“Just dinner and a movie.” I still couldn’t stop smiling.
“It sounds like you’re a smiling fool.”
“You can’t hear a smile,” I said.
“I can hear the smile in your voice. I hope you’re finally happy.”
“Thanks, Jenna.”
“Ugh, too much mush. I gotta go. Call me after your date and tell me everything, and I mean all the gooey details.”
“Okay. ‘Bye.”
I went to bed right after I got off the phone. The sooner I went to sleep, the sooner Saturday would get there.
I’m so totally pathetic.
My phone chimed first thing Saturday morning. I slammed my hand on my alarm clock, wondering why the sound wouldn’t stop. Finally, I woke up enough to realize that it wasn’t my alarm. I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and looked at the message. A goofy smile spread across my face.
Ugh, my cheeks hurt from smiling.
Brody: Good morning, gorgeous.
Me: Hey, sexy.
Wow, I’m getting bold. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll take my hints. Kiss me. Please, please, please. Just do it. Man up and pucker up.
Brody: Sexy, huh?
Me: Mm-hmm.
Why am I blushing? It’s not like he can see me or anything.
My phone rang, I jumped, and my phone flew across the bed. I bunched up my comforter, pulling it to me so I could reach it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sexy.”
Oh. Kill. Me. Now.
“Hi, Ace.” I snuggled back into my pillows.
“So you think I’m sexy, huh?”
“You asked me that already.”
“I know, but it occurred to me that I’d like to hear you tell me in your soft, sexy voice while I’m lying in bed.”
Oh, wow. How can he say things like that and not expect my body to go berserk every time he’s around me? I need that damn kiss.
“Yes, Brody, I think you’re incredibly sexy, with a body to die for, a smell that makes me dizzy, perfectly mussed hair, bedroom blue eyes, and full lips that send me into a frenzy every time they skim across my skin.”
Dead silence.
Crap. That was too much. He probably thinks I’m some kind of stalker—or worse, Sarah.
I cleared my throat. “Are you there?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” I was desperate to find a way to unsay what I’d just said. I’d made things awkward. I felt tears press behind my eyes. I wasn’t even sure why I was starting to cry. I’d just opened my mouth to tell him that I had to go when he spoke.
“I’m trying to find the right words to tell you how you make me feel, but I don’t think they’ve been discovered yet. You’re sexy, yeah. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe you. But that’s not all. You make me feel, I don’t know, whole.”
And then, I knew why I was crying. No one had ever said anything as sweet as that to me. No one. Ever.
“Brody.” My breath hitched. “I really don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“You’re just you. That’s all you ever needed to do. Just be you.”
We talked a while longer, although our conversation veered away from declarations of how wonderful and sexy we found each other to more mundane topics because, as Brody complained, “It’s way too much mush for this early on a Saturday morning.”
“How can you go from telling me how beautiful I am in one sentence to being such a guy in the next?” I asked with a laugh.
“Um, gee, ’cuz I am a guy?”
“Funny.”
“Have you picked out what movie we’re going to see?”
“Yup.”
“Gonna tell me?” he asked.
“Nope,” I answered, popping the ‘p.’
“Okay. Have you picked out what you’re gonna wear?”
“Yup, and I’m not going to tell you about that either except that I found something suitably sarcastic just for you.” I smiled, picking at my comforter.
He chuckled. “Since you won’t tell me what you’re going to wear tonight, what are you wearing now?” His voice turned husky.
My hand stilled, and my heart beat a little faster. “Are you seriously asking me? Because now that we’re dating, that’s totally a question I’ll answer, and it might not be one that you’ll like. Or you might like it. I don’t know your preferences… yet.”
He groaned. “Yet?”
“Yet. I plan to find out,” I said.
“Alright, Willow, I call your bluff. What are you wearing?” he asked, a hint of teasing in his voice.
“A pair of pink boy shorts with a white tank top that doesn’t quite cover my stomach. Nothing else.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I told you I’d never lie to you. Your turn.”
“I don’t remember what I’m wearing. I can’t get the image of you out of my head.”
I laughed. He groaned.
Chores, chores, chores. Even they didn’t seem so bad. At least they helped pass the time until Brody picked me up. I hadn’t come up with a story to tell my mom and Ralph yet. But as luck would have it, my mom told me they’d be going out. Ralph had to attend a business dinner with a reception to follow. So that took care of them for the night. They’d be gone before Brody picked me up. They would most likely still be gone when he brought me home or they’d be sufficiently sloshed that they wouldn’t pay attention. Either way worked in my favor.
I listened to my iPod as I did my chores, humming along with the music and keeping an eye on the clock. I must have looked at the stupid thing a million and one times, and it hadn’t moved at all. It was the longest day in the history of recorded time.
Finally, it was time for Ralph and my mom to leave. They gave me the standard spiel about no wild parties, remembering curfew, blah, blah, and blah. It was all I could do not to shove them out the door. There was barely an hour before Brody got there. I still had to shower and do my hair and makeup.
I’d just finished up when my phone chimed.
Brody: I’m here. Should I come to the door?
Me: Yes.
I ran around my bedroom like a crazy woman, throwing dirty clothes in the hamper and swiping the makeup bottles from the counter into the vanity drawer. Scanning my room one more time for stray underwear or bras, I heard the doorbell ring. One last look at myself in the mirror, and I decided I looked about as good as I was going to. I hurried into the hall and padded down the stairs to let Brody in.
I opened the door and let my eyes roam over him. “Hey, Ace. You look nice. What’s the occasion?”
He grinned the crooked way that sent my blood pressure through the roof. “I’m taking this incredible girl out on a date tonight. I just stopped by to cancel our plans.”
“Ha. You’re so very funny.” I pulled him inside.
“Are you sure it’s okay that I come in? You’ve told them about us?”
A twinge of guilt stabbed my heart. “They aren’t here. Come on. I’m almost ready. I just need to get my boots on and then we can leave.”
“I’ll wait here.”
I stopped on the bottom stair and turned to look at him. “Why?”
“You’re going to your room?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’ll wait here.”
“Jeez, Brody, it’s just a room. I think we can stand to be in the same bedroom together. We have before, not to mention the backseat of your car and in your bed. Come on.”
He followed me upstairs. “This part isn’t so bad. The view is spectacular.”
“You’re such a perv.” I laughed.