Page 46 of Steeling Her
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Haley
I watch Nick run out the dorm room in total embarrassment. I think he walked in on Carter getting changed. He’s never reacted that way towards seeing a girl naked. If he saw her naked that is. Everyone is completely frozen in the dorm room as to what just happened. Then Austin gets up from the table and follows my brother outside.
Oh no!
I scurry around the table but Chris takes hold of my arm lightly, stopping what I was about to do. “It’s best if you leave them alone. You’re brother will be alright. He can hold his own.” Carter’s door immediately opens and I see her running over to us. When she notices that Austin’s not here, I point to the door and she runs to that direction, swinging it open. But not before Chris holds her back. “Cooks, leave them to it. He shouldn’t have walked in on y—”
“How was he supposed to know, Chris? He can’t see through the damn door!” Carter rolls her eyes, pushing her brother’s hand off of her. She continues to go outside and leaves us four standing in a silence. Chris walks back to his cake and continues to eat it with Danielle across the way.
“She better make me some cookies after that sass,” he mumbles, making us laugh at him. He’s the funny one out of the two brothers, but Carter is even funnier. I’m pretty sure that’s not a word but I’m going to go with it.
I look up and make eye contact with TJ, who has been ignoring me since the Steel brothers have come in. I turned into such a fangirl when I first met them. I have had the longest and biggest crush on Austin Steel ever since I first saw him on TV. TJ looks away, setting his plate on the coffee table in front of him. Danielle and Chris are heavy in a conversation, so I decide to join TJ on the sofa to keep him company and figure out why he’s avoiding me. I sit next to him and edge closer to him. “Hey,” I say softly to him. I smile at his hair sticking out all over the place. He definitely ran out of bed when Nick mentioned my mom’s cake.
“Hey,” he says back coldly to me while not moving his eyes away from the TV. I roll my eyes at him.What did I do?
Suddenly, the door gets pushed open and we see Austin being thrown inside by Carter. She tells him to stay in here before going out again. Austin stands there, shocked by his sister, and stares at the door. I giggle at the face he’s pulling. God, he’s so handsome. So rugged, so—
“Your boyfriend’s back.” Hearing his cold tone once more, I turn to face the guy who I have fallen helplessly in love with since I was nine. He doesn’t know my feelings towards him because he’s always been such an player and I’m afraid to get hurt by him. I smirk at him now that I know he thinks he’s my boyfriend.
Is he jealous?
“What?” he asks me, and I pull him up and drag him to the bathroom. He doesn’t resist. Once we’re inside, I sit him down on the side of the bathtub.
“You’re hair is really annoying me today, TJ,” I say with a laugh and rummage through the drawers for a brush. I hear a small chuckle from him as I bend down to find the brush I had in mind. I run it under the faucet after finding it to get it wet to tame this boy’s hair. Shaking off the excess water, I walk over to him and start to brush it through his dark locks. I’ve always wanted to run my hands through his hair. Watching those other girls do it to him all these years broke my heart every time. Watching him make out with them broke it even more.
My eyes flicker down to his own that are closed with a smile on his face. I’m standing between his legs as I style his hair. His hair is compliant, much to my surprise. I released a small chuckle at him and his eyes open, meeting mine. Like always, I feel my heart speed up at his eyes locking with mine. His hazel eyes with flecks of gold rimming the iris.
“I always love it when people play with my hair.” He smiles up at me. I sigh as I remember all of those parties where I’d seen him allowing some tramp run her fingers through his hair. I feel my stomach drop at the thought of it.
“You mean, you love it when those girls play with your hair.” There was a slight bitterness to my tone that I couldn’t hide no matter how hard I tried. It was too hard for all those years, just watching him allow them do that. I used to cry at night sometimes, wishing I was the girl he’d fallen for; that I’d be that girl he ask out and be his first official girlfriend.
“They never did it half as good as you’re doing it right now, Haley.” His eyes were half-closed, and it made my palms sweat. That look—that look I’ve seen him do to other girls and never to me. He never saw me like that. To him, I was his best friend’s little sister. That’s it. I snort at him being so ridiculous.
Suddenly, the room feels hot and heavy. His hands take my waist and he pulls me slowly towards him. My breathing is uncontrollable at this point. Feeling every bit of his touch, I feel my stomach doing flips.
“What are you doing?” I whisper to him. The closer I get, the more nervous I feel. I swallow hard as his eyes never leave mine.
“What I should’ve done a long time ago,” once he finishes that sentence, his lips meet mine and it takes my breath away. I drop the brush on the floor and take hold of his shoulders.
His arms wrap around me, not wanting me to go. Even then, I wouldn’t want to leave. Our lips are moving in sync with each other, and I run my hands through his thick black hair. I let out a low moan. I relish in the feeling because it’s my turn now. His fingers dig into my side, not causing pain, but letting me know he’s enjoying this just as much as I am. Feeling his tongue run along my lip, I gasp, letting it slip inside. It’s then his hand slides up to the back of my head as he kisses me.
He’s really kissing me.
This is mind blowing. There’s a trail of fire leading to my stomach from his touches. We hear the door close and he pulls apart from me, thinking that it’s the door to the bathroom opening. Sighing in relief that it wasn’t, he turn back to face me. I feel my cheeks heat up because I realize I still have my arms wrapped around him. I back away, feeling embarrassed, but he pulls me back to him. “Don’t do that, Haley. Don’t run away from me.” His tone is soft, and I allow him pull me back to him by my hand and, once I reach him again, he rests his arms around me again.
“Why did you do that?” I whisper to him, trying to not bring attention to us inside. My heart is beating so hard in my chest.
“Because I wanted to, Haley. I like you, I’ve liked you for so many years . . .” His winning smile takes over and I replicate his feeling. The excitement is too hard to contain.
“Really?” I can’t believe that he just said that.He likes me?He’s liked me all these years?I’m screaming and jumping up and down inside. “I’ve liked you since our first kiss . . .” I admit truthfully and he pecks my lips once more, making me melt into him.
Oh God, what is it about him?
“I’ve liked you since then too. Well, I liked you before, but the kiss only really amplified it for me.” My face is starting to hurt from grinning so much. The feeling is mutual, is what I want to tell him, but I can't find the words because I feel so happy. I’ve always thought about this day but convinced myself that it would never actually happen. He’s around girls all the time, he has multiple options. I always thought someone else would be the one for him, breaking my own heart in the process.
I hear Nick’s voice asking for where we are. We need to go back outside before he thinks of something.
