Picture Perfect

Smiling, he put his arm around me and pulled me against his chest. He continued talking as I burrowed into his side and tried to get my heart rate under control. Concluding his call, he kissed the top of my head.
    “I’d love to kiss you right now but my breath is not pleasant. I just ordered us room service. Give me a few minutes to clean up.”
    “I never used the complimentary toothbrush. It’s on the tray in the bathroom.”
    Flynn laughed before giving me a high five. “That’s great news babe, cause I was afraid you were going to throw me out for stinking.”
    Watching him walk away made me weak in the knees.
    Like I said, I was in deep shit.

Chapter Sixteen

    Waking up with Tessa was a revelation. I had a hard and fast rule about women: after the fucking, they were out. I hadn’t spent the entire night with a girl intentionally since I was in high school and I’d never ( ever ) wanted someone to curl up around me like an additional appendage. Sharing a bed with Tessa felt right.
    Our breakfast arrived and Tess let out a laugh when she got a look at all that I’d ordered, which was basically the entire menu. We were in the middle of eating when I made my play for the day.
    “After breakfast how about you pack a bag and stay at my house for the rest of the day and night. The house might be horrible but my pool is top notch. We’ll lie out and then later we can go to dinner. You’ll want to pack casual for that sweetness. What you wore last night would be perfect.”
    Tess hemmed and hawed all over the place before blurting, “Flynn, you’re moving too fast. I’m not going to have sex with you tonight. I don’t know what you’re used to, but I can’t be like that.”
    Ah, shit. I’d not been specific enough and now she thought I was trying to get into her panties. I totally wanted to of course, but I wasn’t stupid and I knew she wouldn’t be going for that.
    “No, babe, that’s not what I meant. I want you to spend the night, like what we did here last night. I want to hold you and wake up with you in the morning. No sex, I promise . I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable sweetness. I just need you near me. Whatever I was used to, I know you’re different and that’s exactly what I want. Don’t push me away Tess. This is going to be something. Hell, it already is. Don’t start building walls.”
    Her hesitant smile was like the sun coming out after the rain. “Okay, I can do that. As soon as we’re finished eating, I’ll pack.”
    After breakfast, she packed quickly and then we were off to my house. Once we got there, I brought her to my bedroom and put her bag on the dresser. Her wide-eyed look of shock as she looked around the room made me laugh. Seeing it through her eyes showed me that it really was ass ugly. Letting out a chuckle I pulled her to me and asked, “What do you think of this room? Cozy, right?”
    She looked around and grimaced. Like almost every other room in the house, it was gray on gray. Pointing to the area rug that was in my bedroom sitting area she said, “Actually, that rug really ties the room together, man.”
    Oh. My. GOD.
    I started laughing and couldn’t stop. There was no question about it anymore. I was falling in love with this girl. She’d just quoted ‘ The Big Lebowski’ to me. It was my favorite movie and none of the other girls I’d ever been with would have even known what it was, much less have been cool enough to quote it.
    “You’re the coolest girl on the face of the fucking planet babe! I knew you were awesome, but you know ‘The Big Lebowski’! That just gave you an infinity amount of cool points. Wait till I tell my dad and Cole. They’re going to shit. That’s our favorite movie.”
    Poking me in the stomach, she giggled. I loved the sound of that. “It’s me and my dad’s favorite movie, too. We actually went to Lebowski-fest in Seattle two years ago. It was awesome!”
    “Holy shit, there’s a fuckin Lebowski-fest? Why have I never heard of this?”
    Pushing back from me, she gave me a shit-eating grin. “Guess you don’t have enough cool-points, slick. Stick with me and I’ll have you whipped into shape ASAP. For the record, there are a few Lebowski-fests every year. You absolutely must go to one.”
    It was probably a good thing that she didn’t realize that I was already whipped. No one needed that much power so early in a relationship.
    “I’m totally going to look into this. I’m bummed that I