“Holy shit,” Jake says.
Holy shit is right.
Em smiles. “Doesn’t she look perfect?”
“Levi?” Stevie whispers, waving her hand in my face.
I clear my throat. “You look amazing, Bambi.”
That makes her smile. “Thanks, Hotshot.”
That compliment wasn’t enough, but I can’t compliment her the way I want to with everyone around. They’ll think something has already happened between us.
Em steps toward Jake and hands him back his card.
“Thank you, Jake. I’m sorry we took so long.” Stevie grimaces.
I turn to my best friend, and his eyes haven’t stopped roaming up and down Stevie’s body since she’s gotten back. He looks like he wants to eat her, and for the first time…all right, for the third time, I want to punch the blond bastard.
“No need for apologies. It wasmy pleasure.” His voice is a lot more suggestive than I expected or want it to be.
“We should head home,” I say loudly without looking at my roommate.
Jake licks his lips before looking me in the eye and raising a brow as if goading me. The fucker heard the edge in my voice.
I shrug in indifference, so of course he tries to provoke me even further by walking up to Stevie and giving her a long hug. She seems comfortable with it, but it stirs something in me. After saying bye and thanking everyone again, I lay my hand against Stevie’s lower back, guiding her to the car. Looking over my shoulder, I send Jake a dirty look, and the motherfucker winks back. I might’ve just proved his and Cameron’s point. Knowing them, they will talk about it on the way back to campus.
Putting my focus back on Stevie, I realize she seems taller than I remember. Looking down, I see new boots.
“Yeah, I know.” She shrugs. “But they’re very comfortable and only three inches tall.” She sounds happy. Good.
She moves around me and to the passenger seat of the car. The entire time I watch her short hair bounce in tight waves, managing to catch a glimpse of her ass in those jeans.
Fuck. Me.
I check myself and jump into the car. Shit, she’s even walking with more confidence. Everything I already knew was beautiful has tripled.
Before I can turn the radio on, she takes charge and hooks her phone up to the Bluetooth adapter that old cars usually have.
That’s new.
“Risk” by Gracie Abrams plays. “It’s been stuck in my head all day.” She turns the volume up without asking, which is fine, but not something she has done before.
Then she does the last thing I expect her to do: sing. I turn to look at her. Stevie has her eyes closed while singing the soft yet firm song. Glancing a couple more times while trying to maintain my focus on the road, another song plays, and she sings again.We speak briefly about what the guys and I did at the mall, but the rest of the drive is filled with her light singing voice.
Once we pull up a couple of blocks away from the apartment, where I find a great parking spot, she snatches a notebook that she’s been hiding in her backpack and starts to write something down. Her nose scrunches up like it usually does when she’s focused, and I take the opportunity to step out of the car. Opening the back door, I grab what seems to be the hundreds of shopping bags the girls and her brought along. Once I round the car to the passenger seat, Stevie’s staring ahead with her notebook closed. At first, I’m worried she’s upset about something, but as soon as I open the door, she places thenotebook back inside her bag, steps out of the car, and looks me in the eye, smiling.
“I finished the song,” she whispers.
My eyes widen. “Your callback song?”
She nods, still grinning, and jumps in excitement before throwing her arms around my neck. I almost lose my balance before dropping all the bags, not giving a shit what’s in them, and hugging her back. Her lavender and vanilla scent, along with the new shampoo smell, envelops me. A sense of pleasure hits me at knowing that I’m partially responsible for the good day she had, and that the things she did seemed to trigger her artistic side. She’s been stressing out about finishing this song for weeks.
Stevie lets out a deep breath, and I press her the tiniest bit closer to me, urging my body not to react to her closeness.
She pulls away completely, leaving me slightly hard and oddly disappointed. “Today was great. Thank you, Hotshot.”
Smiling, I ask, “Are you happy with your new look?”
