One

“We’re going to be late,” I practically sang the words against Erik’s lips as I slammed the emergency brake on my libido. Which, by the way, was not easy. His kisses were slow, deliberate, and made my head spin. Erik’s tongue was undoubtedly the most talented muscle in his body. I’d bet money on that. When it came to kissing, the boy had me completely under his spell. And right now, in the middle of my dorm room, this sexy, artsy, rocker had me in one hell of a make-out session.

Not that I’m complaining. But today we were supposed to behave. Today we had plans, and so what started out as Erik coming over to help me wrap some last-minute Christmas gifts, turned into him wrapping his arms around me. Next thing I knew we were on my bed and twisted around each other like a Bavarian pretzel.

“Do we have to go?” He groaned, pulling me closer as I wiggled unsuccessfully to get out of his embrace, his arms suddenly tighter than a pair of Chinese finger-cuffs.

“Yes. It’s a Kris Kringle exchange. You can’t switch the presents unless all parties are there. That includes us.”

The funny thing about Erik is that he was always the one so in control when it came to our make-out sessions. He could flip the switch and stroll on out of here as though we had been doing something as mundane as watching the Republican presidential debate on CNN. He had that much command over his hormones. It was rather impressive.

Oh, how the tide had turned.

When I went home to Connecticut for Thanksgiving break, I was gone longer than expected. Ever since I came back, the boy had been on fire.

Like I said before, I’m not complaining. Being with Erik was like telling a little kid they could permanently stay in Disney World and just live off of cotton candy for the rest of their life. Kristen kept reminding me that this would all soon fade away. That heat like that couldn’t last forever, and so I savored every second of our bliss. Not wanting to waste a drop.

But maybe… Kristen was wrong. Maybe what we had was strong enough to last a lifetime. Was it really so unbelievable?

I gave him one more slow, lazy, kiss, then plucked my mouth away. “I hate that you have made me the responsible one. I want my old job back.”

Erik finally let me go and ran his fingers through his messy blond locks, flashing me a crooked grin. “What job was that?”

“The one where I tempt you all day and beg you to stay in my bed, and you remain the responsible one.”

I rolled over and crawled to the edge of my bed, my legs still lazily draped across Erik’s, and leaned over to grab my boots. “Oh, that job.” Erik gave me a playful smack on my ass, and I jumped. “Not yet.”

Flipping over onto my back, I looked at him. “You leave me no choice. I’m going to have to call Kristen and explain to her how you won’t let me go.”

“And just like that, I’m ready.” He swept my legs off of him so he could stand up. I laughed. Kristen was a ball buster, but she was a total sweetheart.

I sat up and stretched, lazily looping my arms around his neck and kissed his scruffy chin. “How about this? I promise to continue this later.”

He gave a soft little moan of contentment that made my stomach flutter. “Deal.”

Since it was our last night before we scattered across the country, Kristen wanted to get our intimate click of friends together to have our own tiny Christmas celebration. We met at a family-style Italian restaurant where we would be sure to get the most bang for the little bucks we had.

Dinner was delicious, and before dessert arrived, Kristen clapped her hands. “Let’s exchange our Kris Kringle gifts now.”

“How does this work again? I’m the Jew who’s new to this Santa thing, remember?” Beaver said, twirling the straw around the ice left in his soda glass.

“It’s really simple, Rob. Last week we all drew a name and now we just exchange. We’ll go one at a time. For example.” I reached under my chair and pulled out the gift bag I had hidden and handed it diagonally across the table to Rob. “Merry Christmas, Beaver!”

Rob gave a shy smile and peeked inside the bag.

“Go on! Open it!” Kristen coaxed. “Share! Share!”

He pulled out the crescent moon shaped pillow. “A neck pillow! You know me so well, Brit.” Rob was the king of nap time.

“I figured it would come in handy for your flight tomorrow, and there’s more, turn it over.” I gestured with my hands for him to flip it around.

He spun the pillow over and let out a deep chuckle when he saw the felt beaver, gnawing on a log, I had sewn on.

“You made this? For me?” He genuinely looked touched. I glanced at Jaime, who winked at me.

“Just when you think her heart couldn’t get any colder, she does something warm and fuzzy.” Jaime raised his glass to toast me in mock cheer.

I shrugged. “Shh… don’t let people hear you. They might expect the same sort of treatment.”

“I won’t tell. Thanks a lot, Brit. It’s really great.” Rob grinned as he carefully packed his pillow away.

“All right, enough with the sap,” Kristen cut in. “Beaver, who’s your person?”

Rob reached under his seat. “Actually, it was you, Kristen.” He handed her a small basket filled with lotions and spa gels. “I’m not really great at shopping for a girl.”

“Are you kidding?” Kristen tore open the clear plastic and popped open the lotion then rubbed it all over her hands before inhaling deeply. “I love this stuff!”

Jaime slid back in his chair and hit Beaver lightly in the arm. “See, you were nervous. She’s a typical chick.”

“And you’re a typical bonehead, but I bought you something anyway.” Kristen handed Jaime a yellow bucket. He sat up straighter and peeked inside. It was filled with supplies to wash his car. Everything from sponges and wax to air fresheners. “I know how deeply you care for your baby,” she teased. Jaime ignored her, drooling over the possibility of washing his car.

“You’re not washing it tonight, so get that idea out of your head.” Beaver pulled the bucket away and put it on the floor. “Thanks Kris, now I’ll never see him.”

“Sure you will, she gave me two sponges,” Jaime said, his tongue hanging out in a way that was undeniably sexy.

Rob gave Jaime a dirty look, but Jaime only grabbed his face and gave him a peck on the lips. He had never kissed Rob in front of us, and I was so happy that even though only we knew about their relationship, he was finally comfortable to be himself around us. Beaver’s blush burned crimson, but he looked at Jaime with a warm smile.

“All right, enough mush. Who’d you have, Jaime?” Kristen said, bringing us all back to the task at hand.

“The British boy-toy.” Jaime slid a wrapped box across the table toward Kristen’s boyfriend, David, who caught it and gave Jaime a nod. He tore the paper and opened the box, revealing a flask.

“I had them engrave the name of your band on there, so when you guys are rich and famous you can all take a nip before the show.”

David held it up so we could see the Sinful Delight logo on the front. “Thanks, mate!” David said with a smile. He unscrewed the top, took a sniff and smiled. Then a gulp. “Jack. Nice! Glad I’m not the only one who thinks about drinking.” David tucked his new flask safely back in the box and pulled out the gift he had brought and handed it to Erik. “For the man who is days away from being legally allowed to be intoxicated.”

Erik reached into the bag and pulled out a box with fancy imported beers. There was a ribbon hanging off of one of the bottle’s necks. Attached to it was a bottle opener shaped like a guitar.

“The bottle opener was my idea,” Kristen cooed.

“This is really cool.” He looked at me. “Brit we’ll have to open these when you visit me on my birthday.”

“Speaking of Brit… where’s her gift?” Kristen asked.

“Oh! That would be me,” Erik said, tucking his present from David safely away.

“No! We promised we would switch with someone if we pulled a significant other’s name,” I groaned.

“What can I say?” Erik shrugged. “I cheated.”

I slumped my head into the palm of my hand, resting my elbow on the table. Erik was so good at stuff like this, whatever silly little thing he did now would blow away whatever I had planned for Christmas and his birthday combined.

“Now, as you all know, I fell hard for Brit the moment she walked into the art room. Now that I have her, I don't ever plan on letting her go.”

“If he proposes, I give up on life,” Kristen said, slumping back in her chair, looking slightly nervous. That only enhanced the butterflies that were already starting to flutter around in my belly. What was he up to?

“No ring, not yet. But I felt a grand gesture was in order. So…” He took a deep breath and beamed a smile at me. “Here you go.”

Erik pulled up his shirt sleeve and all the color drained from my face. There, in purple ink, was my name tattooed to the inside of his right arm. Brittany. Complete with black roses.

The room started to close in on me. The table was silent. And I refused to look Erik in the eye. I couldn’t. This was too much. It was creepy psycho behavior. We had only met in August, had our first kiss on Halloween. This was happening too fast, and I felt crushed by the enormity of the pressure he had just placed on me.

“So… I guess we should start a collection jar for tattoo removal treatment,” Jaime said with a forced chuckle. I felt my eyes glaze over. I knew Jaime was only trying to lighten the mood, but I couldn’t find the humor in this.

“Brit?” Erik sounded crushed. “You don’t like it?”

“I…” My tongue was heavy in my mouth. It was hard to form words. “It’s…”

Nope. No words.

“You hate it,” Erik confirmed. I looked up at him for the first time. He was perfectly stoic. How did he honestly think I would have reacted?

“It’s just not what I would have… chosen.”

More like not what I would have ever wanted you to have done. He marked his body with my name. My name! He might as well pee all over me and claim me as his territory. My head was spinning with emotion. I felt nauseous.

“I see.” Erik bit down on his lip and sighed deeply. “Well, thankfully I didn’t get the real one.” Erik dipped his napkin into his water and streaked the damp cloth across his arm, causing the ink to run and bleed all over his arm and the white cloth. A few hard rubs and it was almost completely gone.

“It was fake?” I said softly, still in shock, afraid that if I asked too loud the tattoo would reappear. The more he wiped, the more it faded away. I sent a mental note to my heart telling it to resume beating once again. Erik looked at me through his blond locks that were flopped over his eyes, then he burst out laughing.

“I wish you saw your face.” He reached over and kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry. But your reaction was priceless.”

“I thought she handled it quite well. I had money on her screaming and walking out,” David said, casually taking a sip of his beer.

“We predicted tears,” Jaime said, looking at Erik slightly disappointed. “If you would have held on a little longer, I think we would have won.”

“You’re all assholes, you know that right?” Kristen said, crossing her arms.

“Well, I’m glad to see someone wasn’t in on it.” I sniffed back realizing just how close I had been to actual tears.

“Oh, I was in on it, I just placed my money on indifference.” She shrugged.

I looked at her—at all of them—completely shocked, then realizing how ridiculous it all was, I burst out laughing. Erik tugged a lock of my purple hair. “You forgive me, baby?”

I nodded. “Yes. But I better be getting a real gift now, I deserve that much.”

“You’re right, here ya go.” He pushed a lavender gift bag in front of me. “A little something for your long drive when you come and visit me next weekend.”

I reached in and pulled out a CD that Erik had made. It had all my favorite songs listed. There was also a bag of chocolate kisses with a note that read, Whenever you need a kiss from me.

It was so sweet, so deliciously Erik. Overjoyed that he really wasn’t the psycho I thought he was just a few moments before, I grabbed his face to give him a real kiss, inadvertently knocking over the gift bag in the process. Something else fell out. Jaime let out a long, low whistle. Erik looked passed me and over to Jaime, grabbing the black lace panties off the table, stuffing them into his back pocket. “That was supposed to be private,” Erik said, his ears burning red.

Now I was really laughing. “So you can draw my name on your arm and profess your undying love for me at the table, but Jaime discovers a pair of panties and you fall apart?”

He tilted his head shyly, sweeping his hair out of his sapphire eyes. “Well the tattoo was a joke…” He leaned in closer and ran his tongue across his bottom lip before whispering to me, his voice warm and velvety. “Now, you in lace panties on the other hand, I take that quite seriously.”