over and pinning me down onto the bed.
Yes, I think, and then moan so he gets the message. No more of this soft intimacy stuff tonight, thanks.
My heart’s in enough danger already.
Chapter 2
Afterward, I really do go back to my dorm room, despite my wobbly legs. A lot of the professors and admins at the academy have their own quarters, but Roman lives in one of the men’s dormitories with the students—albeit in a bigger, slightly fancier unit. He’s on the first floor, while the guys and I live on the third, in a large quad with four beds, four desks, and a couch with a coffee table set up near the windows. It’s also got an attached bathroom, and before I head to bed, I hop in the shower to clean up.
The powerful spray of water pours down over me, slicking my dark brown hair to my head and back. I soap up my deliciously sore body and let the heat of the water penetrate my muscles.
My second semester will begin the day after tomorrow. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that yet. On the one hand, I’m excited to dive back in and keep learning, to improve on my control and get a better handle on my magic. But on the other hand… last semester was kind of a train wreck.
I just hope the next few months will be a little calmer. I don’t need any more excitement, and Maddy’s already worried enough about me. She got anxious the last few days before I had to leave Neptune, claiming she had nightmares and curling up in bed with me like old times instead of just sleeping by herself. She seemed better by the time we said our goodbyes, but I’d really like to show her I can make it through a whole semester without any major calamities.
Hopefully the craziest thing about the rest of this year will be that I’m banging my professor. Although I’m not sure how much time we’ll have for that once school actually starts back up. It’s been easy enough to sneak in and out of his place the past few days, since a lot of the dorm residents aren’t back yet. But once they are? Once we’re all back in classes? It’ll get a bit more difficult to keep things between us secret.
I finish up my shower and pull on my bathrobe, still deep in thought. Then I swipe a hand across the mirror, revealing the foggy, water-speckled reflection of my wet brown hair, matching brown eyes, and high cheekbones. I got more of Dad’s looks, and Maddy got more of Mom’s, which I kind of hate, but what are you gonna do? Assholes can pass on their genes just as well as anyone else, I guess.
After scrubbing a towel over my hair, I leave it to air dry and walk back into the dorm room—
Only to get jumped.
“Gah!” I yelp as a mountain of muscle topped with sunshine-blond hair tackles me.
Cam has literally sent me stumbling backward with the force of his hug. My shriek of surprise turns to one of delight as I recognize him immediately by his scent—cedarwood and spice. He picks me up and whirls me around for a second, then sets me back down, his sky-blue eyes wide. “Geez, Sin, what the hell have you been doing in there? We’ve been waiting to surprise you for almost an hour!”
“An hour of my life I’ll never get back,” Dmitri deadpans.
“Aw, I’m so glad you got that personality transplant over the break.” I bat my eyelashes at him, falsely sweet. “You used to be such an asshole.”
Cam steps back so Asher can come forward and hug me. Asher’s hugs are one of the best things in the world—like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket on a cold evening.
“How was your break?” I ask him, greedily breathing in his clean, citrus smell. It’s truly unfair that on top of being drop dead gorgeous, all these guys smell good enough that I want to make a nest out of their clothes and live in it. But not in a creepy way, of course.
“Great!” Asher replies. His forest-green eyes glow with happiness as he pulls away. “Missed you, though. Next time, you can come and spend it with my family, if you want. They’d be happy to have you—and Maddy.”
“You’re sweet.”
“My break was awful,” Cam volunteers. “I didn’t get to see your face the whole time.”
“And yet you somehow survived.”
“Just barely.”