Every Kiss (2 page)

Something in her words jolts my memories awake, and I reach
up to grasp the silver lock hanging around my neck, sudden realization forcing
a slight gasp from my lips. I didn’t get it before, but there’s a reason why he
bought this necklace to celebrate the day we first met. I can’t believe I
didn’t realize it before.

My phone chimes in my pocket, so I pull it out to check the
screen.

Wes:
It’s about damn time you remember.

My eyes dart across the room, and I find him staring back at
me, smiling. It’s that same smile that slayed me from the first day. The smile
that could make my heart ache and sing at the same time.

Oh, yes. I definitely remember.

“I STILL DON’T know why you think I
need to go with you to Shane’s parents’ house.” I curl tighter into my pillow,
trying to ignore Makenna’s far-too-cheerful attitude so early in the morning.
“He’s
your
boyfriend, and you’ve been going over there for about a year
by yourself. I’m pretty sure I won’t add anything useful to the equation.”

“Come on, Cal. Please? There’s going to be a bunch of other
people I don’t know there for this party, and his parents are gone until the
end of the weekend. If Shane wants to hang out with his friends, I won’t have
anyone to talk to.
Please?
We’ll come back home whenever you’re ready
tomorrow. Just do this for me tonight.”

“Ugh.
Fine.
But you owe me big. Don’t forget that.”

She bounds into my bed, tackling me. “Thank you!” She
squeezes me so close that I can smell the mint from her freshly brushed teeth.
“Now, get your tiny little ass up and shower. We have to leave in an hour.”

“Uh, Mak, it’s only eight o’clock. I thought the party was
tonight.”

“It is, but I promised Shane I’d come over first thing this
morning to help make food and decorate. Everyone else won’t arrive until seven
tonight.”

I throw my arm over my face and groan. “I don’t cook or
decorate, so why exactly am
I
going so early? I could always drive up
later.”

“Come on, Cal,” she whines, tugging on my arm. “I’ll make an
extra bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough, just for you.”

The girl does drive a hard bargain. I do so love her cookie
dough. “Make it peanut butter chocolate chip, and you have yourself a deal.”

She tosses her long sheet of auburn hair over her shoulder
and smirks, gloating in her win. “Consider it done.”

After I get ready, we head to Shane’s off-campus dorm. He
asked Makenna to make a stop by there to help haul everything out to his
parents’ house for the party. Apparently this is going to be quite the bash,
but I’m not sure what the purpose of it is. Then again, with college kids, who
needs a
reason
to party? He’s just lucky to have parents that are cool
enough to allow it to happen at their house. Mine would kill me. No questions
asked.

We pull into the lot, and Shane appears in his front door,
leaning casually against the frame. I nagged Makenna for a few years about
dating, and she was always hesitant, mostly because her parents kept her on
such a tight leash. They are both educators, so they’ve always pushed her to
excel in school, even at the cost of having a social life. The girl nearly
missed her senior prom because she was studying for semester tests, and even then,
she only stayed for an hour.

In just over a year, Shane, in addition to the freedom that
college brings, has changed all of that for her. And I certainly can’t fault
her for letting him. He’s totally hot, and the most kind, genuine guy I’ve ever
met. He’s so good for her. And
to
her. I’ve seriously contemplated
asking if he has a brother. Especially after my latest dating fiasco.

“Hey, baby girl.” Shane tugs Makenna through the door and
into a kiss. “Hey, Callie. I see she convinced you to come, after all.”

“She begged, pleaded, and made promises that she better
keep, so yeah . . . I’m here to help.”

“Well, I appreciate it. I tried to get a few more people to
come early to help set up, but it looks like it will just be the three of us.
One little problem, though . . .”

I look around the living room in horror. “You lost a dead
body in here?”

“So it’s a little messy.” Shane rolls his eyes. “That’s how
it is when you share the space with three other suitemates who are a bunch of
gorillas. But that’s not the problem. I forgot to get my brother a birthday
gift, and I didn’t get near enough cups.”

“Whoa. Wait a minute. You’ve never mentioned a brother.” So
there is another Baxter boy, after all. But for some reason, the image in my
head is of a gangly teenager with braces and acne. Probably even still in high
school.

“Oh, sorry. I thought I mentioned him before.” Makenna
shrugs. “Remind me to introduce the two of you at the party.”

“Okay, so can’t we just pick up the gift and cups on the
way? I don’t get why it’s a problem.”

“Well, it won’t be if you’ll stay here and wait for the
liquor store delivery guy. He should be here within half an hour or so.
Meanwhile, Makenna can help me hurry up and pick out a gift and get cups, and
then we’ll be ready to go. It will save some time that way.”

I shake my head really fast. “Oh, no . . . you’re not
leaving me here alone in frat boy central. I can
feel
the smell in here
permeating my pores.”

“Just wait in my bedroom; it’s clean. And when the delivery
guy gets here, just have him load everything in the trunk of my car . . . and
the backseat. There’s a lot.”

Makenna sticks her pouty lip out at me, and as always, I
cave. “Okay, fine. But the delivery guy better be hot.”

She readjusts the purse hanging from her shoulder. “Thanks, Cal.
We’ll hurry.”

Once they’re gone, I hear yelling and stomping upstairs and
something that sounds a lot like “you just got owned.” If I had to guess,
they’re playing video games. Boys are so freaking loud and obnoxious when
they’re in packs. They just feed off each other. Our building is co-ed, but
either there aren’t any guys nearby or it’s superbly insulated. Other than
footsteps and occasional laughter, I rarely hear anything too annoying.

I’m relieved, though, to find out that Shane’s bedroom is as
promised. The bed is made, it smells clean, and the only thing out of place is
a shirt thrown over the back of a desk chair. I love a man who can clean up
after himself. Seriously, it’s so off-putting to go to a guy’s place and not
feel comfortable even sitting down.

I flip through the channels on his TV, finally settling on a
rerun of
Friends
. I keep the volume low, so I can listen for the
delivery guy. And it takes thirty-eight minutes—not that I’m counting or
anything—for me to finally hear the knock. “It’s about time.”

But as soon as I open that door, my hopes of having a hot
delivery guy are crushed, set on fire, and dunked in a drum of acid. He, on the
other hand, obviously thinks he hit the jackpot. I would be perfectly fine
going my entire life without a balding, overweight, sweaty, fifty-year-old man
hitting on me. I mean, seriously. He’s old enough to be my dad.

Finally, though, after getting a glimpse of his armpit
stains every time he wrestles another box into Shane’s car, I sign the ticket
and happily send him on his way. I’m just going to pretend I don’t see his name
and phone number at the bottom of the receipt.

“I think you just might have a shot with him,” a deep voice
calls out from across the lot.

I turn to the guy approaching me. I must have an angel
looking down on me that sent a peace offering after I had to deal with the guy
from the liquor store. He’s
so
yum. “Yeah, uh, no.”

After locking Shane’s car, I go back inside, almost making
it back into his room before the lock turns at the front door and it creaks
open. “So are you Lucy or Ethel?” the hot guy from outside asks after pushing
the door closed and slipping his keys into his pocket.

Just my luck. He’s one of the Neanderthals that live here.
“Excuse me?”

“Well, I’m assuming you’re Makenna’s friend. I heard you
were coming over here today. God knows every other woman on the planet would
know better. So I was just curious . . . are you Lucy or Ethel? You know, from
I
Love Lucy
. I think Makenna is more of an Ethel, but I don’t know you.”

Is this guy for real? Are these the kinds of pick-up lines
he keeps in his arsenal? That’s depressing. “Uh, I’ve never thought about it.
Mind telling me who you are first?”

He holds up his index finger at me while he fishes his
ringing phone from his pocket, frowning at the name displayed on the screen.
“Damn. I have to get back to work, so I guess I’ll catch Shane in a little
while.” He backs away toward the door and winks at me. “Be thinking about your
answer.” And he’s gone.

“Guys are loud, obnoxious,
and
weird,” I grumble to
myself.

I’m thankful when Shane and Makenna return only a few
minutes later, and I practically pounce on them when they walk through the
door. “Never again. Ever.”

“Why? What happened?” Makenna drops a couple of shopping
bags on the couch and folds her arms over her chest.

“First of all, the delivery guy? Gross. I still want to gag,
and I’m not entirely convinced he’s not a pedophile. Second, one of your
suitemates popped in for a second, and he was really weird. Totally hot, but
weird.”

Shane laughs, scratching the sprinkling of stubble on his
chin. “I don’t know about the ‘hot’ part, but as far as the weirdness goes, you
just described every one of them.”

Thankfully, it doesn’t take us long to load everything into
both cars and get on the road. After a cup of gas station sludge—uh, I mean,
coffee
—and
an hour later, we finally pull into the paved circle drive of Shane’s parents’
house. It’s a newer Colonial style home with bold white columns stretched
vertically across the façade, but it holds a certain quaint, familial charm to
it, regardless of its massive size. The black shutters are a stark contrast to
the white exterior, but it’s the well-groomed landscaping, oversized wreath on
the front door, and cozy-looking rocking chairs on the front porch that give
the home such an inviting appeal. “I think I was just transported into one of
those home magazines. It’s so pretty.”

“Funny you should mention it,” Makenna chuckles. “His mom is
an editor for
Southern Home Style
magazine. That’s actually why they
aren’t home this week; she had a home decorating convention to go to in
Nashville.”

“Well, I hope you never invite her to our dorm room. I’m
sure the half-naked David Beckham poster on my wall is totally not in this
season.”

Makenna snorts. “David Beckham is
always
in season.”

Our eyes meet, and we both nod in unspoken solidarity. We
may disagree on a lot of things, but a hot guy isn’t one of them.

“You coming inside?”

My eyes dart over to Makenna, and I shoot her a wry smile.
“If I must. But don’t forget our deal. It better be the best damn cookie dough
you’ve ever made, too.”

“It’s about time you two got here.” Shane calls out as he
bounds off the porch. “I was just about to call to check on you. I thought you
were just stopping to fill up and get coffee.”

“Oh, we did.” I sling my duffel bag over my shoulder and
bump the door closed with my hip. “But have you actually ever ridden with her?
I swear my grandma could walk faster than she drives. It’s so freaking
frustrating.”

“I’m
cautious
. You got here, didn’t you?”

Shane’s mouth hitches up on one side. “I’m not even going
there. Do you have something you need me to carry inside, Mak?”

“Just me,” Makenna jokes.

Shane takes it as a challenge and chases her, and I lean
against the car to enjoy the show. She tries, bless her little heart, but she’s
nowhere near fast enough to outrun him. Hell, if I were her, I wouldn’t have
even wasted the effort. If a guy like that was chasing me, I sure as hell
wouldn’t be running away.

He easily carries her inside over his shoulder, and I follow
hesitantly, gawking at the expanse of the great room. It’s stunningly pristine,
and I’m afraid to even breathe for fear of soiling it somehow. “You’re
seriously having a party in here tonight?”

Shane sets Makenna down and finally answers me after giving
her a quick peck on the lips. “Not in here, no. There’s a fully furnished guest
house in the back.”

“Of course there is.” I deadpan.

“And I told her about the heated pool and hot tub.” Makenna
walks through to the kitchen and perches on a bar stool. “It’s a little chilly
out, but we brought our suits, just in case.”