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“I understand the mechanics,” she’s saying, “the biology–but I want to experience it. Is that wrong?”

“With me?” I answer for her. “Yes.”

She looks up at me, wide-eyed and determined. “I don’t think so.”

Outside the door, we hear heavy footsteps as Axel comes up stairs. We both freeze, waiting for him to go into his room. There’s a tap on the door, and then, “Yo, Reid.”

My balls shrivel up at the same time my heart lodges in my throat. I struggle to clear it enough to speak. “Yeah?”

“I’m going to hit the gym in the morning. You wanna come?”

“S–” the ‘s’ comes out in a squeak. I try again. “Sure.”

“Cool. I’ll meet you downstairs at nine.”

We stare at one another for a long moment, waiting for Axel to enter his room and close the door. I flip off my overhead light, which I should have done as soon as I walked in the room. “He’ll kill me, you know that, right?”

“He won’t find out,” she assures me. “And if he does? I’ll handle him.”

“It won’t be necessary.” I cross my arms over my chest, trying my best to act tough. “I think you need to leave.”

Apparently, she’s not falling for my act and Shelby lowers herself to the edge of the bed before saying, “What if I just sit here, on the edge of the bed. That’s safe enough, right?”

“There’s a lot of things that can happen on the edge of a bed, GG, and if you don’t know that, you should probably head back to your room now.”

Her jaw tenses and she lifts her chin defiantly. “The simple fact that I don’t know that should be reason enough for you to show me.”

I think back to what Pete said. Someone is going to get to this girl. Someone with way less restraint and shadier motives than myself. Maybe she needs someone to push her out of her comfort zone. Make her less trusting. At least in the end, I won’t hurt her.

“You really want me to show you?”

“Please.”

I sit next to her, the mattress sinking under my weight.

“Don’t hold back. Act like a guy who wants to be with me.”

I fight a groan. She has no fucking idea how badly I want her, and despite what she’s asking for, I can’t imagine any situation with Shelby where I’d feel comfortable letting loose. Showingher all the filthy things that run through my mind every time I think of her.

Sliding my hand behind her neck, I draw her face close to mine, and ask one last time, “Are you sure?”

She nods, but states definitively, “Yes.”

Our breath mingles before I make contact, giving me a hit of her taste before I even kiss her. But she doesn’t wait for me to make the move, surging forward, pressing those hot lips against mine, mouth open. The feel of her tongue teasing against mine sends a jolt straight to my cock. The idea that she’s never kissed anyone before seems ridiculous, but tonight she’s not content with just kissing and she pulls back, admiring my body.

“Are all men like this?” she asks, pressing her hands to the hard lines of my chest. “Because I don’t think David looks like this.”

“Does David work out six days a week, four hours a day?” It comes out smug as shit and I’m not even sorry. I’m proud of the work I’ve put into my body–that I’m no longer the scrawny kid shuttled from home to home, wondering where his next meal was coming from.

Her blue eyes meet mine and she says, “No. Not a chance.”

I’m bulkier than a forward like Reese who needs speed on his side, but I’m cut, the hours of working out at the gym and practice giving me a body that I know women love. I let her explore my chest, watching her tongue dart out in hunger. Then her nails graze over my nipples and I exhale a groan. “Fuck, GG, you make me so fucking hard.”

“I do?”

I’d pull her on my lap again, but I’m wired to trigger and there’s too much of her to explore, so I take her hand and hold it against my length. “You feel that?”

“Yeah.”