Test Drive (The Bachelor #1) (11 page)

She reached into my nightstand and grabbed the foil packet sealing the deal between us. She climbed back on top of me and unbuttoned my pants; she slid them down and then ran her finger beneath my boxers. My whole body tensed as she pulled them down and mounted me.

"Damn, Camille!" She was a pro when it came to pleasure, something that I had conveniently forgotten when I dumped her.

She was quick to release which didn't help my growing need to explode inside her. I let her do all the work at first. She grinded and rolled her hips against me. I ran my hands across the smooth flesh on her stomach.

I knew I was getting close, and I ached to have more control over the moments. I pulled her to me and rolled us over. She looked beautiful beneath me with her hair splayed out on the pillows. She had a devious smile on her face like she had won somehow. I thrust forward a few more times, and she arched her back in the air. The friction between us sent me over the edge. It felt amazing to release the pent up frustration and uncertainty. I collapsed on the bed beside her, and she rolled towards me putting her head on my shoulder.

It felt good, but I knew I couldn't let this happen. As great as it felt to be inside her, I knew that being with her was settling for someone who couldn't be what I needed. I instantly regretted letting her in. I gave her a few more minutes before I got up to get dressed. I didn't want to be like wham bam thank you ma’am, so I put some pants on and sat on the couch.

"Where are you going?" She pulled the ruffled covers up and rolled over on her side to face me. Her lacy bra could barely hold in her engorged breasts. You could barely tell they were bought and paid for.

"Now do you want to tell me why you are here?" I reached into the mini fridge and pulled out a beer. I offered one to her, but she declined.

"I miss you, Drew. I have dated a lot of guys and none of them make me feel like you do. I want us to get back together." She slung her legs over the bed and came to sit with me on the couch.

"Camille, I told you that I am dating someone now, and I really like her. I don't think we are a match. I want something besides the partying and the trips." I felt like such an ass as the words poured out. I should have never let her in.

A single tear fell down her face. "I thought I could count on you to help me."

"Help you with what?"

She crossed her arms and perched her bare feet on the glass coffee table. "Ricardo kicked me out, and I don't have a place to stay. I thought I could crash here for a few days." I hated seeing her upset even though I wasn't willing to let her back into my life.

I grabbed my wallet and pulled out a few large bills. "Here," I said. "This should hold you over for a few days until you figure it out." It wasn't what she wanted, but there was no way we could live together here, especially with me going out of town in a few days. It had to be enough.

She had no qualms with taking the money. She took the money and crunched it up in her hand. "Yeah, thanks." She smeared a few more tears off her cheek and leaned in for a hug. "It's not what I wanted, but it’ll have to work, I guess."

"You can't stay with your parents?" I knew for a fact that her parents were willing to let her stay
if
she was willing to go by their rules. They were tired of her partying and the guys she dated.

"Yeah, if I want to be a prisoner," she snarked.

"Might not be a bad thing to take a step back and figure out what's important to you. That's what I am trying to do."

"You are a good guy, Drew. I wish I could be more like you . . . focused and practical. You know I used to want to be a nurse. I wanted to help people and somehow that all got mixed up."

"It's not too late, Camille; you can go back to school. I'd help you, and your parents would help. Just think about it."

She hugged me tight and ruffled her hands through my hair. I kissed her forehead. My lips lingered a bit longer on her forehead than I felt comfortable with, but she was obviously in need of some reassurance. When I walked her out the front door, she seemed a little more hopeful. I wanted her to be happy, and I meant what I said about helping her, but I didn't love her. I leaned into her car, and she kissed my cheek. I watched her car leave and headed back to the porch just in time to see my parents pull into the drive. My parents were less than impressed with Camille or her behavior. The look I got from them made me feel instantly ashamed. What a night this had turned out to be.

BETH HAD SPENT THE
entire day grilling me on the set up. She had not even allowed me to help create the presentation. She hadn't been unpleasant really, but she had treated me like a child. She even went as far as to create a set of note cards to help me with my lines.

Whatever.

I was content to sit quietly, only responding when she asked me to or mindlessly nodding that I understood. We took a break for lunch where I retreated to my office to check my email.

"Hey, Drew. I can't wait to meet you this afternoon. I'll be waiting at the bench next to the volleyball net. -Victoria!"

Her excitement was contagious. I was very excited to meet her as well. I did harbor a bit of guilt about my interaction with Camille the night before, but I was banking on the fact that I wasn't exclusive with any of them yet.

I was also excited about the rave the next night. Not so excited about my early morning flight. Or the flight itself for that matter. I hated flying. I hated the takeoff, the landing, watching the clouds zoom by, etc.

On the other hand, of course there was Beth. We would be on our trip for three days, and that was totally worth the near death experience. I hoped.

At quitting time, I headed to the bathroom down the hall and checked my appearance. I had worn a pair of jeans and a button up collared shirt. I’d chosen it because the blues and grays in the shirt brought out the color of my eyes.
I was turning into such a girl.

"Alrighty then, so I guess we have about covered the presentation, and I’ll see you tomorrow for the plane walk through so you can get familiar with the layout and all of the features. Do you have any questions?" Her eyes blinked quickly as she waited for my response.

"No, I think I got it." Trying to save what little dignity I had after her grade school teaching lesson, I turned and retreated out of the conference room and back into the kitchen to check out the newly installed vending machines. They were incredible if I do say so myself. It included a beverage machine, which housed sodas and juices and a pair of hot and cold snack machines, which included muffins, sandwiches, and an array of candy and chips. I was in heaven checking out the shiny pack of peanut M&Ms. I swiped my card and watched the bright yellow bag drop into the bin. I snatched it up and ripped the plastic spilling the chocolate into my palm.

"I see you found the machines." Beth pulled her hands behind her back, and I nodded trying not to throw some smartass comment in her direction. "They are great. You made a good choice in selecting them."

"Thanks!" I mumbled through the mouthful of chocolate. I knew it was impolite, but after that morning's ABC lesson I was interested in being
charming.

"Okay." She shrugged. Looking as if she was holding back, I continued to stare waiting for her to finish what she need to say, but she was silent until she spun around on her heels and exited the room.

Weird, right?
What was she trying to accomplish? Did she want me to thank her for treating me like a child? She insulted me one minute and praised me the other. Brushing off that strange experience, I headed back to my office to get my things.

When I arrived at the park, my engine seemed to startle the park's quiet setting. I got out of the car and strolled slowly to the bench. When I got closer, I could see the long flowing strawberry blonde hair from behind. I could tell she needed a root touch up and that she was wearing a pink spaghetti strap dress with a see through white knit shawl. She seemed classy in her own right. I introduced myself and the smile that spread across her face was enough to make me feel instantly comfortable.

"Oh my goodness, it's nice to finally meet you!" She stood and hugged me, lightly patting my back, which reminded me of my mom. Maybe it was a mom thing? I invited her to walk the jogging trail with me. She wrapped her arm around mine, and we slowly walked around the track talking about everything from the weather to work. She was bubbly and sweet.

We stopped at the concession truck, and she got a strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone, while I got a plain vanilla in a sugar cone. Sitting at a bench eating ice cream, we continued to admire the beauty of the park.

"I’ve never actually been here before," I admitted.

"Really? I bring Emmaline here almost every sunny day. She loves playing on the swings over there." She pointed to the wooden swing set next to the jungle gym. "We adopted a puppy from the pound last weekend." Her eyes lit up with excitement as she explained, "He’s a mutt, so we aren’t sure which breed he is, but he is brown with black feet. Em named him Tyson, like the boxer."

"Oh that’s cute," I said. "I’ve never had a puppy. My parents were never the type to take on living animals except for me of course, but I’m an only child so . . .”

"That’s horrible. You couldn’t have been that bad as a child." She seemed so interested in what I was saying that I wanted to keep talking.

"Maybe. No, I was perfect." Victoria’s laughter far exceeded my own, but I was content to watch her head fly back and her mouth open wide as she giggled over my confession.

Around the time the sun slowly creeped down over the hills, Victoria looked at her watch and visibly frowned.

"I guess it's time for me to get going," she said.

We stood on the path hand in hand as we said goodbye. I could honestly say that I had enjoyed the walk. I didn't quite know about sparks yet, but I liked her.

She lifted up on her tippy toes and planted a kiss on my cheek. She smoothed away the remaining lipstick with the pad of her thumb. "All right, Drew, I had a wonderful time. I hope to hear from you soon."

I waved goodbye as she crossed the parking lot. The evening was so nice I decided to make another lap around the track. This time I focused on the scenery instead of the beautiful girl that was standing next to me. Even the kid thing didn't have me scared anymore. Victoria seemed like a great mom. I wondered how she'd be as a lover. She had mentioned that her child's father had skipped out early on. She got pregnant when she was seventeen, and the father wasn't keen on losing his party years to a crying infant. I admired her for doing it on her own and being self-sufficient with hopes and goals.

I hadn't told her much about me, other than my three-date rule. She said she would look forward to planning that second date if I was interested. I told her it would be my pleasure to see her again and I had meant it. I was curious to see what she would pick. I was not looking forward to another cram session at work the next day. I could only imagine what Beth had planned for me to "learn."

We were supposed to tour the private jet, and I had to start packing for the three-day conference. I knew Thursday night would likely be a blur, and we were heading out early Friday morning.

To my surprise, and I was feeling surprised a lot lately, Beth did not come in to work on Thursday. She had still managed to leave an impossible schedule for me. She had been on the plane several times so she missed the tour, but she was kind enough to place sticky notes everywhere.

"Fully stocked mini fridge." Uh duh! What kind of party boy would I be if I didn't know what that was? "King sized bedroom!" There was only one bedroom on this plane, but the luxury plane only carried up to six passengers at a time, if that many. The layout of the plane was quite impressive. The amenities could include a four star chef, a masseuse, a hair and makeup stylist, and even a personal tour guide for the destination you were traveling to; for the right price, of course.

I left a tad bit early from work on Thursday. I cleared it, of course. I really did need to finish packing, and well, I wanted to take a nap before I hit the rave to meet Lola. I packed my suitcase in record time, not overlooking any of my toiletries and "hang out" clothes. I hoped to do a lot of hanging out by the pool at the hotel. I wished we were headed somewhere more tropical, but Georgia was nice this time of year. I did a few searches to get used to the neighborhood. There was a farmers’ market and a lot of cool shops down the street from the hotel. There were also a string of bars and one very interesting dance club a few miles away. I wondered how Beth would feel about joining me for drinks and maybe a dance. Honestly she seemed a little uptight about "out of work" functions and there was no telling what my father had told her about me.

She probably thought I came equipped with an entourage of not-so-uptight girls. I planned to show her a different side of me.

I laid down for a nap that wasn’t going to happen, but it did give me some quiet time for reflection on the last few weeks. It was weird how it all was working out. I was still getting emails from new people. Most of them weren’t my type at all, but there were a few that I liked. It was strange how comfortable I had become with these meet and greets. I enjoyed getting to know the new girls. The thought alone of Victoria made me smile. And while Claire and a few of the others hadn’t worked out, the dates had been fun and eye-opening. Each one, good or bad, had been a clue to whom I would ultimately want.