Chapter Eleven
Eleven years earlier . . .
As if it wasn’t enough that I stayed the whole night with no sex, I played games in her apartment until she was done with her classes the next day. When Tyler called to see if I wanted to have lunch with him and his parents, I lied and said I had a headache.
Who was this girl? And why was I so fascinated by her?
“What do you want to do?” I hollered, continuing to play the game while she changed her clothes in the bedroom.
“Let’s fly a kite,” she said.
I wrinkled my nose, keeping my focus on the screen. “Fly a kite?”
“Yes. My father sent me a new one, and I haven’t had a chance to fly it yet.” She stepped around the corner in a sleeveless cream sundress and Birkenstocks. “When was the last time you flew a kite?”
I shut off the game and stood. “When I still had deciduous teeth.”
Everleigh eyed me with a hesitant smile. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. When was the last time you flew a kite?”
She pulled the kite out of the coat closet. “A couple of weeks ago.”
“You just . . . fly kites by yourself? For fun?”
“Yes.” She laughed, handing me the kite before threading her arms through her mini black leather backpack. “Don’t you have a solitary pastime?”
“Well, yes. But it’s not polite to talk about it.” I opened the door.
Everleigh studied me. I knew she wouldn’t get my joke, and there was no way I would tell her it was a quip about masturbating.
“We’re not in public. There’s no need to be polite,” she said, stepping into the hallway.
“True. But if something’s not suitable for public discourse, it’s also not suitable for the ladies.”
Her laughter filled the air as I walked to the elevator. “You’re a peculiar guy, William Landry. And I mean that in the best way.”
I puffed out my chest, even though she was the second-year medical student who flew kites by herself as a pastime. Peculiar? Absolutely.
When we arrived at the park, she jumped out of the cab and pulled the kite from its bag before we made it past the sidewalk.
“It’s a designer fighter cheel kite. Isn’t it beautiful?”
I nodded as she handed me the reel to hold. The kite was sky blue with pink and green. It was fine. Beautiful felt like a stretch.
In a matter of seconds, she had it assembled. I handed her the spool, and then she kicked off her shoes and tossed the kite into the air, but the breeze didn’t catch it. She tried several more times.
“It’s not windy enough,” I said.
“It’s fine. Here. You’re taller. I’ll hold the spool, and you hold the string close to the kite and run with it, slowly letting out more string.”
I stared at her. What happened to my one-night stand? Why was I at a park flying a kite without so much as a hand job? More than that, why was her grin so big? And why did it do weird things to my chest?
“Fine,” I said with an exaggerated sigh.
Everleigh lit up, eyes wide and shoulders at her ears like she was on the verge of squealing.
I jogged with the kite, letting out the string as it took flight. “Faster!” she yelled.
I laughed. “How fast do you think I can run with my hand in the air?”
“Okay, let go!”
I released the string, and the kite caught a wave of air.
Everleigh released more string and gazed up at the kite, eyes squinted against the sun.
I looked at her face-splitting grin, the breeze blowing her hair into her face, and the way she moved back and forth, side to side on her toes as if flying a kite were a dance.
“Do you want to fly it?” she asked.
“It’s your thing. I’m good.”
She stole a quick glance at me. “I invited you, so it’s our thing. Maybe you can let me do your top-secret pastime with you. That would make us official friends.”
I choked on my laugh, pressing a fist to my mouth. “We’ll see.”
She handed me the spool. “Got it?”
I nodded, taking it from her.
“Fun, right?”
I grinned without answering.
“See? There’s plenty of wind once you get it up there. Let’s lie down.”
“What?”
She crossed her feet and squatted before rocking onto her back.
“What do the directions say? Is it safe to fly a kite while lying on the ground?”
“It’s easier on your neck,” she said.
I lowered to my knees and then eased onto my back beside her.
“Don’t let it go.”
“I’m not,” I said.
“See? Easier on your neck.” She rolled toward me, head resting on her bent arm.
“You’re not even looking at the kite.” I chuckled.
Everleigh hummed. “I like looking at you.”
“You’re making my dick hard, and I can’t let go of the kite, so you’ll have to adjust it for me.”
She giggled. “My looking at you gives you an erection?”
I rolled my head toward her for a second as she blushed. “After this morning’s kitchen table incident, yes.”
“Incident? Is that what we’re calling it?”
I peered at the kite and smirked. She was right. Kites were meant to be flown while lying on the ground.
“What are you doing?” I asked, stiffening as she rested her hand on my chest and buried her face in my neck.
“You smell so good. What is that? Vetiver?”
“It’s sweat, Everleigh. You’re making me sweat, and I’m going to lose this kite if you don’t stop touching me.”
“It’s definitely vetiver.” She crawled onto me.
“Everleigh,” I warned, tipping my chin and stretching my arms toward the sky as she crawled on top of my chest, kissing my neck up to my jaw.
“Vetiver oil is called the oil of tranquility. Did you know that?”
I cocked my head to the side to see past her to the kite. “Then it’s not working because I don’t feel tranquil.”
“How do you feel?” She teased my earlobe with her teeth.
The kite headed behind us, losing altitude.
“It’s going to crash. I need to stand up.” I spun the string around the reel as quickly as possible, but she was in my way, and my dick was hard. And I didn’t want to hold on to the kite. I wanted to grab her ass and kiss her senseless.
The kite headed toward the trees, so I sat up, and she fell off my chest onto the ground. I jumped to my feet and sprinted in the opposite direction to keep it out of the trees, my hands speedily winding string.
It was close. So close. Too close.
Crash!
Her kite landed in a tree.
Everleigh cupped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she gaped at the kite.
“Sorry.” I cringed before following the string to the scene of the crash. “But I blame you.”
She gasped and then jogged ahead of me. “William, I wasn’t the one flying the kite.”
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
“From India? My dad made this kite. It took him nearly two hundred hours to construct it. Then he handwove the string from silk and cotton. Do you have any idea how long it takes to handweave three hundred yards of kite string?” She stopped under the tree, head back, hands parked on her hips.
What the hell? Who weaves kite string?
“The string is fine. The kite can probably be salvaged. It’s not that far up there. Here. I’ll lift you onto my shoulders, and then you can probably reach it.”
Her nose wrinkled. “What if you drop me?”
“You’re a half-pint. Why would I drop you?”
Everleigh’s lips twisted for a beat before she nodded. “Fine. But if you break my dad’s kite and his daughter, this won’t end well for you. My dad is very protective of his little girl.”
I rolled my eyes and squatted. She climbed onto my shoulders, and I gripped her legs while standing.
“Forward. Back. Back . . . stop!” She guided me while freeing the kite.
I set her on her feet, and we walked toward the parking lot while I ordered a cab. She kept her head bowed, inspecting the rip in the kite. What was I supposed to say? It was her fault. And yet, I felt bad.
“I’m sorry. Really. We’ll fix it.”
She sniffled.
Shit. I made her cry, so I slipped my phone into my back pocket and sighed, contemplating what else I could say.
It was over. A fun night. Gaming. A breakfast orgasm. Kite flying. Crash. The end. Would seeing her at the wedding be awkward? Undoubtedly. Would she tell Victoria and Tyler? I hoped not.
The cab arrived, and as I opened the back door for her, she scuffed her feet along the sidewalk toward the trash bin and shoved the kite and string into it.
My lips parted, eyes unblinking, as she sauntered toward me.
The biggest shit-eating grin engulfed her face. “My dad sends me a kite every month. Like a kite-of-the-month club. He buys them at a little shop down the street from his place. I think they’re the equivalent of a couple US dollars.”
I hated her.
Also, I grabbed her face and kissed her so hard I nearly chipped a tooth against hers.
The cabdriver cleared his throat. “The meter’s running.”
I didn’t care if I had to pay to kiss her. Everleigh was unlike anyone I had ever met. Everything about her was sticky and hard to shake.
She was smart and sexy.
Sassy and downright evil.
More addictive than any drug.