Chapter Nine
Saylor
Of all the people in the world I didn’t expect to meet at the annual cornhole tournament, Cash Donovan topped the list.Though I’d never said anything to my friends about my encounter with him, somehow they knew I’d met someone at the Mardi Gras party who’d grabbed my attention.
And hadn’t let go, dammit.
Maybe it was the anonymity of meeting behind our masks, or the fantasy of him, but the masterful way he’d kissed me as he’d pinned me to the wall still sent phantom tingles rippling over me whenever I allowed myself to think about that night.The situation was only tolerable because even though Dalton had called him by name, I didn’t have a clue who Cash was, which allowed me to pretend he hadn’t gotten to me.
Meeting him again without the benefit of our masks had almost knocked me on my ass.Since February he’d let his raven-black hair grow down to his collar where the ends curled up slightly.His sculpted cheekbones were sharp enough to cut glass, sitting above hollowed cheeks and a square, take-no-prisoners jaw only slightly softened by a shadow of dark stubble.His aquiline nose might have been broken once—a feature that only added character to his arrestingly handsome face.
But it was his gunmetal-gray eyes that snagged me and wouldn’t let me go.The way he gave me his full attention was both flattering and unnerving, as though he were trying to see inside me to figure out what made me tick.
So he could claim me.
He didn’t even bother to hide his interest, blatantly staring at me, stealing little touches over my skin when we were standing beside each other, subtly insisting on me accompanying him when it was time to refresh our beers rather than offering to grab me one when he went for his.It seemed now he’d discovered who I was he was determined to spend time with me, and I didn’t think his intentions ended with this one night.
All of which meant even as I flirted with him, because I couldn’t help myself, I had zero plans to let things go further than flirting.Something about Cash Donovan said serious, and while my friends, apparently, were all on board with serious these days, serious was not in my wheelhouse.
He stepped closer.Lowering his voice, he said, “You’re right.I do know something you do exceptionally well.”
The rumbly timbre of his voice sent shivers skittering over my skin.Attempting to cover my reaction, I took a long pull from my beer.He waited me out until I murmured, “Hmm?”
“Disappear right when things are getting interesting.”
“Excuse me?”I asked, stretching the first word nearly to its snapping point.
“Kissing me lit you right up.”His grin was positively wicked.
“I beg your pardon.”I injected my tone with enough disdain I could pass for a Delta Chi.
With a nonchalance that ignored my tone, he drank from his beer, and my eyes followed his tongue as he ran it over the foam on his lip.His gaze heated as he caught where my attention had gone.“I didn’t reach for your silky-smooth thigh until you hooked it over my hip.But I was definitely happy to enjoy where that move was headed.”
He had the damn audacity to wink at me.
Before I could sputter a response, he said, “Then Dalton showed up, and poof!”He made an exploding gesture with his free hand.“You disappeared downstairs, and I couldn’t find you anywhere for the rest of the night.”
“Dalton reminded me I had somewhere I needed to be.”I sniffed.
“Ah, yes.”He gave a sage nod.“The ‘secret’ but not truly secret poker game.Only, I didn’t find out about it until Dalton mentioned something long after the party.”The corner of his mouth quirked up.“Now both of us know exactly what the other one looks like, and we have each other’s full name, which means we don’t need to depend on an SCR party to hang out together.”
A roar went up in front of us, and I caught Piper clapping her hands at Bax’s happy dance.Guess Bax and Dalton had won their match and were headed to the finals.I thought I’d be able to slip away from Cash in the crush of SCRs gathered around to cheer on our last team.
Yeah.No.
Though he was casual about it, he stayed right beside me, the heat of his body warming the entire side of me next to him even with a couple of inches of air separating us.
“Looks like my boys are going to do the Wildcats proud,” Cash remarked as we moved with the rest of the crowd to where the final Sigma Nu team awaited the winners of the match.
“You mean the SCRs.The tournament is between fraternities,” I said.“After all, we’re all Wildcats.”
“Yeah, but this is coming down to football versus wrestling, so it’s a good thing we have two football players on the SCR team.”He shot me a sideways grin.
I sighed.“It all makes so much sense now.”
“What does?”His eyes sparkled above the rim of his cup.
“Dalton and Taco dragged you here, didn’t they?”
