Текст книги "Just One Kiss"

Автор книги: Jami Wagner

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

Chapter Seven

Kelsey

“Oh. My. Gosh,” Sara squeals the moment she closes the door. She stands in front of me, crossing her arms. A smile appears slowly. “Tell me what happened. It has to be good. Boy, did you do a number on him, Kelsey. He looks like shit.” She straightens her arms and grabs each of my shoulders. “Please tell me some of it was an accident from, you know.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

Whoa. Freeze. Sara is excited about this?

“I…” I’m so confused. I thought she was bringing me in here to scold me for hurting her cousin. She can’t really be serious about Ethan and I fooling around. He’s been back for a day.

“Um no. It wasn’t like that.” I take a step back.

“Then tell me what happened.” She can barely contain her excitement. She moves around the desk, sits down, and rests her elbows on the desk with her chin in her hands. “Okay, I’m ready,” she says.

I take a seat in front of her and lean back. The chair squeaks. My arms flail in the air as I feel as though I’m about to go down. Sara just watches me until I regain my balance. “You need to buy a new chair,” I tell her.

“It’s fine. Now tell me!”

As I place my hands on each armrest, I debate whether or not to say anything. I should just sit here with a smile on my face in total silence. I give it a try. Not two seconds go by.

“Uggghhh.” Sara groans and throws her head back dramatically. “You’re such a pain some days. Just spill already.”

Ah, what the heck.

“Alright, so last night Ethan saw me while I was trying to get inside my parents’ house and thought I was breaking in. He didn’t know it was me. When he tried to pull me off the fence, I kicked him in face, causing his black eyes.”

Sara looks confused.

“So he just happened to be in the neighborhood. How did he know where you were?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess he lives in the house across from my parents.”

“He bought a house?” she says, shaking her head. “Why would he do that if he’s only here for a year? Maybe less.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wants to stay longer. Just because he lives there doesn’t mean he bought the house.”

Sara stands and starts pacing around her office. “It just seems weird. He never liked it here and that’s a new neighborhood. I can’t imagine they would rent houses already.”

I don’t say anything because she looks deep in thought.

“Anyway.” She breathes. “Go on.”

“Okay, so then this morning, my car wouldn’t start and I hit him in the face with the door when I got out.”

“What was he doing with his face by your door?”

“I have no idea.” I laugh. “We never got that far. And then I spilled coffee on him, which again, is why I am coffee-less.”

Sara frowns and crosses her arms. “I thought it would be more interesting than that.”

I start to apologize for being so boring when Abby, one of the other bartenders, knocks on the door and pokes her head inside.

“Hey, Sara…Kelsey.” —she looks away when she sees me– “everyone is here for the meeting.”

Sara gestures with her hand for me to get up. When I stand she locks her arm with mine and quietly says, “Try not to hurt him too badly tonight; you’re training him.”

I glare at her as we walk out of the office to see everyone sitting around the bar. There’s only one seat open and it’s right next to Ethan. Since Sara will most likely stand to talk during this meeting, I wander toward my seat, and Ethan keeps his head down as I sit next to him.

Sara starts off the meeting discussing pointless stuff: cutting the chit-chat when we’re on the clock, people slacking off on their side work, and, of course, showing up to work on time. She jumps right in to the schedule and confirming that she met everyone’s requests. People begin passing out this week’s copy. The papers come to me. I take one then deliberately pass them to Ethan. Still, it startles us both when his fingers brush mine as he grabs the stack. I jump slightly in my seat, turning to face him. Our eyes meet and neither of us moves. My mouth instantly runs dry and I have to force the lump in my throat down. Ethan’s lips move into a sly grin as he pulls the papers from my hand.

“Hello…hi, yeah, remember me?” Sara says in front of us. Holy crap. Wasn’t she just standing at the other end of the bar? I pull my gaze from Ethan’s and turn until I’m facing Sara. My cheeks are heated as I focus on her and no one else.

“Oh good, you do,” she says sarcastically then winks at me. She totally loves this. How embarrassing.

“As I was saying,” she continues, “Ethan will be taking over for me.” She gives him her best poker face. “Hopefully he can keep your interest longer than I apparently can.” She says it to everyone, but secretly I know she is directing it to me.

It might not be work related, but trust me, Sarah. Ethan has plenty of my attention, and I don’t see that fading anytime soon.

Ethan

Well, this is one hell of a way to start my new job. Making goo-goo eyes with some chick. Focus, Ethan. Kelsey is an employee at the BA. Nothing more. I’m here to succeed at moving some numbers to get my father off my back. Kelsey Brian will be nothing but a distraction. Even as I think it, I doubt myself.

I take my frustration out on the empty keg in front of me, moving it from the cooler to the storage room across the hall, with all the other empty ones. A girl can’t be more important than family. It’s not possible. But this is Kelsey. She’s always been different. As a kid I was never sure why, but now, I’m starting to figure it out.

Sara thought it was best to have her show me the ropes. The night is almost over and I need a break. Being around her is messing with my head and I don’t like it. She’s almost as unorganized as my cousin, and it drives me nuts that she doesn’t write down every order. She claims it’s not necessary, but I think it is. Oh, what do I know? I’ve never had to serve people anything before now. Instead of scribbling down an order, Kelsey just smiles and surprisingly remembers what people want. Everyone in the bar loves her and I know exactly why. She’s smart, confident, and as of now, there isn’t a dull moment when we are together. It’s refreshing, and already I want to spend more time with her. But that’s not why I’m here. Just get the number, move some money, and be gone. Don’t complicate things by falling for her.

I finish switching out the keg, then step into the storage room and grab a stack of towels as I head toward the bar. One of the other bartenders, Abby, is blocking my exit. At a quick glance she’s cute with a tiny waist and big boobs. But when I look closer, her hair is so light I’m not sure if it’s blonde or white and her skin looks like it’s about to shrivel up and fall off if she lays in one more tanning bed. She gives me a playful smile as her brown eyes glance over my body.

“So, are you the same cousin who used to visit Sara over the summers?” she asks quietly.

“Yep, that’s me.”

What does this girl want? I’m not in the mood for this. She takes a step, leaning into me. I can feel her breath on my ear when she whispers, “I’m Abby.”

She smells like rotten coconut, and her breath isn’t any better. This is one fine example of a girl who could be pretty only on the inside. Apparently she’s a space case, too. I’ve been here long enough to know her name. She should clearly know mine now too. Since she’s still leaning into me, I whisper back.

“I know, and I’m Ethan, your boss.”

She backs off, but her smile doesn’t falter. “I know.”

“Then get back to work,” I say firmly because she isn’t figuring this out fast enough.

This time, her smile falls from her face before she turns to leave. I shake my head as I watch her round the bar, and that’s when I see Kelsey watching us. She has a blank expression on her face and it doesn’t change after I walk up to her. She looks down to her notepad before she says anything.

“You don’t have to be such a dick. You’re going to be here for a while and you already have someone who doesn’t like you,” she says. “It might be a good idea to make a few friends while you’re here.”

Did she just call me a dick? I’m pretty sure that’s violating some kind of rule.

“Employers shouldn’t make friends with their employees,” I defend myself, resting against the bar, keeping a straight face and looking her in the eyes. Unless Kelsey wants to be friends, and then I’ll make an exception. I just won’t tell her that.

“Yeah, well, good employees are the ones who enjoy working for someone they like. Someone they can get along with.”

She tucks her notepad into her apron and walks away. What? No way is she getting the last word. I come up behind her as she stops and almost run into her.

“We get along. We can set an example. Show everyone what the boundaries are between employer and employee,” I suggest. My voice sounds desperate. To spend more time with her or to prove a point, I’m not sure. Pull it together, man.

I need to prove a point.

She spins around, her mouth open like she is going to say something, but she stops. She takes a deep breath then looks me in the eye.

“No.”

No.

People don’t say no to me.

“What do you mean, no?” I growl at her.

Now she’s looking at me with pity. She gives me a half smile.

“Look, Ethan, with our history it would be a bad idea. We have never been able to play nice with each other. It happens.”

History? We don’t have a history. We kissed once and then she freaked out on me. Besides, she’s the one who can’t play nice. Not me. I’m a nice guy.

“Hey, I’m not the one who kicked myself in the face, hit myself with a car door, and then dumped hot coffee all over myself,” I say politely, refreshing her memory.

She scrunches up her face and then pulls her lips into a hard line as she tries not smile. She starts to clear the dirty dishes sitting on the table near us.

“I didn’t mean to do any of those things and you know it. I thought we were past that.” Her tone is light and playful. I smile as I approach.

“Well,” I begin and help her clear the table. “You did get me pretty good. How about if you lock yourself out again, you come get me and we can avoid the cops next time.”

For the first time since we started this conversation, I cause her to smile. If she liked what I said, I will absolutely find a way to get her to come to me. We walk the dishes to the bar, setting them on top so the closing bartender can wash them.

“Ok, I will,” she says and looks around. “But I don’t plan on locking myself out again, so I don’t think we will have to worry about that.”

I give her my biggest grin. Yeah…we’ll see about that.

Chapter Eight

Kelsey

It was a waste of time showing up to class today. I haven’t been able to focus in any of them. It’s been two days since I saw Abby flirting with Ethan. I didn’t like it and hope I don’t have to witness it again. I’ve never felt that way about any guy. Ever. Not even when she walked out of my bathroom that god-awful day I caught Tyler cheating on me.

And Ethan’s not your man, Kelsey.

The way she stormed away from Ethan, I knew he shut her down. It took everything I had not to smile at him when he caught me watching. How could I be interested in him again after just a couple days? This just goes to show how unstable my brain is when it comes to choosing someone of the opposite sex.

“Are you even paying attention?” Logan whispers.

I shake my head no.

“Then let’s skip out because I’m about to fall asleep.”

We quietly grab our bags and sneak out of class without drawing attention. This isn’t good. Ethan has distracted from the one course I give a rip about. In fact, the other night, I wanted to do nothing but write and Ethan got in the way of that too. This isn’t a good sign.

“What should we do?” Logan asks. “Maybe go grab a bite or something?”

Food doesn’t sound appealing in any way, but I have nothing else going on today and going home to hang out alone doesn’t sound fun. And sadly, once again, my mind is more focused on Ethan than plotting some points I could enter to that writing contest.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

At my car, I’m a little surprised Logan’s making the kind gesture to open my door. He does this sort of thing for Sara all the time or when we’re together but never just me on my own. Logan really is a sweet guy. Ironically, just as I think it, all the kindness is gone when he hits me with the driver’s door. I stumble backward, my purse slipping off my arm, tossing every item in it across the ground.

“Oh, dude, I’m sorry.” Logan kneels down with me as I gather everything up.

“It’s alright,” I tell him, but he’s almost laughing. “It doesn’t look like you’re too upset about hitting me,” I joke back. It’s really not a big deal, but then he reaches his hand toward me and I realize why he is laughing. I grab the tampon out of his hand, stuff it deep into my purse, and close my door once I’m inside the car, praying he doesn’t see the blush I have no doubt my cheeks are displaying. This is probably why he’s never opened a door for me. Probably had some sixth sense that it would be awkward one way or another.

Hanging out with Logan for a while is fun. He asks about Sara a bunch, which doesn’t surprise me. Those two aren’t very good at hiding their feelings. I thought for sure they were going to finally put themselves out of their misery and make things official, but then she up and decided to leave for this trip and didn’t even tell Logan. He found out from Ethan. The way he’s been talking about her this afternoon only confirms everything I thought: Logan doesn’t want her to go.

I pull up to my parents’ house around five. I have a plan to accomplish a lot of homework tonight, but after a good fifteen minutes of searching through my purse, backpack, and car for their house key, I give up. I must have lost it when I dropped my purse.

I get out of the car, close the door, and lean against it. I should have made a spare key after the first night. I take a deep breath and glance across the street to Ethan’s house, where the front light is on. He did tell me I could come to him if this happened again. I push off my car and head for his house.

I knock once and the door opens. Ethan’s in a pair of blue jeans and a simple red t-shirt. His hair looks a little messy, like he’s been running his hands through it. At least, I hope it was him.

“Hey, Kelsey, what brings you over?” His voice is shaky, and sounds a tad bit forced or rehearsed, I’m not sure which.

“I, uhh…I lost my key, I think,” I say, hoping he’ll invite me inside.

“Oh, yeah, come on in,” he says, stepping to the side to let me by with a pleased grin on his lips.

His cologne stands out when I pass him, and the smell of sandalwood and oranges fills the air. It’s a good smell. One that will forever now remind me of Ethan. Then again, scent or not, I have a feeling I’m not going to forget about him because right now, my mind has forgotten everything but him. If I can’t get a locksmith here soon, I might end up doing something completely not in my plans.

My eyes flash from his to his mouth and back. Yep. Kissing is definitely not in my plans, but right now, I might need to add it.

Ethan

No one needs to know that I asked Logan to sneak her house key off her keychain while they were in class. Except he didn’t do it while they were in class—instead, he faked opening her door and then knocked her on her ass to get it. He let me know I owed him big time for getting that key.

“Do you want anything to drink?” I ask her. She shakes her head and sits on my black leather sofa. Okay, so I hadn’t thought this far ahead. I was too worried watching her out the window like a creep, hoping she would take me up on my offer from the other night that I almost pulled my hair out. I sit down next to her. She looks at me, tilting her head to the side and gives me a small smile.

“No thanks. I’m just going to Google a locksmith and hopefully I won’t be in your way too long.”

“Yeah, sure, of course,” I say, heading into the kitchen for a glass of water anyway. I can’t just stand out there staring at her and doing nothing. If I can’t convince her to hang around for a little while, this whole thing will be for nothing. I could just ask her out like a normal guy, but she seems to have her shit together a lot more than me and I’ve yet to see signs of a guy in her life being something she’s interested in.

“I have a slight problem,” Kelsey says behind me in the doorway, leaning with her back against the frame and digging through her purse. “My phone just died and I didn’t have time to write the number down. Do you have your phone or an iPad maybe? Anything really.”

She shoves her phone back into her purse. I don’t understand how anyone can let their phone die in our generation, but right now, I’m not going to question it. I just wish my phone were dead, too, and that I can’t remember where my tablet was.

“You can use mine,” I suggest, holding my phone out to her.

“Thank you.” She takes the phone out of my hand and wanders back into the living room to take a seat on the sofa. Sooner than I had hoped, she’s talking with a locksmith. I sit down in the recliner this time as I wait for her to finish.

This would have worked a whole lot better if technology weren’t everywhere.

She hangs up and sets the phone on the table in front of her.

“He says it’s going to take a couple hours. Is it alright if I wait here?”

Sure is.

“Yeah, that’s cool.” I look at my watch. It’s almost five. “We could order a pepperoni pizza and watch a movie while we wait.”

“That sounds great.” Kelsey smiles.

I walk into the kitchen to order dinner and when I come back to the living room, she’s settled on the couch, watching TV. I’d expect her to pick some girly show, but instead she chose Breaking Bad. She looks good on my couch, in my house. It feels right, and something about that terrifies me. Walking into a room with her in it is nothing like when I join my parents or brothers. Right now, I feel like I can just be me and that’s good enough. I don’t have to pretend. How did she do that to me after just a couple days?

I take the seat next to her, and from the corner of my eye I can see her body stiffen the moment I sit down. She crosses her left leg and relaxes back into the couch. Her smile is gone and in its place is an expression full of focus.

“This is a good show,” I say, filling the silence between us. I don’t know what else to say. This is new for me. I never have a problem talking to women, but with Kelsey, everything feels different.

“I think so, too,” she says.

Get it together, Ethan.

I act as though I’m adjusting myself to get comfortable and mange to slide closer to her. There’s nothing discrete about what I just did, but she doesn’t move. I reach my arms above my head to stretch. I’m about to pull a really old-school move—and let’s be honest, it rarely ever fails. As I lower my arms to my side I keep my right arm straight and rest it on the back of the couch behind Kelsey’s head. At this exact moment it feels like everything in the room falls to silence, except for the bubble of laugher that comes out of her mouth.

I quickly glance at the TV, hoping the show is at a funny scene, but it’s not. Kelsey is laughing at me. Talk about blowing a man’s ego. I lift my arm off the couch. This isn’t working out how I want. Before I can rest my arm back at my side, she quickly scoots under my shoulder and rests her head against my chest. I freeze. Kelsey Brian just made a move on me. I want to jump off this couch and fist-pump my hand in the air. I slowly lower my arm around her to pull her close.

This is exactly how I wanted things to go.

We make it through another episode before the pizza shows up and then quickly devour every slice in the box. I get up to toss the box in the trash, and this time when I sit next to her, I don’t hesitate on how far apart we should be.

“Hopefully, the locksmith gets here soon,” she says, looking at her phone. I find this funny since earlier she told me it was dead. I want to smile like some lovesick puppy. She wants to be here just as much as I want her here.

“That’s okay. You can stay here as long as you need to.”

“Is that the same Xbox you had when you were sixteen?” she asks and I follow her gaze to the gray-and-white game box sitting under the TV.

“Yeah, I actually —”

“Can we play something?” She beams, sitting forward on the couch. She wants to play a video game?

“Sure.” I get up and turn the box on, giving her a few options. It’s been years since I played a game on this thing. I only kept it so I could watch movies with it.

“Let’s play this one.” She waves a simple car racing game in my face.

I put the disk in the player and hand her a controller. We sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV. Occasionally she squeals when she wrecks or turns her car in the opposite direction, but otherwise we’re both pretty quiet. We’re on the last lap when I make my signature move from all those years ago and cut her off, causing her car to spin out of control. She squeals again and shoves me over.

“You did that on purpose. I was going to win and you knew it.” She laughs.

In a moment like this, I have to take advantage of the open opportunity. I give her a slight push back and she grabs my shirt, pulling me toward her as she falls onto her back.

Our faces are inches apart. Our eyes lock and that’s when it clicks. She planned this whole Xbox idea. I start to smile, but when she licks her lips, her tongue brushes against my bottom lip. Shit.

“This was a bad idea,” she whispers right as our lips are about to touch. “We shouldn’t get involved with each other.” I lean my forehead against hers and let out a struggled breath.

“Why not?” I ask even though I know the answer. I would never force Kelsey into something she didn’t want to be a part of, and I know the reasons I shouldn’t do this, but I don’t understand hers. She’s never given me any sign she wasn’t in to this. Into me.

“We just can’t.” She places her hand on my chest to push me back. She stands quickly, reaches for her purse then turns for the door. With each step she takes I feel cold. Everything felt right with her in my arms and now she’s gone. This is wrong. I kneel, reaching for her before she makes it to the door, but her phone rings and the moment is over.