Donovan extends her delicate hand to shake mine, smirking conspiratorially as if to play a game of us being strangers. She’s fucking stunning. Everything I imagined her to be when we were young. Not many people live up to the imagination. None, really.
I glance down and ignore her hand, gently pushing her arm aside and stepping in closer. I can’t help myself. The twelve-year-old me wants to hug her and spin her around. The seventeen-year-old me wants to pick her up and wrap those luscious legs around my waist. I’d even let the dean watch. Maybe he’d learn a few things.
Her ocean-blue eyes sparkle as she tilts her head up to smile at me, following my lead.
“It’s nice to see you again, Donovan.” My voice is husky as I lean in to kiss each cheek. My hand rests on her hip as my lips brush past the soft hair framing her face.
The smell of her lip gloss infiltrates my senses and makes me want to run my tongue over her bottom lip before I bite it. I swear I can hear Donovan’s heart beat faster as I pull away. She peers up seductively through a forest of lashes that are so long they almost touch her shaggy bangs.
This girl is trouble. And I have a feeling she knows it. God, I hope she knows it—that’ll make everything even more fun.
“You’ve grown up nicely, Grey.” She smirks, running her hand down my jacketed arm. “Not quite the sweet boy I remember you being… Much more predator now, than prey.”
Oh, I’m going to hunt you the fuck down, because something tells me you like the chase.
“Boys turn into men; it’s nature’s way.”
“Clever.”
Donovan shifts her weight nervously, eyes playfully narrowed on me. Oh, come on, making you squirm is just the start of my fun. She’s pretending not to care, just as I did way back when I pretended not to care about her “in that way” and then jerked off to the memory of her in a bathing suit.
God, Donovan’s grown into the perfect male fantasy. Complete with a sprinkle of freckles spread across her nose that gives her a virtue lacking in her eyes. She’s the Madonna and the whore wrapped up in an incredibly expensive package. She’s perfection.
My face pulls back slightly to take her in again. Damn, those freckles are doing something to me and already making me think the dirtiest thoughts. Man, my libido is doing a number on me. I want to pull out my dick and piss on everything around her. This one’s mine, I’d growl.
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, our eyes meeting again, as I let it slide out. “Your lip gloss…is that cherry?”
“It is,” she answers, rubbing her plump lips together slowly as I watch. That mouth is fucking napalm.
My eyes shift back to hers before I back away. “My new favorite flavor.” Allowing her a safe distance from me, as I ignore the scowl on the dean’s face. “Welcome back, Cherry.”
A small laugh escapes her lips before she pushes my immovable shoulder and looks to the dean, composing herself quickly.
“It’s nice to see you two know each other, but Mr. McCallister, please be mindful of the virtues and characteristics we extol here at Hillcrest. I trust you will show Miss Kennedy to her classes and help her assimilate to life here and no more.”
I hear his warning, but I’m not worried about him. Not in the least.
“We’re done here. I’ve got it.”
I put my attention back on Donovan, hearing the dean huff a little behind me. She seemingly enjoys my power play almost as much as I do, judging by the expression on her face. I’d make him beg if that made her smile like that again. Fuck, Grey. She’s been back for twenty seconds, and you’re already at her beck and call.
Dean Pritchett narrows his eyes at me when I glower back over my shoulder, surprised that he’s still standing there, but he covers his contempt quickly as he turns to Donovan.
“Miss Kennedy, please stop by the office if you need anything. And have a wonderful first day.”
“Thank you, Dean Pritchett. I’m sure I’m in capable hands,” she offers, smiling wide, then narrows her eyes back at me suspiciously.
Troublemaker.
The dean gives a final nod before taking his leave. We stand, watching him walk up the steps and disappear back into the building, before turning to stare at each other. Seconds creep by before she lets out a