Chapter 6
SIX
When I opened my front door to two beautiful, crystal-blue eyes, I couldn’t breathe. I blinked my eyes rapidly, expecting some giant flaw to pop out from this guy with his hands in the front pockets of his tailored blue suit, but nothing stood out. He was hot—like on-freaking-fire hot.
“Cammie?” he asked, raising his dark eyebrows.
I stuttered, “Uh, yes. Hi.”
The man’s wide smile filled his face, and then he leaned in and kissed my cheek. He smelled amazing, like aftershave and cologne. Oh my God.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jason.”
“Hi,” I said again, feeling flustered.
JoJo had outdone herself. This guy was infinitely better looking than all the other blind dates I’d had put together. I mean, my mouth was literally watering. If he had asked me to sleep with him, right there on the spot, I wouldn’t even have had to think about it. Yes . The answer would be yes.
“Are you ready to go? I made us reservations at The Rooftop.”
My eyes smiled for me. The Rooftop. It was the most romantic restaurant in New Bern.
I’d only ever been there to eat during the day in their small lunch café.
The riveting part of the restaurant was the actual rooftop part, which overlooked the Neuse River.
It was lined with those adorable little twinkly lights, and they even offered handcrafted wine from their local winery.
It was breathtaking, and I’d always admired the top part of the restaurant from my back deck late at night, where I could see the lights sparkling through the vast darkness.
I smiled. “Wow, that’s fancy.”
I decided I was totally buying JoJo a coffee from the corner café tomorrow and taking it to her shop, because not only had she set me up with the most handsome man I’d ever been on a date with, but she had also dropped off an outfit for me to wear.
I’d guessed we were going somewhere fancy with the light-pink, flowy dress and heels, but I hadn’t realized it would be The Rooftop.
“Well, from what JoJo said about you, I wanted to make sure I really wowed you so I could take you out again.”
He grinned at me, and I swooned right there on the spot.
I could feel the warmth beginning to set throughout my body.
“Let me go grab my bag, and we can go!” I was trying to hide the giddiness in my voice, but I failed—miserably.
I ran inside, heels clicking on my hardwood floor, and hurriedly came back to make sure my date was still waiting for me.
When I swung open my front door, it felt like someone was squeezing my throat. NO!
“There she is! My shining star!” Luke. His voice carried a possessive tone, and my ears instantly started burning.
“What? No, I’m not. Go away! ”
Jason was beyond confused. “Your shining star? What?”
I looked over at Luke, gave him a glare, and then put my arm in Jason’s.
“Ignore him. I don’t even know him.”
“Stop trying to hide it, Cammie. If he is taking you out, he needs to know about us.”
I felt like I had been slapped.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I exclaimed. Oh, he’s going to freaking get it. He’s going to get it good.
Luke pleaded, “Cammie...”
I ignored every bit of him, even the fact that he looked just as attractive as Jason in just jeans and a freaking T-shirt.
“Let’s go, Jason. He’s nuts, and he’s lying.”
Jason’s pretty blue eyes were full of confusion, but he let me drag him down my concrete steps and all the way to his SUV.
I gave Luke a withering stare. I hope he gets chlamydia tonight from whatever tramp he sleeps with.
Or herpes.
Or syphilis.
Or anything, really.
My fist banging against Luke’s wide, oak door was loud and refreshing.
It gave me the slightest outlet for all the anger that I’d had hours to simmer in.
He made the wrong move tonight. Sure, the date was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing because he’d made me feel like a loser for not having any dates—or any social life, for that matter.
But when Jason showed up, looking all Damon Salvatore-ish, I couldn’t help but feel thousands of little butterflies swarming around in my stomach.
He was the first guy who had actually given me any feeling at all, besides boredom or annoyance (annoyance referring mostly to my run-ins with Luke).
When the door flew open, I didn’t even care if Luke had a girl with him.
I was going to ruin his night just like he’d ruined mine.
He was such an inconsiderate jerk! I’d never ruined any nights with his bimbos.
I’d stared at them with a look of disgust on my face, but I’d never truly ruined his dates—not on purpose, anyway.
“Move.” My palm laid flat on his bare chest, right between those hard pectorals. His skin was flush against mine, but I pushed away the tingles that sparked from my fingertips. He wasn’t expecting a shove, so thankfully, even with my lack of strength, he moved backwards easily.
I brushed past him, heels clanking on the hard floor, and placed my hands on my hips, feeling the silkiness of my pretty, pink dress.
“You totally fucking cock-blocked me! Why did you do that? Why would you cock-block me, Luke?” I yelled, voice straining. “This is not okay. You’ve taken this little bantering between us way too far this time.” My chest puffed up and down as I stared at his naked torso.
I swallowed quickly as I raked my gaze down his stature. He was still standing near the wide-open door, allowing the breezy fall air to flow inside and surround us. His bare feet were peeking out from below his black sweatpants…and that was all he was wearing. That was it. Everything else was bare.
Bare naked.
Bare fucking naked.
My mouth parted at the sight of his defined ab muscles, which all led down to one of those devourable Vs that men had when they were in perfect physical condition.
His sandy-blond hair wasn’t in its usual parted hairstyle; it was disheveled like he had just run his hands through it.
My eyes zeroed in on the piece of pizza he was holding in his hand, and I literally salivated.
Luke pushed his front door shut, and I continued to stare at the piece of pizza he was so gracefully holding upright.
“Well, hello there, Cammie. Would you like to come in?” He looked at my face, and his voice went squeaky. “Oh, sure. Thank you, Luke. By the way, you look fucking amazing without your shirt on. Can I take mine off, too?”
I growled, “I’m not wearing a shirt, idiot. And why did you cock-block me, Luke? That guy had some serious potential.”
Luke leaned back against his dark-navy wall, facing me, and took a bite of his pizza. He licked his lips, and my entire body lit up in flames. A sexy, shirtless man like Luke, eating a slice of mouth-watering pizza, was beyond anything I could have dreamed up.
After he swallowed, he asked, “Can you please stop saying the word ‘cock’?”
I grinned mischievously. “Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. COCK. YOU COCK-BLOCKED me!” My grin faded because I remembered that I was seriously pissed off and extremely disappointed.
His eyes darkened, and his chest rose as he took a huge inhale of breath. He ran that tongue of his along his bottom lip, and I clanked my teeth together. Whew, did it just get hot in here?
“I take it your date didn’t go well?”
“Are you freaking kidding me? I spent the entire dinner trying to convince him that you and I weren’t sleeping together!
I didn’t even touch my food because I was trying to explain this weird neighborly relationship we have—which is nonexistent, by the way.
You annoy me to no fucking end, and that’s all there is. ”
He chuckled. “You’re forgetting all this sexual energy that the two of us possess when we’re together.”
I gasped. “There is no such thing!”
“Mm, ‘kay. You keep telling yourself that.”
I ignored all the thoughts jumping around in my head from that comment.
“Seriously, I’m angry, Luke. I have never ruined one of your dates—or booty calls, I should say . ” I ran my hand through my perfectly curled hair. “Why did you do that?”
“You’ve ruined almost every single date—or booty call —that I’ve had.”
My mouth gaped. “What? How? I’ve never done a single thing!”
“You sit over there on your porch, with your nose in a book, wearing some outfit with just enough skin peeking out to make it noticeable, and all you are is a big, fucking tease. Miss I-Can’t-Date-Marines. It’s stupid.”
I thought for a moment to take in what he had just said. It’s not stupid . My rule wasn’t stupid. It was in place for a reason. I needed to protect myself.
I whispered while spinning around slowly, “It isn’t stupid…”
Then, I started to look around his house, all while trying to wrap my mind around the fact that he had also called me a tease.
A tease? That’s ridiculous.
I met his eyes once while scanning the wall behind him, and they had softened. His face was relaxed, and he was studying me, like he was trying to figure me out. I turned my gaze at the last second and tried to shake off the feeling of confusion.
Luke’s house was almost identical to mine on the outside.
The only difference was that mine was yellow and his was a light gray.
The inside was set up the same, with a long hallway leading down to the kitchen, and with what I was assuming was another hallway to the left, where the bedrooms and bathrooms were.
The only other difference was that our kitchens were on opposite sides of the house.
His window over the kitchen sink mirrored mine over my sink.
The walls were a dark-navy, and my eyes washed over his living room. It was modern, with a huge TV mounted on the wall.
Luke cleared his throat, and I finally tore my eyes away to rejoin the thoughts in my head about him calling me a tease.
I muttered, “Whatever. You’re only saying that because you want to act like I’ve done something equally as bad to you, but I haven’t. You owe me.”
His eyes twinkled. “Okay, what do you want?”
I stopped breathing. What do I want? I want you to stalk over here, rip this pretty dress off my body, and make me forget about my crappy date. Wait, what?
I stared directly into his playful eyes, reached down slowly, and unclasped both of my heels, kicking them off to the side.
Luke’s eyes were hooded as he watched my every move.
I could have sworn I heard him take a sharp inhale of breath when I started to pad my way over to him, where he leaned against the wall.
When there were only a few inches between us, I licked my lips, smiled, and darted my eyes down to his mouth.
His lips were perfect for a man. They were slim but not too slim.
His bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top, and for a brief second, I wondered how it would feel to kiss him.
Would it take my breath away? Would he slip his tongue inside?
Feeling my heart pick up speed, I quickly snapped out of it and went back to my plan.
I didn’t dare take my gaze off his lips when I slowly reached over and grabbed the pizza.
When I looked back up at him, his eyebrows were furrowed and his head tilted just slightly.
Once I had that cheesy piece of heaven in my palm, I skipped off into his open living room and sat right down on the gray leather couch.
When I looked back over at him, his mouth was still wide open, and I cackled, taking a huge bite of the pizza.
“You owe me this pizza,” I said while chewing. Then, I grabbed the open beer sitting on the coffee table in front of me. “And this beer…for now.”
The beer coated my throat and went well with the pizza—so well that I ate the entire piece and drank almost all of his beer before he came and stood over me.
Still eyeing me with a look of rapt interest in his squinted eyes, he picked up my bare legs and sat underneath me, placing them on his lap.
He turned his attention to the TV right before running his hand through his hair, making him look even more devourable.
I sighed, flexing my feet on his clothed legs, feeling more relaxed than I had in a really, really long time.