32. The Real Lorelei
THE REAL LORELEI
Lorelei
I stared at the two men filling my doorway, Conrad Vanderhart the spitting image of my fake boyfriend except for the silver streaks through his chestnut hair.
Damn, now that was a silver fox! I didn’t think I’d ever found an older man so hot.
With shoulders as broad as Axel’s and that boy next door charm, he gave George Clooney a run for his money.
“Hey, Ax, what are you doing here?”
Thanks for the warning, I shot wordlessly with my dark gaze.
As if he’d read my thoughts, a sheepish grin curled his lips. “Sorry for the surprise visit, blondie, but Dad popped into town. He was just so eager to meet my new girlfriend he drove us right over.”
“Oh, wow.” I plastered on the practiced smile and offered my hand. “It has been a while, Mr. Vanderhart. So nice to see you.”
His big hand wrapped around mine, the steel grip strikingly similar to his son’s. “Please, call me Conrad. Now that you’re dating Ax, we’re practically family.” He strode into my dorm room, eyeing the various trophies and medals displayed atop the bookshelf.
Axel moved beside me, nudging his elbow into my side. He mouthed a quick, “sorry,” as Conrad circled the room.
Unlike my own father, there was no condescension in his lingering gaze, only genuine curiosity. “So you dance, Lorelei?”
“I used to.” I ticked my chin at the top of the shelf. “I stopped when I started at Stonewall because Dad wanted me to focus on my studies. You can’t be the CEO of a successful multinational corporation and the lead in the Nutcracker.”
“If anyone could do it, I’m sure it would be you.” Axel laced his arm around my shoulders, and I tried to relax into his embrace.
Usually, the move felt natural, but today, everything was off. I knew that hook up was a bad idea. A terrible idea. If that one moment of pleasure screwed everything up between us, I’d be so pissed at myself and my lusty pussy.
I faced Ax once again, trying not to grimace. “That’s sweet, babe, but I think that ship has sailed.”
His lips brushed the shell of my ear, and goosebumps rippled down my bare arm. “Maybe you could just dance for me then.”
My head whipped toward him, my breath catching. He whispered the words as if they were only for me, but was it all part of the act in front of his dad?
Axel let out a wicked chuckle as he glimpsed the terror in my eyes. “Relax, Lore, I’m just messing with you. What’s got you so uptight?”
Relax, damn it. Clearly, the other night meant nothing to him or he would have been acting weird too, and he wasn’t. It was just some hand stuff. It didn’t mean anything.
Steeling my nerves, I shot him a good eye roll. “Just want to make sure I make a good impression in front of your dad.”
Conrad spun toward us, an indulgent smile on his handsome face.
“Trust me, Lorelei, I’m the last person you need to worry about impressing.
My wife’s been crooning about how she’s never seen our son happier.
Deb is convinced you’re the one, and from what I understand, you’ve only been dating a few weeks. ”
I cocked my head at Axel and tossed him a smirk. “Oh, really? I had no idea I made you so happy, babe.” Pressing my hand to his chest, his heart slammed against my palm.
“I guess I’ll have to do a better job showing you, then.”
“And I have the perfect opportunity.” Conrad practically lit up. “Come to our beach house for the Fourth of July, this weekend. It’s only a thirty-minute drive from campus. The whole family’s going to be there, and I know Deb is just dying to see you two together.”
“Dad, I don’t know… I have practice on Friday and—”
Conrad lifted a hand, cutting him off. “You can come after practice.”
“And on Monday—”
“I’ll talk to Coach Carson, it won’t be a problem.” He glanced back and forth between us, something about his excited gaze reminding me of a puppy. “Unless there’s some other reason you can’t make it?”
Axel turned to me, an unreadable expression masking the typical warmth.
Did he want me to say yes or no? Family visits were part of the original agreement, and if I was being perfectly honest, a holiday weekend away at the legendary Vanderhart beach house sounded amazing.
Just because we’d seen each other come didn’t mean things had to be weird, right? I wavered for a long minute.
“Nope, no other reason,” I finally blurted. “I’d love to come.”
“Perfect, Deb will be thrilled. It’s been forever since we’ve had all the boys home.
” He clapped Axel’s shoulder, the thwack resounding across the quiet space.
“Get ready for the big family flag football game, Ax. I hope Lore can hold her own. Jackson’s new wife is phenomenal.
She gives your brother a run for his money. ”
A whisper of anxiety kindled low in my gut, then that competitive streak rose to the surface. “Just wait till you see me with a football.”
Conrad chuckled, the warm sound so much like Axel’s laugh I stared for a second longer than appropriate. “Now this, I cannot wait to see.”
Blinking quickly, I forced my gaze back onto my boyfriend. Damn, I was starting to like the sound of that word a little too much, even in my own mind.
“Same here.” Axel eyed me like I’d grown a third head.
It was hard to believe the prim and proper Lorelei Battenberg had a competitive side and was a secret tomboy at heart.
No one at Stonewall U knew the real Lorelei.
I’d been forced into dance by my mother, and though I’d hated it at first, it had subdued the overwhelming need for competition, to prove myself better than the rest. Dance was a sport after all.
And I’d excelled at it, just like I did at everything.
This weekend, not only would I be the perfect girlfriend, I’d also kick everyone’s asses in flag football.
“It was really lovely to see you, Mr. Vanderhart.” I stood at the entrance of the Zeta house with Axel leaning against the doorframe as his father walked down the red brick pathway toward the Lamborghini SUV casually parked across the street.
“It’s Conrad, remember?” He whirled around and wagged a finger at me.
“Right, Conrad.”
“I’ll see you two tomorrow afternoon.” He turned to his son, still waggling that long finger. “Don’t dally after football practice. Your mom wants us all to have dinner together as soon as you arrive.”
“Will do, Dad.”
We offered one more wave as the engine of the sporty SUV roared to life, and Axel’s dad zipped down the now quiet Sorority Row. The moment he was gone, I dropped down to the front step and blew out a breath.
“Sorry if that was intense.” Axel folded down beside me, canting his head in my direction. “I swear I had no idea he was coming. I really didn’t mean to blindside you like that.”
“No… it was fine. Please, your dad is not intense. He’s absolutely lovely. Now that I’ve spent time with him, I feel even worse about forcing you to suffer through a few minutes with my family.”
A rueful chuckle brought out a hidden dimple in his cheek. “They weren’t that bad…”
“Please! My mom was wasted, eye-fucking you the entire time we were there, and my dad was a total asshole.”
“Well, when you put it that way.” He laughed again. “At least your mom’s hot.”
“Ugh, shut the fuck up.” I punched his abs, and his hand wrapped around my wrist tugging me forward.
Our eyes met and held for an impossibly long moment. Our lips were suddenly only inches apart, and heated memories of the other night zipped across my mind. That mouth devouring mine, those skillful fingers working me into a frenzy, the moans…
Squeezing my eyes shut, I broke away from those mesmerizing blue spheres and pulled free of his hold. We could not let that happen again. I forced myself to sit back, putting some much-needed space between us. Clearing my throat, I folded my hands in my lap.
“Should I not have agreed to the family weekend getaway?” I muttered, refusing to meet his gaze. “You didn’t seem too thrilled about it.”
If he said no, I’d be crushed. Which was so bad. I should not have been stressing over this.
“Nah, it’s totally cool. I mean, as long as you wanted to say yes.” He stiffened, staring down at his feet for an awkward moment.
“Yeah, of course. I’m sure it’ll be great.”
“Probably a little different than last summer when you came with Kill for the afterparty.” Ax’s lips flipped into a frown as his eyes lifted to mine. “This is just going to be the family.”
“No crazy afterparty this time?” I teased to lighten the sudden tense vibe.
“Okay, maybe… we’ll see how the night goes, I guess.” He shoved his broad shoulder into mine. “What, I’m not enough for you, Battenberg?”
Heat flared low in my belly, and I squeezed my thighs to keep the fiery sensations at bay. The truth was that he’d become so much more than enough. In the past few weeks, he’d started taking up more and more headspace, and after the other night, he was all I thought about.
“I was about to say the same thing to you, Vanderhart.” I dug my elbow into his side and rose, offering a hand. “Time for you to go and for me to get packing.”
His big fingers wrapped around mine, and I nearly toppled over trying to haul him to his feet. “It’s only three days, blondie. How long is it going to take?”
“Clearly, you didn’t grow up with sisters.”
“You got me there.” He dragged his hand over the back of his neck as he backpedaled down the walkway. “Guess, I’ll pick you up tomorrow after practice?”
“Sounds good.”
He kept his eyes pinned to mine as he continued moving away.
Turn around, Lore. Walk away. But I couldn’t. I was glued to those ocean blue eyes. And I was totally fucked.