CHAPTER 4 #3
“I don’t know. I got kind of flustered that you showed up here unexpectedly, I guess.” She gave him a teasing smile but could clearly see the turmoil behind his eyes.
“Yeah I just, really needed to see you and talk to you.”
There was a thick silence between them while he contemplated his next words.
She watched his handsome face, seeing all of the different emotions as he raced through the thoughts in his head.
It amazed her how someone so large and masculine could look so vulnerable.
Her delicate fingers slowly found their way to his hand, and she gave it a squeeze.
This surprised him, but it immediately put him at ease.
“I’m sorry if I have upset you in any way,” she said, her quiet voice just barely audible over the rain.
“It’s not your fault,” he replied. “But I’ve gotta be honest with you, Tess.
I like you. Like, I have feelings for you.
And they just get more intense the more I spend time with you.
And I guess I’m a little confused if you feel the same way or not.
Because if you don’t, then I will leave you alone and I can ask coach to find me another tutor.
But I can’t help but feel like maybe you feel the same way.
I see flashes of it behind your eyes or in your body language.
And if that’s the case, then I just would like to ask you to give me a chance. ”
He stopped speaking and looked over at her. She wasn’t looking at him, her eyes were focused out the windshield, but she kept her hand firmly over his, which gave him a little bit of hope.
“So, I guess I’m here because I need to know, do you feel the same way? Even just a little bit? I hate to say this because it makes me sound like a fucking middle schooler but...do you like me?”
The silence between them was heavy and filled with so much potential and unanswered emotions.
He watched nervous as she bit her bottom lip and her eyes wandered over to him to see a look so close to desperation that it left her breathless.
Could Abigail be right? Could Tristan really be this enamored with her?
“I do feel the same, Tristan,” she finally said. Her voice was shaking, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She watched him as a smile started to slowly spread across his face and his eyes began to sparkle.
“Really?”
“Yeah,” she chuckled, looking down at their joined hands.
“So, what are you so scared of?”
“I told you-”
“I really need more explanation than that baby,” his voice was thick and silky with emotion, the use of the pet name making her stomach drop. “You told me that you’re scared I’ll break your heart, but I need to know why you think that. What have I ever done to show you I would do that?”
She looked away briefly, trying to figure out a way to put all of her feelings into words.
“I had heard plenty about you before we even met,” she said, her voice shaking, but ready and willing to be honest with him.
“I knew you were on the football team. I knew that pretty much the whole school knew your name. And I knew that you were a guy who had a new girlfriend every month. That’s what everyone said anyway. ”
His brow furrowed and he groaned in frustration, annoyed that other people would talk about him like this, but didn’t say anything and let her continue, not wanting to shut her down when she was finally opening up.
“And I need to be honest with you, Trist. I’m a romantic. I love love. I write poetry about love, I read books about love. I’ve written lengthy research papers on the most popular couples in literature. I’m not interested in just hooking up or some kind of friends with benefit situation.”
“Tessa that’s the last thing I want with you.
I’m not interested in that at all. I want way more than that with you.
These past two months that we’ve spent together have been torture.
Each day I fall for you more and more, and I so badly want to know every part of you.
But I just feel like you’re holding back from me, and if it’s because you’re afraid all that I want is to hook up with you and nothing else, please rest assured baby, that’s not true. ”
She looked at him through her thick eyelashes, unsure of what to say.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You know in high school, a lot of the girls called me a slut.” He couldn’t hide the shock on his face; she seemed like the last girl that would give off those vibes.
“It was because I went on so many dates. But I went on so many dates because if I didn’t like someone right away, I had no interest in continuing to see them and waste my time.
I just didn’t want to do anything if it wasn’t going to be love, you know? That’s how much of a romantic I am.”
The rain was pouring down at this point. Soft thunder could be heard in the distance, and the emotional tension in the car was almost uncomfortable. The energy between the two of them felt literally electric, and it somehow felt like they had been inching closer together unconsciously.
“So then can you give me a chance? Let’s try to do this for real, and if you don’t feel that spark, if you feel bored or like I’m a waste of your time, just tell me, and I’ll let you go in peace. But I will drive myself crazy if I don’t at least get a chance with you.”
He lifted her hand up and brought it to his mouth, giving the back of her hand a gentle kiss before softly running his lips along the smooth skin.
She felt a warmth spread through her belly down between her legs and also felt an unfamiliar fluttering that made her close her legs tightly.
She had been kissed, she had been touched, but for some reason she had never felt this before.
“What do you think?” His voice cut through the silence. She didn’t realize that there was a long stretch where neither of them spoke, and she was unable to take her eyes away from his lips on her skin.
“I think I want you to kiss me,” she whispered, her voice sure but shaking.
Tristan stilled, Tessa’s hand still secure against his lips, and he brought his eyes to hers.
He searched them for any hesitation or uncertainty and didn’t see any.
Instead, he saw icy blue eyes that were full of want, desire, and a tiny hint of anxiety.
He felt a rush of warmth pulse through his body upon hearing her words, and he eagerly reached forward and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, urging her to move forward to meet him halfway.
Her heart was thudding wildly, and she felt her hands shaking, but she knew she wanted this, and willed herself to let her fears fall away and allow herself to feel the excitement and happiness of the moment.
When his lips finally met hers, he made sure to move slowly, allowing her to set the pace, but also allowing himself to really take in and feel the curves and silkiness of her lips.
His long fingers tangled into her hair, and he inched forward even more, needing to be as close to her as possible.
He had kissed his fair share of girls, to put it lightly, but this made him feel like a schoolboy having his first encounter.
He felt like his lips were on fire from the touch of hers, and the subtle scent of vanilla from her soft golden hair was intoxicating.
He was fighting an impossible battle between his mind and his body.
His mind willing him to go slow, be a gentleman, to keep it PG and not to scare her off; but his heart and body were screaming for victory, wanting to pull her flush against him, to feel her tongue against his, to make her moan in ways that would surely undo him.
But he was a man who had mastered being in control, and he kept the kiss light and unwrapped his hand from her hair to break from the kiss, but to his surprise and delight, she did not have the same plans.
She could feel it; he was holding back. And even though the thought of kissing Tristan had originally made her paralyzed with anxiety, now that it was actually happening, all she felt was desire.
She pulled him desperately back to her, rejoining their lips and running her hands along his broad shoulders, which gave him the courage to place his hands on her hips. His hands almost wrapped all the way around her thin frame, and the sensation of their size difference was dangerously thrilling.
He wasn’t able to hold back anymore, and slid his tongue into her mouth, eliciting a deep and seductive moan from her that made his already hard cock twitch. She tasted like fucking heaven, and he couldn’t help his mind from wandering to what other parts of her would taste like.
Tristan was so wrapped up in the adrenaline and excitement of being close with her like this, feeling her hands roaming over his body, her soft tongue in his mouth, and hearing her little moans of pleasure that he didn’t realize that she had climbed on top of him and was straddling him – that is, until she started grinding against him.
A lightning bolt of pleasure surged through his body, causing him to tremor, and abruptly bringing him back to reality.
He stilled her hips with his large hands and broke away from her, panting heavily, and looking deep into her eyes.
“What is it?” she asked shyly. “Do you not want to-”
“Fuck yes I want to,” he answered immediately. “But I also don’t want to go too far. The longer I have you on top of me like this the less I’ll be able to control myself.”
She smiled shyly and he absolutely adored the blush that crept into her cheeks.
“I really do like you,” she said in a whisper. His heart thudded loudly hearing her words and how delicately they came out.
“Fuck, me too babe. And I think that’s why I want to make sure I don’t take it too far. You deserve more than hooking up in a truck.” He chuckled and leaned in to give her a soft kiss. “Let me take you on a date,” he said, “A real one.”
“What, is our study session tomorrow not considered a date?” Her tone was lighthearted and there was a mischievous and teasing look in her eyes that he thought was the cutest thing he had ever seen. He couldn’t help but laugh at her antics.
“Trust me, Thursdays are my favorite day of the week. But no, that’s not a date.
I mean a real one. Something completely unrelated to school.
Let me take you to dinner at the steakhouse across from campus.
And then I can take you on a very exclusive backstage tour of the facilities and locker rooms.”
“Oooh, the VIP experience?” She said with a smile.
“Special just for you baby.”
She sighed, feeling a very unfamiliar but delicious warmth send a tingle down her belly and between her legs. She shifted to find some friction against the feeling, and he moaned aloud.
“I’m just gonna move you over here,” he said with a nervous laugh as he took her off of his lap, “Before I come in my pants.”
She threw her head back and laughed, loving his humor as well as his confidence level to make such a depreciating joke. She found everything about him to be so charming.
“So are you free on Sunday? We have an away game the day before, but I’ll be back Sunday morning and would love you take you out Sunday night.”
“I would love to.”
They shared one more kiss before Tristan made a dramatic show of not allowing Tessa to walk barefoot in the rain and instead carried her out of his truck and placed her gently back inside of the house, her roommates caught sitting and eavesdropping by the front window.
He drove home with the biggest, goofiest smile on his face.
It had been two months of him yearning for this beautiful girl who seemed like she wanted nothing to do with him.
But it had all been worth it, even if just for that one moment with her in his truck.
He made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t do anything to fuck this up.