Young Love Dies Hard: The Young Brothers, Book 1 by Nikki Lane (old books to read txt) 📗

only go there to see you, you know.”

I turned to look at him, my fingers still picking at the label on the water bottle. “Why do you come and see me?”

“Because I love watching you dance.”

He leaned in close to my face. The smell of his skin brought me back to freshmen year. Rich had been the first guy I’d slept with in college. I had been lost on campus, and he’d offered to walk me to my next class. A few days later and my feet were braced on the wall against his twin size bed in his dorm room. It was like that for a while until Rich had brought up the idea of exclusivity.

Rich set his lips on mine. Kissing him was like dancing choreography I’d learn years ago. Once I remembered the right steps, everything else flowed together. I kissed him back, readjusting myself so that I was straddling his waist. His hands ran up and down my tights.

“You can’t spend the night,” I said between kissing.

He pulled back. “What?”

I held his face and looked him in the eyes. “When we’re done. You can’t spend the night.”

He kissed me again. I loosened up and pulled the hair tie free from my hair.

When I heard the doorknob jiggle, I froze. Rich sat still, his mouth hanging open.

I perked my ears to listen over the pelting rain against the window.

Shit. It was definitely the door.

I leapt off Rich’s lap and back onto the couch, just in time to see Jacob walk through the door. It was dark in the apartment, so I wasn’t sure if he noticed we were there.

Rich and I both cowered back when he flicked on the light. Jacob’s eyes immediately fell on me.

“Hey.” I cleared my throat. “You’re back.”

Fuck. I felt like a jerk. What was I doing? And why was I about to do it with Rich?

“Uh, Rich. This is Jacob,” I said, almost as if an introduction would suddenly make them friends.

Jacob just stood there, silent, holding a small brown paper bag. His hair and shirt were damp.

Rich switched his gaze between both sides of the room. “Jacob? You have a boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“I’m staying with Maeve for a while,” Jacob said.

“I think it’s time for you to go,” I said to Rich.

“What?” Rich whispered.

I turned to look at him. “You have to go.”

He grumbled as he got off the couch and headed toward the door. Jacob took two steps to the right to let him pass.

“Have a nice night,” I heard Jacob mutter to Rich before he walked out.

I couldn’t look at Jacob’s face, but I could feel him looking at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Finished early with Jim and wanted to surprise you.” He walked toward the couch and set the brown bag on the coffee table. “Aunt Meg made apple cobbler. I know it’s your favorite, so I thought I’d bring some home for you.”

I reached out for the bag and peeked inside. The smell of cinnamon wafted toward my nose. “Thank you.”

“Sorry I interrupted.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything. He just gave me a ride home from dance class.”

“How did it go?” He sat down on the opposite side of the couch.

I leaned back and laid my head against the cushion. “It was wonderful.” I turned to face him. “Thank you for suggesting it.”

A frown creased the lower part of his face. His glasses were speckled with raindrops. Why didn’t he dry them off? Maybe because he would rather not see me. Thank God he’d walked in when he did. I didn’t think I could have ever faced him again if he’d been there when Rich was walking out of the bedroom.

“Aunt Meg was disappointed that you didn’t come with me.”

I got up from the couch and snatched the brown bag with the cobbler. “I’m sure she knew why.” I walked to the kitchen to grab a fork. I might have been upset with Aunt Meg, but there was no way I was passing up her apple cobbler.

“She wants to know if you’re coming for Thanksgiving.”

I leaned against the kitchen counter and stabbed my fork into the opened Tupperware. “I don’t know.”

“Your mom won’t be there.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me herself.”

I took a bite of the cobbler and let out a deep breath. It felt good to have a little piece of home. “Okay, then. I guess I’m coming for Thanksgiving dinner.”

Jacob gave me a small smile. “Good. Then we can leave Thursday morning. Or we could leave Wednesday night. There’s a holiday party at work, but I don’t have to go.”

“No, it’s fine. Go to the party. We can leave Thursday.”

I finished the last few bites of the cobbler and set the empty container and dirty fork in the sink to wash.

“Would you come with me?” he said.

“To the party?”

“Yeah. We haven’t hung out in a while.”

I shrugged. “Okay. It’ll be good to get out when midterms are over.”

“Great.” Jacob pulled out some books from his backpack. “Looking forward to it.”

“Me, too.”

“So, you ready to help me study?” he asked.

“Now?”

“Better now than never.”

I’d given up on studying. Midterms started the next day. If I didn’t know it by now, then a few more hours of studying weren’t going to do the trick.

“Sure,” I said. “Let’s see exactly how smart you really are.”

Chapter Eleven

I saw her the minute we walked into the crowded restaurant. Her sparkly top and perfectly coifed hair made her easy to spot. How many headbands did this girl own? She sunk her gaze on Jacob from across the room.

Jacob was busy introducing me to his coworkers, but I watched Taylor’s every step. Did she even notice that I was standing right next to him? Doubtful.

“Your, uh, friend is waving to you,” I said to Jacob as we made our way to the bar.

Mid-terms were over, and I was ready to celebrate. Jacob ordered us both a drink and then looked around the room.

“Taylor?” he said.

“Yeah. Did you invite her here?”

“No.