Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (166 page)

  
“As
long as you really mean it about watching a movie,” she said, raising one of
her dark eyebrows.

  
“I
won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do,” I said. I brought my hand
up and drew an X over my chest. “Cross my heart.”

  
“Okay
then,” Nicole said. She licked her lips and smiled, her blush deepening. “Let’s
go.”

Chapter
Five

  
When
Ty let me into the building, holding the door open for me, I started to ask myself
if I had made the right decision. I believed him when he had said that he
wouldn’t push me to do anything I didn’t want to do; but I knew too many girls
in my classes had gone up to guys’ rooms to watch a movie or to study and had
to run out when the guy started to get more and more aggressive.

  
Stop being paranoid. He’s been really nice
all night. Give him a chance. If he screws it up now then you’re only one
building away from your own dorm.
Ty took my hand in his. “Do you want to
take the elevator?” he asked me, pausing in front of it. “I’m on the third
floor.”

  
“I
really prefer the stairs,” I admitted, looking up at him. “The elevators in
these buildings kind of scare me.”

  
“More
than the rollercoaster?” Ty smiled, but I could tell he wasn’t trying to make
fun of me.

  
“Oh
totally,” I said, nodding quickly. “At least if you get thrown off the
rollercoaster, you’re probably going to die instantly. If you get stuck in the
elevator you’re sitting in there for hours and hours.” Ty chuckled and started walking
down the hall toward the stairwell.

  
“You
know, that actually makes a lot of sense,” he said. He pushed the bar on the
door and held it open for me, letting go of my hand. “I got stuck in the
elevator in Birch my sophomore year.”

  
“Oh
god—that’s my nightmare,” I told him, shaking my head and shivering. “If I ever
have to take the elevator down and I’m on my way to class, I’m convinced I’m
going to get stuck in there, and spend like—the entire day stuck, and miss all
my classes.”

  
I
started climbing the stairs and Ty followed behind me; I tried not to think
that he was going to be getting a great view up the back of my skirt, but I
couldn’t help the suspicion. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that Ty
was following too close behind me to actually look up my skirt—or even at my
ass. Something about that made me even happier that I’d agreed to go up to Ty’s
room with him.

  
Ty
opened the door for me again at the third floor and I followed him to his dorm
room. Like all the dorms at West Central, Ty’s room had two “bedrooms” and a
common area, with the bathroom split so that there was a shower and a sink on
one end and a toilet and a sink on the other end of the room.

  
Ty
and his roommate had covered their common area walls with posters, and somehow
moved out the tiny TV that came with all the rooms in favor of a bigger flat
screen TV, hooked up to an Xbox.

  
“The
couch is clean, I promise,” Ty said, turning the electronics on. I sat down,
laughing.

  
“I
didn’t actually think that it might not be until you said that,” I told him.
Tyler shrugged.

  
“Guys
are all pretty much slobs,” he pointed out. “I just wanted to make sure you
knew that I had cleaned up the place for you a bit—not because I expected you
to come over, but I hoped. And I thought that it would be better to clean up
and not have you come over than to not clean and have to deal with the shame.”

  
The
Xbox booted up and Ty sat down next to me on the couch, picking up one of the
controllers.

  
“What
do you want to watch?” I bit my bottom lip and tried to think of what the
“right” answer would be while he logged into Netflix.

  
“Something
funny,” I said, shrugging. “Something easy.” Ty nodded and flipped through the
comedy section, frowning in thought.

  
“How
about
The Addams Family
?” I grinned.

  
“That’s
definitely funny and definitely easy. Sold!” Ty started it and we settled in
together on the couch.

  
My
heart was beating fast in my chest as Ty turned the lights down; I twitched a
little bit when he put his arm around me to pull me closer, but he didn’t try
to grope me or cop a feel. I took a quick, deep breath, and after a few moments
I was comfortable enough to cuddle up to him, kicking my boots off to bring my
feet up onto the couch and tuck them under my legs.

  
After
a while, I was completely at ease; Ty’s body was warm against mine, his
fingertips slid up and down along my arm in a kind of constant caress that
didn’t make me think he was about to try and put the moves on me.

  
“Is
it weird that I kind of wish I had a relationship like Gomez and Morticia?” Ty
snickered.

  
“Who
wouldn’t?” he gestured with his other hand to the TV. “I mean, they’re madly in
love with each other. And apparently neither of them can actually die. That’s a
solid life goal.” I giggled.

  
“The
living forever part is kind of out of reach,” I said, looking away from the TV
to glance up at Ty’s face. “But the madly in love thing is great.”

  
I
licked my lips. In spite of how nervous I’d been, I couldn’t help but remember
the kiss that Ty and I had had at the fair; I definitely wanted to try it
again, and as soon as possible. I shifted against him, trying to think of how
to signal that I wanted him to kiss me without being too obvious about it. Ty’s
hand slid up along my arm to my shoulder and tightened, and I looked up to see
him looking down at me.

  
“If
I’m being too pushy…” I shook my head and turned around to face Ty completely.
I licked my lips and brought my face up to his, and hesitated for just a
moment; Ty took advantage of my pause and pulled me closer, wrapping his arms
around my waist as his lips connected with mine. I shivered, closing my eyes,
and kissed back, pressing my body against Ty’s.

  
Even
the idea of the movie went away completely as Ty and I began to kiss each other
more and more passionately—I couldn’t have kept track of what was happening on
the TV even if I had wanted to. Ty’s tongue slid along my lips and I opened my
mouth, shivering as my body started to heat up little by little.

  
Ty’s
hands started to move along my curves, caressing me slowly. I let my hands
start to wander, nervous but turned on at the same time, my whole body
tingling. I moaned against Ty’s lips as he barely brushed against my breasts
with his hands and then retreated, tickling my ribs on his way down to my hips.
I writhed against Ty, trembling as his kiss deepened and our touches started to
get hotter.

  
Ty
groaned and I could feel the hard ridge of his erection straining at the front
of his jeans pressing up against me. I could feel myself starting to get wet,
my whole body on fire as Ty somehow slid us both down onto the couch, cradling
my body against his, holding me close even as he explored my body with his
hands. He broke away from my lips and kissed along the column of my throat,
nibbling at the spot where my pulse fluttered and licking just underneath it.

  
I
whimpered as Ty’s hand moved down to the hem of my dress, his fingertips
brushing along my thighs. Part of me wanted him to keep going; part of me
wanted to tell him to take me then and there. But the thought of giving into it
right away made something inside me go cold and tight.
Don’t go too fast; you went too fast with Dillon and look where that
landed you.
Ty brought his lips back up to mine and kissed me hungrily, and
I waited to see if he would make a heavier move, if he would try to start
taking my clothes off.

  
His
hand slowly worked its way up along the outside of my thigh, almost tickling
me, his fingertips cold against my hot skin, and I thought to myself that Ty
was obviously different from Dillon—but I still couldn’t let myself go through
with it. I wanted to wait—I wanted to be sure of who Ty was before I had sex
with him.

  
I
broke away from the kiss, panting for breath, and every nerve in my body
screamed that I was making a huge mistake, stopping the make out session.
“Can—can we stop?” I looked up into Ty’s eyes. For a second they looked almost
drugged; but he nodded, taking a quick, deep breath. His hand slid out from
underneath my dress and he hugged me tightly for just a moment.

  
“I
never want you to feel uncomfortable or pressured,” he told me gently. “Any
time you want me to stop, just say the word.”

  
I
smiled, feeling the tingle work through my body—it almost made me want to tell
him I’d reconsidered, that he could do whatever he wanted to me. But instead I
just kissed him once—quickly—on the lips.

  
The
feeling of his mouth against mine was almost enough to make me start the make
out session again; but then I heard keys clattering against the door to the
room and I sat up just in time to see Ty’s roommate walk into the room.

  
“Hi,”
I said nervously, feeling my cheeks burn with a blush. Ty grinned, giving my
hand a quick squeeze.

  
“Welcome
back, Andy,” Ty said, barely looking over his shoulder at his roommate. “This
is Nicole.”

  
“Hey,
Nicole,” Andy said, giving me a quick wave. He was maybe a few inches taller
than me, with sandy brown hair and blue eyes, and something about him made me
sure that he was studying computer programming or something like that, in spite
of the fact that he was wearing a pair of jeans and a
 
t-shirt like just about everyone else on
campus always did.

  
“I’ll
give you guys some privacy.” I giggled and looked at Ty. I knew if I stayed
much longer, we’d start kissing again, and if we started kissing again, I
wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of doing more.

  
“Actually,”
I said, slithering free of Ty’s arms and grabbing my shoes and purse. “I should
probably head back to my dorm. I’m sure Ash is worried about me—she thinks I’m
the kind of gullible fool who’d go on a date with an axe murderer.” I looked at
Ty and smiled, even as my cheeks burned with a blush. “I’ll talk to you later,
I guess.”

  
“I
hope you will,” Ty said, grinning up at me. I hurried out of the room, unable
to fight back the big grin that seemed to be permanently frozen on my face. I
felt giddy, lighter than air. I thought that when I got back to my room and
went to bed, I might actually glow in the dark. I couldn’t wait to see Ty
again.

Chapter
Six

  
The
day after my first date with Nicole—the morning after—I made a point of texting
her right away. I’d been thinking about her all night; from the moment she left
my dorm room, I had been on fire for her. I didn’t even mind that she had left
me rock-hard and almost ready to beg for her to touch me—it made me want her
more. As soon as I got up, I took my phone off of the charger and found her
number in my contacts list.

  
Hey…I hope you had a good night’s sleep,
I wrote. I tapped send and made myself put the phone down. I went into the
shower half of the bathroom and brushed my teeth, trying to resist the urge to
check my phone until I was done.

  
When
I went back into my room, I saw that my patience was rewarded; Nicole had
responded.
I had to take a cold shower,
and then a hot shower because I was freezing.
I chuckled to myself even
though the thought of Nicole in the shower, naked with the water pouring down
on her was enough to almost make me hard again all on its own.

  
Do you want to grab lunch? It’s too late for
me to get breakfast.
I started changing into jeans and a
t-shirt, thinking about everything I had to do that day. I had a big test on
Monday that I needed to be ready for; I wanted to spend as much time with
Nicole as possible, but I had to stay focused. I figured that lunch would be
okay—and if Nicole was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to go on
another date with me, it couldn’t hurt to see her again.

  
Sure thing! I missed out on breakfast too. I
missed my alarm.
My heart skipped a beat in my chest and I
grinned to myself.

  
“Hey,
Andy!” I heard my roommate’s door open in response to my shout.

  
“What’s
up?”

  
“Want
to go to lunch? I’m going down there with Nicole.” There was a moment of
silence.

  
“Yeah,
sure,” Andy called back the next moment. I heard him go back into his room and
gathered up my keys, my wallet with my ID in it. I checked the time; I would
need to head back up and start studying as soon as I could, but I thought I
could spare at least about an hour. And hadn’t Alex been on me about finding a
girl that would inspire me to do something other than studying all the time? I
was just following his advice.

  
Andy
and I headed down and out of the building, and I walked across the courtyard to
the next building down, the one that Nicole’s dorm was in. After a few minutes,
she appeared at the entrance with her roommate Ashley at her side, and I
thanked god that I’d gotten Andy to come with me.

  
“Hey,
Ashley—this is my roommate, Andy,” I said to the other girl, pointing to Andy.

  
“Hi,
Andy,” Ashley said, smiling at him. Nicole met my gaze and we both grinned at
each other: it was kind of perfect in a way.

  
“I,
for one, am starving,” I said. “Let’s get across campus before I pass out from
hunger.” Ashley and Andy fell into step together and I took advantage of the
moment to put my arm around Nicole.

  
“Anyone
looking at us would think this was a double date,” Nicole said, glancing up at
me as we walked across campus together.

  
“It
kind of is,” I pointed out. “Is Ashley single?”

  
“I
think so,” Nicole replied, frowning in thought. “I’m not 100% on it though. She
keeps things from me.”

  
“Terrible
habit for a roommate,” I said, shaking my head. “Andy just got out of a
relationship like…the month before the semester started. So if Ashley
is
single, it would be kind of perfect.”

  
“Oh
god, think of how cheesy it would sound, though,” Nicole said, shaking her head
and grinning. “Though that’s reason enough to try and set them up.”

  
“Let’s
see how they do over lunch,” I suggested.

  
We’d
gotten to the dining hall right at the beginning of lunch; since it was the
weekend, there weren’t very many people waiting in line. Ashley and Andy seemed
to be hitting it off pretty well, from what I could see while we took our turns
scanning our ID cards.
 
The food wasn’t
half bad—or maybe I was feeling more optimistic about it than usual, with
Nicole at my side.

  
We
wandered around the serving area, looking at all the options, and both of us
settled on a hamburger and fries. I grabbed a salad to go with mine, and Nicole
got soup and some of the steamed vegetables. Ashley and Andy caught up to us
when we got to the drinks station, still talking about some TV show they both
were into.

  
“I’m
just saying the earlier seasons were better,” Ashley told Andy, grabbing a cup
and putting it under the tap for the Dr. Pepper. “I feel like they’re not even
trying to keep it in the story anymore.”

“Well it’s been around for ten seasons,”
Andy countered. “Things start to go kind of crazy when you’ve already covered
all the normal stuff.”

  
“What
are they talking about?” I looked at Nicole. She snorted.

  
“I
guarantee you it’s probably
Bones
,”
she said, sighing. “Ashley’s obsessed with it.”

  
“It’s
a good show!” I shook my head and we all went into the dining room with our
trays, looking around for a table. Since it wasn’t that busy, in a matter of a
few seconds we were all making a beeline for one of the smaller tables next to
the windows. I sat down across from Nicole, and Andy sat across from Ashley.

  
“Can
we talk about something else?” I looked at the other couple at the table. “I
have no idea what either of you are talking about.”

  
“What
are you up to this weekend?” I shrugged in response to Nicole’s question.

  
“Mostly
studying,” I told her. “I’ve got a huge test on Monday to look forward to.
You?”

  
“The
same,” Nicole said grimly. “On the plus side, since I am no closer to
understanding the chapter in Psych than I was before Game Night happened,
Ashley has to help me with it.” We started comparing classes, talking about
professors and the different TAs everyone was stuck with.

  
“Man—if
you’ve got Peters, then you need to absolutely make it to every class,” Andy
told Nicole. “She cares more about attendance and trying than about the actual
work you put out, so as long as you at least make an effort you should get
through it okay.”

  
“I
swear,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “I feel like I’m absolutely hopeless
some days. Everyone else has their majors all picked out and I still have no
idea what I want to do.”

  
“That’s
not a big deal,” I told Nicole. “Andy didn’t settle on his major until last
year. He bounced from Physics to pre-med before finally deciding that he was
going to study up on computer programming and launch his own app company when
he graduates.”

  
“I
keep telling her,” Ashley said, pushing her plate aside as she finished her
tuna melt, “that she just has to figure out what gets her excited, and then
she’ll know what she wants to major in.”

  
“That
would help if I didn’t feel like I was probably going to fail all of my classes
except for Introduction to Academic Life,” Nicole said, rolling her eyes. “And
even then I’m not sure I’ll do better than a C.”

  
“They
practically hand out As on a silver platter for that one,” I told her. “That can
be your GPA buffer. Just show up, write the paper at the end of the semester,
and you’ll get the A. I promise.”

  
I
found myself slowing down, getting some more food not because I was hungry but
because I wanted an excuse to spend more time with Nicole. When I got a refill
on my soda I shook my head to myself, looking out through the entryway that led
between the serving area and the dining room.

  
Nicole
looked utterly cute and hot at the same time, in a pair of jeans that fit her
like a glove, and a t-shirt for a local band. She’d bundled up her hair into a
beanie and I wanted to come up behind her and kiss the back of her neck.

  
I
couldn’t stall forever, and I knew that I had to get to studying. When I
absolutely couldn’t eat anymore, we all brought our trays to the return hatch.
As soon as Nicole’s hands were free I grabbed one of them, giving it a squeeze
as we walked across the dining hall to the exit.

  
Andy
and Ashley had gone back to debating their favorite TV show as we walked across
campus and back to the dorm buildings. “I think they’re at least going to be
show-buddies,” I told Nicole, looking at my roommate and hers with a grin.

  
“Oh
then it’s only a matter of time,” she said in a quiet voice, almost giggling.
“They’ll end up making out while they watch a rerun and then it’ll be all
over.”

  
“We
can go on real double dates with them, then,” I pointed out. “Not a bad deal.”

  
No
matter how slowly I tried to walk, I couldn’t walk forever; we got to the dorm
buildings and Andy and Ashley parted ways with a quick hug. Andy called out
that he was going to the Library to pick up some books he’d taken out on
Inter-Library Loan. Nicole and I were finally alone for the first time since
we’d met up.

  
“I
wish I didn’t have to study,” I told her, shaking my head. “But I have to
graduate on time—and if I don’t pass this test I’ll probably end up having to
re-take the class.”

  
“No—it’s
fine,” Nicole said, smiling as she looked up at me. “I have to study too.” I
hesitated for just a second and then I leaned in, kissing her on the lips.

  
Nicole
wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed me back, pressing her body
against mine and opening her mouth before I even tested the waters with my
tongue. I lost all track of time as we stood there, kissing, and I didn’t even
want to be aware of the time—I just wanted to stay there with her, or maybe go
up to her room.

  
But
eventually I knew I had to stop. I broke away and smiled down at Nicole. “We
have to go out again soon,” I told her, kissing her forehead quickly and
letting her go.

  
“Absolutely,”
Nicole agreed. I gave her hand another quick squeeze and then stepped back.

  
“I’ll
text you later, and we’ll see how we’re both doing.” Nicole nodded and I made
myself walk away from her in spite of everything in me telling me that I should
stay, and keep kissing her.

  
I
walked back to my dorm, trying to focus my mind on the studying I had to do;
but I couldn’t wait for our next date.