I stare at him, stunned. Is that true?
Is that how things work in Pacific Palisades?
Shit.
I exhale a heavy breath and do my best not to look blown away—and definitely not to look eager to say OK.
I ease into him until my face is a hair away from his. “Well, pardon me for not knowing your crazy code in the southland. Shit, what’s the code for asking a girl to marry you? I sure don’t want to fuck that one up and end up married to some asshole from Pasadena—”
Bobby closes the gap between our lips and claims my mouth. He pulls me up against him and my hand tightens around the steering wheel as his tongue darts in to tease me. His fingers run through my hair and his mouth moves away from mine too quickly.
His lips trail kisses across my cheek and up my jawline. My teeth sink into my lower lip as his breath touches my ear.
My heart is hammering against my chest as I wait for his next move. I have no idea what comes next. We were arguing. Now he’s kissing me. I’m not sure which direction I want to go with this.
His hand on my waist moves upward, across my shoulder and slowly makes its way up to my neck. He lifts my hair and then his mouth is flush against the sensitive flesh beneath my ear.
My eyes drift closed.
I’m melting into him.
“You’re really beautiful,” he whispers, moving his lips closer to my mouth. “But that’s not the turn-on. Why I’m interested in you. You’re so fucking hot because—”
He closes the space between our lips without finishing and this time the way he’s kissing me is more intimate, totally complete even though he’s never kissed me before. Oh, I kissed him, but he’s kissing me and those two experiences are worlds apart.
For a brief moment, I actually feel like I really am his girlfriend, like I’ve been his girlfriend forever, and like we’ve made out in my car before school a hundred times. That’s how well he knows my body and my mouth and how I want this to be.
We’re kissing and touching and both straining into each other. The next breath he draws in is deep and I’m wondering if he’s going to push the air into me like they do in the romantic scenes in movies…when I’ve never had a guy do that before in real life.
The kiss deepens and deepens and everything inside my panties turns into heat. His fingers lightly dance across my breasts and my body on its own pushes more firmly into him. Oh, crap, can he tell I’ve never done any of this before—had a guy kiss me this way and brush my nipple—never, not really?
You can count the number of times I’ve been kissed on the digits of a hand and, Christ, after this I probably shouldn’t count those other times as having been kissed.
It was nothing like this…but, fuck, it should have been.
Bobby slowly stops and pulls back.
My lids float open.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to class,” he says.
That’s it? That’s how he ends this?
I exhale and pull my key from the ignition. “Don’t bother. I can find my way there by myself. Nice kiss. But I’m still not your girlfriend. No matter what you say.”
“Have it your way,” he replies calmly.
He stares at me, and a minute later, climbs from the car, shutting the door behind him.
I sink down in my seat, stare at the ceiling and let out a frustrated groan.
Fuck, Kaley. Why did you do that? Why did you blow him off?
I grab my cell phone, unlock it and quickly check my voice mail. Crap, there is a message from Bobby in there. I really need to start checking my voice mail but, fuck, hardly anyone ever does anything but text anymore.
I hit the play button. Bobby’s voice floats from the speaker. It makes me smile. Concise. Cool guy this is where you have to be to be with me sort of attitude. But really sweet. Polite when he invites me to the beach, with a variety of options for how to meet up before we go there.
Cool guy.
Sweet.
Totally him.
Fuck. I shove my phone into my tote and climb from the car. I slam the door, click lock on the remote, and turn toward my trunk.
Oh crap.
Not Zoe waiting any longer.
Bobby.
I move between the cars, stopping at my bumper.
We stare at each other.
I’m not sure what to do next.
None of this is what I expected, from the moment he climbed into my car to this last thing: him not taking off after I was a total bitch to him and waiting to walk me to class.
I study his face. “Why am I hot if it’s not because of the way I look? You kissed me before you finished that sentence.”
He loops an arm around my shoulders.
We start walking toward campus.
“Because you let me climb from the car when you didn’t want to. Because you saw me here and you stopped. Because you are not the kind of girl who thinks it’s a turn-on to offer a guy a blow job in the first five minutes. Because you’ve got your own shit going on and some of it is really cool. But most of all because you are not like every other girl.”
I’m silent until we reach my classroom door.
I crinkle my nose. “‘Not like every other girl? Is that good or bad?”
He shakes his head. Kisses me lightly on the lips. And then walks away.
* * *
I bounce against the lockers and wait for Zoe to cram all her shit in there.
She tries to wedge a book into a space clearly not big enough. “Everything OK with you and Bobby?”
I shrug. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
She rolls her eyes. “OK. Don’t tell me what happened in the car this morning. But I guess you two made up. I cut out once you started making out.”
I give her the stare. “We didn’t make out. He kissed me. That’s all.”
She struggles to free her brown paper bag from the locker. Duh, she should have taken it out before shoving the books in.
I change the subject. “What’s up with you and Seth? And why didn’t you text me last night like I asked you to?”
She slams her locker closed, and then snaps the lock. “Me and Seth? What are you talking about?”
I arch a brow. “Don’t play coy. You’re not the least bit subtle when you flirt. You really should knock all that flirty shit off. You don’t need it. You’re a really pretty girl. It sends the wrong message. And believe me, you don’t want to send a guy like Seth the wrong message.”
Her mouth drops. “Are you joking?” She crinkles her nose. “I’m not interested in Seth. I don’t know how you got that idea.”
“All the loud laughing and hair twirling and hanging on him.”
She makes a little shudder like her head is going to explode. “As if. I wouldn’t even talk to him if he wasn’t Jake’s best friend.”
My eyes widen. “Jake? Who’s Jake?”
We pause at the edge of the quad and she motions with her head toward a table. “There. Sitting next to Bobby.”
Oh. I remember him. He was at the beach yesterday. Cute. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Nice body. Yellow surfboard. Kind of shy. I don’t recall him talking to anyone.
Zoe stares at him. She sighs. “I’ve been trying to get him to ask me out for weeks. He doesn’t seem to get the hints I drop. So I’m on to a new strategy. Chatting up his best friend—i.e. Seth—to see if that gets him to make a move.” Her mouth scrunches up. “So far not working.”
I smile at her. “Well, I’m glad you’re not into Seth, and he’ll come around.”
Zoe smiles in return. “It’s kind of sweet that you’re trying to look out for me. I’ve never had a girlfriend have my back before. It’s nice.”
I nod. “Well, you’ve got one now.”
“And I’ll always have your back, Kaley. If you ever need me to.”
We cross the quad to Bobby’s table crowded with guys and everything inside me rejoices when I see he’s left a spot next to him for me.