“I didn’t realize other couples lived in my bedroom, but I’m liking the way this sounds.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Please.”
“The library really isn’t my thing, Princess.” I glanced away from her hurricane-blue eyes and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
The next morning after Ari and I had left the League, we’d agreed that we wanted things to go back to the way they’d been last semester—before the ski lodge when she had caught some groupie, Kristin, trying to seduce me in my room¸ before the band had started taking off, before she’d kissed someone else. I’d fucked Ari and then fucked it all up that weekend, and then she’d been too afraid to tell me about what had happened with her. Now, we were both trying to compensate for those problems.
To her, that meant we should tone down our time in the bedroom and put more effort into talking.
With disdain, I stared up at the imposing building. I hadn’t realized that our conversation would lead to…the library.
“I know.” Ari ran her hands down the front of my shirt. “But think of all those books…so many dark corners in the stacks…”
“Are you bribing me with sex?”
“Is it working?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the entrance.
“Oh my God. Why am I not surprised that worked so easily?”
“Because I’m a guy.”
She laughed lightly, and it was all I could do not to throw her up against the wall right then and there. She’d said she didn’t want to fuck against a wall outside of the League, but she hadn’t said anything about outside the library.
I pressed her against the wall next to the sliding glass door and silenced whatever she was about to say with a kiss. I didn’t need to hear her complaints. She wanted me, and I wanted her. If she was planning to be adventurous tonight, then I was only going to encourage her.
“Grant,” she groaned between kisses.
I slipped my hands underneath her shirt and touched her warm soft skin. She shivered at my touch.
Fuck. I wanted her.
“Ahem.” Someone coughed behind us.
Ari pushed me a step back and straightened out her top. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Can we help you?” I asked, annoyed.
A blonde stared back at me. Her cheeks were bright red, and she couldn’t meet my eyes. “Uh…hey, Grant. I just—”
“What are you doing here, Kristin?” I wouldn’t forget that face soon. She had slipped through the cracks one too many times for me not to remember her now. Fucking whore had tried to ruin everything.
“She’s in my study session,” Ari spoke up. “We have a couple of classes together this semester.”
“Right. You mentioned that,” I grumbled.
Didn’t seem like the best idea for me to stick around with Kristin here. Ari had said she was over it, but I didn’t want to fuck things up right when everything was good again between us.
“I was seeing if you wanted to walk up to the session together,” Kristin peeped.
“Maybe I should go,” I said.
“No!” Ari and Kristin said at the same time.
I raised my eyebrows in question.
“I mean…not on my account,” Kristin murmured.
“I’ll meet you in there,” Ari said.
Kristin nodded in understanding and fled into the building.
“I can’t believe she’s even fucking talking to you,” I said.
“Don’t remind me. I have to see her all the time, and I have to refrain from stabbing her eyes out.”
“Now, that is something I’d like to see.”
She quizzically looked at me. “You want to see me stab someone?”
“It’d be fucking hilarious. Completely out of character.”
“Speaking of things out of character…”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the library. I groaned but kept walking. I clearly would do anything for her. I was proving that shit every time I put one foot in front of the other in this place.
We walked through the front room and into a long open corridor. My eyes widened as I took in the sheer number of books. Every shelf was filled several stories high. Who had the time to read all of this shit?
“Maybe you’ll find something you like,” she whispered into my ear.
“They have porn here?”
“Sometimes, I don’t have words for you, Grant.”
I smirked. “That’s not how I remember it. You’re actually pretty vocal.”
She flushed. “Can we go five minutes without you talking about sex?”
“Why would we want to?”
“Upstairs,” she said, pointing to the stairs. “If we keep talking about this, you’re going to steal me away, and I’m going to miss my study session.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I have a huge O-chem test tomorrow. It is a bad thing!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “O-chem.” I snickered.
“Ugh!” she groaned.
I was still laughing by the time we reached her study session. Her O-chem group was tucked away in a private study room while Cheyenne, Gabi, and Shelby were seated at a table nearby with their computers and papers strewn all over the place.
“I’ll see you after,” Ari said.
She gave me a peck on the mouth, but I didn’t let her go. I deepened the kiss and sank into the desire that always flared up between us. When she finally pulled back, her pupils were dilated, and she was breathing heavily.
She swallowed and then glanced down at my lips once more. “You’re dangerous.”
I smiled as if that were the best fucking compliment she’d ever given me. “Don’t I know it?”
“I’ll see you after.”
She sauntered over to the private study room and closed the door behind her.
With a sigh, I sank into the chair across from Cheyenne. She gave me a seductive smile and wink before returning to her homework.
I pulled out a notebook from my back pocket and fiddled with the lyrics I’d been working on this week. It was so new that I didn’t even have a title for it yet. I was pretty sure that it fucking sucked and would never see the light of day, but writing lyrics had taken the place of most of my vices when Ari was away.
I scribbled through the last line and shook my head. “Fuck.”