“Her name is Alexandra Tucker,” Camila corrects. “Yes, that’s right. The supermodel. So, you know, totally not a big deal.”
Shane looks impressed. “Damn, you really do have friends in high places, don’t you, Gisele?”
“She’s my cousin,” I grumble. “I can’t help that she’s famous.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice Ryder is on his phone. Texting, I think. Which activates a jolt of suspicion. It suddenly occurs to me that maybe the reason he hasn’t contacted me all week isn’t because, like me, he was overwhelmed by how mind-blowing the sex was.
Maybe he’s sleeping with other people.
The notion weakens my pulse, and not in a good way. For some reason, the thought of him in bed with another girl makes me feel—
My phone buzzes in my purse.
I wait a few seconds, trying to remain nonchalant, then fish it out of my bag. My breath promptly gets stuck in my lungs.
RYDER:
I can’t stop thinking about you.
I did not expect that.
Slowly, I lift my head to find him watching me. Completely expressionless. Then he turns his head away, but not before I spot the gleam of heat.
“Okay,” Whitney says, “everyone start googling local businesses and pick some to contact. We can’t leave here today without a solid list, so let’s nail it down because I don’t want to do this again. I have a life.”
Beckett chuckles.
“I’m going to call my dad,” I tell the group, scraping my chair back. “See what he might be able to offer. Maybe he’ll be able to do a meet-and-greet or a private skate. I’ll find out.”
I grab my phone and leave the table. I walk down the European history stacks toward the back wall, heart drumming against my ribs.
Rather than call my dad, I text Ryder.
ME:
Study Room B
Because I can see into Study Room B and it’s empty. Beyond the narrow stack, I hear my group chattering quietly amongst themselves. They can’t see me, though. I slip past two more rows and then duck into the study room.
I pull down all the blinds. And then I wait.
I don’t know if he’ll come. I don’t know if I even want him to. This is crazy. All our friends are sitting right there.
Including Will, who’s best friends with Case.
The reminder hits me, the realization of how bad an idea this is, just as the door opens and Ryder slides inside. He closes the door behind him at the same time he flicks the light switch, bathing the small space in darkness.
“This is dangerous,” he says in a soft voice, speaking my own thoughts.
I bite my lip and search his expression in the shadows. “You can’t stop thinking about me, huh?”
“Yes.” He sounds perturbed. “It’s a problem.”
“I’m not sure I even believe you. I’m on your mind, yet it’s been more than a week since I heard from you.”
“Haven’t heard from you either.”
He’s got me there.
Silence ripples between us, along with a ribbon of awareness that begins to uncurl, traveling through the room until I’m painfully aware of his proximity. The spice of his scent. His body heat.
“Why are we in here, Gisele?” His voice becomes low. Smoky.
“I don’t know. We hadn’t spoken since I came over that night, so I thought…”
“So you thought we would discuss it right now. In the library. In a dark enclosed space. With our teammates about twenty feet away.”
“I mean, I didn’t say I thought it through.”
He lets out a quiet chuckle and moves closer.
I tilt my head to meet his eyes. I can’t see their vivid blueness in the darkness, but I can sure feel the heat of them on me.
“Do you regret what happened?” I ask him.
His hand finds my waist, lightly curling around it. My heart beats faster when his thumb dips beneath the hem of my loose long-sleeve shirt in search of bare skin. He finds it and I shiver at the rough pad of his thumb scraping over my hip.
“I don’t,” he answers. “Do you?”
There’s something about the lazy way he’s touching me. Almost indifferent, but I know every caress is deliberate.
“Should we do it again?” I find myself whispering.
That gets me a slight smile. “Yes, but not now. I can’t fuck you here.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no way you’ll be able to stay quiet. They’ll hear every sound you make when I’m moving inside you.”
The dirty visual summons an involuntary moan, and Ryder’s mouth crashes down on mine to swallow the throaty sound.
I melt into him and welcome his kiss, gasping when he suddenly lifts me off the ground. I wrap my legs around him to stop from tumbling over. We stumble backward toward the wall. There’s a slight crashing sound when the blinds hit my knee.
We both freeze.
The voices beyond the door carry on normally. Nobody comes barreling through the stacks of books to barge into the study room and demand answers.
With a rough groan, Ryder starts kissing me again. I love the taste of him. It’s addictive. And every time I inhale, I experience a dizzying rush, as if some airborne drug is being injected into my system. I’ve heard about pheromones, but never quite believed in their power before now. Whenever I breathe Ryder in, it destroys me.
My legs slide down his muscular body, finding solid footing again. My back remains pressed to the door, while Ryder’s hand seeks out the waistband of my jeans. He deftly undoes the button.
“I thought you said not here, not now,” I say breathlessly.
“No, I said I wasn’t going to fuck you. I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do anything else.”
He eases my jeans down, along with my panties, which are soaking wet. On a smile, his white teeth gleaming in the darkness, he slides to his knees.
The second his lips brush over my clit, I moan again.
Ryder’s mouth promptly disappears. He looks up at me, his handsome features creased in the shadows.
“You have to be quiet. Otherwise I’ll stop. You don’t want me to stop, do you?”
“No,” I manage to shudder out. My eyelids flutter shut when his mouth finds me again.
I’m shameless as I grind against his face. His hiss of appreciation is barely audible. So much quieter than the noises he made last weekend. Those guttural groans when he was licking me. The rough moans when he was filling me so thoroughly.
But silence is almost an aphrodisiac in itself. I’m painfully aware of every twitch in my body. Every quivering muscle. The trembling of my thigh when one warm palm strokes over it. Just when I think I’ve gotten a handle on this silence thing, he starts licking in earnest, and I can’t help but moan again.
“Yeah, no. Definitely,” a familiar male voice says behind the door.
We instantly stop, Ryder’s hand digging into my thigh to quiet me.
“It’s great to catch up. I’m glad you called.”
I realize it’s Shane. Who for some reason has decided to take a phone call right in front of Study Room B.
Ryder looks amused. I like it when he smiles. I like it more when he’s licking my pussy until I can’t see straight. Which is exactly what he proceeds to do, completely unbothered by the presence of his best friend behind the door. I want to worry that Shane is out there, but Ryder’s tongue makes it hard to focus. He swirls it over the swollen bud between my legs, and the pleasure builds and builds. A deep ache.