Not Even Close (A New Generation) by Elizabeth Reyes (books to read in a lifetime txt) 📗

her a little better, had Byron making a B-line to the front door. Despitehow tempting it was, he had the presence of mind to remind himself what a badidea that would be. If it were any other girl maybe. But his gut knew better, andhis ridiculous reaction to just hearing her engage with another interested dude,had been further confirmation of it. She wouldn’t be just another chick hecould pass the time with and not demand anything more.

Vannah continued to thank him and apologize for her initialassumption of him. “Listen,” she said softly when he got to the door. Shemotioned to the stuff she’d dropped on the floor when she’d rushed through thefront door. “I’m gonna get those cleaned for you.”

Byron glanced down confused. Next to her purse and Sochee’s shoes,were his crumpled gym shorts and tank. He hadn’t even noticed she’d broughtthem with her from the car.

Oh, hell no.

“That’s okay.”

He shook his head starting to reach for them, but she took a stepforward and he froze when his hand grazed her body just an inch from herbreasts. Expecting her face to flush, he was surprised it didn’t. Instead, shereached for the clothes before he could.

“I absolutely insist. After everything you did for us tonight andthe way I first treated you, getting them cleaned is the least I can do.I just need to know what the best way to get them back to you is. Should I mailthem?”

“Seriously.” He shook his head feeling panicked, as he reachedout for the clothes again. “You don’t have to. They were already dirty andthey’re just gym clothes. They don’t need to be cleaned.”

Shaking her head adamantly, her brows furrowed in stubborndefiance. It was adorable as shit and he needed to get the hell out of therewith his clothes so he could cut all ties with her now.

“I know.” She picked up her purse and pulled out a phone. “What’syour number? Bad Boys—” She stopped suddenly and now her face blushed so deeplyByron couldn’t help smile. “Is uh . . . just around the corner from here. Youwork there right?”

With his heart racing now, Byron swallowed hard staring intothose beautiful eyes. He knew he should be making a mad dash out of there onlyhe had to ask. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

His eyes immediately zoomed into her bottom lip because she dugher teeth into it for a moment. Motioning behind her, she lifted and dropped adainty shoulder a bit awkwardly.   “Sochee’s a communications major. So’s she’staking some social media courses. But she’s always excelled at researching andsuch.”

She cleared her throat glancing away, though Byron couldn’t lookaway now. He was glued to every change in expression, and hanging onto everyword she was saying, because he still had no idea what to think of this. Morethan anything he was taking in every detail of her. The timid, yet at times, veryanimated eyes. The still rosy tinge of her smooth skin, and that sweet mouth hecould already imagine devouring and not being able to get enough of.

Glancing back at him, their eyes met for a silent moment thatfelt all too familiar. It was just like all the other times he’d been suckedinto them before. Only this time, the sheer power of it felt a hundred timesheavier since he was standing so much closer than all the others.

Mercifully, she ended it when she glanced away and went on. “Wethought you looked familiar when we’d seen you at Starbucks. So, when we heardyour name, Sochee did a little research. She then remembered we’d also seen youat 5th Street during the signings.”She paused to laugh nervously, and even that had Byron smiling like an idiot.“Isn’t it crazy how much info you can get from just punching in a few related thingsinto a search engine? She immediately got a hit with your full name and itbrought up other things like where you work and stuff.”

Shrugging again, as if what she’d just dropped on him wasn’t aspivotal as it was—that the girl he’d been obsessing about for weeks had justadmitted to cyber stalking him—she went on. “Anyway, I figured since you workso close by, I can just text you to ask when’s the best time to drop them off?”

Byron didn’t immediately respond. He was still too hung up on thefact that she hadn’t just remembered his name from the coffee shop—over a weekago. She’d confessed to looking far deeper into him and now here she was askingfor his number. He still wasn’t sure how he should feel about this, but he wascertain excited shouldn’t be it, damn it.

She slipped her phone back in her purse as her face began tingingagain. “I guess I could just drop them off at the front desk—”

“Three, two, three . . .” Glancing up at him, she didn’t reachfor her phone again, until Byron nodded with a smile. “It’s the area code.”

He watched as she pulled her phone out a bit apprehensively and tappedthe rest of his number into her phone. The whole time he couldn’t decide whatto make of this entire situation. That his grown ass heart could pound likethis, just because he was giving a chick his number was ridiculous. But somehow,he knew this was so much more than just giving some random girl he’d just methis number.

His conflicting insides continued to rattle him as he stood theretrying desperately to convince himself this was no big deal. Yet, his instinctsknew better. He’d been home free, for fucks sake. Could’ve already been at oneof his regulars getting that much needed tension relief. Instead, he was stillstanding there inside Vannah’s dorm room, fighting the incredibly stupidurge to lean in and kiss her.

The buzz in his pocket broke him out of his thoughts. “That’sme,” Vannah smiled. “This way you’ll know who it is when your clothes are ready,and I text you.”

“You really don’t have to get them clean, Vannah.” Byron pulledout his phone and clicked on the envelope.

“So, I’ll just wash them then. I have laundry to do tomorrowanyway. Works out perfect.”

Byron glanced at the smiley face she sent, shaking off