She holds her hand up. “I’m fine. Just a long day at work.” She plops her purse down and sits on the edge of her bed.
I nod, leaning against the half-wall that separates our rooms. “I didn’t even know you had a job that went this late.”
She pulls her hair out of a messy bun and brushes at it until it falls in a sleek wave down her back. “Yeah.”
Her voice is taut with tension as if she’s mentally telling me to mind my own business. I forget for half a second that Zack is huddled up in my closet and take another small step toward her. “I’m a good listener if you want to talk…sometime.” Not tonight though, I think, crossing my fingers. I have to get him out of here.
She takes off her shirt and jeans and pulls on an oversized T-shirt. With a lingering glance, she looks as if she might tell me something, but then she changes her mind. She crawls into her bed, tucks herself under the blanket, and turns off her light. “Just exhausted. Let’s talk later. Right now I just want to listen to some Beethoven and sleep.”
Okay.
She reaches over to the nightstand, grabs her earbuds, and taps to start the music on her phone.
“Night,” she murmurs.
I mumble a response, but she’s already turning over and facing the wall.
I shuffle over to my side and stand at the door of the closet, debating, moving from side to side.
How am I going to get him out of here? Do I want to get him out of here?
As quiet as a mouse, I open the closet door, and Zack is sitting on top of my mini fridge, munching as quietly as possible on a lone Dorito. One of my silk scarves, a gift from Mara I keep in a box on the top shelf, is looped around his neck.
I sigh. A very large and naked man with a dragon tattoo is sitting on top of my mini fridge with a semi, eating chips with a scarf on. Priceless.
“I guess it was too much to ask for you to get dressed?” I hiss.
He licks his fingers clean. “I was too pissed.”
I step inside with him. “It wouldn’t be college if you didn’t have to hide in the closet of a dorm room at least once.”
He puts the chips down. “Is she gone?”
I shrug. “She’s facing the wall with earbuds in.”
“Ah.” He takes my hand and pulls me toward him until I’m standing between his legs. It’s hot in the closet and clothes hang in most of it, but he’s managed to push them all to one side. There’s not much room, but it is bigger than anything I ever had at Mama’s back in Alabama. On the top shelves are my favorite books, extra school supplies, and a few sweatshirts and sweaters. My shoes are in an organizer in the top as well, which gives me plenty of space in the middle for the fridge—and us.
His hand curls around my waist.
“You’re sitting here eating my food with a condom on. Seriously?” I take in the length that’s growing, jutting up at me.
He stands, looming large in the small space. He strokes himself, giving his head a twist.
“A man gets hungry, Sugar,” he says as he towers over me.
Swooping down, he kisses me, tasting like chips.
“Honestly, I don’t care where I am when I’m with you.” The timbre of his voice is husky. “Take your underwear back off. Please.” His forehead is against mine. “I want to fuck.”
I smile. I’m getting used to his demands. “I did have vodka. It tends to make me take my clothes off.”
He tilts my face up. “Ah, Miss Ryan, don’t blame all this on alcohol. This…” He reaches down, slips his hand inside my panties, and gives me a one-finger touch that’s there and then gone. “This is all you and me.”
I’m already moaning and opening my legs for him before he even stops talking.
I reach down and slip my panties past my hips and off. I twirl them around. “Happy?”
Damn, I like watching his eyes burn.
I tug at a strand of his hair. “I like how you look at me like you might die if you don’t fuck me.”
His lashes flutter. “I like it when you say fuck.”
“Fuck me then,” I say. “Quietly.”
“That’s going to be difficult. You call out my name…a lot.” His voice is raspy.
“Put your hand over my mouth.” My chest rises with a shiver