A few minutes later I tried one more time at her place and slammed my fists on the steering wheel after parking outside a still darkened apartment.
“Where the fuck could she be?” I asked the air.
At last I headed back to my place. Finn was in the living room immersed inCODwith someone online, and Bax and Callahan must have been in their rooms since their trucks were parked in the driveway but they weren’t downstairs. I headed up to my room too and forced myself to do some homework before spending a long, restless night alternately reliving the most glorious kiss of my life and checking my phone in the hopes Taryn would relent and throw me even the tiniest bone of hope.
When my alarm went off in the morning, it was with superhuman effort that I didn’t throw my damn phone against the wall.
She still hadn’t responded.
I stared at the ceiling and wondered what kind of asshole I was to have woken up with the mother of all hard-ons from dreaming about that kiss leading to other things. Instead of jerking off to visions of the most beautiful girl in the world finally being mine, I shot off another text.
Me: Good morning, T. In case you missed it, I want to be more than your friend. Please talk to me.
I rolled out of bed and padded to the head for a cold shower to shut myself down before going to morning lift. As usual I was the last one to the kitchen to grab my breakfast burrito on the way out the door. Not for the first time did I thank Bax and Callahan for cooking up a batch of breakfast every Sunday so I’d get more than only a protein shake each day before we lifted.
Since I knew Taryn’s schedule and she knew mine, I figured she wouldn’t be expecting me to show up outside Reed Hall when she finished class since I should be headed to class in Roberts on the opposite side of campus. Her wide-eyed surprise when she caught sight of me leaning against a planter waiting for her confirmed it.
“Good morning, T.”
Her pale skin and slumped shoulders said she’d slept about as well as I had.
“Danny, I meant it when I said we shouldn’t spend so much time together.” Her eyes darted to the doors of the building, and I had the distinct idea she was going to run again.
“Taryn, we haven’t spent nearly enough time together.”
Her eyes widened and filled with tears. Tipping her head back, she stared at the endless blue of the early November sky, sucked in a long breath, swallowed hard, and dropped her gaze back to me. Seeing those tears would have gutted me anyway, but it hurt even more to know what they meant. I was pretty sure I had my answer as to where she stood about us being just friends.
“Whatever game you’re playing—”
“The only game I play is football. This”—I waved a hand between us—“is serious. And real. And what I’ve wanted for as long as I’ve known you.”
“But—”
“Walk with me. Please.”
It must have been the plea in my voice that did it, because she gave in.
As we ambled along in the general direction of the gym, I asked, “Did you read any of my texts?”
She walked with her arms crossed protectively over her chest. “Um, I was afraid of what excuse you were going to give for what you did.”
I shut my eyes tight against the pain of her admission. “Taryn, the only woman I’ve kissed in the past five years is you. I may have mentioned that in one of those texts. Between the ones from when I was frantically trying to find you.” Turning my head, I caught her stunned expression. “Where were you last night anyway? I looked all over for you and couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“I went for a drive and ended up out by the lake.”
That didn’t sit well, but I had to let it go.
“Do you have time to talk now?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t we talking?”
“The conversation we need to have is going to take more than a minute.” I glanced around at the other people walking past us on the sidewalk. “And it needs to be in private.”
“My next class isn’t until later this afternoon.”
Taking a chance, I slid my arm around her shoulders. “Good. Then we’re going to my place.”
?Chapter Nineteen
