“Us. When you said we had a date on Monday, what did you mean by that?”
“I wanted Caleb Martin to back off.”
“Why?”
“He’s bad news, Everly. Caleb is a player, and he’s only looking to get laid. He’s not the guy for you.”
My cheeks burned at his descriptive use of the English language. “And I suppose you know who is?” Wow, that wasn’t leading or anything.
“Yes,” Trevor said. “Yes, I do.”
He moved closer, until there was only a whisper between us. I could smell his cologne, a light scent of woods and something else I couldn’t put my finger on. But it was nice. It was more than nice. It was amazing.
Whatever this was between us, whether it was flirting or foreplay or something else entirely, it was exciting, electric, and scary.
I had to tilt my head because he was a lot taller than me, and this angle? Sheer perfection. The stars cast down their light, and the shadows on his face made him appear mysterious and more beautiful than he already was.
“So.” I wet my lips because they were suddenly dry. “Who exactly is the guy for me?”
His hands crept up either side of my face, and I wanted to melt into them. Into him. Then Trevor bent low, his warm breath sending shivers across my skin. His mouth was at my ear, and I shuddered when I felt his lips move there. “Everly, he’s standing right in front of you.”
A pause.
“He’s just not sure…”
I could barely breathe, and if you could ache all the way to your bones just from a touch, then I was there.
“He’s just not sure that you want him.”
Chapter Thirteen
Trevor
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kiss a girl as badly as I wanted to kiss Everly Jenkins. Never. Not even Bailey, and she was the girl I’d dated for nearly two years.
With Bailey it had been about getting to the next level for the sake of getting there as fast as we could. There had been no finesse, not in the beginning anyway, so I guess it was easy to confuse love and sex. And kissing was just a prelude to what was coming next.
But this was different. Everly was different.
And this wasn’t the closet at a birthday party in the sixth grade. This wasn’t about boasting to my friends that I’d kissed the pastor’s daughter. (Can’t believe I’d actually done that, but then boys and hormones don’t automatically make for smart decisions.)
I wanted to take my time. I wanted this first real kiss between us to matter to her, because it sure as hell mattered to me. Maybe it was the alpha male in me, or maybe I was just an arrogant dick, but I wanted this kiss to be the one she remembered as the best kiss she’d ever had.
I was setting the bar high, but I was cool with that. I had my fair share of practice, but with Everly, everything felt so damn natural. And anticipation rumbled through me, because man, I knew this was going to be good.
She was trembling, her body pressed so close that most of our parts were touching, and I had nothing to do with that. That was all her, and, holy hell, did it feel good.
I cupped her head and stared down at her, eyes resting on a mouth made for kissing. Man, if she knew some of the conversations that had gone on about her in the locker room, her cheeks would be as red as the polish on her fingernails.
Everly was uncharted territory for a lot of guys, but she was the kind of uncharted territory most of them dreamed about. Hot as sin with that sweet side we all dug. She wasn’t the girl you scored points with. She was the keeper.
“Open your eyes,” I whispered.
Slowly, they opened, and my hands sunk deeper into her hair. She was wearing more makeup than I was used to seeing, but her eyes…they were dark and mysterious, that mouth was shiny and soft, and her hair was all over the place, wild from the humidity. She was…
“You’re beautiful.”
She licked her bottom lip and smiled, a small half smile. “I could say the same thing about you.”