“Apology accepted.”
“What…” she begins in a quiet voice. “What I said about your…your…”
I take her hand in mine and give it an encouraging squeeze. A breathy little sound catches in her throat as her fingers curl in mine.
“Your…” she tries again.
“My cock.”
“Oh, God, Landon,” she blurts out and sags against the wall, our fingers still entwined, like neither of us are in a hurry to let go. “I am so embarrassed, and I shouldn’t have said I didn’t like you when I don’t really know you.”
I inch a bit closer, and heat arcs between us. I’m sure she feels this pull every bit as much as I do. “You want to get to know me, then?”
“Yes, no…I mean. I just…” She picks at an imaginary piece of lint on her dress. Does she have any idea how gorgeous she looks in it? Then again, I liked everything about her in overalls, too.
I put my finger beneath her chin and lift it until our eyes meet. “Out with it.”
She puckers up her lips and I count the freckles on her nose. Does she have freckles in other hidden places? Damned if I don’t want to find out, but she’s so fucking innocent and I really should just back the fuck off. I didn’t like the hazing game played in freshman year, didn’t want to participate in it. Stealing someone’s innocence for sport, or any other reason, is not my thing.
“Why…why did you want me to come tonight?”
“I wanted to show you something.”
Her entire body goes stiff, a fire back in her eyes “Landon—” Before I can stop her and tell her I’m not interested in showing her my cock—that’s not entirely true—and that it’s my movie collection I wanted her to look at, the guys come barreling at me, lifting me onto their shoulders to celebrate my winning touchdown.
Just then Ivy comes up to me, a bottle of champagne in her hands. She shakes it, pops the cork and the sweet syrupy contents sprays all over me. Everyone is laughing and carrying on and opening their mouths to take a drink. I quickly lose sight of Ella as the guys take me outside and toss me onto the trampoline someone set up on the front lawn. Ivy and a few other girls jump on with me, upsetting my balance, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to climb off.
Ivy clings to me, jumping up and down, rubbing her tits on my wet shirt until her dress is wet and her hard nipples are poking my flesh.
I catch sight of Ella at the front door, watching the action. Peyton comes up behind her and pulls her inside. I lose sight of her, and after numerous tries, I finally manage to drop to my hands and knees and shimmy off the damn trampoline. Ivy calls out to me, but I ignore her and push through the crowd to get back inside.
I make my way through the rooms, but Ella is nowhere to be found. Did she exit through the back door, and bail? I can’t find Peyton either. I head out back and search the crowd. Fuck. She must have left. I go back inside, and no longer in the mood to party, I head upstairs. No one had better be in my room, fucking on my bed.
I practically kick open my door, and when I take in the girl standing there, examining my things with her flashlight app, my blood surges and my heart jumps into my throat.
“Find what you were looking for?”
5
Ella
“I…Oh, shit.”
I lift my phone, and shine the light directly into Landon’s eyes as he stands in the doorway, waiting for me to answer his question. He winces and holds both hands up as I damn near blind him, and while he’s distracted, I take that moment to admire all six feet of him. A burst of white-hot heat flashes inside me, partly because he just caught me snooping, and partly because he’s tall, hard, and so goddamn hot a girl would have to be insane not to be affected.
“Can you turn that off?” he grumbles, as the scent of his skin washes over me. His pillow smelled the same, and I’m pathetic, because yes, I smelled his bedding. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Oh, sorry.” I turn the app off, draping us in darkness, the only light in the room now coming from the streetlamp shining in the bedroom window.
“Well did you find what you were looking for?”
I found a lot of things, mainly his impressive collection of old DVDs. It’s insane that we have the same taste in movies. “I ah, was looking for the bathroom.” It’s not a lie. I was looking for the bathroom, when I stumbled upon his room. Temptation proved to be too much, and now…busted.
FML.
Seriously though, I was surprised that he loves movies as much as I do, even the classics. Maybe that’s why he asked me to come tonight. Maybe he wanted a movie partner. I’m smart, quiet, a wallflower. Definitely not the kind of girl a hot football player sleeps with. I told him I was a film student and liked movies, so yeah, I guess he wanted me here to help him find the next cult classic. Ohmigod!! Maybe he wants me to watch porn with him. Maybe he thinks I’m a big old horny college student.
He wouldn’t be wrong.
Then again, he invited me before he knew I watched erotic movies.
“I got lost,” I say and he stares at me, with what I think is disbelief all over his face. It’s hard to tell in the dark.
He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Across the hall,” he says, and I swallow as his voice, husky and deep now, curls around me, sending shivers down my spine. My nipples tighten, as he pulls in a labored breath, like he can’t quite fill his lungs. What is going on with him?
Wait, does he think I’m Ivy? I mean the two were pretty wrapped up in each other tonight, and with my new blonde hair—although he likely can’t see it in the dark—there’s a good chance he could think I’m Ivy. I mean, he did shut the door, locking the world out and us in and let’s face it, a girl only goes to a guy’s room for one reason at a frat party—and it’s not to snoop. Plus, he’s been drinking. I’m not sure how much, but there’s a good chance he’s too drunk to know the difference between us.
“I should go.” My God is that my voice? Since when did I ever sound husky? I guess that’s what arousal does to a person’s voice. I force my quivering legs to work, but as I get closer to him, catching his scent, my entire body vibrates in a way it never has before, clearly reacting to the hot-blooded male standing before me.
So what are you going to do about that?
He extends his arm, and captures me around my waist. “Or you could stay,” he says, easily positioning me in front of him, manipulating my body like I weigh no more than a football. Why the hell do I like that so much? Am I really one of those girls who likes when a guy goes all alpha? Oh good God, I might be. His head dips, and his mouth is right there, inches from mine.
Torpedo.
Oh, man, why did that stupid word have to jump into my brain. Oh, probably because I need to make a fast decision—a decision that could very well change me. So what’s it going to be? Am I going to text torpedo to Peyton? Or V-card?
“You want me to stay?” I ask, needing to hear him say it, even though I’m like ninety-nine percent sure he thinks I’m Ivy.
He hesitates for a brief second, and my blood instantly runs cold. Oh, crap, maybe he suddenly realized it’s me, and knows he made a mistake.