The Follower Read Online Free PDF Page A

to think of a way out of it. She figured she’d say she wasn’t feeling well, or she was exhausted, or something like that. But then, all of a sudden, Andy was acting like his old self—making jokes and paying a lot of attention to her. She didn’t know what was going on with him—if anything was going on; she could’ve been making it all up—and she decided to let him come back to her place and see how things went. He was really nice and sweet and they wound up on the couch, making out, listening to KT Tunstall. She was going to forget about the way he’d acted at the restaurant, not bring it up anyway, but it was still on her mind, and she blurted out, “So what’s up with you tonight anyway?”
    “What do you mean?” Andy said, lost, or pretending to be lost.
    “In the restaurant,” Katie said. “You were so, like, I don’t know…”
    “I’m sorry…I guess I just had a long week at work, you know?”
    “Oh,” she said, thinking,
That’s no excuse
.
    “Sorry if I was a jerk,” Andy said, and kissed her, running his hands gently through her hair. Then, touching noses, he said, “Your eyes are so beautiful.”
    “Thanks,” she said.
    They continued kissing. He was on top of her now, in the same position they were in before they went to dinner. He undid her bra and started feeling her breasts and it felt really nice. Then he started grinding up against her and feeling her over her jeans. They were both breathing heavier and she could tell he wanted to do it and she wanted to do it, too.
    “Wanna move to the bedroom?” he asked.
    “Yeah,” she said.
    They went into the bedroom and then she said she’d be right back and went into the bathroom. She was going to get a condom, but then decided she wouldn’t make love to Andy tonight. Although she liked him a lot and he seemed like a really nice guy, she wanted to wait awhile, at least two more dates. She felt like she’d had sex too quickly with her last couple of boyfriends and she felt bad about it and she wanted to take things slower this time. Maybe she’d do a little more with Andy tonight, but they definitely wouldn’t have sex.
    Katie returned to the bedroom and Andy was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had taken off his button-down shirt but was still wearing a white V-neck T-shirt. The lamp on the dresser was shining on him, and his skin looked very smooth and tan.
    She sat next to him and they started kissing and then he pulled her shirt off over her head and she pulled off his. Then he took off her bra and kissed her breasts in a nice way and then she said, “Wait,” and leaned over toward the night table. She flicked on the iPod, which was connected to a docking station. A few seconds later, Norah Jones was into “Come Away with Me.”
    Sitting up, they continued kissing each other and then they lay down, side by side, and suddenly his hand was under her panties. She was kind of surprised because he hadn’t even un-snapped her jeans and because he hadn’t asked her if it was okay to do this. They hadn’t gone this far before, and the lasttime he tried, she told him she wanted to wait. But she didn’t say anything, because it felt good, and she was ready to go further tonight anyway.
    After a while, she opened his jeans and started touching him. She’d wondered if, because his hands were kind of small, he’d be small everywhere, and she was glad to feel that it was normal sized, maybe even on the big side. She wanted to make love, but she knew it would be better to wait. They’d fool around tonight and then maybe next time they’d do more. It would be hard for her to finish this way—it was already getting a little uncomfortable—but he’d finish and that would be far enough for tonight.
    Then he started pushing her head down with one of his hands. Well, he wasn’t really
pushing
it—he was guiding it, with steady pressure. This felt weird because, although she didn’t really mind going down on him, and was actually