Free Not Yet by Laura Ward Page A

until you’ve tried my
enchiladas!”
    Landon laughed loudly. “Thank you, but you don’t need
to take care of me. I’ve been on my own for a long time now.
Really. I’m fine.”
    “Please, I’m not doing it because I think you can’t
take care of yourself. I know Evie would love to see you again. And
it’s always just me and her every night. It would be great to have
you there. You live in Zionsville, so it’s only a twenty minute
drive home.” I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed his earlobe. His
arms tightened around me as I whispered into his ear, “I cook and
you do the dishes, big guy. And then, afterwards is dessert. And by
dessert, I mean tasting you on my couch. C’mon, how’re you
gonna say no to that offer?”
    Landon pulled me away from him with a look of wry
amusement. “You are an evil little woman. First off, you somehow
discovered my soft spot for Mexican food. Secondly, you are taking
advantage of my superior dish cleaning techniques. And finally, I
think this is all just so you can use me for my body.”
    I nodded my head and winked. “You’re a smarty, that’s
for sure. You’ve got me all figured out. C’mon.” Landon followed me
home for dinner, and I made sure he did the same each night after.
Not only did I feel like I was helping him in a small way, but I
genuinely enjoyed his company. Especially on the couch. For hours.
I’d cook nothing but Mexican food for the rest of my damn life if I
continued to get rewarded like that. Dios Mio .
     

     
    I had never experienced a summer romance, or really
any kind of romance at all, so I had no idea how wonderful it could
be. Landon was total eye candy and I got to stare at him in nothing
but swim trunks all day, every day.
    The bright beating sunshine each afternoon deepened
his brown tan. I bit my bottom lip in anticipation whenever his
swimsuit would hang off his hip, revealing the pale soft skin,
shielded from the sunlight. Knowing that fair surface, hidden from
the public’s eyes, would be touched by my hands that night….
    Too damn good.
    Thank God for my big, round, Jackie O style
sunglasses, or the constant ogling would have creeped him out for
sure. I had lost all self-discipline around this man.
    We kept it very professional at work, saving all of
our sexual energy for nights. We hadn’t actually had sex. Landon
wanted to. I knew that just by watching his expression when we
fooled around, but I wasn’t ready to rush into anything more. I had
only been with Jeremy, and I had only gone to that place after we
said we were in love with each other. Or, at least, I thought we
were in love. But, real, deep, true love taught you about life. It
left you changed, marked. All Jeremy taught me was that sex lasts
for about thirty seconds, and that he was ready to leave at the
first sign of a problem and run right into the arms of slutty
sorority girls.
    Landon and I hadn’t said anything about love. I
wasn’t sure what I felt for him, but I knew I had begun to care for
him deeply. I discovered that he was strong, sensitive, kind, and
funny. He was—to me—the whole package. So much the whole package
that it scared me.
    He treated me with respect and consummate attention.
He worshiped my body when we were alone. He knew just how to touch
me to weaken my knees and have me calling his name out loudly. The
passion I felt with him was one that I thought only existed in my
books. I physically hurt whenever he was near me but not touching
me in some way. And I wondered how a nineteen-year-old college
sophomore could do that to me…
    Along with connecting physically, I opened up
emotionally to Landon more and more each day. We became true
friends. Landon approached me one evening, as I sat by the pool,
watching one of the last families left playing in the water.
    The mom was holding her toddler, splashing and
laughing, as the dad tossed the other two kids in the air, catching
them and tickling their bellies. The kids laughed so hard, I
thought