that what you did, Wes?” He lets out a playful laugh. “You try to steal someone’s girl?”
Skyla comes to mind. She’s beautiful but doesn’t hold a candle to Laken. For a second I envision Laken tied up and stretched out while Gage has his way with her neck, and my blood begins to boil. I shake the thought loose.
“Maybe I did.” I give a quick wink as he takes off. I did something a whole hell of a lot worse than trying to steal someone’s girl—I hurt her.
Laken doesn’t hesitate to bring me upstairs once our lips begin to overheat. The party rages on, and I’ve kept an eye on Flanders all night. As far as I can tell, he seems genuinely into Grayson—the way he holds her hand, her waist like they were a couple.
I noticed Laken stealing a few glances in their direction herself. I’m sure it hurt her ego a little to see he wasn’t pining for her anymore. It’s got to feel good knowing two different guys want your affection, so maybe that’s all it was to her. I’d hate to think maybe she was really into him. Kres pines for me, and I’m not remotely “into” her anymore. After I turned her down cold the night she showed up in my bed, I knew Laken put an end to that relationship for good. An image of Kres burns through my mind, naked—complete with a shiny red bow.
Laken looks right at me, her mouth falls open with surprise.
“What?”
She makes a face. “We’d better find a way to lock the door.” She picks up her backpack and leans it over the crack.
“How about this?” I say, wedging her chair under the doorknob. “What was that look for?” I tease.
“I’m just”—she shakes her head—“I’m too far gone.” She covers my lips with hers.
“Just a second,” I say, walking her backward over to the bed. “Anything here that might clue us in on who the hell Pearl was?” Everything looks the same. Girls’ dorms are always pretty neat, so maybe the trash could afford a clue or two.
Laken pulls me closer as if she knew where I was going with this.
“Who cares? It’s so depressing I can’t even think straight.” Her eyes tear up. “I’m sure they’ll find something, or her Mom will call the authorities. Right?”
“Right.”
A bedroom blinks through her mind, and I wince trying to place it. It held an off campus appeal, but Laken doesn’t get out much.
Shit. Laken untucks my shirt and slips her iced fingers over my flesh.
I trace the outline of her lips with my tongue and pull back in time to see her blush. Laken puts to shame any of the iconic beauties ever immortalized through art in ages past or present.
“I’m dying to sketch you.” I press a kiss just under her ear, and she gives an involuntary moan. “Without your clothes. Would you let me do that?”
Her body goes rigid. An image of Kresley lying naked on my bed flashes through her mind, the red bow tied in a proud sash across her midsection just as I had seen it.
I pull back and examine her without allowing a single thought to sail through my brain.
“Sketching me in the nude? I don’t know about that.” Laken shivers as though the idea scares her.
I sit down and untie my shoes.
How in the hell did she peg Kresley so correctly right down to the fucking bow? I glance up just as she straddles me from behind with a knee on either side of my waist. She dips a kiss down over my shoulder, and all thoughts of Kresley quickly dissipate. Maybe it was my thought. Maybe I was just replaying the scene from the other night.
Skin on skin, that’s the only way Celestra hear one another. Laken isn’t Celestra. There’s no way she heard me, or saw what I was thinking. It’s probably just a coincidence. I bet a big red bow is how all girls envision gifting themselves to their boyfriends. But Laken wasn’t thinking of herself—she mirrored my thoughts exactly.
I stiffen at the thought of Laken reading my mind. There’s got to be a way I can test her to be sure.
“So…” I lie over her and interlock our fingers, tight like the bear trap it is. “Other than the tragedy, how was your night?”
“Excellent because I was with you. How’s your lip? You look tragically hot by the way.” A sexy gurgle trickles from her throat.