She. Chose. Me.
And now, I was taking her home.
There wasn’t much talking on the two-hour drive, aside from the time we stopped for gas and argued about which chip was superior.
Of course, her favorite had to be the cool ranch tortilla ones. She feigned offense when I called her crazy, though she did try to say my preference for the classic potato chip was boring.
The audacity of this woman.
We both knew I was anything but boring.
I’d have been more than happy to prove it again.
Avery was shaken up at being caught by our parents, but I tried my best to leave the topic alone, at least until we were somewhere she felt safe, somewhere she could break down and let me hold her broken pieces.
I soaked in every moment of the drive. The way she felt behind me, her chest pressed to my back. The way she would squeeze me when we leaned ‘too far’, which I did on purpose several times, just to feel her tightly against me. The way she got brave an hour and a half in, sticking her hand out so the wind blew through her fingers.
By the time we reached my apartment building, I felt like a desperate teenage boy, unable to think about anything but the fastest way to get into my girl’s pants. I needed to get her upstairs quick, before I bent her over my bike and fucked her for the world to see.
The idea of anyone else seeing her perfect, pale curves and hearing her symphony of moans and gasps made me want to punch something. I wasn’t about to share Avery with anyone, not if I could help it.
She was all mine.
Mine to love and protect, to break and rebuild. Mine to have and to shield from the world.
“Where are we?” she asked as she removed her helmet. She shook her head, running her fingers through her hair to tame the mess the helmet made of her strands.
“My apartment.”
Her eyebrows raised as she looked up at the twenty-story building. “Wow.”
“Oh, just wait,” I told her, smiling wickedly as I grabbed her hand and led her to the door.
She watched me carefully when we got into the elevator, her eyes narrowing curiously when I held my key card against the sensor and pressed my floor number.
Twenty.
“What's going on?” Her voice was full of confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you really live here?”
“Sure do.” I smiled as we approached my floor.
I watched her eyes widen when the elevator doors slid open to the foyer. Her jaw dropped soon after I opened the door to my apartment. She took a few slow steps in before turning to face me in awe.
“This isyours?”
I chuckled as I rubbed my chin. “Yes.”
“It’s…amazing.”
“Not bad for a mangy stray, right?” I teased her, and she immediately reddened, wrapping her arms around herself.
“I’m sorry I called you that. I was just…”
“Hey,” I said as I walked to her and grabbed her chin, tracing my thumb along her jaw. “Don’t go back there. We’re here now.” She nodded and bit her lip, her eyes dropping to my mouth. “How about I show you the bedroom?”
