Fair Game (The Rules #1)

by Monica Murphy

  “Sorry, I’ll leave you two fuck birds alone.” She waggles her fingers at us and starts to shut the door. “Toodles.”

  “Get off me,” Jade murmurs the moment the door closes and I roll over so I’m lying by her side, staring up at the ceiling as I try to calm my breathing. “Did she really call us fuck birds?”

  “You should be more irritated by her use of the word toodles.” I grimace. “Because that sucked.”

  With a sigh she turns to look at me and I do the same, staring at her pretty face. She’s so close I can practically count her freckles and I mentally start doing just that. “You should take me home.”

  I flub up at the fifteenth freckle across the bridge of her nose when I hear her request. “You really want me to?” Please say no. Please say no.

  She nods, her thick hair rustling against my pillowcase. “It’s late. I have class tomorrow.”

  “I thought you didn’t want me to stop.” I reach out and touch her hair, testing the silky strands between my fingers.

  Her cheeks flush and her gaze skitters away from mine. “I think Miss Looking for the Bathroom just ruined the moment.”

  “We could pick up where we left off if you want.” I need to respect her wishes because right now, I sound desperate. What the hell is wrong with me? I never do this. I should just attack her again. She can’t resist me. I heard the little sounds she made, the way she moved against me. She was into it. I can get her right back into it with a few choice words and determined kisses.

  “I don’t think so.” She winces. “Sorry. I really…should head back to my dorm. Sorry to make you drive me back. I bet I could get a ride or—”

  “Hell no,” I say vehemently, rolling over so I’m sitting on the edge of the mattress, my back to her. Damn that stupid chick for interrupting what was building up to an amazing moment. “I’ll take you back. I don’t mind.”

  I stare at the wall, willing my erection to calm down. I can tell she’s standing, can hear her fixing her clothes, buttoning up her shirt, smoothing out her hair, whatever. When I finally turn back around she’s standing in the middle of my room, looking a little lost, a lot embarrassed.

  Without thought I go to her, pull her into my arms and drop a soft kiss on her upturned lips. “This is going to happen again, you know.”

  “Who says?” One delicate brow rises and I’m relieved at seeing that tiny glimpse of the Jade I’m used to return.

  “Me.” I kiss her again, my lips lingering on hers. Damn, they’re soft. And plump and delicious and fuck me, I need to get a grip before I lose all control. “I say. So tell me. Are you game?”

  A shuddering sigh escapes her, her breath wafting across my lips. “Okay,” she whispers shakily.

  That girl’s interruption broke me from the Shep spell he’d been weaving. And what a spell he can weave. Holy crap, he knows how to kiss. His lips, his tongue…there are no words. My mouth is still tingling.

  He’s sort of bossy. I liked how he shoved me against the door. I loved it when he picked me up and carried me over to his bed. I’m no petite little girl and he hauled me around like I weighed nothing.

  Which means he’s super strong. I felt his biceps. They were the stuff of dreams. He’s the stuff of dreams.

  But see, that’s the thing. Dreams are just…dreams. They’re not real. So what Shep and I are experiencing? It’s not real, not at all.

  That’s what I keep telling myself so I don’t end up hurt when he dumps me out of nowhere.

  We’re on our way back to my dorm hall in his precious car, neither of us saying a word. It’s so quiet I can hear him breathing. How he shifts in his seat like he’s restless. I swear I can hear him freaking blink and it’s making me slowly insane.

  “That was probably a mistake,” I blurt out, clamping my lips shut the moment the words are out. I bang the back of my head against the seat, pissed that I said it.

  Because I don’t mean it and I’m just proving to him yet again that I really am a Bitch Face. Or an immature idiot, take your pick.

  He chuckles, the rich, warm sound slowly unfurling in my belly and making me tremble. “Liar,” he murmurs.

  Now I’m sort of pissed at him for calling me out. “I mean it. We should’ve never…kissed.”

  He glances at me, dark eyes flashing, his perfectly kissable lips curved into a perfectly adorable smile. “I’m calling bullshit, babe. Sorry.”

  “What do you mean, you’re calling bullshit?” He called me babe. What an asshole.

  Fine. I liked that he called me babe. A lot. Not that I’d ever, ever tell him.

  “We definitely should’ve kissed. Because it was fucking amazing before we were so rudely interrupted by Miss Bogus I’m Looking for the Bathroom, Whoops My Bad, Toodles.”

  I start to laugh. I can’t help it. His frustration is so palpable. He hated how that girl interrupted us. I hated it too. I’d had freaking Shepard Prescott on top of me on his bed. He’d been this close to taking off my shirt. And I was going to let him. I desperately wanted to feel his hands on my bare skin. I still want to feel his hands on me.

  The interruption helped me realize that what I’m doing with Shep is bad for me. As in, he’s going to leave me in a bad state. More like wreck me. He’s not the lasting kind. More like the fuck ‘em and leave ‘em type. I know this. My logical, very smart, very cautious brain knows this.

  But my body lights up like a burst of flame every time he so much as looks at me with those sexy, full of mystery eyes. He touches me and I melt. And when he kisses me? Oh good lord, all of my very logical, very smart brain cells evaporate into thin air and I’m left wanting more. More, more, more.

  “Why are you laughing?” He sounds cranky, which makes me laugh even harder. “It wasn’t funny. We were making progress, Jade. Before she had to ruin it.”

  “You call what we were doing progress?” I call it delicious.

  Wait. I so didn’t think that.

  “Fuck yes, I call it progress.” He slows at a stoplight, turning to look at me. His hair is an absolute mess, sticking up everywhere. I really love his hair. And I’m the one who made that mess because I kept tugging on it while he kissed me. “Stop trying to act like you hate me. I know you don’t.”

  “How do you know?” I ask warily, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

  “You wouldn’t have agreed so readily earlier if you hated me.”

  I don’t want you to stop.

  The words I said to him ring in my brain. At that very moment, the last thing I wanted was for him to stop. And that makes me feel a little crazy. A lot on edge.

  God, he frustrates me. He makes me nuts. He’s so…arrogant. So sure of himself and full of bravado. Plus, it’s not right for a guy to look so deliciously hot. More like it’s unfair.

  And why is he interested in me? I don’t get it. Because he supposedly won me in a bet? Does he think I’m easy? I’m so not. I’m difficult. Extremely difficult. I think I’m sexually broken and I have no idea why.

  None.

  “You don’t hate me.” He settles his hand on my knee and his touch warms my skin, even through the denim of my jeans. “Just admit it, Jade.”

  The light turns green and he removes his hand from my leg, turning left onto the street that leads to my dorm hall. My skin is still buzzing from his touch and I’m anxious to get out of this car. Away from Shep so I can hole up in my room, crawl into bed and yank the covers over my head where I’ll try my best to collect my thoughts. Go over what happened tonight and analyze everything.

  We’re quiet again as he pulls up in front of my dorm hall and cuts the engine. I undo my seat belt, about to reach down to grab my backpack when he grabs me first, yanking me into him with so much force I have no choice but to scrabble across the center console and collapse on top of him. It’s an exact replica of our position Sunday night and I stare down at him breathlessly, my brain flailing to come up with something to say when he slips his hand across the back of my head and pulls me down
to his mouth.

  And then he’s kissing me. Again. His other hand is at my waist, sliding beneath my shirt and my cami to touch bare skin, burning me with his fingertips. His lips devour mine, his tongue playing a wicked game within my mouth, making me moan, making me shiver, making me wet.

  God, he’s awful. He doesn’t play fair. How can I resist him when he’s kissing me like this? Touching me like this? I grind my hips against his, I can feel his erection straining beneath his jeans and I suck in a harsh breath when his hand wanders up…up…until it’s stopped by the elastic band of my shelf bra.

  Stupid, stupid shelf bra.

  “You still think it was a mistake?” he mutters against my mouth just before he takes my lower lip between his and sucks on it.

  Holy wow, I really like it when he does that.

  “Well?” he prompts when I say nothing. It’s like I can’t speak. He slips his hand out from beneath my cami and now he’s touching my chest, his fingers delicately tracing the neckline of my camisole, skimming across the tops of my breasts and I’m trembling. God, his touch feels so incredibly good…

  “Answer me, Jade.” His voice is deeper. Firmer. Like he means business. “Do you still think this was a mistake?” His fingers drift lower, across my right nipple and I suck in a gasp.

  “Y-yes. No. I don’t know.” His mouth stops the flow of my stupid words and I fall into the kiss, squishing myself against him so tight you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between us. I’m full on making out with Shep Prescott in his car, right in front of my dorm hall and I couldn’t give two shits about it. I’ve clearly lost my head.

  Clearly.

  Within minutes though he’s shoving me away from him, frustration written all over his handsome face. I whimper in protest, trying to grab onto his shirt, his neck, his shoulders but he won’t have it.

  “I’m not fucking you in my car. No matter how badly I want to.” He sets me away from him. Literally picks me up, and plops me back down in the passenger seat like it was no problem and I marvel yet again at how strong he is. He looks completely unhinged. His T-shirt is wrinkled, his lips are swollen and his eyes are so dark they look almost black.

  I love it. Oh my God, I love how he’s looking at me at this very moment. Like he wants to consume me. I feel the same. Exactly the same.

  “Is it because you don’t want to get your leather seats dirty?” I ask, remembering what Em and Em told me. I tentatively touch my lips with shaky fingers, marveling at how swollen, how tingly they still feel. Damn him and his magical lips. I wonder if Shep would let me just make out with him for hours. Kissing is the best thing ever. Eventually, it always just leads to sex and considering I’m no sexpert, I’d rather just make out. Feel each other up. Sex always complicates it.

  Kissing is the only way to go.

  He starts to chuckle and I decide right there he has the sexiest laugh on the planet. “Is that what you think?”

  “I’ve heard rumors.”

  He raises his brows. “Rumors? About me not having sex in my car because I don’t want to ruin the leather interior?”

  “Um, yeah?” I feel stupid. Again. I blame the kissing. His lips are like weapons, zapping brain cells with a single touch.

  “It has nothing to do with my leather seats.” He leans over the console, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose. “And everything to do with the fact that when I fuck you, it’s not going to be in the backseat of a cramped car. I want you naked, in my bed. So I can kiss you. Everywhere.”

  “Oh.” My voice is small but my thoughts…they are filled with all sorts of images. Of me lying beneath Shep in his room. On his bed. Only this time, we’re naked. Oh my God…

  He smiles and touches my cheek, his fingers drifting across my skin. “Now get out of my car, go inside and lock your door before I reconsider and throw you in the backseat.”

  Wait a minute. He’ll throw me in the backseat and have his way with me if I don’t leave soon? “Really?” I ask hopefully. It’s weird, how I momentarily forget all about my sexual hang-ups with him.

  Shep laughs again and shakes his head, giving me a gentle shove. “Go, Jade. Now.”

  I open the door and crawl out of his car on shaky legs, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder as I slam the door. I stand there at the base of the steps that lead to the double doors of my dorm hall, staring at his beautiful car, at the beautiful man sitting behind the steering wheel. I’m so freaking confused. I should hate him. But I don’t. Not really. Not when he kisses me like he does and talks to me like he does and is so…sweet.

  The passenger side window rolls down and he leans forward, peering at me through the open window. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?” I frown.

  “Like you don’t want to me to leave.”

  “But I do want you to leave,” I say, the words sounding so incredibly lame I want to punch myself in the mouth.

  “Yeah right. Keep fooling yourself.” He starts the car and waves at me. “I’m not leaving until you go inside so…”

  I turn on my heel and run up the steps, grabbing my key card and waving it in front of the keypad. The door springs open and I hurry inside, turning to watch as he pulls away from the curb. I stay there until his red taillights are swallowed up by the darkness before I start toward my room.

  My phone dings just as I reach my door and I pull my phone out of my pocket to see it’s a text from Shep.

  You’re in your room?

  Aw, he’s concerned about my safety. That’s sweet.

  Just got here.

  Tell me when you’re tucked into bed.

  I smile. Where is he going with this?

  Why so you can ask me what I’m wearing?

  Of course. I need more masturbation material.

  A groan escapes me. He’s so…awful. And funny.

  And sexy.

  You’re gross.

  Don’t lie. You think it’s hot.

  I smile. Fine. He’s right.

  I’ll call you tomorrow.

  My smile fades. He’s also extremely bossy.

  Maybe I don’t want you to.

  Stop lying. You know you’ll be on pins and needles tomorrow waiting for my call.

  Ugh. He’s so annoying. Worse?

  He’s right.

  “You fucked her didn’t you? Finally. Jesus. This whole thing was starting to get on my nerves.”

  I glare at Tristan as he shuffles into the kitchen, headed toward the coffeemaker. I’m on my third cup, hopped up on caffeine and memories of the taste of Jade’s lips. I hardly slept last night, spent most of the time tossing and turning, thinking about her.

  “What was getting on your nerves?” I don’t bother arguing over his assessment. He’s wrong. I didn’t fuck her. I’m dying to fuck her, but there really is something to be said for anticipation.

  Who knew?

  Not me, and the anticipation is slowly killing me inside. I jacked off again last night to thoughts of Jade. Her soft, plump lips. The sounds she made when I kissed her neck, when I touched her…fucking hell. She makes me insane.

  “You walking around like a lovesick puppy. At least now you look satisfied. Like you got that girl out of your system once and for all.” Tristan grabs a mug out of the cupboard above him and pours himself a cup of coffee, dumping a pile of sugar and a gob of vanilla creamer into the mug before he stirs it. “So how was she?”

  “What do you mean?” I ask warily, knowing exactly what he means.

  “In bed. Is she any good? Is she a natural redhead? Come on, I need deets.”

  I scowl at him. Fucker. I can’t answer that question because I don’t know. Though I’d bet big money on it that she is a natural redhead. “I’m not going to answer that question.” And I used to, all the time. I had no problem telling Tristan and Gabe all about my hookups. We swapped stories. It’s what we do.

  Now, I can’t imagine giving Tristan or Gabe any details about Jade and the way she tastes or t
he sounds she makes. And once I see her in her full, naked glory—because I will, you can count on that—I’m not going to tell them shit about that either.

  She’s like my little secret. And I’m not willing to share. She belongs to me.

  Tristan makes a noise and approaches the counter I’m sitting at, standing across from me, clutching his coffee close. “Redheads usually aren’t your thing.”

  “You’ve said that before.” And he’s right. There’s always an exception to the rule though. Jade is my exception.

  “Well, I’m saying it again. Though you two didn’t seem to last long in your room. I’m guessing it really was a one and done? Please tell me you’ve moved on. Got her out of your system.”

  I clench my hands into fists. I’m pissed. I hate how he’s talking about Jade. But what the fuck do I say? I’m in a no win situation. He’ll mock me no matter what. “I haven’t got her out of my system,” I mutter, hanging my head, staring at my phone. Which isn’t lit up. Meaning I’m staring at a black screen.

  “What did you say?” Tristan doesn’t wait for my answer. “Are you serious right now? Wait a minute…you didn’t fuck her last night, did you? What the hell are you waiting for?”

  “I’m not waiting for anything.” I look up so I can glare at him only to find he’s glaring at me too. “We were interrupted last night.”

  “And when has that ever stopped you before?” Tristan asks incredulously.

  It hasn’t. But I never actually respected another girl’s opinion before either. “Jade didn’t want to stick around. So I drove her back to her dorm,” I admit, feeling like an idiot because I didn’t close the deal, as Tristan so fondly likes to put it.

  “She didn’t want to stick around? More like she didn’t want you to stick it in her. What the hell is wrong with this chick anyway? Is she a lesbian?”

  “Aw, fuck you Tristan.” I snatch my phone off the counter and slide off the stool I was sitting on, making my escape. But he’s right behind me, carrying on like the dick he is.

  “I’m serious, man. What’s her prob? More like, what’s your prob? Why are you pursuing this chick so hot and heavy when she’s clearly not interested in you? If she’s not a lesbian, then what’s the deal? Is she a virgin?”