Old Ink (Get Ink'd #3) - Ali Lyda Page 0,43

I said.

“Definitely,” he agreed, still laughing. “Tell me more about you and switching careers. I admire you for being so passionate about your job.”

A cold sliver pushed into my heart. I hadn’t felt passionate for a long time. Something was missing in my professional life and now, here I was, a giant hypocrite telling Channing it was important to do something you loved. I wasn’t ready to talk about it, though, my feelings still so muddled I didn’t truly understand them. Instead, I leaned in and brushed a kiss against his lips.

“Don’t be worried, Channing. One day you’ll find your passion.”

I felt his smirk against my lips when he kissed me again. They moved against my mouth as he said, “Who’s says I haven’t already found it?”

In that moment, I wanted his words to be true. I wanted the fierce desire I felt when I was with him to be wholly mirrored. Because he was the brightest star in my life, the thing that made the dull hole I’d dug for myself at work bearable.

My hands cupped his cheeks, and I brought him in for a kiss. It wasn’t soft. I thrust my tongue into Channing’s mouth, tasting the butter from the popcorn he’d eaten earlier. There was a deep need in me to possess him, if only for a moment.

Channing made me burn. Visions of him flitted through my mind in color-rich fragments. I painted him into my memory, making a space for him and the way his earnest, beautiful self played my heart like a guitar.

I tangled my fingers into his hair, squeezing lightly. He moaned, his lips parting more for me. I drank in his noises, molded the hardness of my body to his. He moved against me, a pliable and needy thing.

We moved until his back was against a tree. He gasped as I lifted him, pressing him into it. The hardness of his desire rubbed against my belly. His fingers dug into my shoulders, squeezing.

“Reagan,” he groaned against my mouth.

I soaked in his sounds, licking them out of his needy mouth and swallowing them. If I drowned myself in Channing, maybe it could be enough passion for the both of us.

“We’re in the middle of a park,” he finally whispered in my ear.

It dragged me back to earth. I let him down gently, supporting him as he stood. I kissed the shell of his ear, ignoring the painful bulge in my pants. “Sorry.”

He winked at me. “Don’t be. But I should get home. I’ve got work tomorrow.”

I pinched his ass but let it go. Passion. Yeah, Channing made me feel a fuck-ton of it.

12

Channing

Channing,

Hey, I’m sorry to be pressuring you during summer vacation—I’m sure you need the time away. But slots in classes are filling up and I’m concerned that you’re going to miss your chance to graduate in the fall if you choose to stay on track.

Have you been thinking about which way you’re leaning? Let me know if you’d like to call and discuss it.

Professor Addison

My college advisor was just doing his job. I knew he was. And he was a great guy on top of it. Because of him, I’d streamlined my course load and balanced a large plate and an ambitious plan with staying sane and social the last couple years. These emails were truly just him trying to keep me from burning myself.

I just wish I could tell him that every time I saw his name in my inbox, my anxiety ratcheted up exponentially.

What I needed to do, I knew, was talk to Christian. It was past time. Reagan’s confidence in my brother had left me both stunned and a tiny bit embarrassed—shouldn’t I have Christian’s back most of all? But, of course, I knew that being family changed things, and Christian and I had a muddled history we were still working through as it was.

It was time to commit, though. Christian had shown me nothing but patience and kindness since he took me in that first night. I’d broken and entered Get Ink’d that night and had barely batted an eye. How was telling Christian I was changing majors somehow so much more terrifying?

My phone rang as I closed the email. It was Reagan, and my heart did a flip of excitement when I saw his name on the screen and answered the call. “Hey there.”

“Hey. It’s my day off and I was wondering if you were free to hang out with me while I run an errand?”

Our first