Eventually I realized the game only made matters worse. It wasn’t like I had a time machine and could go back and fix any of this mess. Justin was still avoiding my eyes, so I took my time studying him. Two years ago, he was already pretty much a man, but I noticed subtle changes that showed he had completely outgrown boyhood. His shoulders seemed wider and his face looked leaner and more defined. Everything else about him was the same. Like the way he ran his hand over his scruff-covered face when he was frustrated or trying to make a point. I was sad the eyebrow ring was gone, but truthfully, its absence only enhanced his looks. With it gone, you were able to appreciate the golden specks in his brown eyes without interruption. My eyes moved from his face, down his arms, and to his hands. His hands were my favorite thing about him. They were large with rough calluses like a man’s hands should be but gentle enough to create beautiful works of art. The idea that he was so creative always enchanted me.
I forced myself to pull my eyes away from him. It was almost painful to remember how those hands had felt on me.
12.
November 2010
“Don’t be silly. Of course you’ll join us for dinner,” Trish, Justin’s mom, chastised as she hustled around the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the pasta feast she’d been preparing all day.
“Thanksgiving is a family holiday, Mrs. Avery. It would be tacky if I showed up,” I countered, ignoring the smirk Justin was throwing my way.
“Trish,” she reminded me.
“Fine. Trish, it’s not necessary for you to feel obligated to invite me to a holiday dinner because a certain manipulator strong-armed you into it,” I said, glaring at Justin.
“As if that lightweight could strong-arm anyone,” Hollie, Justin’s precocious ten-year-old sister piped in from her perch at the counter, where she was shredding lettuce for our salad.
“Who you calling lightweight, short stuff?” Justin demanded, pointing the knife he was using to dice tomatoes.
“Don’t point that thing at your sister,” Trish admonished, handing me a cucumber to slice. “And, sweetie, Hollie is right. Justin didn’t tell me to invite you. We all want you here.”
“It just seems fast,” I replied. “Justin and I have only been dating for a couple of weeks,” I reminded them. I refrained from mentioning that the last few weeks had been the best weeks of my life. Once I’d let my guard down and agreed to let my misgivings about him go, I quickly realized Justin was different from any other guy I had ever dated. We traded the traditional dates of dinner and a movie for more walks around Puget Sound and afternoons strolling through the Seattle Art Museum. Justin was an attentive date and made sure that he never dominated the conversation. Girls still checked him out wherever we went, but I was able to ignore it. He never returned the attention and instead focused solely on me. It was a heady experience to be treated with such devotion. Any ideas I might have entertained at keeping it casual were long gone. He was becoming like a drug I couldn’t get enough of.
“Two weeks? That’s like a year by Justin’s standards,” Hollie giggled, ducking as Justin reached over to mess up her hair.
“Don’t think Brittni’s track record is any more pristine. She goes through guys like most girls go through hair products.”
“Wow, what a way to throw me under the bus,” I griped.
“It’s every man and woman for themselves,” he teased, dropping a kiss on my lips, despite the fact that his mom and sister were looking on. I flushed, still not used to such open affection in front of others.
“Say you’ll come,” Hollie begged, pushing the serving bowl of lettuce toward me so I could add my sliced cucumbers to the salad. “Please,” she added with wide eyes.
I contemplated my options. I could stick to my plan of eating a frozen meal in my dorm room, or I could have a real meal. It seemed like a no-brainer. I just wasn’t sure it was a smart no-brainer. “Okay, I’ll come,” I caved as the three of them beamed at me.
“Well played, kid,” Justin said, reaching into his wallet and extracting a five-dollar bill. “I think the puppy-dog eyes sealed the deal.”
“I figured those would work. Did you like how they were even watering a little? I was pinching my hand for that effect. I should charge you extra,” Hollie said, grinning at me as she shoved the five-dollar bill into the back pocket of her jeans.
“You bribed your sister to talk me into coming over?” I sputtered out, glaring at the guilty duo that had just played me.
“Just covering my bases,” he answered, dragging me from the counter and leading me toward his small but functional apartment in the basement.
“Dinner will be ready in twenty,” Trish called as Justin closed the basement door behind us.
“Your mom’s going to think we’re coming down here to make out,” I commented as I sat on the small leather sofa in the living room of the basement. I’d been down in his apartment one other time, but Hollie had been excitedly chattering away at my side as she gave me the tour. Justin’s bedroom was at the far end of the large space. The bathroom was beside it and could be accessed through the bedroom or the large living room. A full-size kitchen sat at the other end of the living room with an island that separated the two spaces. Justin had confessed to me that he had yet to use the kitchen. He felt guilty about it, but the kitchen had been his mom’s idea. She had told him when he moved back home that he deserved his own space. My favorite part about his mock apartment was the door that led outside. It wasn’t like I planned on sneaking in or out, but having a separate entrance offered up a small measure of privacy.
“If she’s going to think we’re down here doing something, then why hide it?” Justin said, pulling me to my feet. He wrapped his arms around me and lowered his mouth to my neck.
“It doesn’t make you uncomfortable that she knows what we’re doing?” I asked. It came out as more of a sigh as his lips found the sensitive skin behind my right earlobe.
“We’re both adults and she respects that. I’m just glad we’re alone,” he said, trailing his lips over my cheek until they settled fully on my own lips. I whimpered with pleasure as his tongue parted my lips. I had made the startling realization on our second date that I was a fan of kissing him. I mean, I absolutely loved kissing him. It had become my favorite pastime, making me feel like a crazed hormone-driven teenager.
Justin eased us toward the full-sized sofa, never taking his lips from mine. I felt the sofa against the back of my knees and smiled as he slowly lowered me to the cushions below. I pulled him down with me so that his body was flush against mine. With only twenty minutes until his sister came barreling down the stairs to get us for dinner, we were playing with fire. Over the last two weeks, we’d had our share of heavy make-out sessions in his jeep, but that was as far as we’d taken things. The couch, unlike the jeep, had no obstacles, allowing me to feel every inch of him against me. I enjoyed his weight on top of me and I couldn’t help shifting beneath him as he deepened the kiss. He groaned against my lips as our bodies settled fully together. Feeling powerful from the effect I was having on him, I shifted again, grinding my hips against his. Fire spread through me as his body reacted to my movement.
The sound of Hollie calling our names only seconds before she clamored down the stairs had us springing apart like two guilty teenagers. Justin was busy hiding the sudden bulge in his jeans, while I pulled down my shirt that had somehow crept all the way up to my neck.
“What are you two doing?” Hollie asked, bouncing onto the couch between us.