Had he heard what we were saying? God, I hoped not.
“Romeo…” The girl’s voice was dripping with honey. “Are you here to study? I am too. Maybe we could do it together.”
Her friends had come closer to the table now. Everyone was looking at him, hanging on his every word, even the ones he had yet to see.
He glanced at the few girls just off to his side and gave them a charming smile. They all practically melted into a puddle. Then he turned back. “Sorry. Can’t. Coach’s orders.”
I felt my shoulders relax a little. For a moment, I thought he might ditch me to go with these girls. The idea of that really shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did.
“I won’t tell if you won’t,” she giggled.
I rolled my eyes.
She saw my reaction and glared at me. I could see something mean forming on the tip of her tongue. Romeo slid right between us, putting his back toward the girl and blocking her from my view. “It’s really crowded in here tonight,” he said, looking at me.
I nodded.
“Wanna go somewhere else to study?”
I couldn’t see the girl behind him, but I sure heard her sharp intake of breath. A little bit of bitchy came out inside me and I smiled. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
He waited for me to gather my stuff and then moved back to let me stand. When I was ready to go, he turned toward the girl behind him and smiled. “Later.”
She mumbled something I didn’t hear as Romeo draped his arm across my shoulders and steered me to the door. About every eye in the entire library stopped to stare at us. My face felt like it was on fire because it burned so badly from embarrassment.
Romeo didn’t seem to care or even notice we were getting more stares than a man dressed in drag. He didn’t even seem uncomfortable to be seen with me. When he released me to open the door and motioned for me to go, I practically ran outside.
The Hellcat was parked just a few feet away, but my steps faltered. Did he really want to go somewhere else to study? Or had he only said that because he was trying to help me out with those girls?
He didn’t notice my floundering, but when he got to his car, he noticed I wasn’t following behind. “Come on,” he said, motioning with his head as he slid into the driver’s seat and the engine growled to life.
Go, a voice inside me said.
I listened to it.
Chapter Fourteen
Romeo
As soon as she got in the car, my cell went off.
Then it went off again, and Rimmel’s followed.
She lifted hers off her lap, glanced down, and muttered, “Stupid BuzzFeed.”
I grinned. “You have the Alpha App?”
“They encouraged us to download it when we were freshmen. Get important university updates, they said. Stay in the know, they said.” She mocked. “Yeah right. It’s a freaking gossip line.”
I laughed. “Come on, now. The #BuzzBoss always lets us in on the good parties.”
She snorted.
Damn if I didn’t think it was cute.
She kept her eyes focused out the windshield, and it gave me the opportunity to stare at the side of her neck and the hair that caressed against her skin. When I walked in the library and saw her hair up again, my chest tightened a little.
But then I saw what else was happening around her. The vultures were circling. I saw the sneering looks being cast at her, and I knew they were trying to intimidate her. She wasn’t cowering, which was surprising, but I could tell it was getting to her.
No wonder she hated the #BuzzBoss. He’s the one who told everyone I was being tutored at the library. He’s the one who drummed up interest in my love life and the “unknown” girl in the Hellcat the other night.
It never bothered me to be the subject of the Buzz before. I was used to it. But it bothered me that it was somehow coming back on Rimmel. How the hell was I supposed to sleep with her and complete rush if the other girls were trying to scare her away?
“Do you really want to go study?” she asked, bringing me back into the moment. My phone beeped again, reminding me I hadn’t looked at it yet.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I have a ton of homework.”
“Where do you want to go?” she asked.
I was already lighting up the screen on my phone. The first thing to pop up was the newest notification from the BuzzFeed. Stick to your circle. I shook my head and deleted it. As I did, a text popped up.
STEAL SOMETHING FROM THE DEAN’S OFFICE.
BRING TO THE PARTY FRIDAY NIGHT.
I stared at the challenge for long moments, clenching my jaws. Zach wanted me to steal from the dean. Not only that, but I was supposed to keep it until Friday? If I got caught, I could get kicked out of school. My chances at the NFL would be gone before they even got started.
“Romeo?” Rimmel said from the other side of the car.
I glanced up.
“Is something wrong?” Her voice was genuinely concerned.
“Nah.” I lied. “Just checking my messages.”
“We can cancel today’s session if you want.”
I couldn’t. I needed the time to get closer to her. I’d just have to take care of this other thing later tonight.
“It’s all good.” I dropped the phone in the cup holder and pulled out onto the street.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
I gave her one of my charming smiles. “My place.”
Her eyes about fell out of her head, and I chuckled.
“Maybe we should just go back to the library.”
“You’d rather go back there with those vultures than go to my place?” I asked, some of my smile slipping away. Did she really dislike being around me that much?
She cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “Do you have any roommates?”
“Nope.”
She visibly swallowed. “We’ll be alone?”
I slowed the car and leaned over into her personal space. “What’s the matter, Rimmel?” I whispered. “Are you afraid to be alone with me?”
She pursed her lips. “Of course not.”
“Good.” I snapped back into my seat and pressed on the gas.
She made a hissing sound and I laughed. I had her. She was trapped.
Silence lapsed for a few minutes as she turned to stare out the window. “Can I ask you something?” she said, her voice tentative and low.
“Yep.”
She kept her face turned away, and I knew whatever she wanted to ask was something she wasn’t sure she should. “Why aren’t you back there with those girls?”
“What makes you think I want to be?” I returned. The vulnerability but also underlying confusion actually made something inside me cave a little.
She snorted. “Everyone calls you Romeo for a reason.” I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand to say, “And it’s not because it’s a variation of your actual name.”
I grinned. “You noticed that, huh?”
Rimmel rolled her eyes and turned back to the window.
“Maybe I wanted to be here with you,” I answered.
She stiffened in the bucket seat. Her small fingers curled around the edge of the leather. Maybe it was the wrong thing to say. Maybe it sounded too much like a pickup line. I saw the disbelief in the set of her shoulders, in the tension of her jaw. I wanted her to believe me.
Not because I wanted to sleep with her.
Because it was true.
“Those girls back there, hell, the guys too… they only want something from me,” I said. She didn’t say anything, but I knew I’d caught her attention. I knew she was listening intently, so I continued. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s really me they like, or if it’s the football star, the guy with the nice car, or the guy who can get them into parties.”
I fell silent. I didn’t mean to say all that. I only wanted to make her believe me. I hadn’t meant to spill the thoughts buried deep in my mind.
My hands tightened around
the steering wheel, flexing a little against the leather. I was acutely aware of Rimmel beside me, so when she moved, I knew it right away.
She rolled her head against the seat so she was looking at me instead of out the window. “It’s the blue eyes.”
It took a minute for me to realize what she meant. I threw back my head and laughed. “Are you saying you like my eyes, Rimmel?”
She turned away again, but she whispered, “Maybe.”
Something inside me eased. The panic I’d felt moments ago about my accidental confession no longer seemed like an issue. Her reaction—or lack thereof—was exactly what I needed. It made me feel like maybe those worries, the ones I held so deep, weren’t as bad as I thought they were.
And she liked my eyes.
Really, I wasn’t surprised. My eyes were pretty damn amazing.
I turned into the long curved driveway that led around the side of the house, and Rimmel straightened in her seat. Nervous energy seemed to vibrate right off her, and I suppressed a smile.
She was so expressive. I never noticed until I started to really pay attention to her. Most people I was sure didn’t realize because you had to really look at her to notice. But I was beginning to like it. I was beginning to want to do nothing but watch her. Every time her mood changed (which was like every five minutes) it was a new experience. I felt like I was seeing this house for the first time through someone else’s eyes.
And she was intimidated.
Most people I brought here ooohed and ahhhed over the sweeping pristine driveway, columns lining the main house, the picturesque landscaping, and the amazing backyard. It was an impressive home and it left an impression on people.
But not Rimmel.
She didn’t care about all the things everyone else did. If anything, she went against it.
“My mom is a perfectionist,” I explained, wanting to distract her. “She likes everything to look perfect all the time.”
“It is beautiful,” she said politely.
I parked the car and pointed through the windshield to the guest house. “That’s my place. I live out there by myself.”
“It must be nice to not have to share a bathroom.” She stuck out her tongue. A flame of desire ignited low in my gut.
I cleared my throat and got out of the car. Rimmel followed along behind me as we walked around the pool. I noticed the wide arc she made around the edge and the wary look in her eye. “Don’t like to swim?”
“No,” she said tightly, and then a wall closed over her features.
“Want a soda?” I asked, walking through the living room and into the kitchen.
“Sure,” she replied, stopping at the island and dropping her bag on the floor.
I grabbed two cans of Coke out of the fridge and turned. “Heads up,” I called and tossed it to her.
She threw up her hands and ducked. The soda hit the back of the barstool and bounced on the floor.
“You were supposed to catch that,” I pointed out as she unfolded her arms from her head.
“You were supposed to hand it to me.” She glared.
I shook my head and came around the island to pick up the can. I held it out in front of her face and flirted with the top. “Think it will explode if I open it?” I wagged my eyebrows.
She backed up a step. “Don’t you dare.”
I lifted the tab on the top just slightly. She shrieked and moved to rush by me, holding her arms up to protect her face from the spray. I laughed and caught her around the waist, dragging her back as I set the can on the counter.
“I’m not cleaning up the mess that will make.”
“Jerk!” she said and lifted her arm to smack me.
I wrapped my other arm around her, pressing her hands down against her sides. She struggled for a second. Then she seemed to realize how close we were and her body went still.
I could smell the shampoo from her hair, feel the rapid beating of her heart against her chest, and hear the unsteady breaths she was dragging into her lungs.
One of my hands flattened against her back and slid down so it rested in the hollow of her waist, just above her ass. My fingers flexed and her head tilted back so she could look up into my face.
Fuck, she was small. She didn’t even come to my shoulder. I imagined in that moment she looked a lot like she did the other night with my jacket on. Engulfed. Owned. Claimed.
But this time it wasn’t by my jacket.
It was by my arms.
Her eyes showed surprise, but beneath that emotion I saw something more. I saw desire and need. I saw attraction.
The urge to kiss her slammed into me so hard my arms jerked her closer. Her breath whooshed out of her and her eyes rounded.
Slowly, I lowered my head, taking my time and anticipating the moment. My gaze fixed onto her full lips and I imagined sucking them into my mouth and rubbing my tongue over their softness.
Just breaths away from our first touch, she sucked in sharply and ducked her head. The hair piled high on her head whacked me in the mouth, and I drew back slightly. Rimmel’s forehead dropped to my chest, and her hand came up to twist in the cotton of my T-shirt.
Why did she pull away? I could feel her desire. I could practically taste it.
The moment was gone so I peeled my arms away from her and stepped back. “I’ll get you another soda,” I said, noting the raspy quality of my voice. On my way, I grabbed up my own soda, popped the top, and took a healthy swig. The cold, spiky caffeine prickled the back of my throat and erased some of the spell she’d just cast over me.
“So what kind of homework do you need help with?” she asked, sitting at the bar in the kitchen and tucking her legs beneath her. Her cheeks were flushed and the glasses were slipping down her nose.
If she were anybody else, I’d have her in bed right now.
What if she was a virgin?
The thought was so abrupt and so shattering that I spun around and grabbed the edges of the sink. I squeezed the rounded granite and stared out the small window that looked into some trees behind the house.
She probably was a virgin. I mean, look at her. It wasn’t like I’d never taken a girl’s virginity before. Frankly, it never seemed like that big of a deal.
Until now.
Was I going to be able to take her virginity because of a dare? An initiation?
I had to.
My reputation. My status. My pride was all on the line.
“Romeo?” A small hand lightly touched the small of my back. All the muscles in that area tightened and my eyes slid closed. When I didn’t pull away, her touch grew a little bolder and her fingertips pressed into my shirt. “Are you sick?”
She was standing so close her sweater brushed against my side. Concern radiated off her as she leaned around to try and catch a glimpse of my face. I turned my head and looked at her.
Our eyes collided and my entire world seemed to realign.
Ahh, fuck.
Chapter Fifteen
Rimmel
I thought he was going to kiss me.
For a second, I saw it in his eyes. I wondered if that same look had been reflected back at him.
But when he leaned in, I ruined it. My stupid brain got in the way and stopped him.
I wish I hadn’t. I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Romeo. I’d imagined it more than once. I also wondered what it would be like in his arms.
I knew now.
It was the same feeling I got when I watched my favorite movie for the hundredth time. The same feeling I got when I was tired and cranky and wanted nothing more than to go home and put on my favorite ratty hoodie. It was that feeling I got when I finally was able to put it on.
Relief.
Comfort.
Familiar.
Even though he was almost entirely muscle, being wrapped up in him wasn’t rigid; there was enough softness to him that made me want to curl closer, to run my hands around to his back and tug him just a little bit nearer.
; But he let go and I stepped away. I don’t know how long it took for my heart rate to return to normal, but when it had, I noticed him hunching over the sink like he was suddenly ill.
Didn’t it just figure?
I practically melted in this guy’s arms and he got sick.
Way to make him want you, Rimmel.
I shook my head. There were so many things wrong with that single thought it scared me. I pushed it aside and moved into the kitchen behind Romeo. My hand hovered over his back for long seconds before I got up enough nerve to actually touch him.
When he didn’t pull away, I increased the pressure of my hand. I spoke to him. I don’t recall what I said.
He looked at me.
Yes, he’d looked at me many times before. But never like this.
I felt as though a hand punched into my chest and squeezed. The look laid bare in his sparkling blue eyes was raw and intense. It awakened feelings in me I thought I’d buried a long, long time ago.
Romeo turned from the sink. One of his hands curved around my hip and tugged me just a little bit closer. My limbs grew heavy, like I was sinking in a pit of sand. He leaned down and I stretched up.
This time I wasn’t going to pull away.
“Roman.” An unfamiliar voice broke into the heavy curtain of desire between us. “Oh!” the woman exclaimed in surprise when she saw he wasn’t alone.
We jerked apart like lightning struck between us.
“Mom,” Romeo said, his voice slightly strained. I turned my eyes on his mother as she stood there staring at us.
Clearly she was surprised. I couldn’t understand why. Surely I wasn’t the first girl to ever be in his apartment. And we weren’t even… well, we were studying.
Well, sort of.
“I saw your car and thought I’d come see if you wanted to join your father and me for dinner,” she said, fingering a golden necklace around her throat.
She was a beautiful woman with blond hair, a perfectly made face, a fresh manicure with red fingertips, and dressed in a red sheath to match. Her eyes weren’t blue like Romeo’s, and I wondered if he’d gotten those from his father. She was taller than me by several inches and looked like she worked out on a regular basis because she wasn’t just thin; she was toned.
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