Daddies Brat

Leslie

I didn’t know how long I was standing there, swooning over this guy I had never met. He was scanning the room to my right, near the entrance to the kitchen, where the keg line began. Was he waiting for a girl to come out of there? Was he meeting someone here? I found myself desperate to know.

“I can hear your vagina humming,” Erin suddenly said next to me.

I turned and tried to change the subject. “How’s Jason? Is he going to come down and join the party?”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Nice try,” she said, wagging a finger at me. “I haven’t seen you eye-fuck a guy like that since… well, since I met you freshman year.”

“Shut up. I was just checking him out, that’s all.”

“You know what would help you check him out? Getting a closer look. I bet he smells nice.”

“Not tonight.”

Erin groaned in annoyance. “Then why are you wearing your hot girl heels? Boom, checkmate.”

I glanced down at myself. I was indeed wearing my favorite pair of silver peep-toe shoes, which Erin and I had been affectionately calling my hot girl heels since they got me laid at the sophomore year football party.

“I’m wearing them because I want to look like the distilled essence of sex, not because I want to have sex! I told you I don’t want to hook up tonight. Remember what happened last year? I met Daniel at a party like this one the first week of fall semester. We ended up dating seven months. I don’t need to be tied down like that before classes even start.”

“Wow,” Erin said. “Do you hear yourself? I suggested you go up and talk to Swoony McVikinghunk, and you’re acting like it’s suddenly a long-term commitment. What’s wrong with hooking up with a guy and keeping it casual?”

I let out a long sigh. “This is going to be a tough semester, Erin. I just want to relax tonight.”

“You know what might help you relax? That guy’s face buried between your legs.”

“Erin!”

“Think about it. Are you thinking about it right now? Because I’m thinking about it.”

“Then you go flirt with him.”

She gave me a skeptical stare. “You would seriously be okay with me flirting with him?”

“Sure.”

Erin gave him another long look. “Don’t tempt me, Leslie. Once I bring out the big guns, I don’t put them away until I get to pull the trigger.”

“I’m serious. Go for it.”

She glanced over at the guy, and bit her lip. “Your loss. I’m going to give him a closeup of The Girls and see if he bites.” She adjusted her bra, pulled down her shirt to reveal a little more cleavage, then walked over to him.

My stomach tightened in a knot as I watched her approach. Only then did I realize that I really, really didn’t want my best friend to hit on him. I wanted to be the one playfully touching his arm and batting my eyelashes, even though I had denied it.

Both men turned toward Erin with surprise. She said something to Viking Man, which made the other guy chuckle. He was hot too-stronger through the shoulders than his buddy, with a mop of golden brown hair and a smile that lit up his face. I should have told Erin to hit on him instead.

But then she turned around and immediately dropped her lusty smile. When she returned to me, she said, “I think they’re gay. Too bad.”

I glanced back at the guys, who were staring in our direction. Viking Man met my gaze and smiled. I don’t think they’re gay.

“You want to see what the vibe is like outside?” Erin asked me.

I shook my head. “I kind of like it in here. The music is good. Let’s stay for at least one more song.”

The two of us swayed and danced a little bit until the music changed. Then Erin was tugging on my arm, pulling me toward the door leading outside.

But then another hand touched my arm. The fingers were long and warm, and when I spun around, I came face-to-face with him.

Well, not face-to-face. He was almost a foot taller than me, so I only came up to his collarbone. But we were close, and he was smiling down at me.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m Riley.”

So the viking has a name. “Hi, Riley. I’m-”

“Lauren, right?” he replied. “I was behind you two in line. Weird that they have bouncers at a college party.”

I could have told him the truth. It wasn’t embarrassing or anything-lots of people had fake IDs in college. But at that moment, staring up into Riley’s beautiful Nordic face, I found myself nodding.

“Lauren, yep. That’s me.”

Erin eyed the two of us, then said, “I’m going to see if anyone has any weed. Meet me outside later.” She backed away, flashing me a thumbs-up before disappearing.

“Riley is the name of my roommate,” I told him. “Except she’s a girl. Obviously.”

Riley stared off toward the direction Erin went. “Weird. She told me her name was Erin.”

I shook my head. “Different girls. Erin is my best friend. We met freshman year.”

“Ah. Well, Erin hit on me a few minutes ago,” he admitted. His eyes were a piercing shade of blue, like sapphires held up to the sun. “She’s taking the rejection pretty well.”

“Erin has thick skin. And I think she only wanted to hit on you to prove that…” I trailed off. To prove that I wanted to hit on you.

Riley the Friendly Viking was still waiting for a response, so I said, “…to prove that it’s easy to go up and flirt with a stranger.”

“She definitely proved it,” Riley replied. “She walked up, dropped me a cheesy line, and then bailed before I could blink.”

“Erin proved it’s easy for her to flirt with a stranger,” I corrected. “It’s not so easy for the rest of us.”

He cocked his head to the side. God, he had perfect hair. “Why’s that?” I shrugged. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Erin has big, round boobs.” “It’s possible that I noticed such a thing,” he said carefully.

“All she has to do is flash those babies around and erections spring up like dandelions. I’m actually shocked you turned her down.”

Riley chuckled and said, “First of all, I turned her down because I don’t hook up with random women at parties.” Noted, I thought.

“And second…” His eyes scanned me briefly. A quick glance, not long enough to be inappropriate. “I don’t know why she’s the one creating hardons everywhere she goes like some sort of Johnny Apple-Erection. You’re far more beautiful.”

I was still laughing at Johnny Apple-Erection when his compliment sunk in. Then I was laughing with incredulity. “That’s nice of you to say. Her waist is half my size.”

“Fuck that,” he replied without hesitation. “Mind if I objectify you for a sec?”

“You have my permission,” I replied.

Riley gestured down at me. “You’ve got a perfect hourglass figure. Curvy in all the right ways. Unlike your friend, you don’t need to flash all that cleavage to look gorgeous. You do it without trying.”

I knew guys would say whatever they needed to get laid. My mom had warned me about it when I was fifteen, and the last five years had proven her correct. But something in the way Riley complimented me felt genuine. Yeah, he was flirting with me, but he meant it.

I was also used to everyone fawning over Erin wherever we went. Having a guy turn her down, and then come hit on me, made me want to say yes to whatever Riley the Swoony Viking might suggest tonight.

“Anyway, that’s just my opinion. I haven’t been able to stop glancing over at you since we got here.” He swiped a palm across his eyes. “Okay. Objectification over.”

“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what to say now. Was he expecting a compliment in return? I could spend days telling Riley all the ways he was gorgeous. He was still smiling down at me, those blue eyes seeming to see right into my soul.

“Bro, let’s get some Jell-O shots!” his buddy suddenly said, appearing next to us. “Ken says there’s only a few left.” “I’m good,” Riley replied, glancing at me.

“Dude. Did you hear me? Jell-O. Shots.” His buddy slapped Riley on the back. “I’ve been thinking about them since this morning when he invited us.”

“Go get some without me. I’m not trying to get smashed tonight.”

His friend started to argue more, but then stared over my shoulder. “Oh fuck. Are those cupcakes? Best party ever.” And then he wandered away.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated with a text message. I glanced at the notification on my Apple Watch:

Erin: I was right: he smells AMAZING. Go get it, girl! This is why you wore your HOT GIRL HEELS!

The music was thumping louder now, so I used that as an excuse to lean closer to say, “Your friend is funny.” I inhaled deeply, and his scent was impossible to miss. Spicy and musky and floral. It was probably Old Spice, which usually wasn’t much of a turn-on for me, but Riley made it work. Oh, he made it work really well.

And then he said something that would change my life.

“His attention span isn’t the best,” Riley said, smirking. “He’s a one marshmallow kind of guy.”