♦ The Rules of a Gentleman ♦

Chapter ♦ One

                                                        The Rules of a Gentleman

One

              “I love you.”

              Oliver’s head snapped to the side, watching the brunette girl who cuddled under his arm. He met Naomi’s brown eyes, and he knew then and there that he was entering a new level of their relationship. The silence between them felt awkward and Oliver was too surprised to say anything coherent. A small smile slowly twisted on her lips as she snuggled closer to him. Hesitantly, he shifted on his spot, adding a little more space between them.

              A million questions engulfed his mind. If it wasn’t for the noises from the TV, then Oliver would have gone mad. Naomi’s stare begged him to say something, but his brain couldn’t conjure anything intelligible to say. “I…” he mumbled unintelligently as he raked his fingers through his dark hair.

              He and Naomi had been going out for almost ten weeks, which was by far the longest time Oliver had ever been with a girl. It wasn’t because he was one of those jerks who would use girls to have “fun” and leave them. No—in fact, Oliver hated those kinds of guys with burning passion. He was taught to treat a girl right and respect her. He couldn’t understand why any sane guy would use a girl just for the fun of it. He was committed to keep his values and outlooks as to how his Mom taught him. However, when it came down to relationships, commitment wasn’t one of his highlighted points.

              Naomi turned to the side, her body facing him, and she looked at him with troubled eyes. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, too, but he couldn’t. Oliver knew that he didn’t love Naomi the way she loved him. Yes, he cared about her, maybe a little more than how he cared about his best friends, but he was certain that he didn’t love her just yet.

              She looked down on her hands as she started to fidget with her fingers. “You don’t have to say it,” she said sweetly, although he could hear the hurt in her voice. He knew where this would lead on to and Oliver didn’t want to break the girl’s heart later on. Naomi would wait until he could say the three magical words. But, he was beyond certain that their relationship wouldn’t work out in the end—they were playing with fire. Oliver was certain that the day he would say The L Word to a girl would be the start of an apocalypse. Naomi was too patient and understandable for him.

              She’s too good for me, he thought.

              Oliver bit back the comment, but he had to say something. “It’s not that,” he tried to explain, unable to make a reason that wouldn’t sound too obscure. Even though he’d handled this situation a couple of times before, he was still diffident to it.

              She leaned on his shoulder. “As I said, you don’t have to say it,” she repeated softly, but her voice was shaking. Naomi knew where the situation was heading. He was certain that she noticed how Oliver wasn’t the top of the list of guys who could keep relationships and that saying the three words to him was practically asking him to call the relationship a break.

              It made him cynical. If she knew that, then why would she say the words? Was it her way of saying that they shouldn’t be together anymore? He let out a deep sigh and pushed her off of him as the questions of Naomi’s feelings for him entered his head. “Listen, Naomi,” he started, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. She stared at him with an emotion that was never unfamiliar to Oliver—hurt and betrayal. “You're a great person,” he continued, taking her hand, and slowly stroking little circles to calm her down. “I care about you a lot, which is why I'm doing this.”