Page 45 of His Temptation

“Yep. We can just take it one day at a time.” I parked and took the keys out of the ignition but remained in my car. “If it sucks, we don’t have to do it again. Simple. Don’t think you’re tied down to me because you’re not.”

I was 99 percent sure itwouldn’tsuck, though. Emery just had to look at me to get me going.

“You’re very straightforward,” he said, a smile back in his voice. “I like that. I’ll see you soon.”

“Later.” After pocketing my phone, I took a breath and got out of the car, hoping Mom and Steve weren’t home.

Luck was on my side.

Once in the apartment, I went down the short hallway and unlocked my bedroom door—something I’d started doing to make sure Steve didn’t go through my stuff. I didn’t have a lot of valuables other than my laptop and my TV, but I knew he’d take whatever he could if it meant making a quick buck.

When my phone rang, I half expected it to be Emery again and my stomach got all fluttery. But it was Ryan, and the butterflies fell dead and piled in my gut like a damn anchor.

“Hey, what’s up?” I answered, paranoid he somehow knew I planned to bang his dad later.

“How was your date last night?” Ryan asked.

“Oh. Um.” I held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I ruffled through my clothes and shoved some into a backpack. “It was okay.”

“Just okay? I take it you didn’t get any, then.”

“Not everything is about sex, dude.” Funny formeto say since losing my virginity was my life’s mission at the moment. But he didn’t need to know that.

“Only because you’ve never gotten laid,” Ryan countered. He was the only friend I’d told about my virginity, only because he’d kept hounding me about it one day in the locker room and I’d accidentally blurted it out. He’d given me shit ever since. “Once you’ve had some pussy, come back and tell me it’s not everything.”

I cringed at the word and zipped my backpack. Emery didn’t say I was staying the night, but I’d bring an overnight bag just in case things went well and we ended up fucking until the sun came up. Fingers crossed.

“Are you and Lexi hanging out tonight?”

“Nah,” Ryan answered. “She’s pissed at me right now. She snooped through my phone last night after we fucked and found some messages I forgot to delete.”

“You cheating on her?” I stripped down to my boxers and searched the shirts hanging in my closet. I had enough time to take a shower, dress, and grab a quick bite to eat before I went to Emery’s. Though, I was too anxious to have an appetite, so maybe I’d spend extra time in the shower instead of eating.

One of my worst fears was not being properly cleaned or something and embarrassing myself. God, my face heated just thinking about it.

“Not exactly,” Ryan answered. “I’m talking to a few girls, but I’m not, like, sleeping with any of them.”

“Why are you talking to them when you have Lexi?” I asked, grabbing a fresh pair of boxers and heading toward the bathroom.

“Just keeping my options open. The girls I’m talking to will be going to the same college as me. Lexi and I won’t even be together when I meet up with them.”

“Does Lexi know you won’t be together?”

“Hell no,” Ryan answered. “If she did, she’d dump me.”

Can’t blame her.

“That’s kinda shitty, Ry. She deserves to know that she’s just a fling.”

“Get off my dick, Cas,” he snapped. “I know what I’m doing, okay?”

“Okay.”

Right then, I appreciated Emery laying everything out earlier and making it clear what we were doing from the start. Because things could get messy if we weren’t on the same page. Poor Lexi was being strung along and didn’t even know it.

After I got off the phone with Ryan, I showered and got ready. It was twenty minutes until seven by the time I finished, so I didn’t have time to eat. I hoped my growling stomach wouldn’t kill the mood.

I texted Emery after getting in my car.