Page 42 of The Boy Next Door

One Year Later

A buzzing sound cuts through the fog of sleep. I open my eyes to find a text from Dylan on my phone.

Dylan: Six days until winter break!!!

What? My sluggish fingers reply with something.

Sam: How early did you wake up to send this message?

Dylan: I'm about to go to bed, I swear!

If the time is 6:45 here, then in California—crap!

6:45 in the morning means I'm already running late.

Between the commute and battling other pedestrians through the slushy streets—yeah, there's virtually no chance for timely attendance to my early freaking morning class, and where the heck are my clothes?

Oh god, how do I get in these situations? Naked at the crack of dawn, somehow needing to avoid all the grown men in this sardine can apartment and rush back to campus. Darn it, this day already sucks.

Throwing off the covers, freezing air hits me, and I'm sorely tempted to crawl back into bed.

Instead, I'm dragged back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hunter growls, his body a line of heat behind me.

"To my dorm if I'm lucky," I respond, trying to wriggle out of his hold. "Straight to class if I'm not."

He peppers kisses on my neck. "You have time."

"No, that's what I'm missing , along with my brain."

"Ouch."

I hear him fall back onto the bed. Twisting around, I kiss his cheek as an apology. "Because I let you convince me to stay over again, even though my dorm is warm, and you broke guys never heat the apartment appropriately."

"I'm here to keep you warm."

What a good argument. One I usually can't resist, which is why I run around like a chicken with my head cut off most mornings.

Hunter pulls my body against his, and I nearly sigh in bliss as his warm chest fights away the cold.

"Your printmaking class is first today, right?" he continues. "The teacher likes you, and she loves me."

"You making friends with my professor is weirder than anything French ever—"

He captures my lips in a quick kiss. "Just tell her it's my fault."

"It is your fault."

Stopping my grumbling with his lips, Hunter's clever tongue and roving hands wake me up and silence further protests. While my dorm is heated correctly, serves hot breakfast, and the trip to my classes takes much less time, there's no question: waking up this way always wins.

Hunter spent basically every second he wasn't working with me until he left for New York. Then the days until graduation crawled by , and Maggie has video of me literally jumping into his arms when he came back for Dylan's and my graduation.

Once I started school in the fall, I was so desperate and eager to have him next to me again, and it's like those feelings never stopped. I want him so badly, and there's never enough time with him, but that doesn't stop us from taking every opportunity we get.

So, I'm not sure if I'm living the dream, but I'm definitely playing out one of my better fantasies as a young college student in the big city with my hot musician boyfriend.

Yes, New York City is crazy expensive, and Hunter's apartment is minuscule, but there's always something to see and do, unparalleled art, and also my boyfriend lives here too.

"If you ask me," Hunter says in a sleep-raspy, entirely sexy voice. "This is the only way to start the morning."

Why waste breath on an argument he already won?

Joining our mouths together again, our tongues twist in a lazy glide perfect for the early hour as our lower halves start moving at the same pace.

My hands move down Hunter's back, cupping his warm ass—a series of bangs erupt from the other side of the door.

"Meeting with the Hellcat execs this morning!" reminds the band's lead singer, pounding his fist against the door in a wakeup call again.

"Okay," Hunter hollers back.

"We can't screw it up!"

"Okay!"

"Not until after they sign us."

"If we both have places to be…" I begin, slightly regretful, yet I take the chance to escape.

"We should do this fast then," Hunter counters, pulling me back once more.

Our positions mirror how we woke up, his front pressed to my back. His hips move in a tempting rhythm—I press back into him, matching his movements. He truly is irresistible, plus the temperature in here certainly rises from the filthy grind of our bodies as—the banging on the door starts again.

"Hey! If you're gonna have sex, do it loud! Johnny hasn't woken up yet."

If Hunter's laughter near my ear were music, I'd buy every record. Even if nobody buys records anymore.

"Glad you stayed over?" he asks, biting along my jaw.

"Not because your roommates are encouraging a free show. Otherwise? The company isn't so bad." I twist around in his arms so I can kiss him. "I love you."

His dark eyes must become a few shades brighter at those words. "Hey, look at that. I love you too."

Wow, the morning's going to get off to a fantastic start after all.