A couple minutes later and she had me stopping in front of a ranch-style home. The yard was landscaped, with these flowering trees lining the entranceway. Shit, if she saw where I lived, she’d probably think twice about getting into my car again.
“Thank you so much.” She was smiling at me again. “Here,” she said and reached into her bag, pulling out a ten-dollar bill. “For gas.”
I knitted my brows and shook my head. “No fucking way.”
Her eyes widened before she started laughing.
“Shit, sorry. I meant no. I’m not taking your money. It was on my way and I offered.”
“You’re sure?”
I nodded. “I’d be a real douche to take your money.”
She tucked the bill back in her bag and gave me a sweet look. “Well, thank you again.”
“It wasn’t any trouble.” She needed to get out of my car, not because I wanted her to—because I sure as fuck didn’t—but because the longer I sat in her presence, the more I felt that unusual, pleasurable sensation move through me, and that meant I’d do something stupid like touch her, hold her… kiss her.
I was shocked at how intense that feeling was, the need to stake my claim, because I didn’t want her sharing any part of herself with another person. It was selfish and unrealistic, but fuck did it feel right.
But she stayed in my car for a long moment, neither one of us saying anything. We just looked at each other, the air thickening between us. I swore she didn’t want to get out, maybe thinking of something to say to me. I could really fucking relate.
“So, do you want to exchange numbers?” she finally asked. “I feel like we really connected the last ten minutes of you driving me to my house, and of course, I let you look under the hood of my car so you could diagnosis the problem.” She was holding in her laugh.
God, she was gorgeous, witty, and had a sense of humor.
“I mean, that would be the logical next step.” I grinned, and it felt good. It was something I hadn’t really been doing a lot of lately, not since my mom got diagnosed, not with all the trouble I got into over the last few years, and especially not with having to start a new school my senior year. But I found that with Harlow, she made it really easy, and I liked being around her.
I liked the way she made me feel.
And the craziest fucking part was I felt all of this in the span of a fucking car ride. That had to mean something, right? Or hell, maybe I was just losing my fucking mind.
She pulled out her cell and I did the same. She took mine out of my hand, her fingers brushing against my skin. That shouldn’t have affected me the way it did, but this electricity slammed into me. I knew if I didn’t start thinking about something else, my cock would start to harden and be clearly visible through my jeans.
Baseball.
Grandmas baking cookies.
Working on a fucking engine.
I watched as she entered her phone number into my phone then handed me back mine and then hers for me to do the same. After I put my phone number into her contacts and gave her back her cell, we just sat there and stared at each other for a second.
She had the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen, clear and bright, almost the same color as the denim we both wore. And her hair was this mass of long, thick auburn waves. I’ve never quite seen a shade like it before, and I wondered if it was natural golden highlights I saw in it.
“It was nice finally officially meeting you, Aiden.”
I nodded, wanting to say the same thing, but she was getting out of the car before the words came out. I didn’t move out of the driveway as I watched her walk up to the front door, unlock it, and step inside. She looked back at me and waved, that smile on her face. It was only when she closed the door that I told myself to get the fuck out of there, because Harlow was the last thing I needed to think about.
Chapter Five
Aiden
I found myself heading back home, taking the long way, because the truth was, I liked thinking about Harlow.
I turned the radio on to try to drown out my thoughts. She was the last thing I needed to think about. I had other things to focus on aside from Harlow. But despite telling myself that over and over again, I couldn’t get her out of my mind.
She consumed my thoughts the entire way home, and it wasn’t until I pulled into the gravel driveway of the little two-bedroom, rundown house my mom and I were currently renting that I realized Harlow twisted me all up.