Making Her Wait Read online

  “Yeah.” I cringe inside, hoping better is more like fantastic. Or sexy. Or hot and overdressed. I’ll gladly take my clothes off for Walker. “Thanks again for, ya know, everything yesterday.”

  “You ready?” he asks, holding the door to my own house open for me. Is he in a hurry? I try to blow off that question as I climb into his car. It’s a Subaru with dark tinted windows all the way around. It looks sporty and fast, and I remember how comfortable it was as I slide inside.

  There’s an uneasy silence as he climbs in the driver’s seat and starts the engine. I have no idea where to go with it; I’ve never been just friends with a guy before. After Paul, I let guys become a means to an end, a way to find release, to give me what I needed to help me deal with my stressful life before I went back to the real world, leaving them behind completely.

  Have I been using them? Sure. But they’ve been using me, too. We both get what we want, so what’s the harm?

  If you were with Myra instead of Walker, what would you talk about?

  I can work with that. Looking at the man driving me around and doing me more favors than I have any right to ask, I attempt a just friends conversation. “So, um. How was your day?”

  He side-eyes me, a smirk playing on his lips. “Good. How was yours?”

  “Short. But a lot better than yesterday.”

  Yeah… That didn’t last long. Now what?

  What else do I talk to Myra about? Mostly our sex lives. How life would be better with a man to do all the housework. Or how life would be better after winning millions in the lottery. Both are about even in our minds, since both would be a once-in-a-lifetime jackpot.

  “Wanna tell me about your stressful day yesterday?” he asks, avoiding my lingering gaze. “Since we’re now officially friends.”

  Thinking about what I can tell him from yesterday, I mindlessly chew on my bottom lip. He doesn’t need to know how boring my job is. He doesn’t need to know where I woke up yesterday. He doesn’t need to know that I went to work without brushing my teeth, getting a shower, or even eating breakfast. I already told him about my ordeal at the pharmacy… I guess I could tell him about my evening. But that happened because I had to stay late at work.

  “There was that power outage yesterday.” He nods and I take that as encouragement to continue. “That made work suck, and I had to stay really late to finish up everything I needed to get done.”

  “Where do you work?”

  “At the hospital, registering radiology and lab patients. What about you?”

  “The distribution center,” he answers easily. The distribution center is half an hour outside of town. I’ve heard they’re pretty good to work for. I wonder what exactly he does there. What shifts he works. If he works weekends. What does he do on the weekends if he’s not working? “How late did you have to stay?”

  My mind snaps back to the conversation, instead of wondering about every single aspect of Walker’s life. “Almost two and a half hours. It was brutal.”

  He turns to flash me that brilliant smile while laughing at me. I tell him a little bit more. About how I didn’t eat yesterday, not until he watched me devour my dinner. About how I was almost late to work, but not why. About how I got pulled over.

  “Your ex is a cop? I thought you didn’t date.”

  How clever of him to notice.

  “I don’t anymore,” I quickly explain. “I did a long time ago. Paul helped me figure out that dating’s not worth the effort.”

  “I have some bad news for you,” Walker informs me as he pulls into the auto parts store. After parking, he turns my way to study me. He reaches out, tucking a strand of my unkept hair behind my ear. “You had more than one parking ticket on your car when I drove by. Maybe if you go down to the police station and plead your case, they’ll drop it back to just one. As long as you’re not asking your ex. Sounds like you’ll have to sit through a date or two to get any kind of sympathy from him.”

  “Not gonna happen. I’ll pay a thousand parking tickets before I go out with him again.”

  “Because you don’t date or because it’s him?”

  His eyes are so intent on mine it’s hard to focus. It feels like we’re totally alone in this car. It’s quiet, and with the darkened windows, everything outside is muted, like it’s existing in a different plane. I can watch it without taking part in it. It would be easy to forget everything except what’s right here in this car.

  I like what’s in this car.

  It’s my turn to reach towards him, but I have no reason to other than I want to touch him. His eyebrow arches in silent question, but he doesn’t try to stop me. Tracing him with my fingertips, I outline the hard line of his cheek to his jaw, the stubble I admired from afar earlier is rough under my palm. My thumb follows his bottom lip, and his is breath hot as it rushes across my skin. Raising my eyes to his, I wonder briefly what he’s thinking.

  “I’m not gonna kiss you, G.”

  He wasn’t thinking. He was reading my mind.

  There’s a whole world outside of this car, I remind myself. A world where I’m already fucking two point five guys (Chad only counts as a half, because the sex requests only go one way, not both), and I don’t need to add another one. Especially one as dangerous as Walker.

  “Of course not,” I assure him, cursing silently when I have to clear my throat. “We’re just friends.”

  “That’s right. Just friends. It might be easier to stick to that if one friend stopped touching the other.”

  Like that’s gonna happen. Giving him a sly smile, I open the car door, throwing over my shoulder, “You should try it. You might like to touch, too.”

  Lord help me, if he does.

  I head right towards the counter in the store. I have no idea where anything is and I wouldn’t know what I was looking at even if I read the signs. The man behind the counter sighs when I tell him I need a new battery, then asks what kind of car I have. I answer him and he asks, “What year?”

  A helpless shrug works my shoulders, and Walker banters back and forth with me and the clerk, deciding on a battery that should work. If it doesn’t, Walker’s going to be spending the entire evening with me, running me back and forth to the auto store.

  Maybe I should’ve lied about how old my car possibly was... Spending more time with Walker wouldn’t be a hardship.

  After ringing up my shiny new battery, the clerk gives me a total of just under two hundred dollars.

  Two hundred dollars?!

  What the hell is this world coming to?

  Luckily, I brought along my no-matter-what neutral expression that I’ve mastered over the years.

  Walker carries the battery out to his car while I trail behind him, trying to figure out why a damn battery costs so much, and also how I’m going to afford to get a new tire on top of it. Hopefully I can wait until my next paycheck to take care of that problem.

  I’ve still got around seven hundred and forty-two problems left to go.

  “You never answered why you won’t go out with the cop again. Because of your no dating rules, or because it’s him?”

  My seat belt clicks into place as I think back to our conversation. I know what he’s trying to get at, but it’s not going to work. I won’t break my rules for him. I might sleep with him because my body has a way of doing what it wants with or without my permission, but I won’t date him.

  “Because of who he is. Also because I don’t date anymore. Double whammy.”

  “Ouch.” Walker winces. “Poor guy. He shoulda tried to be just friends with you first.”

  “I won’t break my rules for just friends either, Walker.”

  “Course you won’t. I’m just saying he would’ve gotten to spend some quality time with you if he was your friend. Since we’re just friends, and I’m really curious, if we were to say, go out to eat sometime… Are we going Dutch? Or can I pay because I’m a guy and you’re a girl, and it just feels right to let the guy pay?”

  “We’r
e not going out to eat together.”

  “Friends go out to eat together all the time.”

  He’s almost as stubborn as I am. And it almost breaks my neutral expression.

  Avoiding his side-eyed skepticism, I look out the window, choosing to watch the tinted world go by. I have a feeling Walker wants the real thing, dating and getting to know someone and falling in love. He’ll never get that from me. My life is already busy and complicated. I don’t need anything or anyone to make it any more tangled than it already is.

  “Ok, we won’t go out to eat,” he relents, sighing at my stubbornness. “Too early for that, I guess. How about I come over and bring takeout? You offered me some of your sub last night, takeout can’t be off limits.”

  “Maybe,” I answer, giving him nothing concrete. “Do you like movies? We could watch a movie.”

  Where the hell did that come from?

  “I like movies. But if I have to sit through some romcom, you have to agree to watch another movie with me, one that I pick.”

  Silently laughing at his willingness to watch a romcom with me, I sneak a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He’s sitting in the driver’s seat looking totally relaxed. He seems to be easy going, laid back, and fun. If I weren’t so attracted to him, I could easily be friends with him.

  “I think I can agree to those terms.”

  “Great. So, we’ll do takeout and a movie. When?”

  He’s for real. He’s setting up a date with me, even if we’re both going to pretend it’s not really a date. I decide to go with it. As much as I want to deny it, I can’t. I like him. I like spending time with him. I don’t know him, but I want to.

  Almost as much as I want to get him out of those clothes…

  Callie’s schedule with work, school, and clinical can by crazy. I pick the night she’s least likely be home until late. Fridays are best. Next would be Saturdays, but tomorrow I’ve got plans with Myra.

  “Next Friday.”

  He wants to argue, wants to push me for sooner, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut. “Ok. Next Friday it is.”

  Smart man.

  “How do you know about cars, Friend?”

  He chuckles, enjoying his new nickname. “I really don’t know that much about cars. I know the basics. You just know nothing, so I can see how you’d be confused about that.”

  Gasping, I pretend to be offended at his verbal jab.

  “My dad tinkered on them when I was growing up and I’d hang out with him in the garage. I picked up all my knowledge that way.”

  “Are you close with your dad?” I ask, wishing I could be close to mine. I wasn’t the best kid, and I wasn’t close with any of my family when my parents died.

  “Yeah. I’m close with my whole family. You seem pretty close to yours, too.”

  I try not to roll my eyes as I think about my brother and sister. I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. I love them both to death, but sometimes I could strangle them just as easily as tell them I love them. Not enjoying where this conversation is going, I decide to change it. I decide to make it much more interesting. And I watch closely for his reaction. “I’m gonna go the place I shouldn’t, but how do you know Chad?”

  Walker’s expression doesn’t change. Either he figured this would come up at some point, or he doesn’t think Chad is a threat to his friendship status with me. He’s right about the friendship thing. I know nothing about Chad except what he can make me feel and his address. I don’t even know his last name. Walker here, knows more about me than Chad does, and I’ve been fucking Chad every time he texts me for over a year.

  And making eyes at Walker for the same amount of time.

  “Chad is my sister’s ex. When she moved out, he needed help making the rent and had a spare room. I was looking for a place to live. It just made sense. I didn’t think he was going to have quite so many… visitors in and out at all hours of the night, but it hasn’t interfered with whatever I’ve been doing in the four years I’ve lived there.”

  Wait a minute. His sister’s ex? He’s been living there for four years? And his nephew is how old?

  Narrowing my eyes, I ask another question, hoping I’m piecing this together all wrong. “When did Chad and your sister break up?”

  “Four years ago.”

  “And Zeke is four?”

  He catches my eyes, knowing exactly where I’m going. “Yeah…”

  “Is it obvious and you don’t wanna talk about it, or am I missing something?”

  Walker lets out a deep breath, running his hand through his hair and reluctantly explaining, “Chad is Zeke’s biological father. Chad wanted nothing to do with him. That’s the whole reason he and my sister broke up.”

  “And your sister was ok with you living with him?”

  “She wasn’t thrilled about it, but she thought Chad might change his mind if he occasionally saw Zeke. He didn’t. Reese was heartbroken for a while, but she got married a couple years ago to a guy that loves her like she hung the moon and the stars. She told me yesterday it’s about time I get my own place, so I think she’s getting sick of the reminder that Zeke isn’t her husband’s.”

  Mulling that over, I admit, “I had no idea.”

  As my car slides into view through the window, Walker explains, “I’m pretty sure Chad doesn’t want anyone to know.”

  Because it proves he’s a really shitty person!

  What am I going to do the next time he texts me? It’s not like he’s gonna knock me up, I’m on birth control and we use condoms every time, but knowing he already knocked someone up and he basically said, too bad, deal with it? That’s harsh.

  My door opens and Walker smiles, holding his hand out to me. I take it, still in my own head and not paying attention to how much of a gentleman he’s being. He leads me to my car and I lean against it, still wrapped up in the implications of what I just learned.

  “G?” Walker asks, pulling my attention out of my own little world and back to him. He’s wearing a small smirk that says he’s enjoying watching me while I’m stuck in my head. What was I thinking? Walker can have my attention. Walker can have all my attention. “I kinda need your keys to get under your hood.”

  Is it wrong that I instantly love his nickname for me? Or that he even gave me a nickname? “You wanna get under my hood?” I ask dramatically. With fluttering, innocent eyelashes and everything.

  “I do,” he nods, his voice low and hopeful. “I’ll really get your motor running, if you give me half a chance.”

  This is very dangerous talk. My body is responding to his words and their dirty meaning like the word friend was never mentioned. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly why he worded it the way he did. He’s smirking like he knows exactly how hard my nipples are.

  I risk a downward glance.

  Yep. Totally visible.

  “Focus, Genny,” he murmurs, his eyes drilling into mine. “I need your keys to do anything to your car.”

  Oh yeah. My car. Totally forgot about that.

  Glad to have something to distract me, I dig through my purse until I hit pay dirt. He slips them from my hand, his fingers warm and lingering, his eyes still on mine, that cocky smirk still on his lips.

  Matt’s going to be getting a hell of a lot more texts from me.

  Watching Walker work, I admire the way his hands know just what to do. They move effortlessly from one thing to the next, removing bolts and cranking rachets, not caring how dirty or greasy they might be getting. Thinking about those dirty hands against my clean skin is almost more than I can bear right now, so I make my way back to his car, instead.

  Maybe I’ll be useful and take this new battery to him…

  Holy crap! Maybe if I could lift this thing without pulling a muscle and falling over, I would! After struggling for several seconds, I finally get a hold of it, keeping it close to my body to try to make it as light as possible. I’m still standing there cradling this two-hundred-dollar plastic box full of bricks when
a set of hands land on my shoulders. Walker slowly turns me around, laughing at my expression before stepping back and crossing his arms. “Want some help with that?”

  What I want are his hands back on my body, but I’ll also take what he’s offering now. “Yes, please.”

  His hand slides along my belly, and he easily takes it from me.

  In one hand.

  Like it weighs nothing.

  Trying not to drool, I consider some other things he could carry around so effortlessly. Namely, me.

  Just friends, I remind myself with a deep breath, closing my eyes to make it a little easier to convince myself.

  Maybe, if I think it often enough, my body will begin to understand what my mind is saying.

  Or maybe, if my body keeps responding this way, my mind will give in and ask him to take me home and fuck me until the sun comes up.

  Giving an involuntary groan at even that thought, I wonder what Callie’s doing later. How freaked out will she be with a strange vehicle in the driveway and sex noises coming from my bedroom?

  Totally can’t happen.

  “Genny? Battery’s in. You wanna try it?”

  Yes! I definitely want to try it!

  Wait. He means my car again…

  I climb in, turn the key, and crank the engine. It revs right up, solving my transportation problem. Cutting the engine, I jump out of the car and throw myself into Walker’s arms. “Thank you, Friend! You’re amazing!”

  His head tips down as he watches me with very dark eyes. His arms wrap around my body, his hands awfully close to my ass. My still-hard nipples are pressed into his chest, and leaning on him like I am, I finally have proof that he’s just as affected by my presence as I am by his. Those eyes of his land on my mouth, and I might die if he doesn’t kiss me. Running my tongue along my bottom lip, I send him a silent invitation, praying for him to accept.

  He doesn’t.

  Walker steps away instead, swallowing forcefully, dropping those eyes away from me completely.

  Invitation not accepted. RSVP of zero. Disappointment starts raining on my parade.