Jean’s small gasp has my shoulders tensing again. I know that sound. It’s the sound he makes when he has anidea, and those are almost always designed to make me jump out of my skin. Like the time he wanted us to egg his ex-boyfriend’s front door at six o’clock in the morning as baby underclassmen who definitely could’ve gotten a reprimand for destroying on-campus housing. They got back together the next day, like I knew they would.
“Now is so not the time—can we please go?”
“I just got here. And you don’t even know what I’m going to say!” he says, glee bursting through his gaze. I raise my brows, permitting him to continue. “You should do it.”
He stands there looking ready to burst as he waits for my response.
“Do what?” Tell Will how I feel? Tell him to fuck off? Lose my?—
“Sleep with someone.”
My laugh is genuine as I shake my head. “Sure. Let me just pick someone out of the crowd!”
“Okay, don’t act like you literally couldn’t.”
“Jean,” I say, tilting my head.
“Gen,” he says back, mocking me. “There are a number of guys here who would havenoproblem sleeping with you. I’m sure some of them have fantasized about it.” His brows waggle obnoxiously, and I can’t help but giggle.
“Likewho?” I can’t help the smirk that spreads across my face, none of the angst or disappointment I felt sitting around that fire anywhere to be found now that Jean is here.
“Hear me out. Scott is like?—”
I gag loudly, bending over for effect. “Don’t even continue that statement. I hope your list gets better than this.”
“Whatever…Scott is hot in that, like, annoying, don’t speak or really look at me way. You know?” He shrugs, shifting his gaze away from Scott. “Andy would be game.”
“Because he’s game witheveryone. Is this seriously the list?” My abdominal muscles start to cramp with how much I’m laughing at Jean’s suggestions, today’s conditioning at the bar already having left me feeling bruised in the middle.
“A man with experience is definitely not what you should be worrying about,” he says, winking. He has a point.
“But he’s so goofy. I don’t know if goofy is my thing.”
“Bitch, you don’thavea thing or a type, beyond Will Chapman. Spare me.”
“Fair point,” I admit with a laugh. “But still a no. If I’ve waited this long, I’m going to be choosy.”
We stand there, crafting an imaginary list of one-night suitors like two old biddies. We go through the rosters on the hockey team, the lacrosse team, the swim team, and of course, basketball, but none of them are quite right for this hypothetical tryst.
“Now that we’ve dissected the rumored sexual prowess of every jock here,” I say, the heat from my continuous laughter leaving my chest slightly damp with sweat, “we should probably go.”
“Wait! I know.” His eyes lock on a figure standing close to the fire.
“Jean, I’m not actually?—”
“Grant Fielder would one thousand percent be perfect.” My vision focuses on him in the distance, having an amused conversation with none other than Ben Cabot—Will’s older brother andhisbest friend.
I cock my head at Jean, eyes narrowing as I wonder if he’s trying to be diabolical by suggesting I hook up with the only guy Will doesn’t seem to jive with, other than hisbrother. But his gaze is pure excitement, and where I was quick to identify the problem with every other guy Jean listed, I’m now speechless. I struggle to find something wrong with him, so I settle on whatever he thinks is wrong with me.
“Except that he probably hates me?”
“Hate by association—he can’t stand Will. And I don’t blame him,” he says with a ‘but let’s not get into that’ head tilt. “Anyway, everyone knows hate and lust are like different sides of the same coin.”
“He barely speaks to me,” I tell Jean, suddenly self-conscious.
“Wow—you areactuallyoblivious. There’s no way he is not thinking of what you look like naked with how often he just stares at you.”
I scoff, feeling my blush spread across my cheeks.
