She ducked her head into my shoulder, seemingly embarrassed, but she didn’t stop me. I rolled her over onto her back and yanked the pants down to her ankles. I needed this. Fuck, I need this.
My hand reached for her underwear, but she put her hand out. “Grant…I can’t. Oh my God, I can’t do this.” She frantically pulled up the sweats I’d lent her.
“Ari…” I begged.
I adjusted my erection right before her eyes, and she tried not to notice.
“I’m not going to have sex with you.”
I wanted to show her exactly how wrong she was about that.
But the pleading look in her eyes, rather than the aloofness she would normally send my way, f**king broke me down. I’d give her whatever she wanted even if she wasn’t giving me everything I wanted.
I sank down onto the bed next to her, and I tried to get my head on straight. She’d turned me down. I wasn’t sure that had ever happened…yet I still wanted her here. I still wanted her in my bed.
“You know what?”
“What?” she breathed.
“I want you, Ari.”
“I gathered that.”
“Yeah, I want to have sex with you. What guy wouldn’t? I mean, I want you here, like this. I want you to stay the night. I want you to just be here…with me.”
She didn’t know how much those words really meant. I’d never f**king wanted that in my entire life.
“Then, I want you to let me take you out to dinner. I’ll pick you up, I’ll take you out, we’ll walk through the park, and I’ll even get you home before midnight, so your coach doesn’t turn into a pumpkin.”
She giggled, actually f**king giggled, and I knew I had her.
“What do you say?”
She licked her lips as if she were considering. “All right, Grant. I’ll go on a date with you.”
We kissed until I thought I might combust from the energy coursing between us. How she held such composure was beyond me, but I wanted to respect her. I did respect her. It was the strangest thing that had ever happened to me.
Soon, Aribel nuzzled her head into my shoulder, her breathing slowed, and then she was fast asleep. I wrapped my other arm around her and held her tight.
I’d never had a girl spend the night just to sleep.
Chapter 16: Aribel
After I’d fallen asleep in Grant’s arms, the rest of the world kept spinning at its normal speed, but my life felt like it was moving in fast forward. I’d been shocked at how far I let things go with him, but it had also seemed so easy to just let it happen. I had thought I was going to give myself up. I had never felt like that before in my life. When I was with Grant, I felt safe and secure. Although not completely comfortable in my skin, I was definitely more so with him than I’d ever felt before. And as much as my defenses were normally up, I could feel him crumbling them with ease.
I was glad that Cheyenne had planned to visit her parents in the city for the weekend, so she wasn’t there to see me getting ready for my date on Friday afternoon. I chose a dark blue dress and paired it with my jean jacket and ballet flats. I’d even curled my hair and let it hang loose past my shoulders.
When Grant knocked on my door, I was surprised to find him out of his normal T-shirt and into a polo and dark-wash jeans. He’d cleaned up, too—freshly shaven, his hair styled, his tattoos hidden. My heart skipped a beat.
“Hey,” he said, pulling me against him. “I’ve been thinking about you all week.”
I started to chastise myself for getting giddy because he’d been thinking about me, but then I just let myself feel what was working its way through me. When we weren’t at each other’s throats, I kind of liked being around Grant.
We walked out to his truck, and I hopped up into the passenger seat.
“Hope you don’t mind a little drive,” he said.
“Where are we going?”
He smiled at me. “Down the shore.”
It was an hour before we arrived at a small pizza place. It didn’t look like much with a small sign that read Duffie’s overhead, but the parking lot was jam-packed. I was a little worried about finding a table, but Grant didn’t seem to have any anxiety.
We hopped out of the truck and Grant came around to my side. When he saw the concern on my face, he just laughed and took my hand. “Come on, Princess. It’s the best pizza I’ve ever had. You do like pizza, right?”
Uncertainty crossed his face for a moment, but then it disappeared as soon as I nodded.
We walked into the building together, and a hostess greeted us. Every single table in the place was filled. Waiters were carrying trays of drinks and pizza and joking around with customers. The restaurant had an energy about it that made me relax. I hadn’t known what to expect with Grant, but I was kind of glad he hadn’t taken me anywhere fancy. That was what I typically went for, but that didn’t seem like Grant to me.
“Great. Thanks,” Grant said to the hostess.
“This way,” she said.
We followed her through the crowd, out a set of double doors, and onto a balcony overlooking the ocean. Exactly one table was unoccupied, and it had to be the best seat in the place. How are we so lucky?
I sat across from Grant and waited for the hostess to leave before speaking. “This is…really nice. How did you find this place?”
“I used to come here a lot when I was younger.”
“Oh, really? Are you from the area?” I asked, leaning forward. For the first time, I realized that I knew next to nothing about the man in front of me.
“Moved here from Knoxville when I was ten, and I’ve been here ever since.” He looked a little sheepish before admitting, “This was actually my first job. I worked here through most of high school.”
I’d never pictured him working, which was out of the ballpark of normalcy for me. What do you do?—that had been the only question that really mattered in my parents’ circle of friends.
“I bet you brought all the girls here,” I said lightly. Yes, bringing up other girls is smart on the first date.
“Uh…no, not really.”
“No?”
“I didn’t have to take girls out. I guess this would be the first time.”
I gaped at him.
“So, how am I doing?” Grant asked, spreading his arms wide.
The first time? Like, his first date ever?
No. No way. That can’t be right.
Surely, someone like Grant had had tons of girls flocking for his attention in high school. He’d had to date someone…sometime.