Chapter Seventeen
The brick building stood as an intimidating sight in front of me. I’d walked in and out of the freshman dorms many times, but that night it felt completely different. I stayed close to Colt, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone as we reached the desk.
“Hey, Colt.” The student working the desk greeted him by name. Great. So much for making this quick and anonymous.
“I need to check her in.” Colt touched my arm, and I handed him my ID. That was one of the annoying parts of the freshman dorms. You could only enter if someone who lived there signed you in. At least they didn’t have any archaic rules about checking in the opposite sex.
I looked down at the floor.
“Mallory. Okay. All checked in. Have a nice night you two.” The guy’s voice was light, and I knew what he was implying. It was almost like you had to do the walk of shame twice. Once in and once out. Oh damn, I hadn’t really thought about the leaving part.
Colt walked over to the elevator. I hesitated. “Uh, let’s take the stairs.”
“I live on the sixth floor.” He pushed the up button.
“So? Exercise won’t kill us.”
He leaned in. “If I thought this was about exercise, I’d do it in a second, but we’re not walking up six flights of steps because you’re embarrassed.”
The door to the elevator opened and a couple of visibly drunk girls hopped out. One smiled at Colt. “Hi!”
“Hey, Veronica.” Colt smiled at her. It was a completely friendly smile, but it still brought out my jealous side.
I resisted the urge to lay a kiss on him.
“We’re going to a party. Want to come?” she cooed. The elevator dinged ready to close. I pulled Colton in.
“Uh, sorry. I have plans,” Colton muttered.
The doors closed before the girls could respond.
“Oh, someone is jealous.” He stepped toward me, leaning me back against the wall of the elevator.
“Jealous? Of that girl?”
He laughed. “I think this jealous side of you is kind of hot.”
“Don’t try to make it happen again.”
He brushed his lips against mine. “No?”
“No.”
The door opened, and he took my hand. “This way, my dear.”
“Do you have to be such a comedian?”
He looked at me seriously. “Yes.”
I pushed his arm. “And I actually want to have sex with you. Maybe I need to get my head checked.”
Faster than I could process it, he had me in his arms. “You want to have sex with me again because you know how good it is.”
“Get a room.” A guy laughed behind us.
Colt turned. “We’re planning on it.”
Without a word, he led me down the hall. I waited with bated breath as he unlocked his door.
The room was exactly what I expected. Two twin beds, two small closets, and two desks. The only problem was that one desk was currently occupied.
“Hey, Joe,” Colt yelled in the direction of a guy who I assumed was his roommate. The guy didn’t move, but then again, he was wearing a set of those huge over the ear headphones.
“Joe!”
Joe startled and took off the headphones. “Oh, hey.” He stared at me like I was an alien or something.
Colt didn’t waste any time beating around the bush. “I kind of need the room.”
“Why? I’m not going to bother you guys.”
I was so embarrassed I wanted to run from the room.
Colt, probably sensing it, took my hand. “Yeah, but we might bother you.”
Understanding crossed Joe’s face. “I have headphones.”
“Yeah. Not going to happen. See ya, Colt.” I went to pull my hand from his.
“No. You’re staying. Come on.”
“I’m not doing that with him in here.”
“Give me a second.”
Colt walked over to Joe and pulled off his headphones. “I don’t want to be an ass, but I need the room.”
“I have a paper due tomorrow.”
“Then go to the library.”
“Fine. Give me twenty minutes to finish this section, and I’ll leave.” He exhaled loudly. “But you’re going to owe me.”
Colt nodded. “I have no problem returning the favor.”
“I’ll remember that the next time I find myself a hot sorority chick willing to come home with me.” He turned back toward the screen.
I stifled a laugh. “So what now?”
Colt didn’t hesitate to share a suggestion. “Let’s watch a movie.”
“A movie?”
“Yeah. We haven’t done the whole cuddle thing yet.”
“Cuddle thing?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I promise I’m good at it.”
“I think I figured that out the first night.”
“Yeah, but you were sleeping.” He walked over to his desk. “What do you want to watch?”
“I don’t know. What do you have?”
“Anything. I run it through my wi-fi.”
“Surprise me.”
“I will.”
“I really don’t care what you guys do. You don’t have to wait.” Joe put on his headphones. Either he was a perv or he really had no clue how girls worked. Maybe both.
Colton set up his computer monitor and lay down on his bed. He patted the space next to him. “Get ready for the ultimate movie watching experience.”
I curled up next to him, resting my head on his chest. “I hope you picked well.”
“I did.”
He pressed play and Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth version) started.
“You remembered my favorite movie?” We’d only watched it together once. At a friends house.
“I remember everything about you, pumpkin.” He kissed my forehead.
I snuggled into him, my whole body relaxing. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, Colt was right. What we had went way beyond friendship and sex. The problem was that was just going to make it harder to move on afterward. I pushed away those thoughts and tried to enjoy the moment. There was nowhere else I’d have rather been. Of course, it would have been a whole lot better if Joe would go ahead and leave already.
***
Someone was shaking me. I moaned and snuggled up some more.
“You need to call your friends, pumpkin.”
“What?” I sat up in the dimly lit room. The only illumination came from Colt’s desk lamp.
“Juliet just called. I would have answered, but I figured you wouldn’t have appreciated it.”