The building isn’t exclusive to students, so it’s a peaceful place to live, but it’s close enough to everyone else that stumbling home from parties is easy.
Aaron and I aren’t supposed to be at parties, but what Aubrey doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
* * *
I’ve already watchedSabrina try on ten different outfits when Ryan texts to let me know he’s finally on his way up, giving me an excuse to leave her and her ten almost identical black dresses.
The butterflies I get when there is a knock at the door and I know Ryan is on the other side of it were strange to me at first, but now it’s cute.
He’s practically filling the doorway when I open the door to let him in. His messy blond hair is still damp, and he smells strongly of orange and something I can’t quite put my finger on, which is now weirdly comforting to me. His head dips to mine, and his lips press against my cheek lightly. “Hello, beautiful.”
He hands me the bag of snacks he always insists on bringing because apparently, I don’t eat enough, and I don’t have anything good to eat when he’s here. Ryan eats more than any person I know, and his version of good is loaded with sugar.
For some reason, Aaron and Brin are watching us from the living room like they’ve never seen other human beings before. Ryan laughs when he spots them; fortunately, he’s used to their antics by now, and he offers them a quiet “Hello” as I lead him in the direction of my bedroom.
“Hey, Rothwell?” Sabrina shouts as we reach my door.
He lets go of my hand, turning around to face her. “Yeah?”
She’s leaning over the back of the couch, and I know from the mischievous look on her face I don’t want to hear whatever she has to say.
“Since my bedroom is next to Stassie’s and I’m going to be listening to your grunting and balls slapping all night,” my eyes widen as far as they can go from behind him, “can I have the code for your room, so I don’t have to fight for the shared bathroom at the party at your place?”
Campus housing has electronically coded locks on bedroom doors for security. Ryan’s room has a private bathroom, so Brin’s request is a good idea since the bathroom line gets ridiculous the drunker people get.
It’s her delivery that’s going to require some serious work.
“Sure, I’ll text it to you. No snooping, Allali. I’ll know if you have.”
She holds up a peace sign. “Scouts honor. Enjoy all the sex.”
“Jesus, Brin.” I groan loud enough for her to hear as I drag Ryan into my room away from her. “I’m so sorry.”
“I like her. She’s funny.” He chuckles, taking my face between his hands and tilting my head up so he can kiss me.
It’s soft at first, then more urgent as his tongue moves against mine. His hands travel down my body gently until they reach my thighs, scooping me up in one quick motion. My legs automatically wrap around his waist, my body familiar with his after doing this so many times.
There’s banging outside of my room, which Ithinkis my roommates leaving, but every hot kiss Ryan places on my neck steals my attention away. I should check if it is them going, but it suddenly plummets to the bottom of things on my mind when Ryan lowers me to the bed and climbs on top of me.
“How was your day?” he mumbles beneath my ear.
He always does this. He kisses me perfectly, positions his body between my legs, applies enough pressure to have me squirm, scrambles the thoughts in my head, andthenasks me something mundane like how my day was.
The second I try to formulate a response, his fingers journey beneath my T-shirt, and he traces the curve of my jaw with his nose. Every inch of my skin feels like it’s buzzing, and he hasn’t even done anything yet. “It was, uh, uhm, fine, I, mhmm, skated…”
His body rocks as he laughs. “You mhmm skated? Sounds interesting. Why don’t you tell me more, Allen?”
I hate him. I really, really hate him.
I incoherently mumble something about ice and Russians as he strips us of our clothes until we’re both in our underwear. Ryan’s body would make a Greek god weep; tanned skin from his summer home in Miami, and a torso with more abs than I can count.
Forget a Greek god, it makes me want to weep.
Gripping my panties on each hip, he waits until I nod before slowly pulling them down my legs, throwing them behind him, and spreading my legs wide.
“Stas.”
“Yeah?”