You and Everything After

“Or would I?” he says, one brow arched.

“You look like one of those cartoon superheroes when you make that face,” I tease.

“I know. Captain Gorgeous,” he winks, and I can’t help but laugh. He gives me the stink eye when I do, pretending to have hurt feelings. “You think I’m kidding, but you can’t detect my superhero-ness, because I haven’t unleashed my super powers on you yet. You weren’t ready—ready to withstand the blast of my full gorgeousness.”

“Oh my god, you are literally full of crap this morning, aren’t you?” I say through heavier laughter.

“Mere mortal. You may be ninja, but you could never compete with my secret weapon,” he says, lifting himself with his massive forearms until he’s above me, forcing my head and body to fall deep into the mattress and pillow.

“And what weapon is that?” I ask, suddenly feeling a little out of breath.

“This,” he says, closing the small gap left between us and kissing my lips with a rawness that he didn’t show last night. His mouth possesses mine wildly—as I lie, practically helpless and caged between both of his arms—his forehead finally comes to rest against mine when he pulls away from our kiss to breathe.

“Totally unaffected,” I whisper, wanting to tease, but unable to execute my joke because holy hell…that quite honestly might really be a super power.

“Liar,” he says, the corner of his lip pulling up at the side just enough to produce that perfect dimple—going in for the final kill.

When he pushes away from me completely, to sit along the end of the bed, I feel cold, and there’s a part of me that wants to pull him back down to lie next to me. But that would be needy. I know that needy isn’t good. Needy doesn’t get you a boyfriend. Needy doesn’t keep a boyfriend. So I just look at him and smile as I watch him pull his jeans up his legs and bend forward to reach his shoes.

“What’s on your agenda today?” I ask, immediately worried that even that sounds needy.

“I have some things to take care of, and I think I have one client at two. But then…” he leans forward one final time to reach me for a soft kiss, “then I’m all yours. Don’t forget—dinner with my parents tonight.”

“I’ll be ready,” I smile, trying to keep the covers over my body, which is now full of nervous energy, knowing I won’t have the distraction of a football game to keep conversation—the one-on-one kind—to a minimum with Ty’s parents.

Ty moves to his chair and he pauses, looking at me with a strange expression, and then I realize why. I’m still in his shirt.

“Oh! You probably need this, huh?” I say, sitting up and pulling one arm through the shirt before Ty stops me.

“You keep it. I’ve got a whole closetful down the hall. I think I can make it safely a few feet to the east,” he says, his eyes moving down to the exposed skin on my stomach and my black underwear. He’s practically undressing me, and I let him. I actually move the blanket a few extra inches away for a better view. My move makes him smile. “Damn.”

“Damn what?” I ask, knowing, but wanting to hear it anyway. I’m insecure, and I admit it. I like hearing him talk about me like I’m sexy.

“Damn…I should have waited until you got the shirt off completely before I stopped you,” he smirks. I want him to stay, but he’s backing away. So I let him go, and simply blow him a kiss as he disappears out my door.

Play it cool, Cass.

I bury my head in my pillow when I hear the door shut, then I replay everything I did and said over the last twenty-four hours—hoping it was enough, but never too much.

After a fast shower, I head back to our room and slip into my cotton shorts and T-shirt. My body is tired today. It’s been tired all week. The few hours I have before my dinner—the one where I have to sit down and talk with Ty’s parents—are necessary, unless I want to spend the entire night worrying about tingling legs or strange eye pain. I haven’t had any symptoms since the leg tingles a day or two ago, but I’m on this constant look out, questioning everything I feel.

Rowe walks in only minutes after me. She’s smiling—like big time smiling. And that makes me smile too.

I don’t like that we fought. I know it wasn’t a real fight, but still…I was pushy. I was pushy because I really wanted my way, just this once. I wanted the night, last night, with Ty. But before I fell asleep, I did think of Rowe, worried that she wasn’t as okay as I was. The smile is still there, though, even as she slides a small, opened cereal box onto her desk shelf.