“I think I will go with being a piece of broccoli,” Brit replied.
Across from us Ollie finally dragged his gaze away from Brit’s place and looked at Jacob. “Are you serious?”
“Yes!” He smacked his hands down. “Why not paint the world in beautiful flowers of all different colors?”
I stared at him. “Are you high?”
Jacob looked affronted… for maybe two seconds. “Maybe a little.”
Laughing, I glanced at Brit. “You should help him build his happy garden.”
She snorted. “You can help him.”
“Oh, no.” Cam lifted his head as he scooted toward me, slipping his hand over my leg, just above my knee. “She’s all mine this weekend. No garden of love.”
“Unless she’s planting in your garden of love?” Jacob queried.
I rolled my eyes. “Cute.”
“Sounding like she was doing some planting last night.” Ollie moved the tiny paper cup of mayo further away from Brit. “At least from the noises coming from your bedroom.”
My mouth dropped open. “Whatever!”
“Did you have your ear plastered to my bedroom door?” Cam hand inched up, and my cheeks were suddenly burning for a whole different reason.
Ollie shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do?”
“Freak,” Cam tossed back.
The three of them launched into a discussion about vegetables, leaving Cam and I on the outside of the bizarro conversation, which was okay with me. I wasn’t a fan of vegetables.
“I have another great idea.” Cam propped his chin on my shoulder, voice low.
I turned my head just the slightest toward him. “Oh dear…”
“You’re going to love it.”
Warmth bubbled up my chest and I wanted to say I love you, but sitting in the Den, while our friends were discussing the pros and cons of asparagus didn’t seem like the best moment to blurt that out. So I settled with a, “What’s your idea?”
“Take the rest of the day off and chill with me.”
That sounded like an excellent idea. “I have class.”
“You have art. That doesn’t really count as a class.”
“How so?”
He lifted his head, pressing his lips to the space beside my ear. “You told me you almost fell asleep on Monday.”
“Almost,” I reiterated.
Cam now kissed the spot under my ear, and I shivered. “Trust me. What I want to do is so much better than art.”
My mind went straight to one thing. Sex. Like real sex with real penetration.
Oh my God, I couldn’t believe I just thought that. Was there a fake penetration I was unaware of? Actually, sort of. We’d done everything except sex. We’ve touched, groped, he’d gone down on me and I on him, but sex? There had been none of the actual act, but the last time, what Ollie was claiming he heard, it had seemed like we were heading there. There had been a certain intent
I’d panicked and basically went down on Cam. Not that he was complaining, but I couldn’t keep doing that. We had to take our relationship to the next level. Besides, I was probably the only twenty-year-old virgin on campus and how long would Cam wait for me to be ready? We’d been together for four months and guy time was like dog years so that was like four years.
Anticipation tingled throughout me, but under the excitement, unease formed like a ball of ice in my chest.
Cam circled his arms around my waist, pulling me out of my chair and into his lap. The people at our table basically ignored us, but the ones at the tables around us, were starting to stare.
He was totally unfazed by the attention as he tipped his head back, grinning widely. “So what do you say?”
“You two are so sickly sweet it’s actually cute,” Jacob said, interrupting us. We looked at him. “If you don’t skip art and run off with him, I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Well then, how can I say no?”
I just hoped that when it came down to it, I could say yes.
#
Cam really was extraordinary.
And I don’t know how he managed to continuously surprise me with his thoughtfulness or how it was even possible for him to be so wonderful. Or why it took me so long to pull my head out of my ass and to see that.
When we’d left the campus, he met me about my car and ushered me over to his truck. “What are we doing?”
“You’ll see.”
The secretive half smile had me on edge. It wasn’t until we hit I70 and I saw the sign did I know where we were going. I twisted toward him and in my excitement, I almost choked myself with the seatbelt.
Cam laughed.
“We’re going to D.C.? Aren’t we?” I exclaimed, practically bouncing in my seat.
He slid me a sly side look. “Maybe.”
“And we’re going to the Smithsonian, right?”
“Quite possibly.”
I flipped forward, clasping my hands together. “Why?” I blurted out. “I mean, I know history bores you, so why?”