Some Kind of Normal

I wasn’t exactly sure that this was, but so far, other than having an extremely high opinion of himself and his father’s money, he seemed harmless.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you at one of these bashes before.” His hand was still on mine.

“Jason wasn’t exactly a party animal.”

Ha. That was an exaggeration. Jason had been into Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, and books. Three things that had been totally fine with me. We’d sort of gotten into some heavy-duty touching and exploring one night after a movie, but I’d been kind of freaked out by my lack of wanting him to touch me, and I don’t think I’d hidden it very well.

I guess it says something about our relationship that we continued to date for nearly a year after that, and though he tried for more than a kiss a few times, we’d never progressed to anything beyond that.

“Your ex?”

I nodded.

Caleb’s grin widened, and he reached for the Solo cup in my hand. “You’re not liking this?”

I wrinkled my nose. “It’s awful.”

He tossed the cup, both of his hands suddenly on my arms. “So, you’re like a party virgin.”

“Um, I guess.” He said virgin in a way that made me uncomfortable.

His breathing was different, and he leaned closer. “That’s freaking hot.” I could smell cigarettes and the sweet scent of whiskey.

“Caleb, maybe we should get back to the party.”

“Sure, babe.”

Babe? Babe?

“Are you for real?” I asked, trying to yank my arms from his grasp. “Guys still say babe?”

“Calm down,” he said with a smile, and suddenly I knew exactly how he got girls to give him what he wanted. The guy had a great smile. I’d give him that, but his smile wasn’t the one I wanted for myself. “Sorry.” He murmured. “Got it. Mental note. Everly Jenkins does not like the word babe.” He paused. “But maybe she likes a kiss?”

“Not gonna happen.” Was there something wrong with me? Had I been sending out mixed signals and didn’t know it?

“Everly likes to play hard to get. I’m cool with that. I’ll take you out in my father’s boat on Monday. You’ll see. I know how to show a girl a good time.”

Oh. My. God. This guy didn’t get it.

“She can’t,” Trevor said, startling both of us, and I took the chance to yank my arms from Caleb.

Trevor stood about a foot away, alone and looking more adorable than he had a right to. He wore boots, jeans that fit him way too nicely, and a plain black V-neck T-shirt that showed off his chest, biceps, and abs. How that was possible, I don’t know, but there you have it.

His hair waved to the tops of his shoulders, his eyes glittered, and there was a dusting of stubble on his chin. Like I said, adorable. And sexy.

And I didn’t care because he was here with Drive-In Girl.

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“Dude, who the hell asked you? Uh, the party is that way.” Caleb had a smile on his face but his voice wasn’t exactly sunshine. He squared his shoulders and faced Trevor, who kind of did the same thing. Total macho posturing, but it made me realize that they were sort of squaring off because of me.

For some reason I was kind of okay with that.

“Everly and I have a date on Monday,” Trevor said softly.

Caleb’s eyebrows shot up. “A date?”

That particular bit of info was news to me too.