurant to the elevator for the parking garage. The tension between them escalated the longer they didn't speak.
 

Once inside the elevator, Lance pulled Abby against him and kissed her. He cradled her head in one hand, and pulled her body tight against his with the other. Abby responded to the demand in his kiss, opening for him so he could slide his tongue along hers. They only broke apart when the elevator stopped.
 

They still didn't speak as they walked hand in hand to the car.
 

Once they had left the parking garage and were driving in the warm summer night, Lance let his hand drift to Abby's thigh. She rested her hand on his, and he caressed her leg through the fabric of her shorts.

He finally broke the silence. "Why do you care so much about my dating history?"
 

Abby shrugged. "I don't know. It just makes me curious. Why me? Why now? Why do you keep wanting to see me?"

Lance looked at her out of the corner of his eye and considered her questions. "Why you? I like you. You're fun to talk to, you don't put up with any bullshit from me, and you give as good as you get." In a lower rumble he added, "And I really like kissing you and touching you."
 

Abby was glad the darkness hid the hot flush spreading across her cheeks at his words.

"Why now? I met you now. I hadn't met you before, so I couldn't have dated you any sooner."

Abby snorted. "That's not what I meant, Lance."

A street light illuminated his face in time for Abby to see his grin. "I know what you meant, but that's the answer. I haven't met another girl who I wanted to keep dating. I met you now, and I want to keep seeing you. That's why now." Abby didn't say anything or give any reaction to his revelation. "Is that okay?" Lance's voice held a note of uncertainty.

"Is what okay?"

"That I want to keep seeing you. Can I keep seeing you?"

Abby considered the question for a moment. Could she handle seeing him for the summer knowing he would be leaving at the end? Maybe since she knew up-front that he was leaving it would feel less like being abandoned. He wasn't like her dad or her brother. He wasn't bailing because he was tired of his life. He had a family that had expectations for him and a business to help run.

She finally nodded. "Yeah." Her voice was quiet, almost inaudible.

Right after she said that, Lance pulled off the freeway at the rest area just outside of town. Abby turned to him, a confused expression on her face as he parked the car. Before she could ask what he was doing, Lance's mouth was on hers, cutting off any questions.
 

She felt his hand fumbling near her hip, and then he broke the kiss, catching her seatbelt as it went whizzing past her face, letting it slap against the interior panel of the car. Then his mouth was on hers again, his hands on her hips rotating her body and pulling her closer to him.
 

Abby's hands had instinctively gone to Lance's chest when he pulled her closer to him. After the initial surprise passed, Abby clutched his shirt in her hands, pulling him closer as well. He ran his tongue along her lower lip, then slid inside her mouth, tasting her. She let her tongue dance with his, matching his intensity with her own. His right hand moved from her hip around to her back, sliding up and under her shirt, his hand warm against her bare skin. He caressed her with his thumb before sliding his hand up, reaching the lower edge of her bra, then stopping and sliding back down to rest at the small of her back. It was the same place he rested his hand when he'd usher her through a door or the restaurant. Only now the touch was firm against her bare skin, not the light, teasing touches he'd used before.
 

Lance withdrew his tongue, turning their kiss into something softer and sweeter. He kissed her lips once, and then again, before resting his forehead against hers. He was breathing hard, his heart pounding under her hands. Her heart was beating a frantic rhythm of its own.
 

"Do you want me to take you home?"

Abby pulled back slightly to try to see him better. She searched his eyes to figure out what he was really asking, but the shadows across his face were too dark to reveal his thoughts. She shook her head. "No. I don't want to go home yet."

Lance's eyes roamed her face now, but she wasn't sure if he could see any more than she could. He nodded. "Okay." He kissed her once more, another soft and sweet kiss, then slid back into his own seat and buckled his seat belt.
 

Abby turned and reached for her seat belt as well. Lance waited for her to get buckled in before he backed out of their parking spot and got back on the freeway.
 

They rode most of the way in silence, the air thick with the tension that had been thrumming between them since they left the restaurant. Abby kept trying to think of something to say, some way to start a conversation, but everything just sounded stupid so she kept her mouth shut. For his part, Lance seemed content to drive with his hand once again resting on her leg. This time he'd bunched her shorts up and out of the way above her knee so that he had enough room for his large hand to rest on her bare skin. Every so often he'd look at her and smile, but didn't say anything.

"So where are we going?" They were getting close to the exit near her apartment, and Abby's curiosity had finally gotten the better of her.
 

Lance looked over his shoulder briefly before moving into the right lane. He looked at her before looking back to the road again. "It's almost ten now. Since you don't want to go to your place I thought we could go to mine."

"Don't you have roommates?"

Lance turned on his blinker to signal that he was taking the upcoming exit. "Yeah. Chris and Matt."

They stopped at the light at the end of the off ramp. "So, are we going to be hanging out with them, too?"

Lance looked at her, surprise on his face. "Uh, if you want to I guess. I thought we'd just hang out in my room, though."

"Just hang out in your room." Abby's voice was flat. "And do what exactly?"

Lance grinned at her and squeezed her leg in reassurance. "Relax, Abby. You said you didn't want to go home and I just want to spend time with you. No expectations, no strings."

Abby nodded, reassured by his words. The light turned green and Lance removed his hand so that he could manage the gear shift.

CHAPTER TEN

His house was dark when they got there. Apparently the other two guys weren't home yet. Lance unlocked the front door and flicked on the living room light as he walked in. Abby followed him to his bedroom. She stood in the doorway while he put his keys and wallet on top of his dresser and toed off his shoes. He unbuttoned his shirt, pulling the tails out of his slacks as he got to the last few buttons. He took it off, leaving him in his white undershirt and slacks. He wadded up the button down shirt and tossed it in the direction of his closet.
 

Abby quirked a brow at him. "Hampers are overrated, huh?"

He turned and grinned at her. "Something like that." He shrugged. "You've already seen my room, why bother to hide that I throw my dirty clothes on the floor?" He reached down and pulled off his socks, tossing them after his shirt. "Are you thirsty or anything? I know we have beer and water, and there might be a soda if someone else hasn't already taken it."

"Sure. Water would be nice."

Lance gestured her further into the room. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."

Abby walked over to the bed, which was the only comfortable place in the room. She sat down and took off her sandals, setting them side by side against the wall by the nightstand along with her bag. There was a stack of books on the nightstand. The first one was a book on marketing that Abby had never heard of. Underneath was another one Abby wasn't familiar with—some kind of action adventure novel from the blurb on the back. On the bottom was
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut. "Someone has eclectic taste."
 

"Yes, someone does."
 

Abby jumped, almost falling off the bed. "Holy crap! You scared me. I didn't hear you come in."

Lance nudged his books out of the way and set a glass of water on the little table. "You were talking to yourself and you criticize my taste in books?"

"No! I wasn't— I mean, I was just noticing—"

Lance cut off Abby's stammering protests with a kiss. "I was teasing, Abby. I do have eclectic tastes. It's okay." He smiled at her. "I've been wearing these clothes all day. Do you mind if I change into something more comfortable? You can borrow something too if you want."

Abby nodded. "Yeah, sure. That sounds good."

Lance rummaged in his closet and came out with a faded gray t-shirt and a pair of navy blue boxers that he held out to her. "They're clean, I promise."
 

Abby took the clothes from him. "I believe you. Where should I change?"

Lance hitched a thumb over his shoulder. "I'll change in the bathroom. You can just change in here. I'll knock before I come back out."

After he closed the door to the bathroom, Abby quickly stripped out of her clothes and put on the ones Lance had given her. She'd really only meant that she was fine with him changing, but when he'd handed her these clothes she couldn't make herself refuse. Now that she was enveloped in the soft cotton of his shirt and boxers, she was glad she'd taken them. She'd have been in her pjs a long time ago if she hadn't been helping her mom.
 

Abby had just put her clothes with her shoes and bag when Lance knocked on the bathroom door. "You can come out."

Lance came out still wearing the same undershirt, but with a pair of athletic shorts on instead of slacks. He tossed the pants on the floor with the rest of his dirty clothes. He looked at Abby sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed, and stood stock still for a moment.
 

Abby looked down at herself. "Is something wrong?"

Lance gave himself a little shake and his voice was husky when he spoke. "No."
 

He walked over to the bed and placed his hands on either side of her. He kissed her, and using his body pressed her back into the bed. He held himself over her with his weight on his arms, his lower body settled between her legs, and continued kissing her. Then he rolled off to the side, lying next to her, pulling her against him so that her head was pillowed on his left shoulder.
 

Abby snuggled into him, smoothing the fabric over his chest. "What was with that look you gave me when you came out?"

Lance kissed the top of her head. "What do you mean?"

She tilted her head up so she could look at his face. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. You stared at me for a minute. I thought I had something on my face. What was that about?"

Since her face was tilted up to look at him, Lance gave her another kiss, this time on the mouth. "I like the way you look in my clothes."

Abby snorted. "Yup. Nothing sexier than a girl in an oversized t-shirt."

Lance grinned. "Yup. Nothing sexier than a hot girl in my t-shirt. Especially when that hot girl is you."

Abby looked down again, her face heating up with embarrassment. No one ever talked to her like that and she didn't know how to respond. She hadn't had a boyfriend since high school and had only gone on a couple casual dates since starting college. Megan was always trying to get her to go out with someone, but Abby didn't like being set up. She'd let Megan do it a couple times, but Abby had never gone out with any of those guys again, even when they'd asked.

Lance tilted her face back up to him with his hand under her chin. His eyes searched her face and she felt the heat bloom again. "What's with the blushing? Am I embarrassing you?" Abby nodded. "Because I called you sexy?" Lance's grin took on a wicked edge when she nodded again. "Do I need to show you how sexy I think you are?"

Abby's eyes widened. "How would you do that?" Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper.
 

"Oh, sweetheart, you're killing me with the sexy bedroom voice." Before she could respond, Lance was kissing her again. He took her mouth in a firm, demanding kiss. He had his left arm wrapped around her, and his hand traveled from mid back down, down, until he cupped her ass, pulling her body more firmly against the length of his. His right hand left her face and glided down to her waist. She felt him bunching up the fabric of her shirt until his hand slid underneath and rested on the bare skin over her rib cage.