it back.” He reaches over to touch my hair when a massive hand clamps down on his wrist.
“No touching.” Loren’s growled command from my back sends a shiver down my spine.
I hardly have a moment to respond when he pushes onto the two-person bench next to me, his body presses against mine from hip to knee. I look up at him and when he pulls his glare away from a chuckling Kaipo, he does a double take.
“Jesus,” he breathes as he stares at me in awe. He grips my thigh under the table and squeezes. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I hate the breathiness in my voice, but he looks so good, and he’s so close I can’t find the power to string words together.
His blonde hair is cropped short on the sides and messy on top, smooth shaven face, and I sink into his aquamarine eyes. His cologne is salty like the sea, and his tan skin reminds me of summer vacations and white sand beaches.
“You look beautiful,” he whispers only loud enough for me to hear.
“So do you.” I keep my hands on the table even though I want to reach down and weave our fingers together, to feel his wide palm against mine. Would his palm be sweaty with nerves? I’d like to think it would be, and I’d give anything to feel it.
“How were this morning’s classes?”
I laugh at his genuine interest. “Good. We studied scientific hypotheses as to why alligator penises are always erect. You?”
“Ouch,” Kaipo says.
Loren smiles at me, his eyes on my lips as if he can’t wait to hear what I might say next. “Compared to your morning, mine was uneventful. But Professor Sigmond did have a—”
“Loren!”
My stomach drops at the sound of Riley’s voice as she comes toward us flanked by Becky and Lily. His hand slips slowly from my thigh and he manages to put a few inches of space between us without being obvious. Emery on the other hand seems to notice everything and her gaze remains fixated on the space he created.
“Hey, Riley.” I’m grateful when Loren doesn’t get up to hug her. That is, until she slips between his torso and table, dropping onto his lap and throwing her arms around his neck.
“You never texted me back last night.” She acts like she doesn’t notice the four other people at the table.
“Sorry about that, I fell asleep studying econ.” I spot his hands and they remain on the bench at his sides.
He shifts uncomfortably beneath her and she must spot that he’s about to ask her to get off, so she hurries and presses her lips to his. My stomach plummets into my toes and I turn toward Kaipo who frowns in disapproval. “Shit,” Loren says and I hear a rustling of bodies at my side. “Sorry, I fucked my knee up working out. I can’t bear much weight.” He’s standing now.
“Much weight,” Riley says laughing. “I weigh like a hundred pounds.”
I turn around to spot her over my shoulder, grateful to see Loren keeping some distance between them.
“You act like I weigh as much as Bex,” Riley says throwing Lily and Becky into a fit of giggles with her.
Loren catches my eyes and with a slight tilt of his head I can hear him saying, You’re gonna take that shit from her? Because I won’t.
“I’m kidding, Bexy,” Riley says to me. “You know I love you.”
“Whoa, do you feel that breeze.” I hold my hands out for affect. “Hold on to her, Loren, she might blow away.”
Rowan snorts and covers her smile.
Riley smiles as if I’d paid her the highest compliment. “I know, right?”
“Every sixty-two minutes someone dies from an eating disorder,” Emery says, and then calmly looks down at her watch.
I roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing out loud and see Kaipo do the same. Loren seems to have lost his sense of humor as he glowers at Riley, not that she notices or seems to care.
“Did you manage to scrape up a date for the formal?” Riley asks me as her wingmen smirk at her sides.
“No, but not because I couldn’t manage to, because I don’t want to.”
My sorority sisters give me a pitying look.
“I’ll go with you.” Kaipo flashes a sexy grin that flushes my cheeks.
“She said she’s good, Kaip.” The seriousness in Loren’s voice catches me off guard.
“Good’s not good enough.” Kaipo scoots closer to me. “She deserves to be great.” He winks and lifts his chin. “What do you say, sweet