I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,65

place, so I tightened my arms around her and fell back so she landed on top of me. She giggled, and it was the purest thing I’d heard in a long fucking time.

“Do you like surprises?” I asked.

She smiled and her eyes lit up. “I love surprises.”

I rolled out from under her and slipped off the bed. “Wait for it.” I turned off all the lights in the room.

“What are you doing?” she asked, watching me curiously.

I moved back onto the bed and turned her so we both lay on our backs with our heads on her pillow.

Her breath hitched as she stared up at her ceiling.

“I brought the stars to you,” I said as we gazed up at the glow-in-the-dark stars I’d stuck to the ceiling above her bed. “Nothing’s blocking your view in here.”

She grabbed my hand and linked her fingers with mine. “I’m sorry for anything mean I’ve ever said to you. I take it all back.”

“I’m no angel,” I assured her. “And, anything you’ve said, I’ve deserved.”

“True.”

We both laughed, knowing it was the truth. I could be a real prick sometimes.

“You’re gonna make me, huh?” she mused as she stared up at the stars I’d arranged in a circular pattern.

“Make you what?” I asked, confused by her question.

“Fall in love with you.”

I swallowed my surprise. I knew she cared about me, but wasn’t sure she was feeling anything close to what I was feeling for her. I rolled on top of her and settled between her legs, staring down into her pretty eyes. “I hope so.”

She smiled and I captured her smile with my lips.

I’d needed to do that all day long, and now, there was nothing stopping us.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kresley

If I thought I stuck out with my security before the incident in the woods, now I knew for sure I did. Briggs and Tristan walked like two pillars on either side of me across campus. Thankfully, Marco wasn’t back yet because there wasn’t a doubt in my mind he would’ve led the way. Thank God for small favors.

We walked into the building toward my first class. Briggs followed me inside the classroom.

“Whoa,” I said, turning to stop him.

“I’ve got orders.” He walked right past me and over to my professor.

I walked to my seat and pulled out my laptop, ignoring the fact that he was likely telling my professor why he planned to stay in the class. After he spoke to her, I pretended not to notice him standing in the back of the classroom with his arms crossed for the entire lecture. And, as annoyed as I wanted to be, knowing he was there, while Tristan was in the hallway, gave me a sense of security I otherwise wouldn’t have had.

When the professor dismissed class, I gathered my things and headed toward the front door. Tristan and Briggs stood in the hallway. I smiled at Tristan, but his game face was on and he avoided my eyes. Though we needed to keep our relationship quiet, that wasn’t the reason for his inattention. He was worried. His eyes were taking in everyone and everything around us. I just wasn’t used to seeing him nervous. Did he know something I didn’t know? Had they traced the fingerprints back to someone with no ties to the money exchanged?

As we walked across campus, those thoughts plagued my mind. Not the people playing Frisbee. Not the beautiful trees around the quad. Not the students rushing to their next classes.

At dinner, as many times as I tried to meet Tristan’s gaze, he dodged my eyes, watching the crowded room instead.

“So?” Elodie said, pulling my attention from Tristan.

“So,” I repeated.

“We’ve got an entourage tonight,” Alice acknowledged.

I nodded, stuffing a fork full of pasta into my mouth to save myself the inquisition that was inevitably coming. They knew I’d gone home yesterday, but not why.

“Did something happen that requires two bodyguards at dinner?” Elodie asked, unable to conceal the worry in her eyes.

I glanced from Briggs to Tristan, in different corners of the room. I looked back to Elodie and nodded.

Alice’s eyes widened. “Are you okay?”

Elodie’s eyes assessed my face. “Did someone hurt you?”

I shook my head as I swallowed down my food.

“But they tried?” Alice asked.

I nodded. “Tristan saved me.”

They both spun on their seats to look to Tristan standing on the other side of the room. Still, his eyes were on the room and not on the three of us.

“Hot and brave,” Alice said.

“And taken,” I added.

They spun back around to