Heat Up the Fall: New Adult Boxed Set (6 Book Bundle)

by Gennifer Albin

  “The fact you’re with me until you find the man you’re looking for.”

  I feel like I’m a deer caught in headlights.

  He sees my expression and leans toward me. “No guilt. The night I met you, you told me I didn’t stand a chance. I know this going in. I’ve seen the guys you date. High profile. High society. Old money. Dylan was an asshole, but I’m not sure what flaw you saw in Brandon. His money is deep-South old money. I would have thought that alone would interest you.”

  He makes me sound like a selfish, self-centered, gold-digging bitch. But then why wouldn’t he think that? He’s paraphrasing what I told him the night I met him.

  I feel nauseated. “Why in the world do you want to be with me after knowing that about me?”

  His jaw works and he glances at the door before turning back to me. His voice lowers. “Because sex with you is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. And honestly, I think the connection we have is once-in-a-lifetime. If it means I only get to have you until you find what you’re looking for, I’m good with that.”

  I’m still horrified that he’ll settle for being with me until I find his replacement. He sees this too.

  “Caroline, don’t worry about me. I’m a guy and guys think with what’s in their pants.” He winks but something’s missing. “We’re both getting something out of it. Hot, unbelievably fantastic sex and we haven’t even had a chance to take our time and enjoy it.” His voice lowers. “And I already have several fantasies of you I need you to act out. How do you feel about a schoolgirl outfit?” He grins.

  He’s teasing. But is he telling the truth about the rest? Tucker says guys think with their dicks. Isn’t Reed telling me the same thing? I should be humiliated and insulted, but Reed Pendergraft is a hot, sexy man trapped behind a tie and a stuffy degree. Most girls don’t care about the degree and find the tie sexy. I do too, but I like the way he looks right now, with his tie off and the top button of his shirt undone. Then I think about his shirt spread open in the car.

  “You were just picturing me naked, weren’t you?” he asks.

  I feel a blush rise to my cheeks.

  “If it makes you feel better, I was thinking about you naked too. That’s priority number one the next time we have sex. I want to see you completely naked. Wearing heels,” he says. “The ones you wore Friday night. The black strappy things that poked me in the ass when you wrapped your legs around me. When I close my eyes, I can still imagine you pressed up against the wall with your legs around my waist. Your hair hung over your bare breasts and your lips were red and swollen from kissing me.”

  If it were possible to have an orgasm without being touched, I’m sure I’m worked up enough over his word picture for it to happen right now.

  His smile is replaced by a look of molten desire. “God, I love the way you look when you’re turned on.”

  How can I want to sleep with him already?

  “We need a bed.” I force out in a breathless rush. “Now.”

  He takes my hand and traces circles in my palm. “We’ll have a bed. But not tonight. I promised to prove to you that I want you for more than sex. Dinner, then I’ll take you to the design lab.”

  “What if I want it? Then you have to give it to me. Our arrangement was for sex. The rest is superfluous.”

  Some emotion flickers in his eyes before his wicked smile returns. “No sex tonight. Driving you crazy wanting me is a bonus. Then when we have sex—in a bed—it will be even better.”

  The way I feel right now makes me want to argue, but the waiter brings our food, and I’m surprised to find I’m starving. I eat most of my chicken lo mein.

  “When I bring you to my apartment to fuck you, I’ll make sure I have plenty of food to help you regain your strength.”

  I’m slightly shocked by his coarse language. I’m totally shocked it turns me on so much.

  When we finish, Reed doesn’t want to linger. “First, you need to get to work. If you don’t get your work done, then you’ll blame our arrangement and call it off. I’m not willing to risk that when we’re just getting started.” He stops next to his car, pressing my back against the passenger door and placing his hands on either side of me. “But mostly, if I stay with you much longer, I’ll break my promise to not have sex tonight, and I hate broken promises.” He kisses me, his lips tender and tentative until I wrap my arms around him to hold myself up. His tongue finds mine, searching and coaxing. I moan again. I have such little self-control with him, I’d probably lift my skirt right here in the parking lot.

  And that scares the shit out of me.

  Thankfully, Reed pulls back and opens the door. On the drive to campus, he asks questions about my project and my designs for the kids.

  “Thanks for your help today.”

  “It was fun.”

  I laugh. “It was fun writing down measurements?”

  “It was fun seeing you do what you love.”

  “And what’s that? Strutting my stuff on the runway?”

  He takes my hand and twines our fingers. “That was definitely fun. As you swung your hips, I kept thinking about how gifted those hips actually are.”

  “Reed! There were children in the room!”

  “I didn’t touch you, although I should get a medal for that. But we better hope none of them were mind readers or they might need therapy after the things I fantasized.”

  “And what did you fantasize?” I ask against my better judgment.

  He grins, lifting his eyebrows. “Some things are better demonstrated than explained.”

  My imagination runs wild, and I feel flushed as he parks his car next to mine in the half-empty campus parking lot.

  “Are you sure you can’t break your promise?” I ask. “Just this once?”

  He leans over, and his lips hover over mine. “Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  I laugh. “That is not how that platitude goes.”

  He pecks me on the lips with a chaste kiss. “Same difference.” He gets out of the car and walks around to open my door. “If you give me your keys, I’ll jump your car and bring them back to you.”

  “Reed, you don’t have to do that.”

  He grins. “Isn’t that one of the perks of having a temporary boyfriend? Having him do things like jump your car?”

  I’d rather he jumped me, but I keep that to myself. “Someone forgot to put that in my last boyfriend’s job description.”

  His mouth parts. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Nope.” I say, digging my keys out of my purse.

  I put them in Reed’s outstretched hand but his fingers close around mine, and he pulls me against his chest. Irritation simmers behind his eyes. “Promise me that when you find a guy, you’ll make sure he does that stuff for you.”

  I look up into his face, surprised at his insistence. “Reed, I’m perfectly capable of jumping my car. I’ve done it before.”

  “It’s not a matter of being capable, Caroline. I never doubted you were capable. In fact, I suspect you’re capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for. But it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a guy who does it for you.” He releases his hold. “Do you need anything out of your car?”

  “Uh … no.”

  He takes my bag and starts to walk toward campus.

  “You don’t have to carry my bag.”

  He turns back to me, spreading his hands wide. “It falls under the category of he should do it anyway.”

  “Maybe I should have you interview potential boyfriends.”

  “I doubt you want that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’ll never find anyone I think is worthy of you.” He snags my hand as we walk side by side, and I think about what he said.

  If Reed really feels that way, then why isn’t he fighting to keep me? Why is he so willing to let me go?

  I consider that maybe he likes the idea of sex without strings. But the truth is he thinks I’ll never consider him goo
d enough for me.

  The thought sickens me. Yet, if I’m truthful, I love what I feel with Reed but the thought of committing to someone who won’t make a lot of money brings me close to a panic attack. I’ve got a mountain of student loans and Reed has to have even more if he really went to an Ivy League school. I won’t make much money with this degree, idiot that I am for choosing it, and he won’t make much either. How would we pay off our student loans and survive, let alone raise a family? Superficial or not, I can’t let myself think about a long-term relationship with Reed Pendergraft.

  I can have the best of both worlds. A guy who gives me incredibly hot sex but understands my need for financial security. So why does it feel so wrong?

  When we reach the design lab, I stand outside the room. “This is it.” I point to the rectangular window in the door with my thumb. “You can come in if you want, but there’s not much to see. My designs are all on paper at this point.”

  “So what will you do now?”

  “I’ll pick one and work on it, coming up with a pattern and cutting out the fabric. If I can start sewing, all the better.”

  He tilts my head back and looks into my eyes. His hand caresses the spot where my neck meets my jaw, and my knees turn weak. How can he do that with one simple touch?

  “Do you have my cell phone number with you?” he asks.

  “What?” I can’t concentrate, caught in this lusty haze.

  “My number. Do you have it?” he repeats, but he looks like he’s having trouble focusing too.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Get out your phone.”

  I come to my senses and pull my phone of my purse.

  “Now put my number in and call me.” He tells me his number and when I call, he answers, lowering his voice. “Caroline Hunter, if your car won’t start when you leave, promise to call me.”

  “Okay.”

  He ends the call and puts the phone in his pocket. “But call me anyway, okay? Otherwise I’ll worry your car didn’t make it home.”

  “Why?”

  He looks at me like I lost my mind. “I jumped your car. That makes me responsible for you getting home safely.” His lips brush mine. “Promise.”

  He fights dirty. He knows he’s my kryptonite, and he’s using it to his advantage.

  “I promise.”

  His lips barely touch mine, and he’s driving me mad. “Get a lot of work done so I don’t feel guilty when I keep you in bed for hours tomorrow.”

  “Hours?”

  “We’ll need at least that long for everything I want to do with you.”

  I stand on tiptoes to press my lips more firmly against his, but he lifts his head.

  “First work. Then playing.”

  I shake my head with a laugh. “You know how to inspire a girl.”

  “I promised to be bossy. Now go get a lot of work done because I have big plans for you tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow can’t get here soon enough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I push stray hairs from my face, exhausted, but happy with the progress I’ve made. It’s later than I expected, but not only did I make a pattern for a skirt, top and vest, I cut the fabric and sewed most of the skirt.

  When I’m halfway to my car, I realize Reed never brought back my keys. I lean my head back and groan. It’s two o’clock in the morning. I’m going to wake him. But he made me promise to call him anyway. I hope he doesn’t live too far off campus.

  He answers on the first ring, and he sounds more awake than I feel.

  “You still have my keys,” I say, pausing mid-sentence to yawn.

  “I’m still on campus. Are you still in the design lab?”

  “No, I’m halfway to my car.”

  “It’s two in the morning. Did you call security to walk with you?”

  “No.” I’m surprised by his protective tone. “It never occurred to me.”

  “Are you telling me that you routinely walk across campus in the middle of the night?” His voice is tight.

  “I think you’re overreacting.”

  “Tell that to the six women who were raped on Southern’s campus last year.” He sounds angry, but he also sounds breathless.

  I stop in the middle of the sidewalk under a beam of light coming from a street lamp. “What are you talking about?”

  “Are you telling me you never check the campus crime reports?”

  “Why on earth would I?”

  “To be safe?” He’s furious now. “Where the hell are you?”

  “I told you. Halfway across campus.”

  “Goddamn it, Caroline. I’m coming.”

  My anger soars. Who the hell does he think he is? “Well good for you.” I hang up, but keep my phone in my hand in case I need it. Was he serious that there were six rapes on campus last year? Southern’s always felt safe, cocooned from the outside world. Now Reed’s ripped away that perception.

  If there were really six rapes on campus, wouldn’t I have heard about it?

  Well, screw Reed Pendergraft. I start walking the rest of the way, imagining monsters lurking in the shadows. When I reach my car, I see Reed’s Altima still parked next to mine. I don’t think he left campus after he dropped me off. Why would he stay all this time waiting for me? What the hell has he been doing?

  I sit on the hood of my car and watch as he stops jogging at the edge of the parking lot when he sees me. My anger has cooled by the time he reaches me, but the same can’t be said for him.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” He’s still furious, perhaps even more so.

  “I told you, it never occurred to me that something could happen and nothing did. Other than being verbally berated by an angry grad student.”

  “I’m serious, Caroline.”

  “So am I, Reed.” I pull him toward me between my spread legs. “Do you know how sexy you are when you get all protective like that?”

  Some of the tension leaves his shoulders.

  “What are you still doing on campus?” I ask.

  “Working. You’re not the only one with projects. I have a midterm due next week.”

  I close my eyes. I really am a selfish bitch. It never occurred to me to ask about his own work. “Did you get a lot done?”

  “Yeah, what about you?”

  “More than I expected.” I’m tired but when I kiss him, my exhaustion fades away. “Is it tomorrow yet?” I murmur against his lips.

  His answer is the way he devours my mouth, kissing me like he hasn’t seen me for six months instead of six hours.

  “Come home with me,” I say. “I have a bed. With a mattress and everything. Pillows too.”

  He stops and brushes the hair out of my eyes, staring into my face with a worried look. “Aren’t you tired?”

  “Not anymore. Although I’m not sure I’ll last for hours.”

  “We can see how long you last.”

  I giggle. “Is that a challenge?”

  “Take it as you like.”

  I slide off the hood, and down the front of Reed’s body. He groans and holds me close.

  “Did I mention I have a bed?” I ask.

  He grabs my wrist and pulls me to the driver’s door of my car. After he unlocks the door, he hands me the keys.

  I narrow my eyes with playful suspicion. “Could keeping my keys be a ploy to try out my bed, Reed Pendergraft?”

  He winks. “You caught me. I’m bed-less and beg you to give mercy to a mattress-challenged man.”

  I stand on tiptoe and press my lips to his. “Then tonight’s your lucky night.”

  Before he can kiss me back, I dart away and slip into my car.

  He grins ear to ear. “I’ll follow you.”

  My car starts without a problem, and I’ve never been so eager in my life to get home, keeping Reed’s headlights in my rearview mirror.

  He’s out of his car before I grab my bag and get out of mine. He takes my hand and practically drags me up the stairs to my apartment. After he takes my key
s, he unlocks the door and pulls me inside, closing the door and pushing me against it.

  “Unbutton your shirt,” he says. He wasn’t kidding about bossing me around.

  I smile and take my time pushing the buttons through the holes.

  The room is dark. The only light comes from a small lamp sitting on the kitchen counter.

  When I finish my task, I wait while he studies my breasts.

  “Where’s your room?”

  Good idea. Tina’s not a light sleeper, but it would be awkward if she found us, especially since she was on a date with Reed less than a week ago.

  I walk toward my room, and I’m surprised he doesn’t reach for me. When we enter my room, I switch on the lamp on my bedside table as he closes the door.

  “Take off your shirt and skirt.”

  I turn around to face him, sliding my shirt down my arms and letting it fall to the floor. Reed brings a confidence out of me that I’ve never felt in the bedroom before. I tried to strip for Justin once, but it ended with me feeling awkward. The way Reed watches me now, the last thing I feel like is awkward.

  I hook my thumbs under the waistband of my skirt and slowly slip it over my hips, shimmying a little in the process when I remember he liked watching my hips during my model walk. Before the skirt hits the floor, he’s pulled me into his arms, his mouth searching mine.

  We both take off his clothes, a joint effort that ends up with Reed in his briefs and me in my lingerie.

  He stares at my body for several seconds then kisses me again, with a tenderness we’ve never shared during sex before. He lowers me to the bed, and his hands skim my body, up my arms, then down my sides.

  “Caroline, you’re so beautiful.”

  I grin up at him. “You’re gorgeous yourself.”

  He gives me a mock arrogant grin. “It must have been my model walk.” Then he laughs, and my heart swells with something I don’t recognize. Before I can stop to figure it out, he’s pulling me up and removing my bra.

  “I told you I want to see you naked in bed.”

  I offer a mock frown. “But alas, no heels.”

  His smile turns wicked. “That is so easily taken care of.” He tugs off my panties and tosses them onto the floor then he kneels on the bed, not touching, only watching. “I want to be on top, watching your face as I fuck you.”