“Then I’ll change.” I make a move to go to my room and she captures my arm to stop me.
“No, keep this on. I’m kidding. You look like hell. But when was the last time you trimmed the triangle?”
I blink once, then twice. How are we friends? “Excuse me.”
“You know, trimmed the triangle, beat down the beaver, Georged the bush.”
“Georged the bush?” A laugh bursts out of me. “Ohmigod, girl. Who are you?” I ask. Georged the bush. Only Jess would come up with something like that. She really does crack me up, and when it comes down to it, she’s right about so many things. Like me needing to get laid…wanting to hate fuck.
“Something tells me Cannon is a vagatarian, and you want be all neat and tidy when he kisses you down there, don’t you? I mean, it’s not like he specified where he wanted to put his mouth, right?”
I point to the door. “On that note…”
She jumps up from the sofa, and blows me a kiss and she saunters away. “Have fun, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do.” I shake my head and laugh in spite of her absurdity. I mean, it is absurd, right? He’s not really going to want to kiss me…down there. “I’ll call you later.”
“Will this be before or after you do the nasty with Cannon?”
“Jess…” I warn as the heat in my body spikes at the visual.
Cut it out, Nina. You don’t want that.
“Love you,” she says.
“Love you, too.”
She slips out the door, and I glance out the window to see her checking out the Mustang. She gives me two thumbs-up and slides into her car and takes off. I laugh again, despite myself. I do love Jess, but I think she’s all wrong where Cole is concerned. Not the part about him having a cannon between his legs, but the part about him wanting to kiss me because he likes me. No way can she be right about that. Then again, it’s illogical to kiss someone he truly hates. Is it possible that he likes me, at least enough to kiss me?
As I contemplate that, I grab a handful of strawberries from my near-empty fridge, and pop them into my mouth. I snag my purse and notepad from the kitchen counter and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing. I head outdoors, lock up behind myself, and stare at the Mustang.
“Here goes nothing,” I whisper.
I jump into the car and cringe as the rumbling muffler gains the attention of my neighbors. I smile politely and wave, then pull into traffic. Cole said the game started at seven, but I want to get there early in case he wants to go over anything with me first.
Like kissing.
No. No. No. Not like kissing. Like slang and things like that, so I can understand the plays better.
I jack the tunes and look aro
und the clean vehicle. It still has that new-car smell and hardly any miles on it. With Cole being on the road, and then the concussion, he probably hasn’t even had a chance to break it in yet, see what it can do. I press the gas pedal and speed up to find out for myself. Nice.
Truthfully, though, it was very kind of Cole to lend me a vehicle, since it was just sitting there unused. What a nice brotherly thing for him to do. Cason would be pleased by his friend’s generosity.
As the sun begins its descent over the horizon, I pull into his driveway and power down the car. I stare at his big house and suck in a breath as I rationalize our deal. I can understand the skating part, but the kissing…
He had to be kidding about that, right? I mean, he’s always teased me about everything, so he has to be teasing about this too. Yeah, he has to be, because the guy doesn’t even like me. There was really no reason for me to fixate on that and get so worked up today. This was just Cole being Cocky Cannon. When it comes right down to it, he doesn’t want to kiss me any more than I want him to.
I let loose a relieved breath—and try not to examine the tiny twinge of disappointment fluttering in my gut.
Damn you, Jess.
I climb from the car and the front door opens, and I once again find Cole waiting for me as I make my way up the long walkway. Funny how that makes me feel so strange. Growing up, there was never anyone home to greet Cason or me after school, after practice, after…anything. I kind of like the normalcy of it, of having someone waiting for you, looking forward to seeing you. Not that I think Cole is looking forward to seeing me.
He removes the shirt hooked over his shoulder and tugs it on as I approach, his big frame filling up the doorway. Thank God he’s dressing. I don’t know how I’d make it through the night if he were half naked again.
“Do you just stand at your door and wait for people to come by?” I ask.