for my jaw to drop open. Ava’s standing in front of me, wearing form fitting dark blue jeans with a rip in the knee and a cropped red T-shirt with the bulldog mascot front and center and “Bulldogs” in giant letters above it. Her hair is perfectly straight and flows past her shoulders and she’s smiling at me.
“Goddamn.” That’s the first thing I say, like an asshole. I scrub a hand over my jaw. “You look hot as fuck.”
She laughs and opens the door wider. “Come in.”
I follow her inside, tilting my head back to take in the soaring foyer, the giant chandelier light thing hanging above my head. It’s not a classic chandelier dripping with crystals. Definitely got a more modern feel about it.
Everything about this house has a modern feel to it.
“This is the first time I’ve walked inside your house normally,” I tell her as she shuts the door.
“You want a tour?” she asks.
“Sure.”
Ava escorts me around the house, showing me the many rooms. There are actual wings to this place. There’s an entire office and guest suite, along with a giant bathroom that occupies one end of the house. There’s a living room and family room and the kitchen is massive. Her parents’ bedroom is down here too, in its own wing, and it’s freaking huge. She didn’t even show me the bathroom, but I can only imagine. And this is just on the first level.
I thought our house was nice. This place is a palace.
“Let’s go upstairs,” she says, as she grabs onto the railing and starts climbing.
I’m right behind her, eye level with her perfect ass, and I’m tempted to reach out and touch it, but I keep my impulses under control. Those things get me in trouble, and I’m trying to be respectful right now.
Don’t want her thinking I only want to maul her.
She points at a closed door. “Jake’s room. And no, you’re not allowed even a peek inside.”
“Not that I give a shit,” I tell her, though it’s kind of a lie.
I wouldn’t mind checking out his bedroom, though I doubt it would tell me much about that motherfucker.
“Autumn’s old room,” Ava says, pointing to an open door. It’s very clean and pretty plain. I assume she’s taken everything that matters with her to college. “And Beck’s room.” She points at another open door, and inside it’s messy with all sorts of video game and 49er posters hanging all over the walls. Clearly it belongs to a boy.
“Here’s my room,” she says, stopping in front of another closed door. “Though you’ve been here before.”
How could I forget the time I crawled up the side of her house and climbed through her window? Yeah, that’s a memory etched on my brain. “I have.”
She opens the door and walks inside, me trailing after her. The room is cleaner than the last time I was in here. The bed neatly made and no sign of clothes tossed over furniture or a messy desk. The entire room is spotless.
“You’ve got a giant room,” I say as I look around it, spotting the open door that leads to a connecting bathroom.
“Yours is pretty big too,” she reminds me.
I clamp my lips together, refusing to make a dirty joke. Why am I always tested like this? “You definitely win this contest.”
“I can’t help it if my father has money. And not just because he played football either. He comes from a very wealthy family.” She smiles at me.
I stare at her for a moment, dumbfounded by her beauty, not giving a shit if she has money. Not even really giving a shit right now that her dad is a famous ex-NFL quarterback and my idol when I was a kid.
How’d I get so lucky to snag this girl and make her mine? I’m a complete fuckup, and she’s the golden girl. To everyone else I’m sure we don’t make any sense. I saw her years ago sitting in the stands and I thought she was so damn beautiful. A pretty princess with an easy smile and flashing green eyes. Seeing her, making eye contact with her that night, set my heart on fire. I can’t explain why. Love at first sight?
I always thought that was a bunch of crap. But maybe not.
Back then, I made an idle promise to myself that one day, she’d belong to me, never thinking it could actually happen.
Yet here I am, standing in her bedroom. The two of us the only ones