Taking Chances (10 page)

Bree had been
right, I shouldn't have been nervous about the date. We'd had so much fun
laughing and getting to know each other during dinner, and the movie was
hilarious. As promised, we didn't make out in the theater, but the few tender
kisses he'd stolen throughout the night left me wanting more, and honestly I
couldn't wait to get back to the house. Chase was long forgotten by the time we
were on our way back. We walked into a party much like the first one I'd been
to, and I stifled a groan. Hopefully this one didn't end the same as the
others. Brandon squeezed my hand reassuringly as we made our way to the
kitchen. I was whisked away by Bree to get the play by play of the date, and
though she'd told me to keep it clean, she was frowning with my lack of juicy
details.

“Uh, who's
that?” She pointed over my shoulder and I turned and searched through the sea
of people. It didn't take long for my eyes to land on a leggy blonde hanging
off Brandon. I smiled when I saw him repeatedly take her hands off him.

I looked back
to my friend, “Well what do you say we go find out?”

When we got
close enough, I could hear her whiny voice, she was obviously intoxicated. “But
Brandon I've missed youuu.” She pouted at him and tried to run a finger down
his chest, but he caught it and once again put her hand by her side. “We're so
good together, remember? I'm sorry about this summer honey but I want you
back.”

Even with him
pushing her away, I was starting to get insanely jealous over this girl who was
most likely his latest ex. “Kendra, seriously you need to stop. We're done.”

“Come on
Brandon, I know you miss me too. Let's just pretend the last few months didn't
happen.” She leaned in to try to plant a kiss on his neck but he pushed her
back and held her away at arm’s length.

No wonder
Brandon tried to beat the crap out of Chase. I wanted to punch this girl and
she was falling over drunk. I decided it was my time to cut in, and yes I was
going to lay it on thick. “Hey baby.” I purred as I stepped in between the two
and pulled his face down so I could cover his lips with mine. Letting my tongue
trail across his bottom lip, I whispered loud enough so Kendra could still
hear. “I have something for you in your room.” I said suggestively.

He grabbed
behind my knees and lifted me into his arms as he walked me towards his room. I
caught a glimpse of the girl one more time, and couldn't help but laugh at her
expression.
Game over bitch. I win.

“Tease.”
Brandon whispered in my ear, “But you are adorable when you're jealous.”

“Well I wasn't
going to let her keep touching you. That's my job.”

He grinned and
pressed two loud kisses to my cheek before locking his door and setting me on
the ground. He threw a pair of boxers at me and I held them up confused.

“Unless you
want to fight your way to Chase's room, that's all I have for you.”

“Oh.” When he
turned toward his dresser again, I switched my jeans for them quickly. They
were so big I had to roll them up a few times, but I loved the fact that I was
going to sleep in his clothes. “Um, do you have a shirt too?”

He unbuttoned his
shirt and sauntered over to me with a mischievous grin on his face. Slipping
his fingers under my chin, he titled my head up and nearly kissed me senseless.
I felt his other hand trail down my side to the bottom of my shirt, and then
his warms fingers were on my stomach, soon followed by his other hand. Other
than the second it took to pull my shirt over my head, his lips never left mine
and his eyes stayed closed. A chill ran across my body and my breaths started
coming faster as I thought about his hands running over my bare body. He
shrugged out of his button-up, draped it over my shoulders and resumed to
running his fingers over my bare waist and stomach while I pulled my arms
through the sleeves. Once my hands were back on his muscled chest he slowly
buttoned it back up. I was gasping for air by the time he finished.

I flipped on a
lamp and Brandon turned off the light as I sunk onto the bed. Turning back
towards me he stopped mid step. “This was a bad idea.”

“Why?” I sat up
quickly.

He chuckled and
crawled onto the bed pushing me back down and hovering over me. “You're in my
bed, wearing my clothes, and your hair was splayed out across my pillows.” He
kissed my neck before gruffly whispering in my ear, “You look so damn sexy, I
want to take you in my arms and never let you leave this bed.”

“Then why don't
you?” I countered huskily.

“God Harper,
you're going to be the death of me I swear.” He turned the lamp back off, rolled
onto his side and pulled me towards him.

I hmphed and
curled deeper into his embrace. “I love how I feel in your arms.” I sighed into
his chest.

“You fit there
perfectly.” He squeezed his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, “Get
some sleep sweetheart.”

***

I was woken up
the next morning to Brandon's lips on my neck. I smiled softly and ran my
fingers over his head, “I want to wake up to this every morning.” My voice was
raspy from sleep.

He chuckled
against my throat and placed a warm kiss on it causing me to bite my own lip to
stop a moan from escaping. “Does that mean I get to keep you?”

“As long as you
share me with Bree. I'm pretty sure she'd kidnap me otherwise.”

Brandon had
gently moved the collar of his shirt I was wearing away and was smiling against
my collarbone, “I went to Kindergarten, I learned how to share with others.”

I burst into
laughter and brought his face to mine for a quick kiss. “Well I don't want you
to share me with everyone.”

“I don't plan
to.” He propped himself up on an elbow and brushed his thumb across my cheek.
“I want you to be my girl Harper.”

A slow smile
spread across my face and I was beaming inside. It was Saturday morning, and
we’d just met on Thursday, but it didn’t feel like this was coming a moment too
soon. There was something about this dangerous looking god that made me feel
safe and cherished. Being with him felt so right, it was almost scary but
incredibly thrilling to have found someone that made me feel this way. Pulling
his face to mine, I stopped less than an inch from him, “I'd love to be your
girl.” I whispered against his lips.

Brandon kissed
me fiercely, but when I ran my fingers down his side and rested them on the top
of his shorts he caught my hand and held it away. “I just woke up with the most
beautiful girl I've ever seen beside me, and you agreed to be my girl. If you
keep touching me...well, let's just say I can't make any promises.”

I brought his
mouth back to mine and wrapped a leg around his hip arching my body into his. I
was suddenly extremely aware that his boxers on my body, and his basketball
shorts were the only thing separating us, and apparently so was he. I didn't
want to go further than this, I just wanted to be closer to him. Unfortunately,
that wasn't going to happen. He pushed me back down to the bed and stood up
laughing and shaking his head.

“I'll go make
some coffee.”

I pouted and
fell back into the pillows. “Fine.”

His mouth
curved up on one side revealing his deep dimple as he leaned over to kiss me
chastely. “I was planning on spending the day with you in here, but if you're
gonna force me into a cold shower, we'll have to find something else.”

I quickly
climbed back under the covers. “I'll be good. Promise.” I mumbled.

Deep brown eyes
searched mine, “There's no rush Harper. You don't have to prove anything to me,
or anyone else. Let's just take this slow, okay?”

My face turned
bright red. “Did you go slow with the other girls?” I wasn't sure I wanted to
know this, but I couldn't help but feel like the reason for him not wanting to
go any further was because he didn't actually want to be with me in that way. I
certainly didn't look anything like his last girlfriend, Kendra. That girl had
looked like a freaking Barbie.

He sighed and
dropped his head to my shoulder. “No. But I know what you're getting at, and
you're wrong.”

I didn't say
anything, just waited to see if he'd explain, and after a few awkwardly silent
moments, he did.

“I don't know
how you could even think that I don't want you, I can barely keep my hands off
you.” He cupped my cheek and held my gaze, “We just met, but I already know
there's something different about you, and I'm not about to ruin this by
rushing into things. I plan on taking my time with you. Those girls, yeah I had
relationships with them, but all they were was a distraction for me. I wanted
to feel something other than being pissed that my dad was gone for good. I
didn’t…” he took a deep breath in and out, “they weren’t you Harper.” He said it
like that explained everything, and in a way, it did.

My heart
thudded irregularly against my chest and I couldn't stop smiling knowing that I
wasn’t the only one that was already in this deep, “Thank you.” I whispered
before pressing my lips softly to his.

We did end up
spending the rest of the day in his bed, and I loved it. We turned on a movie,
but had to keep restarting it because we ended up talking throughout the entire
thing. Other than sweet kisses to the top of my head and nose, all we did was
stay curled up in each other’s arms. Brandon would intertwine our fingers and
hold them close to his chest whenever I started trailing my fingers down his
bare stomach, and eventually just ended up putting a shirt on. I had frowned at
that, but knew it was my fault. We left the room to go to dinner with Bree and
Konrad that night, and other than a quick trip to buy coffee and donuts for
everyone on Sunday morning, we repeated our previous day in his bed. We were
dozing off while attempting to watch another movie when Bree came walking in.

“I'll be ready
to go in a few minutes, do you have all your things?”

Guess that
means Konrad went back to the dorms already. “No, but it won't take long, give
me a few minutes.”

I started to
climb off the bed, but Brandon wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back
down. Bree snickered and walked out the door. After it was shut, Brandon pulled
me closer to him.

“You're
leaving?” He asked softly, his fingers trailing down my arm.

“Yeah, I have
to go back to my dorm.”

“You don't have
to. I want you here with me.”

My first
thought was of Chase and what he would think about that. I scolded myself and
shook my head, “I can't, we're not rushing, remember?”

He grumbled
halfheartedly and squeezed me tighter, “If I knew you were going to leave at
the end of today I would have clarified what we weren't going to rush.”

I giggled
against his jaw and continued on with a trail of kisses. “I know what you
meant. But I can't stay here.” Lord knows I would love to wake up to his
handsome face every day. But like he said, we just met and I've only been out
of Sir's house for a little over two weeks. If that's not the definition of
rushing, I don't know what is. 

“Weekends?”

“What about
them?” I asked against his neck.

“Will you stay
with me on the weekends? You'll probably be here anyway.”

I sat up and
looked down at his breathtaking face, “You really want me here? You're not
going to get tired of me being around?”

“Seriously
Harper? I told you I wanted to keep you here. You're right though, you do need
to stay at the dorm with Bree. So if I have to 'share' you with her, then I
plan on using this sharing to my advantage so I get you too.”

I rolled my
eyes and pushed against his chest playfully, “Okay fine. How about this? Unless
something comes up, I will stay here with you on Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays.”

A huge smile
showing off his perfect teeth and dimple spread across his face as he brought
his mouth to mine, “That sounds perfect.” He spoke around our kisses.

“I feel like
I'm the kid of a divorced couple.” I grumbled and he laughed.

We kissed a few
moments longer until we heard Bree complaining from the hallway. Brandon hugged
me tight to his chest at his door and planted a quick kiss on my forehead,
“I'll see you at school, have a good night sweetheart.”

The door swung
open to reveal Bree with our bags slung over her shoulders and hands on her
hips. “Sometime today, Harper.” After we were in her car, her fake sullen mood
disappeared, “Tell. Me. Everything!”

I laughed and
turned in my seat so I was facing her. “I'm afraid I'm about to disappoint you
again, nothing happened.”

“What!” She
looked between the road and me “You guys never left his room! You can't tell me
nothing happened.”

I shrugged and
smiled, “I'm serious, nothing happened. All we did was talk and sleep.”

Her jaw dropped
and after a minute formed into a perfect O, “He's gay?”

“Oh my God!
What? No!”

“I'm sorry but
you're going to tell me that a straight guy had you in his bed for three whole
days and didn't try anything with you?”

“It wasn't
that, we talked about it on Saturday and decided we aren't going to do anything
for a while.”

Her eyebrows
scrunched together and she looked more confused than I'd even seen her,
“But...why?”

“I think he's
afraid of rushing me, and to be honest, I'm kind of glad. I can see how easy it
would be to get too carried away to stop, and I feel like everything about us
has already moved so fast. Not that I'd change anything so far, but I'm happy
we're going to wait. When I think about it, I know I'm still not ready to go
there. He's my first boyfriend, and it's only been a couple days.”

“Huh. I guess
when you put it that way.”

“Is it safe to
assume you and Konrad had a good time?”

She beamed a
smile at me before turning back to the road, “I actually think I like him. Who
knows, I may even try to date him!”