“Thanks?”
“You’re welcome. Okay,” she breathes. She straightens her skirt. “I’m off. I’ll catch you tomorrow if you’re not up when I get back.”
I nod and then wave her off, diving deep into the Spanish assignment due the day after tomorrow. I get lost in the work, going over Ivy’s and my notes and the highlighted words in the textbook. At some point, I turn on the music to a low volume, and before I can sit back on my bed, a knock sounds at the door.
Frowning, I head out of my room and to the door. I pull it open, thinking it’s Ivy, who has forgotten her keys, but instead, I find Reid standing there, looking nervously back at Dustin’s door.
He’s holding purple roses in one hand and his backpack in the other. “Reid?” I hiss, nervous that my brother will find us. Literally, all he has to do is open the door to find us. “What are you doing here?”
He cringes. “Can I come in?”
I step aside and let him in, softly shutting the door behind him. His massive frame feels like it takes up most of the apartment, and his delicious scent curls around the space in a matter of seconds.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
He smiles when he turns to look at me. I glance at the flowers when he holds them out for me. “I brought you flowers.”
My heart warms. “What for?”
“Because I like you.” He shrugs. “And I have to butter you up.”
I take the flowers from him and push my nose against the petals, inhaling. He remembered my favorite flower, and the notion doesn’t go unnoticed. “Butter me up for…?”
He holds up his backpack while glowering. “Homework.”
I laugh a little and set the flowers on the table. “Let me guess: Your notes are as crappy as mine.”
Grimacing, he admits, “Guilty.”
Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “This is why our little conversations in class shouldn’t be happening.” I say it, but I don’t mean it. In fact, I find myself looking forward to the next Spanish class so that we can find out more about each other.
All he does is shrug. “Help me?”
“Well, you’re in luck, actually. I was just working on the assignment.”
His face lights up. “Really? What would you say about doing it together?”
I twist my lips to the side, contemplating. Being in my bedroom with him again will be torture because I remember literally everything about the last time we were in there.
He sees my hesitation. “Please?” he begs.
Defeated, knowing I can’t resist him, I wave him toward my room. He follows me down the hall, and once he’s inside my bedroom, he has a look around. “It looks different in the light.”
His eyes land on the bed, and I blush because I know he’s remembering what happened there.
“Um,” I begin, pushing a hand through my hair. I travel over to the bed and make room for him. “You can sit here.”
He opens his backpack and pulls out his textbook, notes, and supplies. Instead of sitting, he crawls onto my bed and lies down on his stomach, propping the book on my pillow. I can’t help but zero in on his ass. It’s perfectly round, and the muscles ripple as he shifts his legs around, getting comfortable.
Once he’s set up, he looks back at me. “Coming?”
“This is a bad idea,” I admit.
He laughs and pats the spot beside him. “We can keep our hands to ourselves.”
Yeah. Maybe you can. But I’ll be thinking about it the entire time.
Waving me over, he pulls out his notes, glances over, and sees Ivy’s notes. He picks those up as I climb onto the bed with my stomach twisting into knots. Hell, I’m not even wearing a bra, and he hasn’t commented on it, so maybe he will keep his hands to himself. Do I even want that? Damn my body for betraying me.
