After dinner, we clean up and settle down together in the living room. Liz says she has some calculus homework to do, so me and the guys put on ESPN and chill in front of the television. Liz puts in her earbuds to listen to music while she works. I take out my phone and snap a picture of her when she’s not looking. Julien ribs me with his elbow. I forward it to him. Elijah falls asleep on the other end of the couch, snoring lightly.
When Liz closes her textbook and pulls out her earbuds, I notice that it’s already past ten. I hear the front door open and in walks Ryder.
“Hey, any dinner left?” he calls out and stops dead when he rounds the corner to see us with Liz who is sitting on the floor.
He looks at her, then me and Julien, then back to her. “Hey, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth
It’s been quite pleasant spending the evening with Julien, Jayson, and Elijah. Things are more relaxed between Jayson and me after he apologized, and he’s been giving me space and respecting my boundaries. If only Ryder were here, then my night would be perfect. I hate that we have to keep what’s happening between us a secret, but I get why. Even though Jayson is behaving better, I can feel him watching me. If he and I are in the same room, I know his eyes are glued on me. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck go up and it makes me squirm.
Ryder said he would call or text me when he got home tonight, but I want to see him again so badly. I’ve been working on classwork for the past hour, hoping that he would come home before it got too late. Once ten o’clock rolls around, I am about to pack up and head back to my apartment when he walks through the front door. My heart thuds in anticipation when he rounds the corner, all six feet of him, looking sexy as hell in a black t-shirt and jeans.
“Hey, Elizabeth,” he says, nervousness and uncertainty apparent in the way he suddenly stops when he sees me sitting on the floor, his three best friends sitting on the sofa behind me. Elijah passed out a half hour ago.
“Hi.” I try to control the breathiness of my voice but fail miserably. “I put your dinner in the fridge for you. I can go heat up the pasta if you’d like.”
“Thanks. I need to go clean up first.”
“How was the race?” Jayson asks him, feet kicked up on the coffee table, eyes glued to whatever game is on.
“We did some quarter milers. I won all four times.” I watch his handsome face split with a smug grin. “Be right back.”
Ryder walks down the hall to his room.
“I need to get going myself, especially if we’re running tomorrow,” I point to Julien. “I will admit that my legs are sore so I may not be able to last ten miles.”
“We can do however many you want.”
“You’re tricking me, aren’t you? I cut out early and you get to weasel out of owing me my bribe prizes.”
Julien winks at me.
“Do you mind if I use the restroom before I go?”
“Liz, you don’t have to ask our permission. Our home is your home,” Jayson reminds me.
When I get halfway down the hallway, I take a peek over my shoulder to make sure that Julien and Jayson aren’t looking. Luckily, they are engrossed with the game they have been watching. I carefully open Ryder’s bedroom door and slip inside, closing the door behind me with a silent click. I immediately stop breathing when I turn around and see his naked back and am disappointed when he puts on a fresh shirt. I lean against the door, hand to my chest, trying to hold back my pounding heart. I am in so much trouble with this man.
“Hi,” I whisper. Before Ryder can say anything, I’m on him in flash. He gives a small grunt when I push him back on the bed and climb up his delectable body until my face hovers over his, arms propped on either side of his head.
“Hi,” he whispers back to me, his hypnotic copper eyes glazing over with lust.
“I couldn’t wait,” I explain.
His hands pull at my waist and I roll my stomach and torso down until I fit snuggly against him. “We need to be quick, and quiet,” I tell him and bend the rest of the way down.
Our kiss this time is slow and sensual, but just as potent as the one we shared earlier today in the music room. Every part of me tingles and throbs, but I know I’ll need to stop soon. I end our kiss with a gentle suck and bite of his bottom lip. I can feel how hard he is beneath me and wish I had time to slide my hand down the sexy V of his abs. I look forward to doing exactly that on Friday when we have our official first date.
“Fuck, Elizabeth.” I love that I’m able to make him so out of control and needy with just a simple kiss. As I slide back off of him to leave, I trail my lips down his shirt-covered chest and stomach before lifting the fabric up a couple of inches and swirling my tongue around his navel. I don’t know what it is about Ryder that turns me into a mindless bundle of lust and desideratum. All I know for certain is that I find him and his body irresistible.
“Goodnight, Ryder.” I leave him panting on the bed.
“You know I’m going to have to go jack off now, right?”
“As long as you think of me while doing it,” are my parting words as I open his door and peek out to make sure the coast is clear.
Humming all the way back to the living room, I kiss the tops of Jayson, Julien, and Elijah’s heads, then grab my bag. “Goodnight boys,” I sing-song, so happy at this moment from my second kiss with Ryder that I feel like I’m levitating across the floor.
