I swearthe sun is shining brighter than usual.
I step out of Logan’s Jeep and into the crisp fall air, and I don’t even mind the fact that I’ve got a 10:00 lecture and we had to go opposite directions with nothing but a casual goodbye. Or that I barely got five hours of sleep. Or that I’m still walking funny from how thoroughly he fucked me last night.
None of it matters.
Because my lips are still tingling from his kisses. My chest is still warm from waking up wrapped in his arms. And because Logan Brooks is my secret lover—and right now, I feel like I could float straight into the damn sky.
A breeze stirs the air, brushing along my hoodie and tugging at the collar, and it smells like October. Like leaves and rain and the beginnings of winter. I breathe it in deep, letting it fill my lungs as I cut across the quad, my boots crunching on golden-red leaves that litter the sidewalk like confetti.
Everything isso damn prettythis morning.
The sky’s painted in a perfect smear of blue, streakedwith pink like someone took a highlighter to the clouds. A girl near the fountain is laughing on FaceTime with someone, and I grin like an idiot just because I can. A black squirrel darts across the walkway like it’s late for midterms, and I don’t even flinch. I just keep walking, heart light, smile stretched stupidly wide across my face.
God, I feel good.
Like I just scored a hat trick. Like I’m high-fiving the universe. Like nothing can touch me.
I’m not thinking about the fact that this whole thing is still a secret and it needs to stay that way. I’m not thinking about what’ll happen if people find out. I’m not even thinking about how risky it all is.
I’m just thinking about Logan’s laugh. The way he called me baby and pressed a kiss to the back of my neck before we left his apartment, and whispered, “Text me when you get to class.”
Yeah. I’m a goner.
And I’m not even mad about it.
I don’t even realize I’m humming until I catch myself doing it out loud.
Jesus. I’mhumming.
I’m turning into one of those guys. The ones who wake up all starry-eyed and happy and start thinking about their hookup’s laugh in the middle of Chem lab.
Except it wasn’t a hookup.
Not to me. And I’m pretty sure not to him either.
I tuck my hands in my hoodie pockets and slow my pace, chewing the inside of my cheek.
Because yeah, we said no strings last week. And yeah, I’ve been the one dodging any kind of feelings since…well,ever.
But last night didn’t feel like nothing. And this morning felt like everything.
God, he’s perfect. That shit means something. Doesn’t it?
Or am I just imagining it because I want to?
My brain short-circuits on that thought for half a second—just long enough for me to miss the flash of movement heading straight toward me.
“Whoa,” Daniel says, sidestepping me like I’m the world’s most distracted linebacker. “Dude, you okay?”
I blink at him. “Yeah. Great. Fine.”
He raises an eyebrow, looking way too suspicious for this early in the morning. “You sure? You’ve got that…look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘I just got laid and can’t stop smiling like a dumbass’ look.”
I roll my eyes and try to walk past him, but Daniel moves with me, spinning so we’re walking side by side.
