See Her (Turn it Up #1)

Chapter 9

9

MAYZIE

L ike it’s done every time for the last two weeks when my phone rings, my stomach does cartwheels when I see it’s Jack.

Halting my typing, I sit back in my breakfast nook.

“Hey,” I greet warmly.

“You know what I haven’t done in a while?” he asks, giving an unexpected vibe to the conversation. “Kicked back with takeout and a movie.”

“Oh my gosh, that sounds perfect right now.I really need to wind down.”

“We’re doing it together then.” I inwardly squeal, just like I do every time he tells me he wants to spend time together. “Hey, we’ve never hung out in the evening before,” he says, realization in his voice.

“I know. You don’t turn into a werewolf do you?”

“Wanna find out?”

“Sure. My house or yours?”

“I’m already out. I’ll come to you if you text me your address.”

When we hang up, I immediately shoot him the address and start scurrying around, picking up, lighting a scented candle in case my house smells like Rottweiler, making sure my bathroom is clean, and freaking out the entire time. This is not like any other time we’ve hung out. For the first time, we’ll be in a private setting, and I can’t help going insane with excitement, wondering if Jack will make a move.

I really want him to. It’s been too long since someone has made a move on me that wasn’t in the form of a dick pic.

When Jack knocks on my door less than an hour later, I school my body language to make it look like I didn’t just spend the whole time rushing around my house, trying to find the perfect top that would make me look desirable but like I’m not trying too hard, and making my house look like a slob doesn’t live here.

I steel myself with a deep breath, let it come shuddering out and head to the door.I shake out my hands one last time, and finally let Jack in. He’s carrying a pizza box, and in his other hand is a six pack of beer.

“Oh, good man,” I say, eyeing the beer.

“Yeah, it sounds good right now, and I figured you’d agree,” he grins, setting everything down on the counter.He’s in his grey cargos and a black Henley. Dear Lord .

“Yes, definitely,” I confirm. “I’ve been hitting work hard since six this morning, and I’m so done.”

“Well, good news is you don’t have to cook, your dinner is here, and you can kick back with a beer and a movie,”he says, sounding like he’s just coming home to me like he does it every day, before reaching down to let Penny sniff his hand before giving her an affectionate head–rub when she eagerly approves. When she feels like she’s gotten enough attention, she parks her butt down next to the counter, directly below the pizza box.

“I don’t really cook anyway, but still, this all sounds fantastic.” I pull out two of the beers and grab my bottle opener to pop the tops off. I hand him one, and put the rest in the fridge before grabbing two plates and some paper towels .

“Do you not like cooking?” he asks, following me over to the couch and coffee table with the pizza.

“It’s just me here, so there’s not much point in shopping, prepping, and slaving over a meal is all. Just doesn’t seem worth it when it will be devoured in ten minutes anyway,” I reply, setting the plates down on the coffee table with my beer.Penny is rapidly sniffing around the box, so I reach inside to pull off a piece of pepperoni.I lead her to the back door and put her on her tether outside before feeding it to her.When I come back, I say, “If I do cook, it’s usually some kind of pasta or a salad or something.”

“Well, next time we’ll do this at my house and I’ll grill,” he says.

Next time?! My heart gives another flutter at that idea. I swear I’m going to need an EKG if this keeps up.

“Sounds awesome,” I say, and then sit down and reach for the remote. I put on Netflix and we scan through, looking for something we both might like before settling on the latest action movie with Statham and The Rock.

“Thank you for not getting olives on this,” I say, setting my plate down after my second slice.

“Doesn’t like olives,” he says between bites. “Noted.”

We’re about a half hour into the movie when he says, “So be honest, are you drooling over The Rock right now?”

“Nah.”

“No?”

“No, I don’t go for big and massive. He’d probably break me in half.”

He almost chokes laughing, and tips his beer back to help clear his throat. "What do you go for then?" he asks, when he recovers.

I try to keep my facial expression in check and my eyes trained on the screen, but I get a small thrill at the idea of him wanting to know this.

"Oh, I don't know, I kind of go for lean and tall...” I ramble, trying not to be obvious that I might be describing him. Call me crazy, but going on to say bad boy look with wild hair that plays music would maybe give me away. I switch it over to him before I embarrass myself.

“What type do you go for?” I ask shyly, both wanting and dreading the answer. I get left hanging however, when Jack opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by a sharp knock at my door.

"Maze, you home?" Ian's voice comes from the other side of the door.

"Go away!"

My idiot brother takes that as an invitation to waltz in, as Jack looks between the two of us in confusion. Ian takes a good look at Jack and then resumes the look of having no clue he's intruding. I roll my eyes and introduce them.

"Ian, this is Jack. Jack, this uninvited guest is my brother, Ian.”

Jack immediately stands and they shake hands. "Good to meet you,” he says before gesturing towards the fridge and saying, "There's beer in there, help yourself." I kind of like that he's comfortable enough in my house to extend that courtesy to my brother. Too bad he missed my big display of waving my hands, shaking my head and mouthing "NO, NO!"

After Ian takes Jack up on his offer, he settles his ass down in the chair kitty-corner to the couch with his beer while I sit and glare. He immediately pulls Jack into shop talk, making me fume.

“What?” he finally asks when he feels my eyes burning holes into the side of his face.

"You have a girlfriend to get home to,” I say, waving at him, dropping more hints for him to beat it. Naturally, he shrugs me off and goes back to talking to Jack. I zone out, trying to come up with a way to make him leave.

A plan is just formulating when I hear him say, "So, what are your intentions with my sister?" While my first inclination is to smack him, I want to hear this too. I act casual, and pick up my beer.

"I assure you, they're nothing but pure,” Jack answers, and I try not to let my shoulders slump. Well that sucks.

"Good answer," Ian says, taking a slug of his beer. Then Jack throws me a quick wink . The butterflies are back and dancing on the back of my neck. Now Ian needs to leave so we can make out.

The restored hope is enough to make me pull the ultimate, devious, rotten little sister move if I have any hopes of getting any further with Jack.

I make a pronounced point of snatching up my phone from the coffee table and rapidly start scrolling through my contacts until I find the aforementioned girlfriend.

Me: Please text your boyfriend to come home. He’s fucking up my date.

Tina: You mean he’s not still at work?!

Jackpot.

Ian’s phone is on silent but I can hear it buzzing under his ass from here, yet the fucker ignores it. He’s going to be single very soon.

Me: Text him again. Like, thirty times in a row.

Ian tries to carry on with his guy talk with Jack while his phone continues to explode beneath his ass.

“Ian, does Tina know where you are?” I try to ask casually, and that seems to cue the idiot to acknowledge his phone. He lifts up to retrieve it from his back pocket and after swiping through several messages, his eyes go wide as saucers.

“Oh… shit. Gotta go,” he finally concludes, standing and leaning to place his half-drunk beer in front of me. “Finish that up for me. Nice to meet you, Jack.” It’s all a blur as he breezes past us and out the door, slamming it behind him.

“Well, he’s interesting,” Jack smirks, and I take a margin of delight in the fact that his face makes him look just as relieved as I am that my brother's gone.

Jack

I wake up to a tingling sensation in my arm. I slowly open my eyes, and am greeted by the Netflix menu frozen on the TV screen. As I blink a few more times, I realize I hear a faint sound, like a car motor in the distance, or maybe it’s a cat purring. I didn’t think Mayzie had a cat. It’s then that I realize Mayzie’s head is on my shoulder and she’s fast asleep. The noise is coming from her, but she’s snoring so faintly that I couldn’t figure out what it was.

I smile, liking the idea that we fell asleep together and drifted towards one another. My arm is around her, hence the pins and needles, and her hand is resting on my chest, the warmth from it seeping right through my shirt, and I can practically see my insides glowing from the touch. It’s like that one simple touch from her is branding me to the bone.

And I had no fucking idea that snoring could be so damned cute.

As much as I want to get the blood flowing back into my arm, I don’t want to move. It’s been killing me to keep a physical distance from Mayzie the last couple of weeks, but I’m not going to waste this opportunity. I carefully apply pressure to her shoulders and shift her even closer, loving the feeling of her pressing against me. Her breath hitting my neck sends goosebumps racing across my hyper-sensitive skin, and I close my eyes for a second to bask in the feeling.

Fuck, her shampoo smells good.

Not wanting this to cross into creeper territory, I open my eyes again and carefully ease away from her. She doesn’t even stir as I retrieve my arm and move it around, trying to get the feeling back. I gaze at her beautiful face in the light from the television, taking the time to study every curve of her smooth skin, and the shadows her eyelashes cause as they rest against her cheekbones. I don’t know what the right thing to do is here. A huge part of me doesn’t want to leave at all. I’d love to stay here all night, sleep with her, and when we wake up together, tell her she’s mine.

But fuck, that’s kind of hard to do when I haven’t even kissed her. And despite the incredibly intense urges I’m feeling towards her, I’m a gentleman to my core.

I decide against waking her because she was so exhausted, so I carefully gather her in my arms and lift her up to carry her to her room. Her scent of vanilla and some sort of flower engulfs me again, sending sensations straight to my heart… and my dick. I don’t think I’ll ever get her scent out of my head, and I don’t want to. It’s like she’s cast some sort of spell on me.

I carefully walk down the hallway to the end, and what I assume is her bedroom. It’s too dark for me to see any details, but it smells like her in here so I know I found the right place. I carefully lay her down with her head on the pillow, and she doesn’t even stir. Penny is already asleep across the foot of the bed, her snoring far less attractive. I see a blanket folded at the foot of the bed, grab it, and spread it over Mayzie so she won’t get cold. She rolls over and I freeze, but she just tucks her hands under her chin, the move sending another pang of want through me. Damn, I just want to lie down next to her so she’s the first thing I see in the morning. Doing the right thing is torture in this moment, but there’s no way I want to cross any lines and ruin what we’re growing here. I take one last look and can’t help but smile to myself before I turn and leave the room.

Heading to the front door, I notice a notepad on the table in the breakfast nook, so I grab it and scribble a quick note for her and leave it right there near her computer before turning and heading straight to the front door, locking it from the inside as I leave to head home.

Mayzie dominates my thoughts the entire drive, mixed in with intrusive ones of her spending nights like that with other guys. Next thing I know, I’m trying not to rip the steering wheel off its anchor.

That’s it. Turns out, two weeks is my limit. Tomorrow, I’m making Mayzie mine.