Making Deals

Prologue

“So it’s a deal then?” Erik asked Kyla as he put away his electronic chess game.
Kyla sighed, “It’s a deal. It’s a silly deal, but it’s a deal.”
Erik Costanza and Kyla Johnson had become the best of friends sitting together on the bus every day to and from school. They didn’t really have much to do with one another at school, because she was involved in debate, and he was too busy with the science and chess clubs. Whenever they were together on the bus, though, everyone else disappeared.
Erik shook his head. “It’s not a silly deal. We’re probably the last two virgins in our school.” In truth, Erik didn’t care about whether or not he was a virgin. He was simply looking for a way to make sure that Kyla stayed a part of his life for the next four years and that they wouldn’t drift apart while they were in college. A&M was a big school. They wouldn’t be forced to be together every day like they were on the school bus.
“So what? Being a virgin isn’t a bad thing! We’re only seventeen,” Kyla told him. She had always thought that teenagers put too much emphasis on sex. To her, sex was something for adults. Something you only did if you were in love and either married or about to get married.
Erik shook his dark head, his blue eyes sad. “I just don’t want to still be a virgin when I graduate from college. I know that’s dumb, but I don’t.” Erik had come up with the idea of approaching her about this one night while he’d been lying in bed, thinking about her. Maybe a frank discussion about the possibility of them having sex together one day would make her realize that she had more than feelings of friendship for him after all.
Kyla pushed her blond hair behind her shoulder. “I can understand that. Guys are really looked down on when they’re virgins. It’s not the same for girls.” She could easily understand that he wouldn’t want to admit in public that he was a virgin. She didn’t understand why it mattered so much to him that he actually was one. Erik was a great sounding board to her. She’d always felt like she could talk to him about anything. When she needed a male viewpoint, she would call him. She’d cried on his shoulder more times than she could count.
Blue eyes met green. “But you made the deal. One week before graduation, we meet up on campus. Even if we’re not still best friends.” He couldn’t picture a time when Kyla wouldn’t have a daily part of his life, but he knew of so many friends that had drifted apart once they were on a huge campus.
“Yeah, but if either of us isn’t a virgin anymore, all bets are null and void,” she said emphatically. She truly didn’t believe that Erik would go that long without finding himself a serious girlfriend. He was so sweet and loving that some girl would snatch him up the minute he set foot on campus. Kyla studied him. He was a great friend. He’d make some girl a great boyfriend someday, but he was a major nerd. Not that she cared. She was a pretty major nerd herself, just in a different way.
Erik had been in love with Kyla since the second week of their freshman year of high school. They had a lot of fun together on the bus, and she always knew the right things to say to make him feel like he wasn’t just some loser in her eyes. When the other kids picked on him for being a nerd, Kyla would just roll her eyes and make some witty comment about how they just wished they were nerds like him. Because most of them had IQs lower than their GPAs.
“That’s fair. And I’m sure I’ll have as many girls panting after me in college as I have in high school,” he said self derisively, watching her eyes for any sign that she may have the kind of feelings for him that he had for her.
“Smart guys get all the girls in college,” she whispered, her lips centimeters from his ear, as if it were some great secret. He fought himself to keep from shuddering. Just having her breast innocently rub his arm as they sat together, always made his body react in an embarrassing way. Every day when he got off the bus, he held his backpack in front of him. She thought he was tired of wearing it at the end of a long day. The truth was, he was trying to hide his very obvious reaction to her nearness.
He grinned at her, already knowing that it didn’t matter if all the girls took off their clothes and flung them at him. He’d be waiting for Kyla. She was sexier to him in jeans and a baggy t-shirt than any other girl could possibly be in a skimpy negligee.


Chapter 1

Kyla felt as if her head would explode as she finally closed her advanced public speaking book. The information in it was interesting, but presented in such a dry, boring way, she didn’t think she could take one more minute of it. Public speaking was her first exam on Monday morning. One more week, and she’d have her BA. She had a job set up with a local public relations firm that started in two weeks. One week off between college and the start of her real life.
The years of college had been good to her. She’d made friends that she enjoyed spending time with. She’d dated on and off but never seriously. She didn’t feel like she should date seriously during college, because she was nowhere near ready to marry. After graduation was time enough to find that special someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She rubbed her eyes as she stumbled out of her dorm room. It was 3:00 am, and she wanted to get in another three or four hours of studying before sleeping for an hour. Thank God the convenience store around the corner had started selling the flavored coffee. She couldn’t stand the taste of the plain kind, and she knew she’d never make it without a serious infusion of caffeine. Exams started in fifty-three hours.
She was so tired that she actually bumped into someone in front of the coffee. “Excuse me,” she mumbled without looking up.
She felt strong hands steady her. “No problem,” a deep voice responded.
Wait, that voice sounded familiar. There was no way he was here tonight. She hadn’t seen him since their freshman year. She looked up. “Erik?”
Erik grinned. He had finally grown into himself. He had always been tall, but he’d filled out in the shoulders and chest, no longer resembling a stick man. The only word that had been right to describe him in high school had been gangly. Now, the word that came into her head was built. He was some serious eye candy. His eyes sparkled as they looked down at her. “Kyla, I haven’t seen you since freshman year!”
“Well, you’re a science nerd, and I got those awful classes out of the way freshman year,” she said. “The business department is across campus.” Her eyes traveled up and down him deliberately. When her eyes met his again, she knew that her appreciation of the changes in him would show.
“True,” he said nodding. “Have you decided whether or not to keep going and get an MBA? Or are you done?”
“I may decide to come back for an MBA, but for now, I’ve got a job lined up. I’m going to work in public relations,” she said.
“That’s great! I know you’ll take the world by storm.” His eyes followed the line of her body. She looked like she’d gained a few pounds since high school, but they looked great on her. She was as sexy as she’d always been.
“What about you? Going on for your masters? Or are you going to live in your mom’s basement and be a mad scientist?” she asked with a grin.
“I start med school next month,” he told her. His eyes traveled her face. She was more beautiful at twenty-one than she’d been at seventeen. “I’m going to be a pediatrician.”
“You will be a great doctor,” she said. “I can’t believe it, though. Didn’t you tell me that doctors were sell outs? And that great scientists did research for researches sake and not for the money involved?”
Erik laughed out loud. “You know, at seventeen I believed all that. At twenty-one, I’ve decided that I need to be able to make a living.”
“You’re infinitely wiser at twenty-one, my friend.”
Erik watched her fix a cup of coffee. “Are you pulling an all-nighter?”
“Yeah, I want to finish studying for my two exams on Monday before going to bed tonight…or tomorrow, or this morning. I’m sure it’s one of those. I get so confused in the middle of the night.”
“What are you studying?”
“I just finished studying for my advanced public speaking class, and I’m about to study for business communication,” she told him. “Both very necessary, but very boring classes. The text books are just awful. I’m having a hard time wading through them.”
“I’m studying for Advanced Anatomy and Physiology. I don’t have it until Wednesday, but the rest of my finals I can take a fifty in and still make an A. I’ve got to get a seventy on that one.”
“And I’m sure you have to put in a lot of hours for a seventy,” she told him sarcastically. He’d been valedictorian of their class. She knew he’d never made less than an A plus in a class, honors or otherwise. “Why study? You could probably make a seventy in your sleep.”
“The class is hard, and I have the hardest teacher. I can’t just blow it off,” he said seriously.
“Two of my teachers are exempting graduating seniors from finals,” she said. “I only have two exams Monday and one on Tuesday.”
“None of my teachers are exempting me. I wish they’d do that!”
They checked out and stood outside the building for a moment looking at each other. Kyla was amazed at how attractive Eric was now. Just standing close to him made her heart beat faster. It was too bad they’d lost touch after freshman year.
“Well, I need to head back to the dorm and finish studying. I’m glad I ran into you,” she said, giving him a quick one armed hug.
“Yeah, me too. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to reach you,” he told her with a wink.
She looked at him. “Why were you trying to reach me?”
“We graduate in a week. I needed to see if the deal is still on, of course.” He said the words seriously watching her face closely for a reaction.
Her tired brain could not even begin to figure out what he was talking about. “Sorry?”
“You don’t remember? On the bus, a week before we graduated from high school, you promised me that if we were both virgins a week before we graduated from college, that we’d get together and take care of that,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been saving myself for this week!”
She let out a bark of laughter. “Wow. I do remember. You were so intense about it!” She felt a stirring deep in her stomach at the thought of having sex with Erik. When she’d agreed to his deal, she’d been sure he’d forget about it in a day or two. She should have known better. The deal hadn’t been attractive four years ago, but it certainly was now.
“Well?” he asked.
“Well what?”
“Are you still a virgin?” he asked. He held his breath as he waited for an answer. He honestly didn’t care if she was a virgin or not, although he would love to be her first. He only cared whether or not she was now in a relationship that would keep him from having a relationship with her himself.
She stood staring at him for a minute. “Well, yeah, but you can’t hold me to a bargain I made when I was seventeen and stupid.”
“Sure I can,” he told her, giving her that intense look that had made her to agree to his plan in the first place. “Are you in a relationship?”
She shook her head. “Of course not, but that doesn’t mean that I’m just going to fall into bed with you. You know me better than that, Erik.”
“I know you well enough to know that you won’t renege on your promise. I know you well enough to know that you’ll at least give me a chance,” he told her, his heart beating faster at the opportunity he’d wanted for eight years. She was single, and she was interested. He’d noticed her checking him out. He’d noticed her breathing speeding up as she’d hugged him.
“You can’t still be a virgin, too, Erik,” she said. “I mean, you’ve gotten really cute since I last saw you. Have you been working out?” She was sure there had to have been other girls in his life over the years.
“I have been working out. Being a ninety-eight pound weakling forever was never in the plan.” He glared at her. “You’re changing the subject. You always used to change the subject to distract me. It’s not going to work this time, Kyla.”
“Erik, I haven’t seen you in three years. I can’t just fall into bed with you,” she told him reasonably.
“How about this? We’ll spend time together studying this week. After my final on Wednesday, I get to kiss you. If it freaks you out or we don’t like it, the deal is off,” he said. “If we enjoy it, we get to see where it leads. No pressure.”
“That sounds reasonable, I guess,” she said, sure that there was no way they’d actually go through it. Kissing Erik would be like kissing her brother, wouldn’t it?
“Great! Are you still in the girls’ dorm?” he asked, wondering if there was any way they could be absolutely private. His roommate was a hermit and only left the room for classes, and he wanted more private time than that to get to know her again.
“Nahh…I’m in the co-ed,” she told him. “Room three fifteen. I have a private this year. I couldn’t handle any more crazy roommates.”
He laughed. “I remember your first semester freshman roommate. She had pictures of naked men all over the walls and kept telling you that she wanted to have sex with you.”
Kyla shuddered. “I still have nightmares about that one. Don’t remind me!”
He laughed again, “Your stories of her kept me entertained that year.” Secretly he was thrilled that she had a private room. The co-ed allowed overnight guests of the opposite sex as well. She was in the best place on campus for him to be able to carry out his plans to help her see that he was the only man for her.
“I’m so glad,” she started walking back toward her dorm, just a five minute walk away.
Erik looked around for her familiar red Volkswagen bug. “You didn’t walk here did you?” He’d always been amazed at how little fear she had for her personal safety. Of course, he’d always been worried enough about her for both of them.
“Yeah, I love campus at night. It’s so peaceful.” She took a deep breath of the fresh air, walking along slowly, watching the stars. Was it her imagination that the stars were prettier tonight?
Erik shook his head. “I’m walking you back. Do you have any idea how many rapes there are on campus in a year?”
“No, and I don’t want to,” she told him. “I like my night walks and don’t want to start freaking out when I take them. I do carry pepper spray.”
“Do you really think pepper spray is going to save you?” he asked incredulously. She needed someone to take care of her. He just hoped that she would let him be that someone.
“Yep. Don’t disillusion me. I actually like the cave I live in!” She referred to his jokes that she never knew what was going on in the world, because she lived in a cave. She’d always preferred her books to movies and TV. She’d always preferred her own private world to the world going on around her.
He left her at her door with a promise to be back at two that afternoon. “Get some sleep before then!” As he left her, he imagined the relationship that he imagined them having. Just before starting med school wasn’t a good time to start a relationship, but he had patience. As long as he knew she loved him, they could make a long distance relationship work. He knew they could.
“I’ll try,” she said after he’d gone. Leaning back against the door of her dorm room, she thought back over the conversation they’d just had. Erik was cute now. And he wanted to have sex with her. What was the world coming to?