Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words(38)

“Could you possibly answer the door for me?” I ask with a polite smile, trying not to breathe too heavily now that the nerves are back.

I’m pretty sure if I take too deep of a breath, it will completely throw my balance off. I don’t exactly want to greet Brent for our first date by being face down on the ground.

“You know you’ll have to walk at some point, right?” She snorts as she walks to my front door.

“Everybody likes a piece of ass. Nobody likes a smartass,” I remind her.

“Oooh I’m really liking this saucy Heidi.” Aubrey grins as she looks back at me over her shoulder and pauses in front of the door. “Put your arms down. Stand up straight. And smile.”

I slowly do everything she orders, my body only wavering a little bit.

“Perfect. But I can see your nipple again,” she says with a wink before turning around and opening the door.

I quickly tug up the top of my dress, which throws my stupid balance off and I slam into the side of the bookshelf again, grabbing onto it just as Brent walks through the door.

Oh my word.

Instead of his usual clothing choice of jeans and a T-shirt, Brent has thrown on a pair of black dress pants and paired it with a white, fitted button down with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, showing off a nice amount of those beautiful, muscular forearms. He looks so good I want to cry. He looks like he just stepped off the pages of GQ Magazine, and I look like I let one of my students dress me and do my makeup.

“Hi, I’m Aubrey!” she quickly introduces, giving Brent’s hand a shake before moving around him and into the open doorway. “You two kids have fun!”

When she’s behind Brent’s back, she leans around him and holds her thumb and forefinger up to the side of her head, mouthing the words call me before reaching in and closing the door behind her.

Well, this is awkward.

I’m still hugging the bookshelf, and Brent hasn’t said a word. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, he walks across the room until he’s standing a few feet away from me.

God, he smells good.

“Hey there,” he says softly, with his gorgeous crooked smile.

“Oh hey! How’s it going? You look great!”

His smile gets wider and he cocks his head at me.

“Thanks. You ready to go?”

“Oh sure. I’m totally ready.”

It’s fine that he didn’t return the compliment. I’m sure seeing me like this is just a shock and it will take some getting used to. He didn’t expect to walk in here and see Sexy Heidi ready for anything. You know, as long as she has something firm to hold onto.

Neither one of us moves. I’m afraid to let go of my grip on the bookshelf, and holy cow, why do women wear these stupid torture devices? I can feel my heartbeat in my toes. That can’t be a good thing.

“Do you want to let go of the bookshelf or are we taking it with us?” Brent asks with a chuckle.

“Yep! Letting go right now,” I tell him, still not letting go. “Aaany minute now.”

Locking my knees as tightly as I can and clenching my thighs until I can almost hear them weeping in pain, I slowly drop my hands from the shelf. Feeling confident I’m not going to fall, I let out a huge sigh of relief as I take a step toward him.

My feet and my legs are clearly over this nonsense, and everything stops working all at once. I tumble toward Brent with my arms windmilling. He manages to dodge my flailing limbs without getting smacked in the face and catches me before I fall. With his arms wrapped tightly around my body and my chest pressed up against his, I forget all about being mortified that I tripped. He’s so warm and strong, and I can feel his heartbeat against my chest. I thought he smelled good a few feet away from me, but it’s nothing compared to being in his arms. He smells like soap and a hint of woodsy cologne that makes me tingle in all the right places.

Tipping my chin up to look at him, I have to blink rapidly and open my eyes as wide as possible to get these stupid spiders on my eyes to cooperate before I can fully focus on him.

“Sorry,” I whisper. “I don’t usually wear shoes like this. I’m not quite used to them yet.”

The concern on his face softens and he smiles down at me again.

“Did you do all this for me?”

With these shoes, my eyes are at the perfect height to stare right at his lips and watch them move as he speaks. Scenes from romance novels flood my mind, and all I can think about is having his lips on me. Anywhere. My mouth, my neck, my cheek, my elbow… it doesn’t even matter. I just want to know what they feel like.

I quickly shake away my dirty thoughts and concentrate on the question he just asked.

“Well, I’ve been doing a bit of self-discovery lately. Trying new things. Going out of my comfort zone,” I tell him with a shrug. “I’ve seen the type of women you date, and… I don’t know, I guess I just… wanted to make sure I measured up.”

I wait for him to tell me I look ridiculous and that I am ridiculous, but it never happens. He just tightens his hold on me and bends his knees a tiny bit to squat down so we’re eye-level.

“Are you comfortable right now, in this dress, and in those shoes, wearing a bunch of makeup that you don’t normally wear?”

Absolutely. You should keep your arms around me forever and ever.