My Only Desire

“Minus the freckles,” she added.

“So you’ve noticed. Maybe you do like him.” Charlie turned up his bottle of beer and drained the rest of it.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You haven’t denied it either.” He winked.

Anna folded her arms. The last thing she wanted was for Charlie to think that she had a thing for Stanley. “Then let me officially deny it. Stanley is sweet and all, but—”

“Hey, he’s cool.” Charlie shrugged. “I know I give him a hard time, but that’s my dog. For real. He has a good heart. You’d probably be a good match for him.”

Suddenly, she was confused by the mixed signals. Is he really trying to push me off on his boy?

Just then a girl with a whole lot of junk in her trunk sauntered by and Charlie did a quick rubberneck for a second look. Miffed, Anna glanced down at her enhanced breasts and tried to push them out a little more.

“I, uh, noticed that you came with your roommate tonight,” Charlie added casually. “I thought you two didn’t get along? ”

Anna’s hackles rose. Why was it that lately every time she talked to Charlie, he always brought up Roxanne? Had she totally misread his intentions? Had he been hanging around her in order to get closer to her roommate? “We get along all right,” she said, shrugging even though she was slowly starting to feel like a desperate idiot. “We went out to celebrate my acing my calculus test.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” He smiled, causing his dimples to wink at her. “Of course I wasn’t worried. You’re like the smartest woman I know.”

Anna blushed. “I am?”

“I know I wouldn’t have been able to get through that French class last quarter without you.” He held up his beer bottle in a silent toast.

She shrugged again. “Ah. That was easy. I have family that lives in France. I go there every summer.”

“Mmm.” He nodded his head while his eyes roamed over her slim figure. Sucking in her flat stomach, Anna pulled her shoulders back so that he could get a good look at all she had to offer. She hoped she measured up. Sure, she was trying to look like some video-ho, but it was only because that was usually the kind of chick that the Kappa men went for. Charlie was no different. He dated the hottest girls on campus. It stood to reason that if she wanted to break out of the friend zone, then she needed to take drastic measures. He never stayed with them for long, but she was sure that she had what it would take to keep his interest.

For a few seconds, they held each other’s gaze. Anna wished that she could read his mind, but it was an amazingly hard thing to do. Did he just like her as a friend or was there truly a chance for something more?

“I’m back,” Stanley announced, smiling.

Anna quashed the urge to shoo him away and accepted the rum and coke. “Thanks, Stanley.”

“Not a problem.” He stretched his arm and attempted to brace it against the door frame directly behind her. But instead he missed it completely and went sailing to the floor, taking the coat rack down with him.

Anna and a slew of party-goers jumped out of the way. Stanley landed hard, but surprisingly bounced right back up like a jack-in-the-box. “I’m all right. I’m all right,” he announced holding up his hands so that everyone could see for themselves.

A few people snickered and laughed.

“Real smooth, Slick,” Charlie said, giving Stanley a playful elbow to the ribs.

“Yo, Charlie.” Taariq Bryson threaded his way through the crowd. “Randall and I are about to make a beer run. You want to ride shotgun?” His eyes swung toward Anna. He lifted a curious brow and smiled. “Well, well. I didn’t know that you were … busy.” His gaze caressed Anna’s tall frame as if she was standing there naked. Embarrassment flushed her cheeks while Anna’s gaze shifted from Charlie’s twinkling green eyes to Taariq’s smoldering dark ones. There was no need to try and guess what was on his mind since pure carnal lust was written over every inch of his handsome face.

The heat Charlie generated was reduced to a candlelit flame compared to the inferno Taariq generated. He was also at least two inches taller than Charlie with a smooth milk chocolate complexion, compared to Charlie’s caramel. She loved milk chocolate. Absently, she licked her bottom lip and noticed how his eyes lit up when she did so.

Stanley cleared his throat and put his arm around Anna’s shoulder possessively. “Actually, I was hollering at li’l shawty.”

Anna’s neck swiveled. Li’l shawty?

Taariq chuckled. “Oh. Is that right?”

Stanley’s chest grew bigger. “Yeah, that’s right.”

Anna opened her mouth to respond, but Charlie quickly cut her off. “Yo, T. C’mon, man. Let’s head out and let Red here handle his business.” He winked.

This was getting out of hand.

Stanley held up his fist. “Good looking out, dog.”

Charlie exchanged dabs with Stanley while Anna looked on with horror. Say something. But what? Stanley looked so proud of himself that she was afraid hurting his undersized ego in front of his boys would be tantamount to kicking a box full of puppies.

“I, uh—”

“Let’s go, T,” Charlie said and then winked at Stanley and Anna. “And you two, don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

Stanley’s chest puffed out even farther. “C’mon, man. You know how I do.”

If Anna wasn’t mistaken, she would’ve sworn that she saw a flicker of disappointment in Taariq’s eyes. But in the next breath, he said, “You two play it safe.”

Stanley waved them off.

Taariq cast another look in Anna’s direction and then headed out the front door behind Charlie. The moment he walked out of the fraternity house, her body suddenly seemed to need oxygen. She sucked in a deep breath. But when that didn’t steady her nerves, she remembered the drink in her hand and downed its contents in one gulp.

Stanley blinked in stunned silence.

“Ahh. I guess I needed that.” Anna handed her empty glass back to him.

“Um. Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Would you like another one?”

“No. I’m good,” she told him, allowing the awkward silence between them to drift and expand, while everyone else in the frat house was bumping and grinding to Shaggy’s “Bombastic.” More than a few rocking hips and butts bumped her closer to Stanley, so much so that he got the wrong idea.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked, setting her glass down on a table.

“I don’t know. Maybe I should be getting back to my dorm room.” She gave her best apologetic smile.

“What? But you just got here.” He grabbed her hand. “C’mon. Don’t be a party pooper. You can share one dance with me. I swear I won’t embarrass you.”

Anna dug her heels in a bit, hoping that it would buy her brain enough time to come up with another excuse. It didn’t.

“C’mon,” Stanley urged again with another tug. “Show me what you’re working with.” He started popping his hips and surprisingly had pretty good rhythm … for a white boy. “Ah. You didn’t think I knew anything about this here, did you?”

Damn. He’s a better dancer than I am. The realization made her laugh.

“See? I told you that I wasn’t going to embarrass you.” He moved in close then busted out a few more slick moves.

A few partiers peeped his style and started pointing and egging him on. After a few dance songs, Anna realized that she was actually starting to have a good time.