I brace a hand on the wall behind her, dip my head, and close my mouth over hers, devouring her, my entire body consumed with desire. My cock throbs against the rough denim of my jeans, and I rub myself against her. Moaning, she threads her fingers into my hair and holds me in place, rocking her hips against mine.
Dammit, I am too close to saying fuck it and taking her to bed. But if I do that, I won’t want to leave in the morning. There will never be a good time to part ways, and eventually we’ll get caught by someone and my worst nightmare will happen all over again.
With regret, I step back, leaving the warmth of her body, and she releases her hold.
“Go, Shane. Just leave now.”
I nod, drawing in a rough breath. “Bye, beautiful. I’ll talk to you soon.”
She smiles, but I catch the sheen of frustrated tears. Forcing my heavy legs to move, I head out to my car and close myself inside. I lay my head on the steering wheel and groan. Doing the right thing shouldn’t feel so damned wrong. I console myself with the fact that the next two weeks will pass slowly, but theywillpass. And then nothing will stop us from being together.
CHAPTER SIX
Amber
With the economicsfinal coming up, I increase my tutoring to twice a week. I don’t want to risk failing and having to take the course all over again. In addition, I invite my study group over to my house for an extra session. I sense I’m not the only one struggling, and I think another couple of hours talking about the material will help.
I am grateful the other students don’t hold my age against me as a reason not to include me. And though I have a wealth of life experience they don’t, I enjoy their company.
They show up around seven, and I put out chips and soda. As usual, the girls come together. Tamara Acker, Bonnie Green, and Rhonda May arrive arguing over whether or not a guy I don’t know is interested in Rhonda as something more than a friend. The guys, two of them, Dan Markham and Jeff Rhodes, come late. Also as usual.
The discussion about said guy’s interest in Rhonda continues even after the study group guys show up.
“What do you think, Amber? If a guy flirts, is he interested?” Rhonda, a pretty brunette, asks.
I crunch on a baked chip before answering. “Depends if he’s a natural flirt with everyone. I’d have to know his personality before I could answer that.”
“You see? And he is a flirt with most girls,” Rhonda says to Bonnie and Tamara. “It’s not just about me.”
“Except the way he looks at you is different,” Tamara argues.
“Agreed.” This comes from Bonnie.
“So, two against one,” I muse. I’ve never gone for the overtly flirtatious ones. Both Levi and Shane have that intense focus in common. Once they saw what they wanted, they just knew. They didn’t need to flirt with the world.
Speaking of Shane, he hasn’t disappeared on me. In the week since he dropped me off after the trip to the hospital to see his dad, he texted me nightly to talk and we really are getting to know each other a lot more. Not just superficial things like he prefers vanilla to chocolate, though he does, but that his mother lives twenty minutes away and he wants me to meet her before school starts again in September. He is neat, not fastidious; I like a clean house as well. And he is pretty good at sexting, as I’ve learned a day or two into our nightlytalks.
“Amber? Where did you drift off to?” Dan asks.
I blush and shake my head. “Sorry. I was thinking about my son,” I lie. “He was supposed to call earlier and didn’t.”
Dan frowns. “Well, we said we wanted to get started. Unless you’re feeling like you don’t need us now that your grades have gone up?”
I blink at his somewhat annoyed tone. Of everyone in the room, I like Dan the least. He has an attitude that rubs me the wrong way, and he definitely prefers when other people don’t do well in class and he does.
“I’d hardly call C’s a solid enough grade,” I say, hating how defensive I sound. “Of course I need all of your help. I suggested this meeting, didn’t I?”
“Shut up, Dan,” Tamara says. “Amber has responsibilities you can’t understand.”
Now I feel bad about lying regarding my thoughts, but Dan didn’t have to be such a jerk. Still, they’ve taken me into their group, making it worth putting up with his bullshit that includes bragging about how he is going into his father’s financial firmafter he gets his MBA. Like everyone, he has years of college and then business school to get through first.
The rest of the night passes without incident, and we part ways, but we’ll see each other in class on Monday.
Seven more days until the final.
Seven more days until I can see Shane in public and act on my feelings.
I can handle a week.
