I climb out of bed and grab a sweater off the back of my desk chair. Reid’s not getting another free pass to the peep show. Even if he is the world’s best kisser. No wonder the women on campus are lining up for a taste. Just the memory of his lips on mine brings a rush of heat to my cheeks.
I turn from Becca, hoping she won’t notice my telltale blush. “He stopped over last night. We watched some TV and he fell asleep. No biggie.”
“He just stopped over on Saturday night to watch some TV?”
Okay. I totally get why she sounds skeptical. It does seem unlikely given he’s one of the hottest guys at Waverly. Toss in my aversion to football players, and my story’s like a house of cards.
“And then y’all decided to have a sleepover?” she asks, pointing from me to the general direction of the living room. The smirk on her face says she’s not buying.
I shrug and wrap my sweater around my body, making sure there’s no nip action. “I got up to use the bathroom and when I came back, he was asleep. Maybe he passed out.”
Even as the words leave my mouth, I know they’re bullshit. Reid wasn’t drunk. And I may have been in the bathroom longer than I thought, having a mini-meltdown, because, seriously, what was I thinking letting him kiss me?
Or, okay—real talk—kissing him back?
“I cannot believe Austin freaking Reid is sleeping on our couch!” Becca’s squealing now and if I don’t calm her down, she’s going to wake him up. Which would probably be fine except for the part where we sound like crazy fangirls. Or fangirl, I guess, since it’s just Becca.
Whatever. I just need her to bring it down a notch.
“Shh! He’s going to hear you,” I whisper-yell. “And you cannot tell anyone about this. They’ll get the wrong idea and I do not need that kind of drama. The media is already a circus and Coach will kick me off the team if he thinks I’m distracting his star player.” I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. “Plus, my mom would kill me.”
Becca laughs it off, but my mom would flip her shit if she knew a football player spent the night in my apartment. I can’t deal with that right now. I’ve got enough on my plate without adding her disappointment.
“My lips are sealed.” She presses her lips flat, but it only lasts for maybe half a second. “But, um, what do we do now?”
“I guess we go wake him up.”
I gesture for her to lead the way, but when we get to the living room, it turns out Baxter’s taken it upon himself to rouse our guest, giving Reid an up-close-and-personal wakeup call. The dog is giving him a total tongue bath, but Reid takes it in stride, stroking Baxter’s head before sitting up and moving out of his reach.
Sometime during the night he must’ve stripped off his button up, leaving only a tight white T-shirt that showsallthe muscles. My pulse thrums at the sight of all that masculinity and puppy-loving goodness and I hope like hell my roommate can’t hear it.
“He’s a dog lover,” Becca whispers. “Could he be more perfect?”
I don’t answer. I can’t. Because seeing Reid all sleep rumpled and adorable? It’s almost more than my ovaries can handle.
“Morning,” he says when he sees us hovering in the hall. He rubs the back of his neck, completely oblivious to the fact that his hair is sticking up at odd angles. “Who’s the little guy?”
“Oh, that’s Baxter,” Becca says, flouncing across the room to scoop the puppy up. The little guy was asleep in my room when Reid showed up last night, proving he has zero future as a guard dog. “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s not used to male company. It’s beenagessince Kennedy’s brought a guy home.”
What the hell?
Heat blazes up the back of my neck and fans out across my chest. I give my best friend the side-eye—I’m so going to kill her—but she ignores me. No doubt thinking she’s being helpful by making it painfully obvious I’m single. And have been since New Year’s when I called it quits with Two-Minute Mike, unable to bear the thought of even one more sloppy gropefest.
Don’t get me wrong, he was a nice guy, but the sex?
It was like getting humped by a dog.
My gaze slides back to Reid. What would sex be like with him? Judging by the way he kisses, incredible. I resist the urge to touch my lips, remembering the way his kisses felt like being at the center of a supernova, white-hot and explosive.
“So what did you two crazy kids get into last night?” Becca looks from me to Reid, the picture of innocence, although there’s a spark of amusement in her eyes.
Traitor.
“We just watched some TV,” Reid says casually, the words falling from his lips smooth as silk. He steals a glance my way and when he smiles like we’re sharing a private joke? I swear my stupid heart skips a beat. Not good. Time to wrap this up. “Hey, did you notice Baxter and Coop have the same smile?”
His question is so unexpected, I laugh out loud. It feels good, like a release valve for the tension that permeates the air. “Right? I had the same thought the first time I met Coop.”
Reid stands and slips on his shoes. “I should probably go and let you ladies get on with your day. Thanks for letting me crash on your couch.”
