Page 129 of Love Me in the Dark

Jensen stands, moving towards her, gripping her arms with his hands, moving her to the side as he leaves the room, heading up the stairs. She lets out a squeak and my cock twitches from the sound.

“Come on, Hilary.” I deepen my voice, tired of playing around with her. Friday will be a different story. She can play coy all she wants then, but I need to win her over so she’ll be exactly where I want her to be.

She shuffles her feet as she crosses the room, but instead of sitting on the couch, she lowers her bag off her shoulder and places it on the floor, kneeling in front of the coffee table across from us.

Well played, Hilary. Well played.

“There is a couch, with a spot right beside me that’ll be more comfortable than the floor,” I remind her.

She doesn’t look at me, instead, she keeps her head down, the loose strands of hair falling in her face, and pulls a spiral notebook from her bag. She opens it and places it on the table before taking a pen out.

“So, umm, I was thinking we could look at the similarities between William Shakespeare's body of works,” she announces.

Huh? Not the path I would take. It seems to be far more work than I would ever place into getting a grade. I already know that I’m getting an A regardless, but her idea feels like it would require us to spend an increased amount of time together. I wonder if she thought about that.

“Shit man, you ain’t smart enough to do that,” Hals jokes as he doubles over, laughing. “Good thing you got a brainiac for a partner.”

“Like you know anything about Shakespeare, either. If you don’t have any intelligent input, get the fuck out of here, dickhead,” I bark at him before turning my attention back to her.

“We can just look at the bullet points first, then divide them up. I can make a plan and we can do the work on our own, then meet up to finalize the final report.” Her voice squeaks as she starts scribbling away in her notebook.

Oh no, Kitty Kat. You’re not getting away that easily. It’s cute that you think that, though. You’re stuck to my side until Friday. Then, well, you’ll be the girl people don’t even wonder about.

“What topics of similarity are you thinking about?” Hals asks, scooting closer to me on the couch so he can lean forward and see what she’s writing.

“Well, I was thinking we could discuss the recurring themes in his plays.” She stops writing to look up, her emerald green eyes shifting between us.

“Interesting. And what would those be?” While I pride myself on being smart, Shakespeare isn’t something I spend my time studying. What really gets me is how much Hals is playing along with this. He’s sucking up to her more than he’s ever done with anyone before.

“Yes, Hilary, since this is our project, why don’t you share that with me?” I cut my eyes at Hals. If he scares her off after I’ve gotten her here, I’m going to murder him.

“Well.” She tucks a few stray wispy curls behind her ear before wringing her hands together. Yes! There’s my skittish, timid, awkward girl.

“We could look at the consistent use of tragic heroes, themes, and troubled romantic relationships between his works.”

“That’s good. I like that.” Fuck, I’m actually impressed. I may even want to do this project solo after she’s gone—especially if we get the majority of the groundwork done before Friday.

“There’s more than that, but I figured three is a good number to look at. If you don’t like it, we can go with something else.”

“I agree, Hilary, three is a magical number. I’ve heard great things happen in three.” Hals gives a wink that has her dropping her eyes to her notebook. Her face and neck, turn a beautiful shade of pink.

Hilary keeps fidgeting with her notebook, only maintaining eye contact briefly. Her breathing is raspy and I love the fear that’s permeating off of her.

I stand up, needing to cut the distance between us so I can move this along. She must trust me, to want me. Her keeping the coffee table between us isn’t going to help.

I move to her side and reach down, scooping her into my arms, and step back over to the couch. She lets out a yelp, trying to pull herself from my grasp.

I plop her down on the cushion between Hals and myself and sit back down. She goes to stand up, but I place my hand on her knee, squeezing it tightly as I prevent her from moving.

“Nope, this is better. I can see what you’re writing, and I like you being close to me,” I whisper into her ear, letting my hot breath dance along her lobe.

“You can say that again. She fits perfectly in this spot.” Hals slips his arm along the back of the couch, as he scoots closer to her. “What do you like on your pizza?”

She shakes her head and we both laugh.

“Aren’t you going to answer him? It’ll make me happy,” I tell her, as I rub my hand along her thigh, her body tensing under my touch.

“Really, I’m good. I can eat in the cafeteria when we’re done.”