She hooked a long leg over the other. “Education. This is my first year.”
“That’s...that’s cool. Did you...always want to go into education?”
“Pretty much,” she replied, and I was envious, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Or maybe I was, but Carl and Rosa weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea. “What about you? You planning college?”
I nodded as I set my soda on the floor. “University of Maryland. I’m not...sure what I’ll study yet.”
“You’ll figure it out. There are juniors at my college who still don’t know what they want to do.” Her phone dinged. “So you all go to the same school?”
I nodded. The conversation between us slowed and I focused on what the guys were talking about. They’d moved on from basketball to football, and I lost track of time. Maybe an hour passed when Hector rose and so did Sheila.
“We’re heading downstairs,” Hector announced, walking to the door.
“We’ll be down in a minute.”
Hector’s grin was sly as he closed the door behind them. “Sure. Sure. Take your time.”
I twisted toward Rider. “Why—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish speaking. His mouth was on mine in a sweet, all-too-quick kiss.
“Proud of you,” he murmured against my lips, and I smiled, because I knew what he was talking about. The small conversation I held with Sheila wasn’t much, but it was a big deal. I was out of my element, but I hadn’t just sat there, paralyzed.
Placing my hands on his chest, I smiled against his lips. “She seems really nice.”
“Yeah.” He kissed the corner of my mouth. “I’m pretty sure we totally interrupted them.”
I giggled. “Yes. I think we did, too.”
“We’re such terrible friends.” He cupped my cheek. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m so going to take advantage of the fact that we’re alone.” He paused, and my stomach dipped like I was on a roller coaster. “What do you think about that?”
I lowered my hand to his knee. “I think...I think I’d like that.”
“Good.” He tilted his head. “Because I think I’m really, really going to like that.”
Rider kissed me then, and it was slow and soft, and it warmed my blood. I didn’t know how long the velvety, supple kiss went on, but after endless moments it changed, deepened. His tongue moved against mine, and I...I’d never been kissed like that before. Never felt anything like that before.
He made this noise in the back of his throat, and my heart was thundering in my chest as he leaned into me. Somehow, I ended up on my back and Rider was beside me on the futon. His hand slid down my arm, and it was just him and me. I wasn’t thinking about this odd room or the people downstairs. I wasn’t thinking about anything other than how he made me feel, how he kissed me, touched me, like I was something precious and invaluable to him.
My hands had a mind of their own, and I was touching him in ways I’d never done before. I tugged on his thermal and Rider immediately responded. He lifted up and reached around to the nape of his neck. Grabbing a fistful, he pulled his thermal and shirt off in one smooth movement.
I sucked in air as I got an eyeful of Rider shirtless. It was... Wow. Except for TV and movies, he was the first guy I’d seen bare-chested in real life. Carl didn’t count, because that was, well, weird.
“You can touch me if you want,” he offered.
I wanted.
Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I placed my hand on the center of his chest. Wiry hairs tickled my palm. I could feel his heart pounding. Slowly, I dragged my hand down, over the tightly rolled muscles of his abdomen. He jerked when my hand reached the band on his jeans. I drew my hand back, my gaze flickering to his face.
“It’s okay.” His voice sounded rough. “More than okay.”
Touching him again, I slid my hand across his stomach, avoiding his jeans this time. I loved the feel of him. So much strength under soft skin.
Rider shifted back onto his side next to me and placed his hand on my waist. Kissing me again, he quickly distracted me from my explorations. I got lost in the kisses and in the way my body was responding to them. Muscles low in my belly tightened. My head was spinning as his hand drifted to my neck and over my front, lingering in ways that caused my back to arch and my breaths to come quicker. Then he went lower, slipping his hand under the hem of the sweater dress and up over the thin tights.