Taking the Kleenex box out of her hand, I pulled out several tissues from it and wiped her tears. Without thinking clearly, I reached for her. “Alex,” I said, running my fingers through her hair. It felt so soft and smooth. When she didn’t stop, I debated whether to wake her. I didn’t know if that was a good idea. Fuck! What do I do?

I decided to pick her up and put her in her own bed. That way, she would be more comfortable and sleep as long as she needed. As I held her, I had no idea why I sang the words softly against her ear as I tucked her in bed. “You’ll find nobody else like me.”

Alex rolled over to her side, snuggling against her pillow. I didn’t know if she was dreaming or if she knew I’d just carried her to her bed. She mumbled, “Thanks, El…e.” A pause. “Love…song.” Then I heard the sweetest sigh. A sound I imagined a girl would make as she thinks about the love of her life.

Raking my hair back, I chuckled lightly at her words and watched her lay still. Seeing her chest rise and fall into a peaceful sleep was my cue that I was good to go. Secretly, I wanted that sigh to be for me.

Alexandria

Liam was mad as hell when he dropped me off at the condo. He’d left his friends at the restaurant so he could take me home first. We had our first big fight in months, and it only intensified when he found out Elijah was my roommate. I reassured him nothing was going on between us. After calming his nerves, he apologized and stuck around for a bit. Knowing I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted when he tried to take off my clothes, he left. He told me he would come next week without his friends.

Something in the pit of my stomach told me he may be playing the field, but then again, we’d never discussed the seriousness of our relationship. I had no idea what we were besides the fact that he told me many times that we were in a relationship, but not officially, and he wanted to take things slow. I wasn’t sure what he meant by taking things slow, but trying to get into my pants didn’t seem like going slow. I also knew that doing it after a fight was not how I envisioned giving up my virginity. There was no way I was going to give it to someone who didn’t deserve it. I had to be sure. You only lose it once and you sure as hell couldn’t take it back.

Elijah seemed to be around more the past couple of days. I don’t know if the reason was because school had started, but I enjoyed his company. I didn’t feel so alone. We hadn’t talked about what happened between us that night. Since he never brought it up, I pretended it never happened. Although I couldn’t stop thinking about how sweet he had been, he was definitely a lot sweeter than Liam was these days.

There were three things I couldn’t forget about that night: Elijah’s voice, how he consoled me when I cried after dreaming about my dad, and how he tucked me into bed. I never mentioned it, nor did I thank him. I didn’t want it to be awkward between us. I felt his arms around me that night when I was coming out of my dream and I froze. I was so shocked at the things he was doing that I didn’t know what to do, so I pretended to be asleep. I didn’t have to pretend much since I really was half-asleep.

I’m sure it was no big deal to him, but it was a huge deal to me. He touched me in ways I never thought possible in this short amount of time. When he sang those words softly in my ear, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted me to hear, it tugged at my heart. The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to know everything about him, and the less dangerous he appeared to be.

Chapter 13

Elijah

Whiteboard:

I have leftover spaghetti.

Help yourself to some.

-Alex

I came in all sweaty with my T-shirt hung around my neck, covering the tattoo by my heart. After my morning class, I went to the gym and then I went for a run. I don’t know how long I ran, but it felt good. It always helped me clear my mind. It also distracted me from wanting to smoke. I had tried quitting a while back. I wasn’t successful the first time around, but I decided to try again. Not that I smoked like crazy; I only did it to help calm my nerves.

When I stepped into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, I saw Alex leaning over the counter, reading her textbook and listening to music with her headphones on. She was wiggling her sexy little ass while humming along. The only thing I could focus on was what she was doing with that popsicle stick.

First, she licked and sucked the tip, then opened her mouth, allowing that pop to slowly glide inside. The pop slid in and out several times. Sometimes she twisted it. When she pulled it out, she licked her bottom lip with one long swipe of her tongue. Fuck! I’ve never been so turned on in my life.

I couldn’t look away, wishing that was my dick she had her lips wrapped around. Shit! I had to get that thought out of my mind. Seeing her in short shorts, a form fitted tank top, and the way her hair was down on one side didn’t help either. She looked like she was posing for a sexy magazine.

I was just about to walk away when Alex turned, giving me an innocent smile. That sexy smile managed to crawl into my heart without my consent. She had no idea she just seduced me and made me hard.

“Hey, Elijah. How long have you been standing here?” She sounded nervous and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. I could tell she was trying hard not to stare, as her eyes flashed from the floor to my sweaty chest several times. She didn’t give me time to answer. Honestly, I don’t even know if I could have since I was still seeing her playing with that ice pop in my mind.

“Do you want a popsicle? It’s called a ‘Big Stick’. It’s my favorite.” She showed me hers. “I bought them at the campus market. Did you know there was a mini-mart on campus?”