“Do you want something?” I ask him right before I order.
“Naw, I’m good,” he says, holding up a bottle of water.
“Your T-shirt is awfully tight,” I tease, taking in his Lorenzini blue and white striped sleep pants, extremely fitted white T-shirt—that I know the girls will be going crazy over—and a pair of driving shoes that are so cool, Tommy would die for them.
“Those might be the coolest driving shoes I’ve ever seen,” I say, commenting on the color-washed, tie-dyed shoes he’s wearing. “My step dad would love them. What brand are they?”
“Alberto Moretti Arfango,” he replies. “I found them online at Barneys. Had to have them.”
“You are seriously a man after my own heart.”
Aiden gives me that stupid grin. Like I just admitted my undying love or something.
I roll my eyes at him and head to our meeting.
After the meeting, I’m leaving the building when Aiden runs up from behind me. “Where are you going?”
“I have to go get my stitches out.”
“Are you going by yourself?”
“Uh, yeah. Everyone says that it doesn’t hurt.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. I’m fine.” I study his face. “Is it gonna hurt?”
“Sometimes they come out easily. Other times they sort of grow into your skin and it hurts a bit.”
I wince thinking about the possible pain. “I’m kind of a baby when it comes to stuff like this.”
“Really? You always seem so tough.”
“Emotionally, maybe I’m kinda tough, but with physical pain, I’m a wimp. I don’t know how I’m ever going to have kids.”
He gives me an intense look.
“What?”
“I was just thinking you’d be a great mom. Lots of fun.”
I smile. “I adore my little sisters. I think I’ll love being a mom. Pregnancy and birth, that’s another story.”
“Pleasure and pain.”
“Kinda like love in general. It can be really great or just a great big pain.”
Aiden nods his head agreeing with me.
“I was fine before, but now you have me all nervous.”
“I make you nervous?” he asks, moving closer to me in a way that makes me feel a completely different kind of nervous.
Because, hello, I have a boyfriend.
Who I love.
Get that tight-fitting T-shirt away from me.
“What’s with you lately? It’s like your goal in life is to pin me against the wall. I’m not going to fall for your little tricks, friend.”
“What little tricks?” he asks innocently.
“Hammering. Nailing. Screwing. Give me a break. Your tight white T-shirt may leave most of the girls at school panting, but it doesn’t work on me.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I think there’s a lot more to a person that their looks. And I really don’t like you all that much.”
“Bullshit. You’re afraid to like me.”
“Afraid to like you?” I roll my eyes at him. “Is this a new experience for you? A girl that doesn’t fall into bed with you.”
“I’m not like that.”
“Please. I’ve heard enough from Maggie to know that’s exactly what you’re like. I’m just not interested in a guy that’s a player. I’ve been burnt by that kind of guy. I’ve been lied to by that kind of guy. That’s part of what I love about Dawson. He’s not a player.”
“Except for his summer in whoredom.”
“You’ve heard about that?”
“Hard not to when he bragged about it all during football camp. All the girls. All the parties. All the meaningless sex.”
“He was just on the rebound after Whitney. She broke his heart. He had fun. Big deal. Everyone has rebound sex.” I remember Aiden telling me that Dawson was just a rebound, so I quickly add. “I mean, it’s something guys do. Girls just cry.”
He shakes his head at me. “And what about the party? When he was pawing your shirt? He’s still rebounding. So are you for that matter.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Keatie,” I hear Dawson call from behind us. “Wait up.”
Aiden and I turn around as Dawson catches up to me. “I’m coming with you to get your stitches out. My hand has recovered. We should be good.”
I laugh at him. “I’ll try not to kill your hand this time. Jake told me this is the easy part. Although Aiden says it might hurt a little.”
“Aiden’s right. Sometimes it hurts a little. And with today being a special day and all, I couldn’t let you go alone.” He throws his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in for a hug. He turns to Aiden. “You going to see the nurse too?”
The tops of Aiden’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “Yeah, I’ve, uh, got a sore throat. Wanted to get it checked out. Don’t want to be sick for the big game.”
Dawson slaps him across the back. “Good plan. We don’t want to disappoint all the alumni. Dean would be pissed off for a week. And you know what happens when he gets pissed off.”
Aiden nods in agreement, but I say, “What happens?”
“He just gets all pissy, which causes the teachers to get pissy, which causes our dorm advisors to pay more attention than we’d like. But we’re lucky we have Aiden. Everyone thinks he’s a good boy. That’s why we always party in his room.”
Aiden grins back at Dawson, but there’s something there. Something fleeting in his eyes.
After a surprisingly pain-free removal of the stitches, Dawson says, “You did good. Let’s go celebrate.”
“We’re going to celebrate getting my stitches out?”
He holds up the passes the nurse gave us. “Did you notice how I distracted her with questions when she was filling these out?”
“You were asking a bunch of dumb questions.”
“Yeah, she’s not a good multi-tasker. See this line where she’s supposed to write what time we left? She didn’t fill it out. That means we can go have some fun. And we need to have fun this week. When you start play practice next week, you won’t have any time for me.
“I like fun,” I say. “And I’ll make time.”
“You know what today is, right?”
“Tuesday?”
“Yeah, what else?”
“Pajama day?”
“Try again.”
“Uh, Taco Tuesday?”
“It’s our anniversary.”
“We have an anniversary? We haven’t even been going out for a full week yet.”
He grins. He’s got his school blazer off and the sleeves of his oxford rolled up. He looks so damn sexy.
“Yep.” He pulls my waist into his. “It’s been a month since our first time.”
“Our first time. As in when we had sex in the Hamptons?”
“That’s a night worth remembering, don’t you think?”
“Is it bad that we’re celebrating our sexual anniversary?”
“I don’t think so. It’s when we got together.”
“True.”
“So I have plans for you after Taco Tuesday, but since we have some extra time now, we might as well take advantage of it.”
“How are we going to celebrate this anniversary?”
“Exactly the way it started.”
He pulls me inside his dorm and pushes me against the door, kissing me. He drops his jacket and backpack on the common room sofa then pushes me against the wall in the hallway. He’s kissing me with that same intensity he did that first night. That night I knew there was no way I could resist him.
We work our way down the long hall. His hands are feeling their way across what’s underneath my sweater.
After seriously making out down the hall, we finally make it to his room.
He pulls my sweater off and takes in my little pink knit camisole set.
“Very cute,” he says.
“Take it off me. There might be something underneath that shouldn’t be categorized as cute.”
He gets a naughty grin on his face and slowly pulls up my cami, revealing a sexy black lace Agent Provocateur push-up bra.
He licks his lips, kisses my cleavage, then slowly pulls down my shorts to reveal the teeny matching briefs.
He stands back and looks at me. Then he literally leaps on top of me, pinning me to the bed.
“You always ruin my plans,” he says, as he strips his own clothes off.