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  “We can do that.”

  Audrey wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled him closer. “It’ll be fun.”

  “I’m sure it will.”

  “And private.”

  Chapter 28

  Darren followed Audrey into her dorm room. His stomach was turning the calzone end over end, trying to push it back out the way it came. His palms were sweating so much that his fingers were beginning to shrivel, and it was only a matter of time before his armpits would follow suit.

  Audrey dropped her jacket onto the chair at the desk to the right of the door. “Make yourself at home.”

  Darren’s eyes fell across Audrey’s back. He hadn’t seen that side of her at the restaurant, and now he couldn’t look away. The spaghetti straps traveled to the base of her shoulder blades where they connected to the thin white fabric. Her skin was still tan from the summer sun, and as smooth as silk. The muscles of her shoulders moved in a uniform grace when she arranged her jacket, letting Darren have glimpses at a small mole hidden just at the edge of the fabric.

  He wanted to push her wavy hair out of the way, run his palms over her shoulders and across her back. He wanted to feel her warmth against his own skin, feel the muscles of her shoulders as he rubbed them. He wanted to hear her moan as he rubbed her back, as he leaned down and placed his lips on her flesh, as he kissed his way up the back of her neck, working his way around the front.

  Darren tried to pull his eyes off of her back. He was already pushing against the fly of his pants, and she was going to notice if he didn’t sit down fast.

  The beds were stacked to form a bunk bed against one wall, a mangy and torn green loveseat on the other side facing an old tube television. Her roommate’s desk was clear except for a closed laptop and a flatbed scanner in the corner while Audrey’s was stacked with books and piles of papers surrounding her small screen.

  Darren sat down on the loveseat before the bulge in his pants grew any bigger. Audrey tinkered around her desk for a moment while Darren looked around the room.

  “You can turn the TV on, see if anything interesting is on,” Audrey said.

  “What are you in the mood for?” Darren asked while he looked around the cushions of the loveseat for the remote, seeing it on the far armrest.

  “I’m good with anything.”

  Darren flipped on the TV and began to flip through the channels. The school had their own channel they played recent movies on, so Darren started there to see what was playing at the moment. Audrey appeared in the corner of his eyes, a pair of Pepsi’s in her hands.

  “They’re warm, but would you like one?” Audrey asked, holding one out, setting the other down on the desk behind Darren.

  “Sure, thank you.”

  Audrey stepped to Darren, stopping with her knee inches from his own.

  Darren’s hand wavered in the air as his eyes followed the curves of the woman in front of him all the way through the waves of her dark hair to her face. Her perma-smile was tilted to one side-a chunk of hair fell across her cheek on the other, its final curl reaching up back toward her chin.

  Audrey slipped the can into Darren’s hand and let out a light laugh. She shook her hair out of her face and moved closer until her knee bumped Darren’s, just looking down at him.

  Darren looked into her eyes, not sure if he was seeing a longing in them, it had been so long since he’d seen that face on a girl, but there was something there. Was he supposed to be doing something? Making a move already?

  Audrey reached down and adjusted one of the thin straps holding her shirt up. Darren ‘s eyes followed the string to the mound of flesh it held the fabric against, but knew she was probably looking at him, so he raised his eyes back up to hers.

  Just make a move damn it! She didn’t come here for a bloody movie, there was something else on her mind!

  Darren’s armpits began to sweat. What if she notices?

  He tried to rub his pits against his shirt so he didn’t feel so wet, but was afraid Audrey would notice and stopped.

  Just do something! Don’t sit there! Going to look like an inept fool!

  Darren set the can down beside him since it wasn’t opened, and reached out for Audrey’s hips, pulling her closer.

  Audrey’s smile grew as she moved between his knees.

  Doing alright so far, don’t screw this one up.

  Audrey looked down at Darren, her hair draping around both sides of her face. She reached into her tight pocket, pulled out a hair tie, and reached up, wrestling with the thick mass of hair. Her breasts lifted to a dangerous height as she reached upwards, and Darren’s eyes just about fell out of his head, thinking that a nipple might pop into view as she tugged and stretched at the waves of her hair.

  She got the hair into a ponytail that fell in a mass of waves to her shoulders, and tucked a stray piece back behind her ear. Her face was bright despite the dim light, glowing in places usually hidden by her mahogany hair.

  Darren reached his hands back around her hip bone, leaning in closer toward her. Her hands fell to his head, running their fingers through his hair, soft across his scalp.

  Darren let one hand float across her buttocks-it was a risk, but she didn’t protest-and hooked his fingers behind her thigh, just above her knee. He pulled her leg toward him, and she placed her knee alongside of his own hip, shifting her weight to it, pushing her crotch against his chest as she lifted her other leg to the other side of his hip, straddling him.

  Darren slid his hands up and down the back of her thighs as she leaned up against him. She held his shoulders to balance herself as she moved her legs closer-tighter against his legs. Darren let his hands float over the side of her hips to her waist, and Audrey lowered herself until her butt rested on his knees, her breasts moving within inches of Darren’s nose.

  What little moment of flaccidity Darren had was gone the moment Audrey straddled him. He was afraid she might notice it, but she was seated far enough back that she couldn’t feel it. As long as she didn’t look down.

  Audrey gazed into Darren’s eyes, her arms still reaching out to his shoulders. Darren let his hands move across her waist to her back, feeling the knobs of her spine, and then pulled Audrey closer.

  Audrey’s eyes slid shut as she leaned forward, sliding her hands around the back of his neck and interlacing her fingers. When she was within reach, Darren reached out with his head, and kissed her.

  Their lips met with a shock of static that went ignored by both parties, and continued onto a light dance as the pair kissed. Her breath spilled across Darren’s lip, the moisture sticking to his dry skin. Darren let his hands roam across her back, running across the top of her shirt, teasing the edge of her skin.

  Audrey shifted herself closer to Darren, pressing her breasts against Darren’s chest. She was leaning against the tip of Darren’s erection, but she gave no sign of noticing it at all. Darren sure hoped she wouldn’t notice, he couldn’t help it, but he didn’t want her to think that sex was what was on his mind. It was, he couldn’t deny it, but what his foremost thought was just being close to Audrey.

  Darren continued to explore her back, venturing north across the muscles of her shoulders. He felt the curve of her shoulder blades, the muscles tensing and relaxing as she adjusted her grip on Darren’s neck. With every breath she took, her breasts pushed harder against his chest, but not as hard as he was pushing against his own pants.

  Darren wrapped his arms around Audrey’s back, pulling her tighter against him, wanting to feel as much of her against him as he could. She squeezed against him without protest-in fact, increasing the rate of her kisses into a feverish frenzy. The tips of her hardening nipples pushed against Darren’s own chest, doing nothing to try and dull the throbbing of his crotch.

  Audrey slid her hips closer, spreading her legs apart to fit on the couch, pushing her body tight against his.

  Now she noticed the bulge. Out of her mouth came what sounded like a muffled laugh that brought a bright red hue
to Darren’s face, but the other part of his body tried to convince him that what he heard was a moan.

  Darren’s hands slid underneath the back of Audrey’s shirt. He didn’t tell them to, they just did it on their own. They slid upwards across her flesh, following the long muscles up to her ribs. His hands poked out the top of the fabric, the shirt bunched up into a tight line across her back.

  Would she let him take it off of her? Is that what she wanted?

  Wouldn’t she just take it off herself?

  Darren wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted. Part of him wanted to rip her clothes off and go to town right then and there. But the other part told him that it was way too soon. He didn’t know her very well yet, and that they should spend more time together first, before going that far. She knew what that small part of him was thinking, but he could only hope that she knew what the other half was.

  Audrey slid her hands out from around Darren’s shoulders and down his chest, stopping across his pecks. She pushed herself away slow, peeling her breasts off his body, disconnecting their lips when her neck couldn’t stretch any further. Her eyes opened, focusing on Darren’s own as she leaned back further. Her perma-smile was a little crooked, but just as large as always.

  “I thought we were going to watch a movie?” she said in such a sly way that her mouth opened only a slight amount.

  “I did too.”

  Audrey forced her weight down onto Darren harder. “Feels like you had other ideas.”

  Darren’s face began to burn.

  Audrey laughed. “Just teasing you,” she said. “‘I understand. Better than you think.”

  Audrey-straight to the point-Wilde lifted one knee and rotated herself into a sitting position beside Darren, letting her hand flow down his chest to his thigh as she moved.

  The bulge in his pants was visible without covering it, but now that she had to point it out, there was no point in trying to hide it. He shifted his leg to try and disguise it, but it didn’t do as much good as he hoped it would.

  “So,” Audrey said, positioning herself beside Darren so that she could lean against him and rest her head on his shoulder. “Find anything good?”

  Audrey’s hand slid up his thigh. It was only inches from the bulge. “I seemed to have gotten distracted.”

  “That’s probably my fault.”

  “I’m not placing blame.”

  “Looks like an OK movie.”

  “I don’t know what it is.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not if I’m here with you.”

  Audrey laughed and lifted her head off of his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. “At least you have your priorities straight.”

  Darren turned his head and stole a kiss from her lips. “You’re my only priority right now.”

  “You are a smart man.” Audrey said as she slid away from Darren.

  Darren thought she was going to get up, but once she reached the edge of the love seat, she laid down onto Darren’s lap. Her head bumped the bulge, and then readjusted itself further down his thigh, her ponytail draping over his leg, crawling up his shirt. Her own shirt had bunched up her stomach, revealing the slope of her stomach. Her navel was out of Darren’s view, but just seeing the flawless skin bared across her midriff was enough to make him throb.

  Audrey pushed her cheek hard into Darren’s thigh. “You need more fat,” she said. “You’re not as soft as my pillow.”

  “Sorry.”

  Audrey slid the hand of the shoulder she laid on beneath Darren’s leg-just above the kneecap and took hold as a yawn escaped her mouth.

  “Tired?” Darren asked. “I can go if you need some sleep.”

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  Darren reached down and ran a hand across her head as gentle as he could. “Good,” he said. “I didn’t want to go either.”

  Darren continued to run his hand over her hair as they turned their attention to the movie. Her hair was so soft and smooth, like the women in shampoo commercials, and he began to picture her in a commercial of his own, water running down her bare back and over her nipples disguised from the camera.

  That bulge was never going to go away if he kept that up.

  Darren took his hand back to open the soda laying on the cushion and set it on the desk behind him, beside the unopened one Audrey brought for herself. He lowered his hand back to her head, stroking it as he watched her long eyelashes move up and down with such fluidity each time she blinked.

  He couldn’t remember ever having seen a woman more beautiful than Audrey, ever in his life. None of the pop culture icons he had seen before even stood a chance, nor did his ex, Rachel.

  How could he ever have wasted so many years with that girl? If only he could have known that Audrey was out there, he never would have wasted that time. He would have prepared himself for this meeting, or even hunted her out sooner if he only knew what his future had included.

  Live and learn. That’s life.

  Darren continued to stroke the head laying across his lap as the movie moved on. His erection had subsided-well after he embarrassed himself enough-and he felt nothing but peace sitting there with his new girl. She was everything he could have ever hoped for, and more. It felt so right just sitting there with her, just relaxing in such a comfortable silence.

  Just propose to her and get it over with.

  Too soon for that. Don’t know her enough to sleep with her, so why marry her so soon? Whoever said she even felt the same thing for him?

  Darren looked down at the face resting on him. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing slow and steady. She was so comfortable laying across his thigh that she fell asleep.

  Darren didn’t stop stroking her hair though. He liked the feel of his fingers running along the waves of her hair, and she must have enjoyed it enough to fall asleep while he did.

  He let his eyes float over the soft features of her face, along the lines of her ear, then down to her bared shoulder.

  The small pocket of fabric that covered her breast was bunched up with the rest of her shirt, bulging away from her skin. It still blocked Darren’s vision from seeing more than just the sloping of her soft flesh, but if he adjusted the fabric just enough, or even slid the strap down her arm a little bit, he would be able to see the entire thing.

  But he couldn’t do that. Undressing her while she slept wasn’t very ethical.

  She might not notice.

  But what if she woke up with her strap slid down her arm? How could that be explained away?

  If the fabric bulging over her breast was just lifted a little bit, that would be enough to see the entire thing. She would never notice her shirt being adjusted that small amount.

  Unless she’s awake, just resting her eyes.

  She’s asleep.

  Positive?

  Yes.

  But, is it right to be sneaking a peek?

  She obviously wanted to show off her assets, why else would she wear a shirt like that out? She also did say that looking was permitted, just no staring.

  An assumed yes is not a yes.

  But what harm would it cause?

  She could get mad and end the relationship.

  For sneaking a peek?

  Yep.

  But it would be so easy...

  Don’t do it. Don’t risk everything for something so immature. If she wants her breasts to be seen, she’ll say something. Or display them herself.

  Darren couldn’t argue with reason. He already took a risk blowing off everything Rachel and him put together over the years. He also risked his entire college career by going down into that tunnel. He couldn’t put his new relationship in jeopardy. Be a gentleman and don’t force the girl to bare herself to feed the thing pushing at the fly again.

  Darren tried to change the focus of his mind onto the movie playing on TV. It was enough to just be sitting there with Audrey on his lap, but he’d give anything to have a good book instead of being forced into watching the poor
acting on the tube.

  It wasn’t long until Darren’s head became heavy and fell onto the back of the loveseat. He slept for some unknown amount of time before Audrey lifted her head off of his lap, waking him up. He blinked a few times, squinting at the light as he tried to put his brain back into gear.

  Audrey yawned, stretching out the red impression that ran from the base of her chin to her ear. Her hair became matted on that side of her head, but she didn’t seem to notice as she looked toward her alarm clock.

  “Looks like we’ve been sleeping awhile,” she said.

  Darren tried to muffle his own yawn, then stretched out his neck-he had been sleeping with it at an odd angle. “What time is it?”

  “One.”

  “How’d it get so late?” He looked at the TV, but it was the same movie playing over again.

  “I guess time flies when you’re having fun.”

  “I know all we did was sleep, but it was still fun being with you.”

  “You wouldn’t be saying that if I drooled on your leg.”

  Darren laughed. “I suppose I should be going back to my own room.”

  “We do have a busy day planned tomorrow.”

  Darren shook out his arms and pushed himself to his feet. Audrey did the same. He picked up his soda and his jacket and Audrey walked him to the door to her room.

  “I can walk you downstairs,” she said.

  “I can manage. Get yourself to bed, I know how tired you are.”

  As if on cue, Audrey yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. “It’s no trouble.”

  Darren leaned in and kissed Audrey’s forehead. “Get to bed.”

  “Okay.” She reached up for another kiss.

  Darren pulled open the door and stepped out, turning around as Audrey held it open facing him. “I did have a lot of fun with you tonight.”

  “I did too.”

  Darren leaned in and kissed Audrey again. “Goodnight.”