So she was stuck, cuddled up with her sleeping roommate (fuck buddy?) in his bed. She was under no illusions that this meant anything more to Chris than what it appeared. The sleeping thing was what threw her off. Did he expect her to stay here all night?
How the hell was she supposed to get back to her room?
* * *
Megan woke up groggy and puffy eyed. From the angle of the light in her room, she knew it couldn't be that late. She grabbed her phone to check the time. It wasn't even ten, why was she awake? It had been after two in the morning before she finally heard Matt go into his bedroom. She'd waited another half an hour before she’d slipped out of Chris's bed, gathered her clothes, and crept across the house to her own room.
Muffled voices let her know that the guys were awake, and that was probably what had woken her up. She stretched and got out of bed, aware of the soreness between her thighs from the two rounds last night. With a satisfied smile, she went to take a shower.
She was glad her dry spell was over, even if it wasn't under the most ideal circumstances. Not that she hadn't wanted Chris, she'd had a little crush on him since they met over the summer, but the roommate situation complicated things. Plus, Chris wasn't known for monogamy. Or dating. Or relationships of any kind. She wondered how the rest of the morning was going to play out.
Not that Megan had much room to criticize. Maybe Chris's reputation was as unearned as her own. Everyone thought she'd slept with Isaac, but she hadn't. She knew he’d been interested, but she didn't appreciate the way he'd approached her. She'd had the occasional one-night stand, but didn't make it a habit.
When she didn't fuck him at the party where Lance and Abby had met, he’d started to view her as a challenge. He'd take her out to parties and always tried to feel her up or get her drunk enough to not be able to refuse. It hadn't worked. And he'd gotten mad, started calling her a slut and worse. And he'd spread rumors about her to his friends. Said he'd nailed her, that she was constantly calling him and begging for it, rather than the other way around.
After that she hadn't partied as much for the rest of the summer. She'd gone out with Chris and Matt when they'd invited her and stuck close to them. She knew they wouldn't let Isaac or his asshole friends get close enough to harass her. Just their presence near her was enough to scare off that kind of attention.
The downside of last night was today. Now they'd have to do the awkward morning after thing. Megan made it a point to never stay the night with a one-night stand. Not because the so-called walk of shame bothered her. No, it was the awkwardness with the other person the next day. With Chris it was unavoidable. Though, he'd done a pretty good job of avoiding her for the last few weeks. Maybe that would continue. Still, she should come up with a place to go just in case he didn't plan on making himself scarce.
After she dried off and pulled on some clothes, she decided to get breakfast. Might as well go out there and see what waited. Delaying wouldn't make anything any better.
The house was quiet when she opened her bedroom door. She stepped out and looked around. No sign of either Matt or Chris. She knew they had to be awake from the sounds she'd heard earlier. As she pulled out a bowl and her cereal she wondered what Matt would make of her sleeping with Chris. The thought of not telling him flitted through her mind, but she dismissed that as an unlikely scenario. Matt wasn't stupid, and she doubted Chris made a habit of keeping his conquests a secret. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought of being categorized as a conquest, but she didn't expect anything more from him.
Speak of the devil, he walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of athletic shorts. He stopped when he saw Megan at the table, his face blank. She swallowed her mouthful of cereal as he took the last few steps toward her. He put one hand on the back of her chair, and the other on the table, leaned down and kissed her, pressing his lips to hers, but taking it no further. She almost didn't kiss him back, holding herself stiff and unmoving, but gave in after a second. His lips felt too good against hers. When he pulled back he didn't say anything, just went into the kitchen to get himself some food.
Well. Of all the reactions she’d predicted this morning, that was not on the list.
She turned to watch him, and the silence stretched out between them. He busied himself making toast and two eggs over easy. Megan turned back to her cereal, eating slowly, trying to figure out what to make of what was happening. He kissed her and wasn't talking. It brought a whole new meaning to “don't kiss and tell.”
When his breakfast was ready he came and sat next to her at the table. Megan decided to wait him out and see if he would talk at all. Ha. Maybe she would avoid an awkward morning after conversation after all. He'd perfected the art of not talking to her while being in the same room already. Would he keep it up?
That kiss, though. That was different. She finished her bowl of cereal, drinking the milk straight from the bowl like she always did.
Chris swallowed his mouthful of food and finally looked at her when she set her bowl down. “Any plans today?”
Megan stared at him for a second. “Seriously?”
“What?”
Megan watched him eat his breakfast, and she wasn't sure whether to answer his question or just smack him upside the head and walk away. “You're going to just walk in and kiss me, not say anything, and then ask if I have plans?”
Chris stopped chewing to look at her, then finished his mouthful and swallowed. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“I don't even know how to answer that question.” She got up from the table and took her bowl to the sink.
When she looked at him again, he was sitting back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over her body. “It's a pretty straightforward question.”
“You want to know if I have plans today.” He nodded. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. “Why?”
“To see if you want to hang out or do something together.” He gave her a look like she wasn't too quick on the uptake.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You want to hang out with me. Since when?”
He got up and brought his now-empty plate to the sink. He set it down, and his eyes never left hers. He stepped into her personal space, crowding her, causing her to take a step to the side, and another, until he'd backed her into the corner. He placed his arms on either side of her, bracketing her in, bringing his face closer to level with hers. Megan was acutely aware of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. This close she could smell him, a combination of him, hints of his spicy cologne, and sex from the night before. He hadn't showered and washed her off. That fact alone made her clench her thighs against the burst of arousal she felt there.
He dipped his head, capturing her gaze, his hazel eyes blazing with intensity. “Since July.”
Her brows came together. “Since July? Really?”
He nodded and flashed a grin. “You were hung up on that other guy that pissed you off right before the party on the Fourth, and weren't very receptive to my advances. After that you didn't seem interested in anyone, so I didn't pursue anything.”
“You have a reputation.”
There was that cheeky grin again. “I do.”
“I wasn't interested in a one-time fuck.”
A shrug. “I gathered.”
“But now you've had me, so … what is this?”
He dipped his head closer so he could whisper in her ear. “Once with you is not nearly enough.”
Megan fought to keep from squirming at his words and the tone of voice in which he delivered them. No wonder this guy had his pick of girls. With that body, that panty-dropping smile, and that voice, girls probably stripped down on the spot for him. She'd obviously not been the recipient of the full force of his charm before this. Sure, they'd flirted, but he'd never actually tried to seduce her. And now she knew why.
She put her hands on his chest to push him back so she could have some space to breathe, to think, but the push turned into something more like a caress. “So, what
? You want to start dating now?”
He shrugged again and leaned into her touch a little. “If that's what you want to call it, sure.”
“So this was your way of asking me out?”
Something flashed across his face. Was he embarrassed? “I guess so. Are you going to say yes?”
“I have some homework I need to get done today, but otherwise I'm free. What did you have in mind?”
CHAPTER NINE
Instead of answering her question, Chris took advantage of their position and kissed her. She didn't respond at first, but softened after a second, leaning into him. It was the same reaction he'd gotten when he'd kissed her at the table. Stiffness followed by relaxing into his kiss.
They were pretty tame kisses—no tongue. He was holding himself in check. Really, he wanted to devour her again, take her back to his room and spend the day with her there. Since she’d put up some resistance already, he didn't think that would be an option.
So, homework and a date. He just wanted to spend time with her, be able to touch her. He was done denying himself what he'd been craving for so long now. He hadn't been lying. One night wasn't nearly enough to work her out of his system.
It was a strange feeling, but he didn't want to fight it. His instincts on the field led him to be one of the top players on the team, so he was used to going with what he felt in the moment. Why should this be any different?
He broke the kiss and pulled back so he could look down into her upturned face. Her eyes fluttered open. They were a warm dark brown, pupils dilated, lids heavy. He smiled. “Do you have a lot of homework?”
She blinked a couple times. “What? Oh, right. Homework. I just have some reading for tomorrow.”
Chris straightened up and took a small step back. Megan seemed to take a deeper breath and her eyes came into sharper focus. His smile grew a little wider. “Why don't you get started and then we'll go out for lunch later, maybe catch a movie after. Sound good?”
Her eyes remained fixed on his, but she nodded. He moved to the side, out of the way, so she could get past. She moved slowly at first, holding his gaze as she stepped away from the counter, then faster as she gained ground and moved farther away from him.
He went back to his room to take a quick shower and change clothes. He grabbed one of his textbooks to take out to the living room for the pretense of doing homework. He probably did have homework. Maybe he should find a syllabus to check and see what he needed to do for any of his classes. But that would require remembering where he'd put that stuff.
He couldn't be bothered to care since he wouldn’t be coming back next semester. His hopes of going pro, or even doing something like arena football, didn't look like they were going to pan out. This was his last chance. He went to classes. Some of the time, anyway. But why bother doing homework when your GPA didn't matter anymore? When you weren't planning on graduating anyway? He only went to class as much as he did to keep the coach off his ass.
The living room was empty. What the hell? Where was Megan? Her bedroom door was closed. He went over and rapped his knuckles against the wood and waited. A minute later Megan opened the door. Her curls were everywhere like she'd just shoved her hand through her hair and not bothered to make sure they landed back in place. He smiled, reaching out a hand to touch her hair.
She dodged his hand, and he pulled his eyes back to her face. “What do you want, Chris? I thought you were going to let me do my homework first.”
He held up his textbook. “I thought we could study together.”
She eyed him with a wary expression. “You want to do homework together?”
“You do homework with Matt all the time.” He couldn't help the defensiveness that crept into his voice.
“That's different. I'm tutoring Matt and we have classes together. I don't even know what your major is.”
“Exercise Science. And anyway, we're both just reading. You don't have to help me. You read your stuff, and I'll read mine. Come sit on the couch with me.”
Megan's eyes searched his face like she might be expecting him to start laughing that she'd believed a practical joke. When he didn't say anything else she finally nodded. “Okay.”
Chris waited while she gathered her book, notebook, pen, and highlighters. This chick took her reading seriously. She followed him out to the couch. He sat down on one end. When she went to the other end to sit he shook his head and patted the middle cushion. “Sit here. Next to me.”
She looked at him again like she was trying to figure him out. After a minute she shrugged and sat down, setting her notebook on the couch next to her.
He put his feet up on the coffee table, ankles crossed, his textbook open on his lap. Megan sat cross legged on the couch, her book open across her legs, her notebook next to her. She kept her highlighter in the gutter of the book and her pen in her hand. She chewed on the cap while she read.
Chris stretched his arm out along the back of the couch behind her. She was so intent on her reading that she didn't notice. Or at least she pretended not to. Every so often Chris would turn a page. He'd picked a chapter at random. He stared at the pages, sometimes reading the bold faced headings and the captions under the images. He'd apparently grabbed an anatomy book and was now looking through the chapter on arm and shoulder muscles.
Time passed. Megan shifted. Her left leg was still curled up under her, the right was down. Every so often she'd write something in her notebook or highlight something in the text.
Chris found himself watching her study more than he pretended to read his own book. He wanted to touch her. To run his hand over the curve of her back where she sat forward over her book. Or, better yet, pull her over so she could relax against him, his arm around her instead of along the back of the couch. It would be even better if they were watching a movie instead of studying—or pretending to, in his case.
“Enjoying yourself?” Megan's words pulled him out of his thoughts of what he'd like to happen once the hypothetical movie was over. She was still looking at her book, highlighting something.
He shifted in his seat, making room in his shorts for his semi that was well on its way to becoming more. “What?”
She turned her head to look at him and put the cap back on her highlighter with a click. “I can't help but notice that you're studying me instead of that.” She nodded toward the book in his lap.
He closed the book. No point keeping up the pretense. “I don't really need to study. I was just using it as an excuse.”
He had her full attention now. She'd put her pen and highlighter down and closed her book. “You don't need to study? At all?”
He shrugged. “I’m not coming back next semester, so why bother? My GPA doesn't matter anymore.”
She frowned at him, her brows drawn together. “Why wouldn't you come back next semester?”
He shrugged. “What's the point?”
“Uh, so you can finish your degree.”
He made a noncommittal sound in response, not wanting to talk about this. Instead, he did what he'd been wanting to do and ran his hand down her back, then up and around the nape of her neck, until coming to a stop cupping the back of her head, his fingers tangled in her curls. He sat forward and brought his mouth to hers. She kissed him back right away this time. There was none of the hesitation from earlier this morning. That seemed like a good sign. He pulled back. “Are you done studying?”
She nodded. “Yeah. You're too distracting.”
He couldn't suppress a triumphant grin. “Good.” He leaned down to kiss her again, and she turned into him, her hands going to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her against him and onto his lap, and leaned back so they could be more comfortable.
After a moment Megan sat up and looked around. “Where's Matt?”
“Who cares?” He pressed up against her so she could feel what was really on his mind.
She grinned down at him. “Well, I doubt he'd want to walk in on us. Is he even here? I haven't seen
him all day.”
“No. I think he left this morning. No idea where he went.”
The grin faded from her face and she looked a little concerned. “I heard you guys talking this morning. Did you tell him about us?”
“He'd figured it out on his own. Matt's not stupid.”
Megan nodded, the furrow still between her eyebrows.
His hands went to her hips and he pushed her down, sliding her against him some more, wanting to distract her and get her focus back where he wanted it. Fuck, that felt good. Not as good as the real thing, though. “Is that a problem?”
Megan's eyes closed and she sighed. He was getting to her. Good. “I don't know. Was he okay with it?”
“He seemed fine. Do you really want to talk about Matt right now?”
She shook her head. “Not right now.”
He pulled her head back down to his, tangling his tongue with hers once more. She groaned into his mouth. He loved hearing those sexy sounds from her. It was his turn to groan when she broke away again. Only his groan was frustration, not arousal.
She laid her head on his shoulder. “Chris, I'm, um, a little sore.” Her voice was a whisper.
He pulled his head back a little so he could look at her face. “Sore?”
Her cheeks looked a little pink. “From last night. It's been a while, and we did it twice.”
“It's been a while? But I thought—”
She cut him off. “Yeah, I can guess what you thought. Don't believe everything you hear.”
He studied her face. “Okay.” He pulled her in for another kiss and let his hands roam over her back and then up under her shirt. She pulled back again, and he growled.
“I’m serious, Chris. I'm not up for sex right now. My lady bits need a break.”
“It's okay. I just want to make you feel good. If anything hurts, I'll stop. I promise.” He ground his pelvis against her again, watching her eyelids flutter in response, and that breathy sigh escape her lips. “Does that hurt?”
Convenient Fall (Players of Marycliff University Book 2) Page 7
