All For You (Boys of the South) (6 page)

Confused as hell, I
agree, holding out my hand. She eyes it, like I’m offering her
a poisoned apple, and then takes it. Before I can say another word,
she plows ahead, almost dragging me along.

“Stop,”
I demand, right before we get to the entrance. “Stop and tell
me what the hell is going on.”

Halting in the
middle of the parking lot, she tilts her head to one side, hair
falling over one shoulder. Pretty eyes are wide with innocence.
“We’re on a date, and getting ready to go inside.”

“You know what
I mean.”

“What I know
is that as soon as this sorry excuse for a date is over that I’ll
go back to my old life and you’ll go back to yours, absolved of
guilt.”

“One date with
you will absolve me from years of—” I suck in air.
Son
of a bitch.

She smiles, blinding
bright and fake. “Sure it will.” Tugging on my hand, she
jerks her head toward the door. “Ready?”

“No.”

“A bit too
much to be seen with
Lawn
Girl
in a public place?”

“No, damn
you.” This is all wrong. “Tell me what to do, McKenzie.
Tell me what to do to make-”

“
You
feel better,” she finishes for me. Her hand is still in mine,
but there’s an ocean between us at the moment.

“I don’t
give a good damn about feeling better. I want you to feel better,”
I shout at her.

She flinches. People
waiting in line for their buzzer to go off in the parking lot get
quiet and stare at us. Some I know, a couple I don’t. I could
give two shits about what any of them think right now.

“Tell me what
to do.” I fall to my knees and look up at her, arms stretched
wide and palms up. “Is this what you want? Is this where you
want me? I’m down on my knees for you, telling the entire world
that I’m sorry. I screwed up and screwed you over, for
years
,
all because I wanted you to notice me. I wanted you to want me like I
wanted you. An asinine reason, but it’s there, it’s
real.”

“Get up,”
she hisses, but once again, tears are in her eyes. “This isn’t
funny.”

“You’re
right. It isn’t funny. It’s a damn shame that no one
defended you, not the teachers or other students. It was you versus
all of us.”

“Enough,”
she pleads. “I can’t take anymore.”

I dig into my pocket
and pull out the keys. “Take them.”

“Why?”

“Leave me here
on my knees in front of everyone.”

“No.”

Closing my eyes, I
throw my keys across the parking lot, and then open them. “Then
you leave me with no choice.” I shrug out of my coat, then pull
my shirt up and over my head. My St. Benedictine medallion hits my
chest, the chain cooling against my skin. I hear whispering and a few
calls of my name. My hands go to my pants, unbuttoning the top
button.

“Are you
taking off all of your clothes?” McKenzie asks, her voice shaky
and slightly high pitched.

I nod. “This
is your chance to get back at me.” I finish unbuttoning my
jeans, the cold air washing over my back and chest and hitting my
hips as I pull them lower. “Laugh at me, point at me, and talk
about how little my junk is. Say I suck in bed and leave me here.”

Her lower lip
trembles. “I don’t want to get back at you.” She
takes my hand and tugs lightly. I refuse to move. “Please,
West. Humiliating you doesn’t solve anything.”

Only her please
could get me to stop. I stand, my heart racing like I’ve just
played three-on-two for an entire period without a break, as her
hands go to the waistband of my jeans. She re-buttons them, then
grabs my shirt and pulls it over my head, dressing me like I am a
child.

I swear that this is
the most intimate moment of my life, standing in the parking lot of a
restaurant while the girl I’ve been in love with for years
saves me from willingly humiliating myself.

Then she does the
unexpected, she takes my face in her hands and instead of the slap I
deserve, she kisses me.

My hands hover over
her shoulders, wanting to touch her, wanting to take control of this
kiss, but I don’t. This is her moment. Her lead.

Her lips move under
mine and I follow her lead. She presses small kisses to the side of
my mouth, her tongue skimming the seam of my lips. Unable to stop
myself, I part my lips, and that sweet tongue of hers glides inside,
meeting mine.

With a groan, I
deepen the kiss and finally settle my hands on the curves of her
waist. I fit her against me, molding her body to mine, so that not
even the cold December air can come between us. Our tongues tangle as
we taste each other, as we remember how the other likes to be kissed.

I’m coming
undone, all from this kiss. My body wants her, my dick is straining
to get inside her. Images, sights, and sounds from our intertwined
past bombard me. She’d been hot, sweet, tight, and passionate.

And loud, so damn
loud that I almost came from listening to her moans and words while I
ate her out.

“Get a room,”
I hear one of my buddies from high school call out.

McKenzie pulls away
first, her cheeks flushed. I press another kiss to her closed mouth,
then the tip of her nose. “That was a hell of a kiss.”

She nods. “I’m
not hungry,” she says.

“Do you want
to go home?”

“No.”

Relief, so palpable
that I can taste it, buzzes through me, heightening my need for her.
“Do you want to go somewhere else… with me, where we can
be alone?”

One heartbeat, two,
then three, and about a million more before she answers. “Yes.”

Chapter Seven

McKenzie

I think I just made
the biggest mistake of my life by agreeing to go anywhere else with
West. As we search for his keys in the waning light, I sneak glances
at him. He’s using his phone’s flashlight app, his brows
drawn together as he looks for a black key fob.

“Got it,”
he say, throwing them in the air and catching them in one hand.

Before I can say
anything, he grabs me, his hand cupping the back of my neck and
kisses me. “Still want to go?”

I nod, even as my
head is screaming for me to say no.

“My house or
yours?”

“Mine,”
I say firmly. It’s safer territory, since I can make him leave
when I want.

West gives me a
faint smile, as if he knew I’d pick that location. “Want
to get some take-out?”

“Pizza’s
good.”

“Delivery?”

“Okay.”

He throws me the key
fob and I catch it. It’s silver with the Porsche Insignia at
the bottom “You drive and I’ll call.”

I look at the keys,
then back at him. “I can’t drive your car.”

“If you can
drive a bulldozer, then you can drive a Porsche.”

“Because a
bulldozer is exactly like a luxury sports car.”

West opens the
driver’s side door and gestures for me to get in. “I
trust you with my car.”

I slide inside, and
then put my hand over my heart. “Does this mean we’re
going steady, Bobby?”

He gives me an odd
look, and I want to die. My goofball humor doesn’t make me look
tough, and I need to be tough, not a goofball. “I’ll be
happy to pin you anytime, Betty.”

“Betty?
Seriously?”

“As a heart
attack, Meadow.” He winks at me, and I melt into the leather
seat. I’ve never had a guy wink at me, not like that.

I wrinkle my nose.
“Don’t call me Meadow.” Only my mother called me by
my middle name.

“Clover
Patch?”

“Don’t
think so, Northeast.”

He laughs, one hand
on the door and the other on the roof as he leans down. “Damn,
girl. I never knew you were like this.”

“That’s
because you were too busy laughing at me to be able to laugh with
me,” I remind him.

His laughter fades
away, the mood broken, as he straightens. “Pepperoni, or all
the way?”

“Cheese.”
I stare at the dashboard while he closes the door. I hear him get in,
make the call, and then silence reigns.

Pressing down on the
brake, I search for the ignition, key fob in hand. “How do I
start your car, and where’s the key?”

Instead of answering
me, West leans over to fasten my seatbelt, disengages the brake, and
presses a button. He turns his head, face inches from mine. “Anything
else?”

Heat arcs between
us, sizzling and potent. He’s so close that all I’d have
to do is lean forward only the tiniest bit, and I’d touch him.
His air becomes mine as I breathe him in.

I lift my hand,
fingers going to his face, tracing his lips like he’s done to
me in the past. They part, a silent invitation that I want to answer.

“I want to be
with you, McKenzie, but I’m not going to force this. You want
me, then I’m your man.” He draws back a little. “Until
then, I’ll sit on my side of the car and wait.”

By the time we get
back to my house, I’m a mess. I can’t stop thinking about
our kiss, our almost kiss, and the way he said,
I’m
your man
.

Do all women have a
weakness for bad boys that know just what to say at just the right
moment? Or is this confined solely to lonely girls like me?

There’s only
one light on in the house, over the kitchen sink. My dad always
leaves that on when he goes out for the night. It lets me know that
he’ll be home late.

“Where’s
your dad?” West says, making himself at home on the couch. He
grabs the remote and manages to find the one station broadcasting a
soccer game.

“Poker night.”
Careful to not sit to close, I join him, leaning to the side to
switch on the closest lamp. “Is the game happening right now?”

“Rerun.
Greatest plays.” He turns down the volume and shrugs out of his
coat, then stretches his arm across the back of the cushions. “The
pizza should be here soon.”

I nod, placing my
hands in my lap. I have no idea what to do next, what to say next,
because this is the first date I’ve ever been on. It’s
not that I haven’t been asked out, because I have, but I say
no, because all I ever think is the guy only want to see what he can
from me before moving on to the next girl. The better girl. The one
who doesn’t have soil under her nails, or calluses on her hands
in the summer.

Lawn girl.

There’s a
light pressure on my arm. It travels down the length of it, stopping
at my hand and covering it. I stare in amazement as West laces his
fingers with mine.

I lightly stroke his
palm, and his breath hitches. Glancing at him, I find his gaze on me.

“With anyone
else, this would be nothing, but with you, holding hands is like
getting to third base on a first date.”

I blush, not sure if
he’s complimenting me or insulting me, because he thinks I’m
playing hard to get. Not that it should matter to him. We’ve
had sex before. Twice. The second time didn’t hurt as much as
the first, but he’d left his mark on me, and not just on the
underside of my left breast.

“
I don’t
want this to end,” he whispers in my ear, pinning me to the bed
with the lower half of his body.

“
Tomorrow?”

He leans up and
over me, his dark eyes glazed with lust and some emotion that my
heart hopes is the match to mine. “I’ll pick you up
before school and take you home with me after classes are over.”

“
What
about—” His St. Benedictine medallion hits my neck, and I
hook a finger on the chain, pulling him closer.

“
I’ll
take care of that.” He kisses me, tongue pushing into my mouth.
“From now on, you’re safe from everyone, including me.”

My heart flips in
my chest. “You’re drunk,” I giggle.

“
And you’re
not?”

“
Only a
little.”

He surges forward
and I moan. “That’s it, baby. Let me know how much you
love this.”

Only he hadn’t
bothered to show up the next day, and I’d been late to school.
In calculus, he didn’t even look my way, and though I waited
like a lovesick fool by his locker, he brushed past me and headed
straight into Charlie Foster’s arms.

***   ***   ***

West

Just as I think I’m
finally making progress, albeit small, with McKenzie, she snatches
her hand away. Hurt, confusion, and anger roll over her face,
transforming her from trusting to wary.

The doorbell rings,
and she’s off like a shot to answer the front door. I follow
her, getting out my wallet to pay.

“Hold on. Let
me get my purse,” I hear her tell the delivery guy.

I hand him a couple
of twenties and tell him to keep the change.

“Thanks,”
McKenzie says as she shuts the door.

“You’re
welcome.”
Great
plan
,
I think, wanting to punch the wall. At home, I thought she’d be
more relaxed and in control of her environment, with me playing
offense. Only she’s more skittish than ever and I’m
unsure how to reach her. “Lead the way to the kitchen. I’m
starving.”