Breathless (Less Is More Book 1) Page 4

  “Before I forget,” he says, pulling a piece of paper out of his wallet. He hands me the paper and I see it has his phone number written down. I slowly look up to him and smile.

  “Hold on,” I say, taking out my phone. I put his contact info into my phone and create a message. I click send and wait for it to ring in on him.

  I hear a ding and he reaches for his phone - his smile not wavering and his eyes never leaving mine.

  “I’m glad you are here. Mostly because I was going to resort to just going to where you work and asking for you like a jealous boyfriend or something. That or just sit on your steps until you came home or left.”

  “How romantic,” I say, winking at him. I feel a nudge from behind and I turn to see Sam smiling at me. “Will, this is Sam who you have already met, I think.”

  “Yes,” Will says, nodding. “He told me that you haven’t shut up about me since we met.” I turn to Sam and glare.

  “Sam is my roommate and ex-best friend,” I say.

  Will laughs and says, “I loved the fact that you haven’t stopped thinking about me. I’d be concerned if you did. The video is ending here soon and I am literally out there while everyone speaks. I’ll talk to you once all the presentations are done?” I nod and he smiles, turning around and heading through the curtain again.

  “Why would you tell him that?” I instantly ask Sam.

  He scrunches his shoulders and says, “He loved it. When I said it, he lit up earlier. It was cute, but also kind of sad. He seems like he is really interested in you. Why I don’t know, but I’d say he is crushing just as hard on you as you are on him.”

  I punch him in the shoulder and smirk.

  ***

  After an hour of bullshit speeches and all the houses promoting their new works, Will finishes with a closing speech and then tells everyone to enjoy the rest of their night.

  “Remember,” he says, “the higher the amount on your checks, the wider the smiles on the children’s faces that we help.” He takes his fingertips and stretches them on each side to emit a wide smile. Everyone laughs and then proceeds to clap as he makes his way down the steps towards the bar area. I say excuse me to the group we were sitting with and make my way over to him.

  He sits down on the bar stool and runs his left hand through his hair. I can see him let out a big sigh as he plants both palms straight into his temples.

  “Excuse me, sir,” I say, placing my hand on his shoulder, “but may I bother you for an autograph.” He looks up at me, already smiling.

  “I’m so glad that is over. I love the purpose of all this, but hate being the speaker for it.”

  “You did great,” I say. “Not a dry pair of panties in the room.” He laughs and takes a sip of the wine he ordered.

  “So,” he says.

  “So,” I reply back with a nod.

  “It’s a little crazy we’re both here tonight, right?”

  “Fate,” I say with a wink. “I had a terrible day today, so yeah, a tad crazy that it got this good.”

  “Why?” he asks. “What happened?” He rests his head on his right arm and he focuses in on my face.

  “Just a bad client meeting and my boss is a douche and I fell walking to the building.”

  “You fell?” he questions, giving me a once-over with his hand. He waves it up and down and laughs.

  “Down the steps by the upper parking lot. My pant leg caught and yeah.”

  “I’ve did that before,” he says, laughing. “That wasn’t a good day at all for me or my students. I think I actually made one of them cry that day.”

  “I don’t see you being a mean teacher at all.”

  “I can be,” he says, “but rarely. Sometimes you just have to let the aggression out and sometimes that aggression gets let out on annoying college students who care way too much about why they got a B plus on a paper instead of an A.”

  “I was never like that,” I say. “As long as I passed, I could care less, but I still did good, I guess.”

  “Same,” he says, taking a big gulp of his wine. “I always hated being in the classroom. Still amazed that I’m a teacher because of the fact.”

  “What got you into teaching?” I ask him.

  “Someone inspired me to,” he says. “Long story. Better for another time I guess.”

  I grab his glass of wine and take a sip. I don’t take my eyes off his the entire time and neither does he mine. I can feel them going through me - trying to figure out what exactly I’m thinking. If only he knew how bad I wanted to let him taste the wine from my lips and take him on the counter space right here and right now. I take another sip and set the glass back down in front of him - slowly licking my lips in the process.

  “Good choice,” I say, tilting my head to the side. I see him swallow and he rearranges the way he was sitting.

  Did that of all things get him hard?

  “So, what are you doing after this?” he asks, circling his thumb around the rim of the wine glass.

  “I have a lot of work to get done before tomorrow,” I say. “Honestly, the meeting today was unexpected and was thrown on me last minute and it’s just been chaotic ever since I got the message from Andrew this morning.” I see his expression turn serious again.

  “He did seem like a bit of an ass when I met him. Not that he said much, but you sometimes get those vibes from people, ya know?”

  “Good judge of character you are.”

  He laughs and finishes the rest of the wine in his glass.

  “What is it anyway?” he asks. “About him that hits a nerve?”

  “He is just the head of something that he shouldn’t be. I guess it’s a mixture of annoyance and envy. If he wasn’t here right now, I would have his position and the company would be doing a lot better than it currently is.” I plant my elbow on the counter. “One day, I guess.”

  “Is that your dream? To run ProjectSimpleton?”

  I stop for a moment and let my mind wander.

  “No,” I say, “but it’s what I have worked hard for all these years and I already do most of the work, anyway, so I know I’m good at it.”

  He smiles and lets out a small laugh.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Most people would pout and say screw it, but you are determined. I like that.”

  He sits up straighter and asks the bartender for another glass of wine.

  “I like you,” he says. “At least, I like what I’ve learned so far.”

  “You must really like me if you were going to come to my office and be all stalker-ish,” I joke. “I can’t say much. I was going to look you up on Facebook if all else failed.”

  “Same,” he laughs. His smile, even without much light, can still be made out and it warms me; excites me.

  “What are you doing Tuesday night?”

  “Shouldn’t have anything going on,” he says.

  “How about dinner? We can decide where tomorrow or something. Now that I have your digits.”

  He laughs and says, “My digits? You’re cute. Nothing would please me more than to see you on Tuesday night. Seeing you in general is never a bad thing, I’m learning.”

  “Same,” I say and he laughs again. “It’s a date then.”

  “I haven’t been on a real date in forever.”

  “Me either to be honest,” I say. “I dated one guy for a good while and once that ended, I wasn’t too keen on seeing anyone else again.”

  “Until you met me and all my awesomeness,” he says.

  “Basically,” I say. “I like you with glasses just as much as without them by the way. A lot of people can’t pull that off.”

  “Really?” he asks. “I don’t like myself without them on to be honest.”

  I see his face frown for a split-second before he looks up at me and smiles again.

  “Because they make you feel smarter?”

  “Exactly,” he says. “That and I feel like people take me more seriously when I wear them. I’m not just a prett
y-face when I have them on if that makes sense.”

  The fact that Will isn’t completely comfortable with his looks surprises me. He is gorgeous, but I guess that is the point. There is more to him than his pretty-face.

  “Is that another reason you don’t love being the host at these things?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” he says, focusing in on my eyes. “I just wonder if when I’m presenting in front of all these people if they see an intelligent, successful college professor who has accomplished a great deal, or if they see a piece of eye-candy that is used to help boost the number of zeros on the checks. It helps the cause I guess, but it stills feels shitty when I walk around and talk to random people and even flirt with some others just to get more money out of them. These people love having their asses kissed.”

  “Well,” I say, “honestly, I just see eye-candy, but I’m sure there is something under all that pretty.” I wink at him and he lightly kicks my leg with his.

  “All caught up are we?” I hear Sam say behind me, as he sits down to my right. He flashes his smile and orders a drink while eyeing the bartender.

  I look over to Will and he starts laughing.

  “Elliot asked me out on a date,” Will says. “I said yes, but I’m starting to have my doubts.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Sam says and I roll my eyes.

  ***

  Will and I make our way up the stairs to where my car is. Everyone who didn’t leave the benefit at this point is just there to help clean up and Will was nice enough to walk me back to my car.

  “Another year down,” he says, as we get halfway up the stairs.

  “How many years have you been doing this?”

  He thinks for second and says, “Nine or ten I think? I started late in my freshman year as far as helping, but I started doing more and more through the years.”

  “That’s dedication.”

  “I enjoy the helping aspect of it all,” he says. “Honestly, going overseas and seeing kids faces light up just because they get a book to read is heartwarming. I cried the first time I went over because I was so moved by it all. They have nothing and something as simple as a book gives them a sense of purpose.”

  “But you don’t go over anymore?” I ask.

  “No,” he says. “There are enough volunteers now that the program has gotten bigger and I don’t really need to. Plus, it’s miserable over there.”

  He laughs and says, “I envy my showers and air conditioning too much.”

  “Let me give you a ride down,” I say as we make it to my car. “You have to help clean up right?”

  “Benefits of being the speaker is that I’m not expected to help out,” he says. “But yeah, I will go help out anyway because that’s just me.”

  “What a gentleman you are,” I say.

  “Cute ride,” he says, as we get to my car.

  “What’s cute about it?” I say, laughing.

  “The driver,” he says.

  He laughs and puts his seatbelt on. We make our way out of the parking lot and I feel every bump in the process.

  “Are they ever planning to fix this or no?” I ask.

  “Probably not,” he says. “The campus is looking into adding an extension onto the Arts and Sciences building because of the large number of Liberal Arts students who apply, so all the money is basically focused on that for the time being.”

  “That will be nice,” I say, as I pull into the circle that sits in front of the cafeteria entrance.

  “We’ll see,” he says. “I don’t know what department it’s aimed for, but I know it’s not English. It will probably just be a new computer lab or a bigger tutoring center which would be nice.”

  He lets out a heavy sigh and tilts his head back.

  “So, Tuesday then?” I say.

  He turns to me and sits upright in his chair.

  “Tuesday,” he says with a nod and a smile.

  He goes to open the door, but stops midway and shuts it back closed.

  “Before I forget,” he says, sliding over closer to my seat.

  He takes his right hand and puts it under my chin. Slowly, he moves his lips closer to mine and with my head tilted back, he kisses me and takes my bottom lip in his mouth. He takes his other hand and runs it through my hair and kisses me again. I lock my tongue with his and pull him closer into me, taking the back of his head in my hands.

  Every emotion in my body amplifies and I want nothing more than to have him in the backseat right here and now. I move my left hand from the back of his head, down his chest. I make my way down to his pants and grip his massive bulge in my palm. He moans and I feel him harden more under my grip, as I massage him back and forth.

  “Ok,” he says, biting my bottom lip and moving away from me. “I need to get out of the car before I get naked and have you in the backseat.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I say, smiling up at him.

  He kisses me one last time and gets out of the car.

  “I’ll text you once I’m done here. Give me like an hour probably. Bye, stud.”

  “Bye,” I say, as he slowly walks backwards smiling. As I make my way out of the gates and onto the main road, I see my phone light up in the cup holder.

  I’m still here, obviously, but I couldn’t wait and had to go to the bathroom and finish what we started. I couldn’t walk otherwise.

  As I make my way back home, all I can think about is Will in the cafeteria bathroom, thinking about me while he comes all over his chest or the toilet seat or whatever he felt the need to glaze, and I can’t wait to get home and finish what we started myself.

  Chapter Four

  Will

  I T’S TUESDAY AND I have no idea what to wear for this damn date.

  Sitting on my bed is a mountain of clothes that I either think are too dressy or too casual; I also haven’t been on a date in years and have no idea how to act on one at this point. Even though two nights ago we made it past the comfort level of casual, I’m still nervous as hell.

  My mind flashes back to that night and the utter torment I felt having to get out of Elliot’s car. If I wouldn’t have, I would’ve taken him right then and there, though, and fucking in a car isn’t my idea of the best first time with a person.

  Especially someone like Elliot who I want nothing more than to sprawl out with on a bed and go at it for hours on end.

  “Hello?” I hear, as the front door shuts closed. I make my way into the kitchen and see Lydia getting a glass of water.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  “Tonight’s the big night so just wanted to make sure my baby brother picked out something nice to wear for his new boyfriend.” Lydia smiles and I roll my eyes as I sit down at the table.

  “It’s a disaster in there,” I say, pointing to my bedroom. “I’m almost to the point of asking him how he is dressing so I don’t over or under do it.”

  “Jesus, Will,” she says. “Are you in high school or what?” She leans off the counter top by the faucet and sits down across from me at the table. “It’s almost sad watching you run around like a little girl. Don’t be a pussy.”

  “I just want to make sure I look good.”

  “He’s already seen you, though, so why is what you’re wearing an issue? Next you’ll be worrying about whether or not you’ll kiss well the first time.” I scrunch my face and bite the side of my lip.

  “What?” she asks.

  “Nothing,” I say. She crosses her arms and focuses in on my face. “Maybe we already did a bit of that the other night after the benefit.” Her eyes grow wide and she slowly shakes her head.

  “You forgot to mention that when you were telling me about seeing him again.”

  “I know,” I say. “It was a bit out of character for me; initiating it and all.”

  She laughs and says, “Yeah I would say so. Will Everett is never the one who would usually jump into making out with a guy he has only known less than a week.”

  “I can’t help it, Lydia.
When I’m around him, I feel different. Every emotion in my body heightens and I just want him.”

  “Good,” she says. “That’s a good thing.”

  “But then I think about—“

  “Do not say you think about Evan,” she says. She gets up from the table and puts the glass in the sink. She turns around and leans against the counter again and says, “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to use that as a reason not to find someone new. Whether it is Elliot or someone else. You shouldn’t be alone.”

  “I don’t mind—“

  “No,” she says. “Will, you have literally pulled away from everyone but me. You go to work, come home, run and then focus more on work. It’s not healthy and you need someone else to talk to besides me.” She lets out a sigh and says, “I heard about the other day at the store. I talked to Miley.”

  I shake my head and scrunch my shoulders and say, “It was nothing.”

  “Then why did you storm out of the store after you saw her. She wasn’t sure if you were pissed or what the hell was going on.”

  “It just brought up a lot of things. Images I didn’t want to see and sounds I didn’t want to remember hearing. It was fine, I just had to get out of there.”

  “I get it,” she says, walking over to the table again. “I don’t know. If you need to talk about it let me know, but don’t let that stuff ruin things for you with Elliot. Even if it doesn’t work out, at least you put yourself out there again.”

  I look around the room and think about the day I moved out of the house because it was no longer my home. It was Evan and I’s home and I no longer felt comfortable there.

  “Where are you guys having dinner at?” Lydia asks, drawing me out of my haze.

  “Gregor’s Pub,” I say.

  “And you are wondering what to wear?”

  “It’s not like I’m picking out a suit and tie, Lydia, but I still want to look good.”

  “You could probably wear a dirty shirt and sweat pants and he would still want you. Especially if you gave him a taste already.”

  “Shut up,” I say, laughing.