All Novel JR
46
OAKLYN
Really? I was just so shocked to see you. I wasn’t expecting you to be there. At all.
ME
Shocked, yes. Unexpected, of course. But I saw more than that, Oaklyn. More than excitement. More than just pleasure.
OAKLYN
Like if there was anyone in the world I wanted to be standing there, it was you?
ME
Yes.
OAKLYN
And that’s just how I felt.
That’s why I can’t get this smile to leave.
ME
I don’t want it to. It looks too beautiful on your face.
OAKLYN
Now, I’m blushing.
ME
Don’t get too red. I don’t want my sister asking any more questions.
OAKLYN
Well, she already knows I’m crushing on someone. When she asks who I’ve been texting-and I’m sure she’s going to-I’ll just tell her it’s him. Mystery Man.
ME
That’s my name, huh?
OAKLYN
For now.
I could easily lead that into a different discussion. A conversation we needed to eventually have.
But that wasn’t going to take place over text.
ME
This Friday, are you free?
OAKLYN
I can be.
ME
I’m going to pick you up at your apartment at 6 p. m.
It’s time for lesson three …
OAKLYN
I can’t wait.
Oaklyn
“H
i,” I said as I slid into the passenger seat of Camden’s Porsche, impressed with the fancy interior and red leather and how it smelled so clean and new.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come up to get you. I looked for parking all along your block and another two blocks in each direction. There wasn’t a single spot open.”
With the front seat of his sports car so compact, Camden looked even taller than his six-three height and even broader than his extra-muscular build.
He also looked positively delicious with his beard just trimmed and edged, wearing a black button-down and jeans. The collar of his shirt was open just enough that it showed a hint of his dark chest hair, his signature leather bracelets around the wrist of the hand that gripped the steering wheel.
I breathed in the scent of his woodsy cologne as I replied, “Don’t worry. It’s much easier for me to come down and meet you. One of the downfalls of high-rise living, as you know.” I smiled as I shut the door and reached for the seat belt.
He pulled into traffic, weaving his way across two lanes. “I think my high-rise-living days are going to be short-lived.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He shifted into another gear, and the hum of the engine vibrated through me. All that did was set the embers in my stomach on fire, ones that had begun to spark the second he called to let me know he was parked outside my building.
“I’m going to start house-shopping.”
I turned toward him, an excuse to stare at his profile. “Now, that’s fun. Are you going to sell your condo? You haven’t had it that long.”
And I knew just how long that had been since I’d attended his housewarming party. A night I so desperately wanted to tell him that I didn’t want to wait the full year and complete the proposition sooner. I just hadn’t had the nerve.
“I’m going to keep it as an investment property and rent it out.”
“Okay, Mr. Business.” I laughed. “No, that’s a really great idea.”
“Well, I can’t take all the credit.” He turned at the light. “When I was at the bar the other night with Declan and Macon, the night you were with Hannah and we were texting”-he quickly glanced at me, a grin climbing over the most enticing lips-“I was telling them about my plans, and they suggested it.”
“I think it’s amazing.”
“You do?”
I nodded and knew he couldn’t really see me, so I added, “Yes, I do.”
“You know, my cousins are going to inherit The Dalton Group whenever my aunt and uncle retire and pass it down. That’ll consume those guys to the point where they won’t need another venture. But me, I want a side hustle, so I can retire long before them. I’m hoping this is just the start of many investment properties.”
“That’s admirable, Camden, and extremely inspiring.”
When he stopped at the light, he gazed at me. “Thank you.”
“What else do you guys talk about during guys’ night?” I giggled, feeling the heat move into my face. “I imagine the conversations take on quite a life of their own once some heavy drinking is involved.”
“And you wouldn’t be wrong.”
“Hannah said Declan came home in pretty rough shape.”
He swiped his thumb over his bottom lip. “I wasn’t any better. I was actually probably worse off than him.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
When his hand left his mouth, I expected it to return to the steering wheel.
But it didn’t.
It slowly reached for me, grazing the bottom of my chin. “Nothing is off-limits when I’m with the guys. We discuss anything and everything.” His palm moved to my cheek, his fingers diving into my hair. “Except the heavier and physical details involving you.”
I was taken aback by the softness in the way he was touching me and the words he’d just spoken.
He was just so gentle, which was so unlike Camden.
Almost loving.
And if the car behind us hadn’t honked, alerting him of the green light, I wondered if he would have kissed me.
But as soon as the sound hit our ears, his hand was gone, and his car was moving again.
“I need to know …” I started, hesitant, unsure if he would even reply. “Why am I the exception?”
The question made him smile.
A sight I wanted to stare at forever.
But a second after I finished speaking, something hit me, and I asked, “Or is it that you don’t talk about me because you don’t want Declan to know in case he says something to Hannah-”
“Declan knows. So does Macon.”
I allowed that information to process through me before I said, “Oh.”
He downshifted as he approached the red light. “I assure you, Declan won’t say a word to Hannah, and Macon is a vault.”
“If you told them, I assume you trust them.”
He slowly looked at me. “That’s the thing, Oaklyn. I didn’t tell them.”
“Then, how did they know?”
“Apparently, they saw it on my face.”
They saw it on his face.
Which meant they saw an expression similar to the one I’d been wearing when Hannah came to my apartment the other night and called me out about Mystery Man.
Is that what I do to him?
How I make him feel?
Oh God.