Forgiven (17 page)

“Let me just say, that you look amazing tonight.” I reached over and pulled her face to mine and kissed her. She ran her tongue across my lips, so I opened and let her deepen the kiss. I felt her shiver as my tongue touched hers. It wasn’t until we were both breathless that we finally parted. I smiled at her before I backed out of the space.

She put her hand in mine as we drove back to my apartment. When I pulled into the lot she turned to look at me. “Thank you for what you said to Heather.”

I brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I meant every word.”

I continued to stare into those beautiful brown eyes. “Come on, I believe I owe you dinner.”

I got out of the car and rushed around the front to open her door. As she stepped out of the car, I realized that Angie was bringing something back to me that I had lost that night. It was a side of me that people hadn’t seen in two years—I wanted to take care of someone other than myself.

I grabbed her hand and held it in mine as we walked up the stairs to my door. Josh’s car was gone so he must have already left for his date. I wanted nothing more than to be alone with Angie, even if all we did was cuddle on the couch.

Unlocking the door, I led her into the apartment. I’d never brought a girl home before. If I hooked up with a girl, I usually went back to her place.

I put my keys down on the table and turned to her. “Do you want something to drink?”

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down. “Sure.”

She looked a bit nervous. Was she still afraid of my asshole personality making an appearance?

“Angie, is everything okay? You look nervous.”

Her eyes snapped to mine. “Nothing, I’m fine.”

She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She was fine in the car, what changed in the time it had taken us to walk into the apartment?

“I have everything prepped, but I still have to cook dinner. Do you want to hang with me in the kitchen, or would you rather watch TV?” I asked, hoping to put her mind at ease.

She shook her head, like she was trying to clear it and instantly her smile was back. “I’d love to watch you cook me dinner. I have to see how good you really are,” she laughed.

“Well then, follow me and I’ll show you the true art of cooking,” I said with an exaggerated bow.

She giggled and followed me into the kitchen. I was glad I was so prepared. I walked over to the iPod dock, hit play, and Dashboard Confessional’s “Stolen” was the first song. The song said everything I felt about Angie—she had stolen my heart.

“I love this song,” she said.

She had the same taste in music as I did, so I knew she would like it. “I thought you would,” I agreed as I walked over to the fridge.

“You like Corona, right?” I asked.

She smirked at me, “You pay attention.”

I laughed, “Yes, yes I do.”

“So, what’s for dinner?” she asked, giving me a skeptical look.

“Are you doubting my cooking skills?” I replied in mock horror.

“Maybe I am,” she said with a laugh.

I pulled the chicken and two beers out of the fridge. I waved the chicken around. “Well I am about to prove you very wrong.
We
will be having chicken marsala.”

I opened the beers and handed her one. Angie turned and sat at the table. Turning on the stove I started to make dinner, but I looked over to see her watching me. Her cheeks flushed pink, when she realized I’d caught her staring.

“Is there anything you want me to do?” she asked, trying to shift the focus onto something else.

I pointed to the cabinet with the plates. “You can set the table if you want.”

She gave me a quick salute and a giggle before heading over to the cabinet. I’d already put down clean placemats. Watching as she tried to reach the plates, I almost laughed at her stretching to get them, but they were just out of her reach. I walked over behind her and placed my hands on her hips. Her breathing hitched, and that sound alone was enough to give me a hard on.

I moved my hands up to her shoulders and turned her around. The look in her eyes sent desire racing through my veins. I leaned down and took her lips with mine. She slid her arms around my neck and into my hair. I deepened the kiss, knowing I would never get tired of the feel of her lips against mine.

As her tongue danced with mine, I felt myself getting a little too excited. I groaned and pulled away. “You taste amazing. I’ll never get enough of you,” I whispered as I brushed her hair out of her face.

She was breathing hard as I turned her back to the cabinet and pulled the dishes down for her. After she took them off me, I brushed her hair to the side and placed my lips on her neck. She shivered before sighing and leaning into me. I wrapped my arms around her and just held her for a moment. “You are so beautiful, I can’t keep my hands to myself, but I’m going to try so maybe we can have dinner at some point tonight.”

She giggled as I let her go. If I didn’t get my shit together, we would end up in my room having desert before dinner. And as much as I wanted to do that, I needed to give her time. I didn’t want her to regret anything about sleeping with me.

I did my best to focus on making dinner but it was hard with Angie sitting right behind me, knowing she was watching my every move. My body had an almost uncontrollable reaction to her, and I knew I would probably be spending an hour in a cold shower before bed tonight.

Once everything was ready, we sat down at the table to eat.

Angie picked up her fork. “This looks amazing. Where did you learn to cook like this?”

I shrugged. “My mom taught me. She didn’t want me to grow up relying on someone else to feed me.”

She looked up from her plate. “What are your parents like?”

Shit. It seemed such a normal conversation, but the truth of the matter was, I rarely spoke about my family. She already knew I was hiding something, but hadn’t pressed me about it. I just hoped that she would continue to avoid the subject. I could answer questions about my family, without talking about that night.

“They’re great—they’ve always been there for me no matter what. What about yours?”

“Well it’s just me and my dad.” She looked a little uncomfortable, and it struck me that maybe I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t a huge fan of talking about their past.

“So what made you choose history as your major?” I asked, changing the subject.

Angie looked relieved. “Well, I want to be a teacher and I love history so I figured it was the perfect combination,” she smiled.

“What grade do you want to teach?” I asked.

“Probably high school,” she laughed when I gave her a look that said I thought she was crazy.

“You’re telling me that you want to willingly spend eight hours a day with annoying and immature teenagers?” Fuck, I would have loved to have had her as my high school history teacher—instead of the balding, middle-aged man that I’d been stuck with.

She smiled. “I know, it sounds crazy right?”

“Just a little,” I laughed.

We continued to eat, making small talk about our classes. Once dinner was done, I cleared the table and sat back down across from her. Reaching for her hand, I waited for her to look my in the eyes.

“Thank you for giving me a chance. I’m not sure I deserve it, but I’m going to prove to you it was worth the risk.”

“Caleb—” she stopped as I stood up and pulled her to me. Bending down I brushed my lips across hers.

I heard Ed Sheeran’s “Sunburn” start to play. Shit, I thought I’d deleted this from the playlist. This song was a little too close to reality for me. I just hoped she didn’t listen to the lyrics and see the truth on my face.

Tipping her chin up to me. “Dance with me, Angie,” I whispered.

She nodded her head. I felt her shiver as I put my arms around her and pulled her close to me, just like that first night. She smelled wonderful and I could have stayed here forever with her in my arms. She was everything I never dreamed I could have. As we danced in the kitchen, I felt her breathing match mine. She was so close, and all I could think about was the taste of her on my lips.

I placed a kiss on her the top of her head, and she raised her face to me—she was breathtaking. I leaned down and kissed her. Before I knew what was happening, I had deepened the kiss. Pouring all of my feelings into that kiss, I wanted her to understand everything I felt with actions as well as words.

When the kiss ended we were both breathless. I didn’t want to push her too far, because I knew she wasn’t ready to take that next step. I could wait until she was, but I needed to calm myself the hell down. The first touch of her lips and I was standing at attention. A movie would be a good way to spend time with her without getting all worked up.

“How about we watch a movie?” I asked.

She looked a little confused. “Sure, what should we watch?”

I walked over to the cabinet under the TV and pulled out the DVD’s that were inside. “Here are the ones we have.”

She bent down and flipped through the DVD’s. It took all of my willpower to not stare at her ass. She stood up and handed me the movie. I walked it over and put it in the player, without looking at what she picked. I couldn’t concentrate around her—much less give two shits about what movie we were going to watch.

I sat down next to her on the couch, put my feet on the coffee table and pulled her to my side. She sighed as if she was content enough to stay there forever. She was rubbing slow circles on my thigh, unaware of the reaction my body was having to her touch. I had to move around in my seat a few times so she wouldn’t notice the growing problem in my pants. I didn’t want to scare her off. About twenty minutes into the movie I felt her lips press to my neck. I looked down to see her watching me instead of the movie.

She had a spark in her eyes, and I watched in amazement as she got up and climbed into my lap.
What the hell?
All of a sudden her lips were on mine, and her tongue was seeking entrance into my mouth. I curved my hand around her neck and slid it up into her hair. Fuck, she was driving me crazy. I knew she could feel my erection pressing into her.

“Angie, what are you doing?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath.

She shrugged. “I wanted to kiss you.”

She looked away as a blush crept up her cheeks. I turned her face back to me. “Don’t be embarrassed. I definitely don’t mind kissing, I just don’t want to push you too fast.”

She giggled. “You can be so sweet, when you want to be. I’m still not ready to go that far, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to make out while we watch the movie.”

I laughed, “Well why didn’t you just say so?” I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her lips back to mine.

We ended up lying down on the couch and making out for most of the movie—I’d forgotten how much fun making out could be. The time flew and I knew Josh could be home soon, depending on how well his “date” went. I sat up with Angie still in my arms.

“Should we head back to your place?” I asked.

“Probably. We wouldn’t want Emily to send out the search dogs,” she said with a smile.

Not wanting to piss Emily off again I stood up and grabbed my keys by the door. I took Angie’s hand and walked out to my car. I held her hand the entire way back to her apartment—not wanting a minute to go by where I wasn’t touching her. I pulled into the parking lot, got out, and walked her up to her door.

I turned toward her. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. Thanks for dinner.” She gave me quick kiss on the lips before heading in.

I walked back to my car and thought for the hundredth time how lucky I was that Angie was willing to give me another chance.

I walked up the stairs to the apartment to see Emily waiting for me.

Shit.

Emily hadn’t spoken to me the entire day, playing out some fucked-up protest. Why I don’t know, since she is the one that wanted to push Caleb and I together in the first place.

“How was the date?” she asked sarcastically.

“I’m not talking to you about it until you knock off the bullshit,” I said, walking to my room to get ready for bed.

I heard her follow behind me. “Look I don’t want to fight over this. I just don’t want to see him hurt you…again.”

I sat down on my bed and looked up at her. I didn’t want to fight with her anymore, but I also needed her to understand my decision to give Caleb a chance. “I know, but Tuesday was the first time Caleb has opened up to me, and if I don’t give him a chance I’d always regret it, no matter what happens.”

She exhaled loudly before coming to sit down next to me. She held her hands folded in her lap, staring at the wall. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

I turned and grabbed her hands, forcing her to look at me, “Em, I have never cared about a guy as much in my life.”

“As long as he makes you happy, and doesn’t do anything to hurt you, I suppose I can give him a chance.” She squeezed my hand.

“Thank you, Em, that means a lot,” I said giving her a hug.

“Anytime.” She patted me on the back, then got up and headed to the door. “Alright, I’m off to bed. Can’t wait till classes are over, I need the beach and some sun. Are you sure you’ll be okay by yourself over spring break?”