Summer Fling (Players of Marycliff University Book 1) (14 page)

She stared at him for a moment, her hands trapped at her sides. "Okay. If Megan's not available, I'll call you."

He glanced at Megan. She had lifted her magazine up in front of her face and held it there, studiously ignoring them. He turned back to Abby and kissed her. "Even if Megan's available, I want you to call me."

Abby narrowed her eyes at him and took a breath. Her nostrils flared and she opened her mouth to say something, and he kissed her again. He didn't want to argue about it, and he knew that she was going to if he didn't stop her.
 

She struggled against his grip on her wrists and he broke off the kiss. "You can't just—" He kissed her again.
 

This time she yanked her head back. "Lance! Stop it!"

He let her go and ran his hands through his hair, suppressing a growl of frustration. Why wouldn't she just cooperate? Her right hand immediately went back to her mouth. He took it in both of his and looked her in the eyes. "Abby. I just want to help you. Why won't you let me?"

She took in a deep breath, but let it out without saying anything, then grabbed his hand and led him to her bedroom.

Lance smirked when he saw the inside of Abby's room for the first time. Clothes and shoes littered the floor in front of her open closet, and a laundry basket with more clothes piled in it sat off to the side. And she'd given him shit about not using a hamper. She didn't seem to be able to manage to even use her dresser, except as a flat surface to pile things on.
 

Her room wasn't dirty, it was just cluttered. It was a small room, so there wasn't much floor space. The twin bed against one wall, a small desk, and a dresser next to the door left only a narrow strip of open floor, with a small path from the door to the bed and desk chair through the clothes.

"What's that look?" Irritation colored Abby's voice, and Lance was pretty sure it wasn't just because of the look on his face.

"I was just thinking about how you gave me crap about tossing my clothes on the floor. And look, you do the same thing." He gestured with his free hand, encompassing her closet and its current state. "Plus, I at least use my dresser and put my clean clothes away. I just don't bother to use a hamper for the dirty ones."

Her nostrils flared again before she answered. "I do use my dresser. Just not for clothes."

Lance raised an eyebrow in silent question. She huffed and dropped his hand, crossing in front of him to get to the dresser. She opened the second drawer, and he saw books stacked neatly inside. "I don't have room for a bookshelf, so I just use the dresser."

Lance didn't know quite how to respond to that revelation. He had a lot of books, and understood not always having room for all of them. But it had never occurred to him to use a dresser to store books.
 

He opened his mouth, but she waved her hand in dismissal before he even got the question out. "That's not important right now." She stopped and seemed to gather her thoughts and her anger. "Look, Lance. I pay my own way. I'm not looking for a handout or someone to take care of me. And you don't get to kiss me to shut me up when you don't like what I'm saying." She poked him in the sternum to punctuate each sentence. Actually poked him! The third time she jabbed her finger into his chest it was starting to hurt a little.

He grabbed her finger and held it a few inches away from him so she'd stop. She tried to wrench her hand out of his grip, but he wouldn't let go. "Fine. I won't kiss you to shut you up any more if you quit poking me."

She stopped struggling long enough to make an annoyed sound of agreement and he let go of her hand.
 

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm serious about the rest of it, too, Lance. I don't need you to buy me dinner all the time or pay for my car to get fixed. I'm not a charity case."

Lance sighed and placed his hands on her upper arms. She stiffened under his grip, but he didn't let go. "I know you're not a charity case. That's not why I buy you dinner. I like taking you out. I like getting you things. I want to fix your car because I know how to do it and I'm good at it. I would be really insulted if you insisted on taking it somewhere. Stop getting mad at me for wanting to be good to you." He squeezed her arms for emphasis and then pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. After a moment she finally relaxed into him and he felt her nod against his chest.
 

She pushed away from him and looked up into his face. "I just don't get why."

Lance compressed his lips. So they were back to why. "Because I want to and I can. Quit trying to analyze it so much. Just go with it. You can trust me, Abby."

He watched her blue eyes moving back and forth searching his. Her gaze was still troubled, but she finally nodded. He let out a breath and hugged her back into him for a moment before letting her go. "How about you get some clothes and stuff together and we can go back to my place."

Abby's eyes snapped back to his. "What? Why?"

He gestured to her bed. "Sweetheart, we're not both going to fit on that. Hell, I'm not sure I could fit on it by myself."

She crossed her arms again. Uh oh. "I don't remember inviting you to get in my bed anyway, so I'm not sure why it matters that you wouldn't fit."
 

If her posture hadn't given away that she was pissed, the dead evenness of her voice would have told him. Too late he remembered that she didn't like it when he assumed her into things instead of asking. He ran his hands through his hair and down his face, trying to figure out what to say to calm her down and agree to come home with him.
 

"You're right. You didn't. I'm sorry." She relaxed and stopped flaring her nostrils at him. Her arms were still crossed, but she didn't look as tense. That was good. "I liked having you over last night. I'd like it if you came over again and thought it would be easier for you if you had stuff to get ready for work tomorrow with you. Do you want to come over and stay with me tonight?"

She eyed him, her expression still closed and wary. "Why?"

Lance grabbed her by the arms again, but this time he kissed her hard. He poured all of his frustration and anger at her constant questioning of his motives and intentions into that kiss. All of his lust and sexual tension as well.

"That's why." It came out more as a growl than words.
 

Abby raised her hand to her mouth and touched her fingers to her lips. Her expression was dazed and her lips were slightly swollen. "Oh."

Megan's voice cut through the tension. "Just put him out of his misery and agree to go with him!"

A smile crept onto Abby's face. "Our apartment isn't very soundproof," she whispered.

"No kidding." Lance felt his lips curving in a smile to match Abby's.

She studied his face for what felt like an eternity before she finally nodded. "Alright." She turned and started rifling through her clothes.

Lance wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "Alright?"

She nodded, keeping her back to him. "I'll go with you. Just let me get some stuff together."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Abby grabbed her shampoo and conditioner out of the shower. She wiped the bottles off on her towel before sliding them into her backpack. Next she stuffed her everyday makeup into a small zippered case. She added her razor and deodorant and dropped that into her bag as well. Her hairbrush with a couple hair bands came next.
 

She looked around, taking a mental inventory of the things she would need for tonight and tomorrow. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. "What am I doing?" she asked herself. She knew what going home with him tonight likely meant. Was it smart to keep getting more involved with him? Letting him fix her car and sleeping at his house? The smart thing would have been to not agree to keep seeing him yesterday. She just couldn't bring herself to turn him down when he so obviously wanted her. No one had ever treated her the way he did.

She gave herself a mental shake and decided to just get on with it. She'd already agreed to go, and she'd never hear the end of it from Megan if she backed out now.

She zipped her backpack closed and slung it over her shoulder. Lance stood up from the couch when she walked into the living room. He held out a hand to her. She slapped his hand in a high five, and gave him a cheeky grin. He returned her smile and reached to take the bag off her shoulder. She laughed and spun away before he could get it, and headed for the door.

"Lance and I are leaving. See you later, Megan!"

Megan poked her head out of her bedroom. "Bye, Abs. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Ha. That covers a lot."

Megan smiled and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "I know. Have fun!"

Once outside, Lance grabbed her hand and walked her to the car. She finally let him take her bag to put in the car when he opened the door for her. Doing those little things seemed so important to him, that she had to give in at least some of the time. She also let him carry her bag inside once they got to his house.

The lights were on and the door was unlocked at Lance's house. Abby looked around, but didn't see anyone in the living room or what she could see of the kitchen on her way to Lance's room.
 

She took her bag from Lance when they got to his room. "I'm just going to hang up my clothes for tomorrow, okay?"
 

"Sure. I'm going to go grab a snack. You want anything?" She shook her head, and he gave her a quick kiss before leaving the room. Abby took her time hanging up her clothes and putting her other things in the bathroom. She was stalling, hoping Lance would just come back to his bedroom so she wouldn't have to go out and face one or both of his roommates. She hadn't met them yet and felt awkward that they were meeting for the first time when she was there to spend the night.
 

After taking as long as possible to arrange her things, she decided she might as well get it over with. It would probably be better to meet his roommates that night rather than the next morning. That seemed like it would be even more awkward. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and opened the door.

Only to find the living room still empty. She wandered back to the kitchen, where Lance sat at a small cluttered table eating a sandwich. He crammed the last of it into his mouth before looking up and seeing her. He took a swig out of the bottle of beer, then stood up to throw away the paper towel he'd used instead of a plate.
 

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" he asked once he'd managed to swallow everything.
 

Abby shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Leaning against the counter, Lance snagged her by the hand and reeled her in so he could kiss her. She tasted the pleasant sourness of his beer as his tongue invaded her mouth. His hands were roaming her back, sliding down to her ass, and she was starting to melt against his chest.
 

"Lance, man, you'll never believe—whoops! Sorry, dude."
 

Abby jerked away and tried to turn around, but Lance's hands on her ass prevented her from getting very far. With a sigh, he dropped another kiss on her mouth and released her. "Abby, this is my roommate Matt. Matt, Abby."

Matt stood in the doorway in a pair of shorts. He was tall and skinny, with messy blonde hair and a tribal tattoo circling his right bicep. He nodded at Abby. "Nice to meet you." Then, quirking an eyebrow he shifted his gaze to Lance. "Company again, Lance?"

Lance just shrugged. "Yup. I invited Abby over again."

Matt's face cleared, understanding taking over. "I see. Well, you kids have a good night. It'd be nice for Chris and me if you kept the groping to the bedroom, though." He walked to the fridge to grab a beer. Abby felt her face grow hot, and it intensified when he grinned and winked at her before leaving the kitchen.

Lance looked at her flaming face and chuckled before pulling her into him again. Her mortification was amusing to everyone but her it seemed.
 

"Ignore him," Lance reassured her. "He's just jealous. And he's been caught groping people in the kitchen plenty of times." He pitched the last part so that his voice carried into the living room.

"Shut up, man! I want her to have a good impression of me!"

"Too late, dude. She's seen you half naked already. That doesn't make a good impression on anyone!"

Abby couldn't help smiling at the way they talked to each other. Lance moved to the fridge to grab another beer and a soda, before leading her by the hand out of the kitchen.
 

Matt turned in his seat on the couch, a knowing expression on his face, and lifted his beer in a silent toast to them before turning back to his video game.

Lance set the soda down on his dresser and twisted off the cap of his beer. Abby stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, keenly aware of Lance lounging against the dresser eyeing her. She looked around the room, even though she'd seen it all more than once before. Crossing her arms around her middle, her hand drifted to her mouth, pinching and rolling her lower lip between her fingers.
 

"Are you nervous, Abby?" Lance's voice was low and husky.
 

Abby whipped her head around and made contact with Lance's hooded gaze. "Uh, no? Why would you think that?" She cringed at the uncertainty in her voice.

Lance chuckled, setting his beer down and reaching for her. He took her hand and kissed it, placed it on his chest, then kissed her mouth. He reached up and traced his finger along her lower lip. "You always play with this when you're nervous or worried. What I can't figure out is why you would be nervous."
 

Abby looked over his shoulder, not wanting to make eye contact. She shrugged. "I don't know, it's just … last night felt more natural. Tonight it's planned, and it feels more … something."

Lance bent to move into her field of vision so she would look at him. "Relax, Abby. Nothing's different. It's the same house, the same room, the same us. No pressure, no expectations. I just want to spend time with you. That's all this is. I like you, you like me, and I like having you here."