10 Years Read online

  “Gwen,” I asked softly with a grin, mentally calculating how long it would be before I could be with her again. “Will you come over tonight after you’re done with what you have to do? I want to make you dinner.”

  Her smile blinded me, it was so bright, and I felt my heart surge as she replied, “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Chapter Nineteen ~ Gwen

  Present Day (20 years old)

  I’d barely been home an hour, and was going through proofs of the prints I wanted to use for the showcase, when I heard pounding at the door. I looked up from my place at the dining room table to see Aliyah running across the room. Once she reached the door, she skidded to a halt, took a deep breath to slow her breathing, and smoothed out her clothes.

  Curious, I dropped the picture I’d been analyzing and turned my attention fully to my roommate.

  Aliyah gave one curt nod, I guess assuring herself she was ready, then put a smile on her face and opened the door.

  I craned my neck to see who was there, and was surprised to see Liam sweep Aliyah off her feet and kiss her soundly on the lips.

  I’m sure I gasped, but the two people making out at the door didn’t hear a thing. I watched, my mouth wide open, as Liam kicked the door shut behind himself and began walking toward Aliyah’s bedroom, his mouth still fused to hers.

  It was quite impressive.

  I followed their movements as they walked through the living room and into the bedroom, then his foot kicked back once more and the door shut soundly behind them.

  “What the heck was that?” I asked myself out loud.

  Still in shock, I stood and walked over to the old stereo system that Aliyah had brought with her from her parents’ house and turned the music up. I wanted it at a level that I could work at, while drowning out the sounds that I’m sure were about to come from that room.

  I looked at the clock.

  I still had an hour before I had to be at Craig’s.

  My eyes went from the photos I was working on to the closed door of my best friends room.

  “Coffee shop it is,” I muttered, then gathered up my things and left, deciding to give my friends some real privacy.

  I was walking down the street when my phone pinged, signaling I’d received a text.

  Got back early, and Liam’s already gone, so if you get done early, you can come on by.

  On my way.

  I hit send and changed course toward Craig’s apartment. When I was a few feet away, I realized that I was still wearing the clothes I’d put on to work in… yoga pants and a boyfriend tee, with my hair in a loose ponytail and no makeup on.

  I stopped in my tracks, wondering if I should risk going back to my place to change, or if I should just keep going as I was.

  It’s not like Craig hasn’t seen me like this a million times, I assured myself.

  But I was supposed to be going over as his date, not as his friend, I argued.

  I debated with myself for a few minutes, then decided to just go to his house and explain the situation; if anyone would understand, it was Craig. And, maybe he could shed some light on the Liam and Aliyah situation.

  When I reached the house, I went to the back and walked up the stairs leading to the guys’ apartment. I’d been outside, but I had yet to actually go inside Craig’s house. I frowned as I thought about how much my stubbornness had cost me over the years, and hoped that I had the strength to be more forthcoming with my feelings from now on.

  I knocked three times, then waited, looking around at the rows of similar houses down the street.

  “Hey,” Craig said as he opened the door.

  My breath caught as I dropped my chin and allowed my gaze to travel up slowly.

  Craig must have just gotten home from baseball when he texted me, probably not expecting me to be just a few short blocks away. He was holding a dark blue towel at his waist and water still dripped from his wet hair, down his slick, tight body.

  I tried to say hey back, but had apparently lost the power of speech, because all that came out was a croak.

  Craig chuckled and moved to let me go past him inside. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to lick one of those mesmerizing drops.

  My face flushed as I realized not only the train of my thoughts, but the fact that Craig could obviously read me like an open book.

  How embarrassing.

  “Um, make yourself at home,” Craig said as he backed out of the room with a grin. “I’ll just be a minute.”

  I watched as he turned, thanking the gods for baseball and the gym, as the muscles in his back rippled with movement.

  “Damn,” I whispered, placing my bag down on the nearest chair as I looked around the living room.

  It definitely looked like a bachelor pad, with sparse furniture, a big TV and stacks of video games, but it was much neater than I’d expected.

  A few minutes later, Craig was back. Unfortunately he was wearing running shorts and a T-shirt, rather than the towel, but I smiled at his choice of clothing and was grateful that he’d caught on to the way I was dressed and went with it.

  Craig always knew how to put me at ease.

  “Sorry, you were quicker than I’d expected,” he said as he took the chair next to mine.

  “Yeah, I was actually on my way to the coffee shop when I got your text, so I came here instead. Sorry that I didn’t give you enough time,” I added. “Liam came over to my place and attacked Aliyah, so I thought it best for me to get out of there.”

  Craig laughed at that. “He what?”

  “It was the strangest thing,” I replied, remembering the look of anticipation on Aliyah’s face before she opened the door. “She must have known he was coming over, but didn’t say anything to me… She opened the door and they just started going at it. Right there in the living room, as if I wasn’t even there. Did he say anything to you?”

  “Well, he did seem pretty excited when I told him that you and I had worked through stuff, and that I was making you dinner tonight, but he didn’t mention anything about Aliyah, or going to your place.” Craig shrugged. “We only talked about it for a few minutes though, then we practiced. He was gone by the time I got home.”

  “Hmmmm,” I replied, even more curious. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “What do you have there?” he asked, pointing at my bag.

  “Oh, proofs of the photos I’m thinking of using for my showcase. That’s what I was working on when things got weird at my place,” I answered with a laugh. “I was just passing time though, I don’t have to do any more work today.”

  “I’d like to see them, if you don’t mind.”

  “Okay,” I replied, pleased that he wanted to see them, but nervous at the same time.

  I took each picture out of my bag and laid them on the coffee table, looking critically at each one as I did.

  Craig took his time, really looking at each one. He picked up my favorite, a black and white of a baby bunny hopping through a field, the dew from the grass sparkling on his fur.

  “These are amazing!” Craig exclaimed as he gazed down at the photo in his hand, a small smile playing on his lips.

  I didn’t reply, just watched him surveying my work, and let the pride his words caused flow through me.

  “I’d love to be your date for the showcase,” he said softly, causing my eyes to jump from the photo to his sincere gaze.

  “I’d like that,” I replied.

  We stood there for a few beats, hope, happiness, and something else penetrating the air around us. I suddenly wanted to kiss him so badly that I could feel the fullness of his lips against mine.

  “Hungry?” Craig asked, and it took a moment for it to register that he meant for food.

  God help me, I was hungry for something else.

  Chapter Twenty ~ Craig

  Present Day (20 years old)

  The way she was looking at me caused heat to infuse my body, which began to tighten.

  Easy
, I thought, You can’t attack her on the first date.

  But even as I had the thought, her face and my body, begged to differ.

  “Uh, I’m going to the kitchen.” I knew it was an awkward transition, and I almost ran out of the room, but I had to put some space between us before I took her right there in the living room.

  I’d already seasoned the steaks and peeled and cut up the potatoes. My mom was always big on prep work in the kitchen, and had taught Cal and I to do the same. I put the potatoes on to boil, then turned to go start the grill, and almost bumped right into Gwen.

  Damn this small-ass galley kitchen.

  She looked up at me with those big, beautiful eyes and a small smile playing on her lips, like she knew she was driving me crazy.

  “I, uh, just gotta go get the grill going,” I mumbled, brushing past her like the desperate man that I was.

  I went into my room, opened the window, and stepped out onto the roof.

  Since we had the top floor of the house, and we didn’t have a porch or a deck, we used the roof off of my bedroom as our patio. We had a small charcoal grill and a couple of folding chairs. There wasn’t a great view or anything, but it was chill to just hang out once and a while.

  I put the charcoal into a small pyramid, then, I grabbed the long kitchen lighter to get it started.

  “This is sweet,” Gwen said. I looked over to see her head poking out of the window.

  “Yeah, I called dibs on that room as soon as I saw the roof access,” I replied as I made my way back toward her.

  She shifted back so I could climb inside. Gwen began to walk around my room, and I looked at it through her eyes.

  There wasn’t a lot too it. A queen-sized bed, which had been a gift from my parents, a dresser, my hamper, and a basket full of baseballs. I also had bats lining the back wall, and my gloves hanging on hooks.

  “What no posters?” Gwen teased as she turned her gaze back to me.

  “Nah, I left those back in the dorms.”

  “It looks just like I’d imagined,” she said, bridging the gap between us.

  “You’ve imagined what my room would look like?” I asked, my body beginning to betray the rational of my mind again.

  “I’ve imagined a lot of things…”

  Dammit, was she flirting now? What the hell was I supposed to do, be the gentleman, or accept her challenge?

  “Like what?” my mouth asked, before my brain gave it permission.

  Her hand slid up my old Pink Floyd T-shirt, leaving a trail of heat as it ventured up my chest, over my shoulder, and slid into my hair, fisting.

  Yup, I was screwed.

  Before I had a chance to have an inner-debate, I brushed my lips softly against hers. Teasing. Totally in opposition to what I wanted to do, which was to throw her onto the floor and have my way with her.

  Instead I kissed her softly, slowly, accepting each small moan that emitted from her lips, then delving in when she opened her mouth to me. I let the sweet torture of those moans guide me.

  My hands ran down her back, over those sweet little yoga pants, until I finally found what I was looking for. I bit back a groan at the first feel of the soft, full roundness of her ass.

  I was an ass man, and God, hers was perfect.

  I pulled her closer to me, nearly losing all semblance of control when she rotated her hips and rubbed my cock so deliberately that it now felt like I had a steel rod in my shorts. I had to put the brakes to this before things became painful.

  “Gwen, babe, we need to slow down,” I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and moving her a good foot away from me.

  “Why?” she asked huskily, her lips swollen from my kisses.

  “Because this is just our first date,” I replied, trying to convince myself, as well as her, that we needed to stop. “And… Dinner…”

  “Craig, this may be our first date but we’ve know each other for ten years. We don’t exactly have to go through the whole getting-to-know-you phase.”

  She looked so cute, arguing with me, her hands on her hips, that I conceded.

  “You win,” I said as I closed the gap and took her back in my arms.

  Gwen laughed against my lips, causing me to smile as I broke away and began kissing every ounce of exposed skin I could find. I was a man in desperate need, and the sound of her laughter only drove that need higher.

  God, she was perfect.

  Her hands began an exploration of their own, and I knew I needed to get us horizontal before my knees buckled and we both fell to the ground.

  I eased up back toward the bed, and when her knees hit the edge, she sat and looked up at me, her eyes full of the same hunger and want that was threatening to consume me.

  I grabbed the fabric of my shirt from behind my head and pulled, taking my shirt off in one swift motion. As soon as the material was gone, Gwen’s curious fingers replaced it.

  I gave myself a moment to enjoy the feel of her hands on my skin, closing my eyes and just letting the sensations flow through me. When she brushed against my belly button and dipped her fingers into the band of my shorts, I knew I needed to get back to my own exploration, or else things would end much more quickly than I wanted them to.

  “Lay back,” I instructed, causing Gwen’s hands to still. Suddenly, I remembered the potatoes on the stove and said, “I’ll be right back,” and ran out of the room.

  Chapter Twenty-One ~ Gwen

  Present Day (20 years old)

  I watched, somewhat alarmed, as Craig ran out of the bedroom. Then chuckled when I heard him swearing, and realized he was in the kitchen. We’d forgotten that he was making dinner.

  I giggled to myself as I pushed back onto the bed and rested my head on Craig’s pillow. I placed a hand on my stomach, which was now all atwitter with nerves. When we were in the moment, I was caught up in the desire that Craig evoked. A desire unlike anything I’d ever felt before. But now that he’d left the room and reality had a chance to set it, the doubts were creeping into my mind.

  What if we had sex and it wasn’t good?

  Well, all signs are pointing to the fact that so far things are better than good, they are amazing, so there is a good chance that it will only get better from here.

  What if things were awkward between us afterwards?

  This is me and Craig. We’ve been through good times, bad times, and the worst times imaginable, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle this…

  I was about to ask myself another stupid question, when Craig came back into the room and all thought left me as took in his perfectly chiseled chest and abs.

  Good gravy, I thought, and told my inner-doubter to shut the hell up.

  He stalked toward me, a smirk on his face as if he could read my thoughts, then began moving over me on the bed.

  Looking up at him, his hair slightly disheveled from my hands, his eyes stormy with heat, and his naked skin with my peripheral vision, I thought this was the best view I’d ever seen, before his face lowered.

  “What about the grill?” I asked, moving my face to the side.

  He took the opportunity to brush his full lips against my throat, causing chill bumps to break out all over my skin, and a delicious heat to infuse my skin.

  “It’ll burn out,” he replied in between strokes, and I decided that if the house burned down around us, so be it, I’d die a happy girl.

  Craig put his hand under my shirt, so I shifted up to pull it over my head. His eyes took in my bra-covered breasts and the look on his face left me breathless. He watched my cleavage heaving over the cups as I unhooked the clasp in the back, and slowly drew the straps down my arms. Teasing us both.

  Once the bra was completely off, I slung it over the side of the bed and laid back. Rather than bringing his mouth to my breasts as expected, he lowered his chest to mine so our bare skin touched, then he moved slowly, allowing the feel of his heated skin to bring my nipples to hardened peaks.

  God, he was good at this.

  Af
ter a few seconds he kissed my chin, then my throat, and finally, he gently kissed my breasts. First one, then the other, before running his tongue lovingly around my areola and taking a nipple into his mouth. As he bit, tugged, and sucked, I arched my back and put my fingers in his hair, hoping to give him better access, and to keep him there as long as humanly possible.

  While his face and mouth worshiped my breasts, his hand began moving south. When he slipped in under the hem of my yoga pants, I wantonly spread my knees and legs wider. Memories resurfaced of Craig and I in this same position, but I pushed them to the side, much more eager to live in the moment.

  It was a fantastic moment.

  Craig’s hand slipped under my panties and ran along the slick heat underneath before easing one of his fingers inside.

  “Yes,” I panted, overcome with the delicious sensations that his hand and mouth were providing.

  “Oh, God,” I cried when he pushed another finger inside and began to pump in and out.

  Suddenly Craig growled and said, “I can’t wait.”

  I looked up into his beautiful green eyes and replied, “Don’t. Don’t wait.”

  Craig shifted and I heard a drawer open, then the crinkling of a wrapper as he opened a condom. Before I had a chance to blink, he swept off the basketball shorts he’d been wearing and was masterfully sheathing his impressive cock. He hadn’t been wearing underwear. So HOT.

  I realized that I was enjoying the view, rather than helping to move things along, so I put my thumbs in my waistband and pushed my pants and underwear simultaneously down my legs.

  His lips were on my stomach, then I felt a nip on the underside of my breast, seconds before his tongue swept my nipple, then licked up my chest and throat. I turned my head, wanting him to have all the access he needed, then sighed loudly as he nuzzled under my ear before pulling my sensitive lobe into his mouth.

  “You’re so beautiful, Gwen,” Craig whispered huskily into my ear as he eased slowly inside of me.

  It was so slow, so torturous, so beautiful, and I swear I could feel each inch enter me, until I felt so full and complete that tears pricked the corner of my eyes. I turned my head to look at him, and my heart clenched at the love and wonder I saw there.