It wasn’t until Byron pulled up as close as he could to the entrance of the dorms, that something dawned on him. “You’re not on the second floor, are you?”
Vannah shook her head but then frowned when she motioned to her left. “No but there are a few stairs we’ll have to scale to get to our dorm. It’s okay though,” she added quickly. “I’ll get her up one step at a time.”
“One step at a time?” Byron scoffed glancing back at her completely passed out friend in his backseat. “She ain’t doing any walking anytime soon. I already knew I’d be carrying her in for you. I just hadn’t given any thought to the possibility of stairs.”
“No, you’ve done enough, Byron.” Her face tinging again nearly had him smiling, but she went on quickly. “I’m sure I can round up a few of our neighbors and friends to help me with her.”
Shaking his head without a word, he opened his door and got out. No way would this five-foot- nothing little thing be carrying someone who outweighed her by at least thirty pounds. Even with help from her other likely equally dainty neighbors.
Then he had another thought. A lot of these dorms were coed. What she might mean by friends could be some of the guys he’d already seen her with. Some of whom might be more than willing to help her, then hang out and chat about the night she’d had. The utter irritation over just the thought, was confusing as fuck. But it was just another reminder why he should just hurry up, get this over with, and get away from the girl. The sooner the better. Pulling the backdoor open with a purpose now, Byron leaned in and got to work.
He’d been right on the nose about her friend being in no shape to walk anywhere anytime soon. She was out cold and absolute dead weight. Eventually, he managed to throw her over his shoulder, and they were on their way. As expected, carrying her wasn’t nearly the chore he knew Vannah was thinking, given all the wincing, and apologizing she did.
With minimal heaving and puffing as they made it up the few stairs, they were finally at her dorm door. Vannah worked quickly to get the door open and within minutes they were in the largest dorm room he’d ever been in. It was literally about the size of his two-bedroom apartment. Full kitchen, front room and all. After getting Sochee in bed in her own room, and Vannah assuring Byron she was fine and that she could take it from there, they walked back out to the front room.
The mounting temptation to delay his stay and possibly get to know her a little better, had Byron making a B-line to the front door. Despite how tempting it was, he had the presence of mind to remind himself what a bad idea that would be. If it were any other girl maybe. But his gut knew better, and his ridiculous reaction to just hearing her engage with another interested dude, had been further confirmation of it. She wouldn’t be just another chick he could pass the time with and not demand anything more.
Vannah continued to thank him and apologize for her initial assumption of him. “Listen,” she said softly when he got to the door. She motioned to the stuff she’d dropped on the floor when she’d rushed through the front 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 brought them with her from the car.
Oh, hell no.
“That’s okay.”
He shook his head starting to reach for them, but she took a step forward and he froze when his hand grazed her body just an inch from her breasts. Expecting her face to flush, he was surprised it didn’t. Instead, she reached for the clothes before he could.
“I absolutely insist. After everything you did for us tonight and the 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 mail them?”
“Seriously.” He shook his head feeling panicked, as he reached out for the clothes again. “You don’t have to. They were already dirty and they’re just gym clothes. They don’t need to be cleaned.”
Shaking her head adamantly, her brows furrowed in stubborn defiance. It was adorable as shit and he needed to get the hell out of there with his clothes so he could cut all ties with her now.
“I know.” She picked up her purse and pulled out a phone. “What’s your number? Bad Boys—” She stopped suddenly and now her face blushed so deeply Byron couldn’t help smile. “Is uh . . . just around the corner from here. You work there right?”
With his heart racing now, Byron swallowed hard staring into those beautiful eyes. He knew he should be making a mad dash out of there only he had to ask. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
His eyes immediately zoomed into her bottom lip because she dug her teeth into it for a moment. Motioning behind her, she lifted and dropped a dainty shoulder a bit awkwardly. “Sochee’s a communications major. So’s she’s taking some social media courses. But she’s always excelled at researching and such.”
She cleared her throat glancing away, though Byron couldn’t look away now. He was glued to every change in expression, and hanging onto every word she was saying, because he still had no idea what to think of this. More than anything he was taking in every detail of her. The timid, yet at times, very animated eyes. The still rosy tinge of her smooth skin, and that sweet mouth he could already imagine devouring and not being able to get enough of.
Glancing back at him, their eyes met for a silent moment that felt all too familiar. It was just like all the other times he’d been sucked into them before. Only this time, the sheer power of it felt a hundred times heavier since he was standing so much closer than all the others.
Mercifully, she ended it when she glanced away and went on. “We thought you looked familiar when we’d seen you at Starbucks. So, when we heard your name, Sochee did a little research. She then remembered we’d also seen you at 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 things into a search engine? She immediately got a hit with your full name and it brought up other things like where you work and stuff.”
Shrugging again, as if what she’d just dropped on him wasn’t as pivotal as it was—that the girl he’d been obsessing about for weeks had just admitted to cyber stalking him—she went on. “Anyway, I figured since you work so 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 the fact that she hadn’t just remembered his name from the coffee shop—over a week ago. She’d confessed to looking far deeper into him and now here she was asking for his number. He still wasn’t sure how he should feel about this, but he was certain excited shouldn’t be it, damn it.
She slipped her phone back in her purse as her face began tinging again. “I guess I could just drop them off at the front desk—”
“Three, two, three . . .” Glancing up at him, she didn’t reach for 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 tapped the rest of his number into her phone. The whole time he couldn’t decide what to make of this entire situation. That his grown ass heart could pound like this, 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 met his number.