“I was planning to catch up with you after I got home from having dinner with the fam, but then your name lit up my phone, and I decided to change the plan.Unless you don’t want me to come over.”
“Can’t wait to see you.”
With another rippling laugh, she hung up, and I scrambled to make my room more presentable.I wasn’t a messy person, but after I arrived home from practice, I’d tossed a pair of shorts and boxer briefs at the clothes basket in the corner of my room and missed.I put those away and wolfed down another slice of pizza as I returned the plate to the kitchen.
“What’s on fire?”Dalton asked from my favorite chair in the living room.
I shot him a glare, but before I could call him out, from the other chair in front of the TV Taco piped up, “Bet he made a phone call.”
After stuffing the two slices of pizza I hadn’t eaten yet into a plastic bag and hiding them at the back of the fridge, I wandered back into the living room.“I did, actually.And you two Nosy Nellies can keep your commentary to yourselves when Saylor gets here.”
Right then the doorbell chimed through the house, announcing her arrival.
“Nosy Nellies?”Taco snorted.“What are you—ninety?”He leaned over his chair to touch his game controller to Dalton’s as though he’d said something funny.
Still shaking my head at my idiot roommates, I stepped over to the front door and almost lost my breath.Saylor was always effortlessly gorgeous, but this sun-kissed vision in front of me left me speechless.Her bright pink sundress showed off her golden-tanned skin to perfection.Sunlight sparkled and highlighted her blonde hair.When she lowered her movie-star-glamorous sunglasses, her amber eyes danced with mischief.
“Hello, Cash.Were you going to invite me in?”
Swallowing hard in a desperate attempt to keep my tongue in my mouth, I stepped to the side, opening the door wider.When she sailed by me, her floral and musk perfume rolled over me like an invisible mist, drawing me to follow her.
“Hi, Taco!Hey, Dalton!You guys have a good summer?”she asked as she strode into the living room.
“Same ol’,” Dalton said as he stood to give her a hug, his arms lingering around her waist way too long for my comfort.“Not nearly as exciting as hanging out with rock stars like some people I know,” he teased.
“You didn’t happen to get a signed T-shirt from Balefire, did you?”The hope in Taco’s voice as he took his turn hugging her would have been pathetic, except for the fact she’d given my roommates some sugar while I’d gone without.Something was seriously wrong with this picture.
“Actually, I managed to snag a few signed T-shirts from Balefire, Cristy Valor, and a couple other big names.Thought the house could auction them for one of our charity events this year.”
That right there.
Not only was she gorgeous and fun, but she also always managed to think of others.Even in the middle of fangirling her way through her internship over the summer, she’d thought about how her experience could benefit more than just her.
Like I said, Saylor stole my breath away.
“Suh-weet!”Taco said, lifting his fist to bump hers.“AJ always says you’re the Sigma Chi Rho good-luck charm, and he’s not wrong.You hanging out with us tonight?”
At last she returned her attention to me.“I think Cash has other plans.”
“Damn straight I do,” I growled, my eyes on Dalton.“Enjoy my chair.”Extending my hand to Saylor, I invited her to join me.
When our skin touched for the first time in two months, sparks shot up my arm from my palm, twitching my bicep on their way to tingling my solar plexus.Saylor glanced over her shoulder between us to send my roommates a flirty wave.
“Nice to see you guys.You’ll have to tell me about rush later.”
It wasn’t my intention to pull a caveman move as I tugged her behind me, but judging by the guffaws that followed us down the hallway to my room, it came across that way.The secret smile I caught flitting across her lips when I ushered her through the door into my bedroom said she kind of liked it though.
After letting me take her on only three dates, I’d had to accept I didn’t have a claim to her when she left for the summer.If Saylor had met someone in Denver and decided to hang out with him, I couldn’t say one damn thing about it.But with as much time as she’d spent with her hero and mentor Olivia Carter, and for all the texting and FaceTiming we’d done while she was away, I’d felt pretty secure I’d left an impression on her before she left.That tiny grin only confirmed it, and for the first time all summer, I finally relaxed.
Closing—and locking—the door behind her, I pinned her against it.“Welcome home, Saylor.”I brushed my lips over hers and did my damnedest not to lose control when she moaned and deepened the kiss.
Time slipped away as we reacquainted ourselves, our bodies pressed together from lips to knees.Fuck, she fit me perfectly, with the soft pillows of her breasts flattened against my chest and her firm thighs pressed to mine.Somewhere in there, her hands found their way beneath my T-shirt where she alternated running her fingertips up and down my spine with pressing her palms into my muscles as she tightened her hold on me.Tearing my mouth from her hot kisses at last, I dropped my forehead to rest on hers as air sawed in and out of my lungs.
“Guess you missed me, huh?”I teased when I could think somewhat straight again.
“Felt more like you missed me,” she sassed.
A chuckle rumbled out of me.“I’m really glad you’re home.”Taking her hand, I guided her over to the bed.“I’m not implying anything here.I just don’t have anywhere else to offer you to sit.”Shooting a glare at the back of my bedroom door, I said, “The guys talked me out of putting my favorite chair in here.”Glancing around at the space my king bed made small, I added, “Probably because I would have had to walk on it to get to the bed.”
