Spin The Bottle: A college romance (Campus Games Book 2)

Aiden

“They’re plants, Leila. They all look the same.”

“Shhh.” Her eyes widen, tucking the plant to her side. “They can hear you.”

She’s adorable. I want to kiss her. I always want to kiss her. Every moment of the day, every second. “But you already have so many.” Understatement. Her apartment is covered in green. I’ve got to say, I kind of love it. It reminds me of her.

She shakes her head, examining the leaves. “They bring me comfort and oxygen. Do you not want me to breathe?” The way her eyes narrow at me, makes me want to laugh, but I know better so I press my lips together.

“Of course I do, gorgeous.”

“Do you have anything else to say about my plants?”

I snicker, pressing my lips to hers. “No, baby. Where do you want them?”

She points to the ground, outside of the small flower boutique, at the basket filled with ten other smaller plants. “In there.”

Whatever my girl wants, she gets. I take the plant from her, placing it in the basket with the others. “You’re lucky I love you,” I say, brushing strands of that chocolate brown hair out of her face. I’m lying though, I’m the lucky one. So fucking lucky to have found her. I lean in to kiss her forehead. I can’t seem to stop kissing her, looking at her, thanking every God there is that she forgave me and loves me.

“Yeah?” She smiles, her eyes shining at me. “Say it again.”

I’ll say it a million times if necessary. “I love you,” I whisper against her lips.

“Hmm,” she hums. “That sounds so good coming from your mouth.”

“It would sound even better coming from yours.” I love hearing her say those three little words that make my heart skip every time.

She lifts her eyes, looking at me through her eyelashes. “I love you, Aiden Pierce. All of you. Every part, even the annoying ones.”

“Annoying?” I ask her, amused.

She nods. “Like when you snore.”

I scoff. “I do not snore.”

“You do,” she says, scrunching her nose. “It’s so unattractive, I should have known that before I slept with you.”

I shake my head, leaning into her. “Too fucking late. I’m never letting you go.” The second our lips meet she melts into me, wrapping her arms around me, her fingers tangling in my hair. I love her so much my heart feels like it’s about to burst.

“Leila?”

We pull back, Leila’s head snapping up, staring behind me. Her eyes widen, a smile sprouting on her face which makes me frown as I turn around, seeing who belongs to the deep voice that seems to make my girlfriend smile.

My eyes trail down his clothes that look like they were tailor made, his curly brown hair complimenting his tan skin. He rubs a hand over his trimmed beard, making him look manly as fuck. Holy shit. This man is handsome. I hate him.

“Lucas?” Leila says, walking right past me and pulling him in for a hug. Who the hell is this guy and why is he touching my girl? “What are you doing here?” Leila asks him, pulling back from their embrace that lasted way too fucking long.

He smiles down at her. “I was just buying some flowers for my mom’s birthday. I didn’t want to tell you until it happened, but I moved back home,” he says. “I changed agents.” Fuck, he’s a model. Of course he is.

“No way,” my girlfriend says, sounding way too excited. “So I’ll get to see you more often?”

The fuck she will. I take a step closer to her, wrapping my hand around her waist and pull her into me, staring down at this asshole, showing him that she’s mine. All fucking mine. “Who’s this?” I ask, lifting my chin at him.

“This is Lucas,” she says. “He’s a model, we work for the same agency.” She laughs. My eyes widen. He’s making her laugh now? Absolutely not. “Well, not anymore, I guess.”

“And this is?” Lucas asks Leila.

“Aiden.” I tighten my hold on Leila’s waist. “Her boyfriend.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Boyfriend?” He shakes his head. “Well, congrats to you both.” When he notices my frown, or glare, maybe both, he holds his hands up. “Listen man, you have nothing to worry about. We’re just friends, we have been since she was modeling in Barbie pajamas.” He grins at Leila, and even though he just gave me a whole spiel about being friends, I can’t help it… I’m jealous.

She laughs. “I was like ten, give me a break.”

He smiles at her. “It was so nice seeing you, Leila, hopefully we can catch up soon. I’ve got to go.” He leans in, presses a kiss to her cheeks and heads off.

“So, that’s your friend?” I ask her, unable to hide the bite in my tone.

She glances at me, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t be jealous. I’m yours. You have me.”

I blow out a breath at her words, turning to face her and grab onto her face. “I do,” I say, staring down at her green eyes. I grab her hand in mine. “And you have me. My heart is clutched between these fingers right here. You own me.”

She smiles at me, and I’m about to lean in to show my girlfriend how much I love her when I hear a noise.

“What was that?” Leila asks, pulling back, a frown on those pretty lips.

When we hear it again, it’s faint but sounds close. We turn around, looking around until we hear it again. A cat. The soft meow comes again and when I hear Leila gasp, I turn to look at the basket filled with plants where she’s staring at.

“Oh my god,” Leila whispers, staring at the black and white kitten laying in the middle of our plants. “He’s so tiny.”

He really is. The poor thing looks like it’s months old. He brings his paw to his face and licks it with his tongue. “He doesn’t have a collar,” I tell her, watching as the kitten stretches out.

“Can we keep him?” she asks me, eyes widening.

We. It’s her place, her decision, but I love that she’s including me in this. Like he’s ours. Like a little family. I press my lips to her forehead to hide my grin. “Of course we can.” I know how much she loves cats, and this little kitten coming to us almost feels like… “It could be fate, you know.”

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t believe in fate.”

My brows lift, staring down at her. “Fate brought me to you.”

She scoffs, laughing. “More like a game of spin the bottle.” Whatever it was, I’m thankful I found her. I gave up on love a long time ago, I just never thought I would have it. I’m so glad I was wrong.

I approach the little guy, letting him take my hand until I can pick it up. Leila fawns over the kitten instantly, petting his head, his purrs making her melt. “What should we call him?” she asks.

I glance at my girlfriend, looking at the gold paw necklace I gave her for her birthday hanging around her neck. “How about Tiger?” I ask her.

Her eyes widen, a smile pulling at her lips. “I love it.”

“Okay,” Leila says before she opens the front door to my house. “Before we go in, let me just remind you that I looove you,” she drags out the word, giving me the sweetest smile.

I narrow my eyes at her, holding onto Tiger. “What have you done?”

I get the answer to that when she opens the door, and I get blasted with a bunch of people yelling, “Surprise.”

The basketball team, my best friend, my girlfriends’ friends, they’re all here, surrounded by multi-colored balloons and holding up party horns. Grayson even has a party hat on that I have no doubt Rosie made him wear.

I look down at Leila, who’s got the biggest smile on her face. “You did this?” I ask her.

“Is that a cat?”

“Yeah,” Leila replies, wrapping her arms around my waist.

My whole heart is inside this woman. “How did you know?” I ask her. I’ve never told anyone when my birthday is. I didn’t see a point to it when I had already missed out on so many growing up.

“I’m your girlfriend,” she replies. “It’s my job to know these things.”

I shake my head, grinning down at the love of my life. “Have I told you I love you yet?”

She mulls it over, shaking her head. “Not yet,” she teases, knowing damn well I’ve said it about a hundred times today.

I press my lips to her forehead. “I love you, gorgeous,” I tell her, holding Tiger with one hand and holding her face with another. “I am so in love with you,” I murmur before bringing our lips together.

“All right,” Carter says, making us pull back. “We get it, Cap. You’re in love. But we have a cake to cut.”

I’ve never had a birthday cake and Leila knows this, which is why she’s smiling when I look at her. “I couldn’t help but think of everything you missed out on. I wanted you to have a normal birthday.” She squints at me. “Do you like it?”

Every day I fall even more in love with her. “You know I would have been more than happy spending the day in bed with you watching movies, right?”

“Seriously,” Gabi says. “Why is no one talking about the cat?”

Leila shakes her head. “You deserve the best. You deserve everything.”

I look down at my girlfriend when I say, “I already have it.”