Page 38

I nod, conscious I’ve started blushing again.

And we stand there, smiling at each other until it hits me how rude I’m being.

I back up into my room. “Do you want to come in and talk? I mean, I’m not even sure you’d fit on my bed. Your legs are going to hang over the edge, and you’ll have a crick everywhere because you’ll have to fold yourself in half to?—”

“I’d like that,” he interrupts, still smiling. “You weren’t really selling it to me, Myers, but it’s you, so…”

My heart skips a beat as a softness enters his gaze. “So…”

“I’m not sure there’s anywhere else I would want to be.”

The back of my eyelids prickle, and I look away, pretending I’m busy shucking my hoodie and sneakers, not wanting him to see me cry because he said something so sweet.

He steps into my room, closing the door behind him. “What were you doing before?”

“Staring at the ceiling.” The unvarnished truth slips out, and it is embarrassing. “I couldn’t sleep after I spoke to you. Couldn’t concentrate on reading either, and I didn’t want to watch anything, so I was staring at the ceiling like a weirdo.”

“Not as much of a weirdo as you might think.” He pulls off his hoodie.

I try not to get caught staring at the tanned skin on his belly when his shirt rides up.

He’s hanging his hoodie on a hook behind my door when he accidentally knocks the coat I wore to seduce Reid.

I blanch as three packets of ridged condoms tumble out of my pocket. I thought the pocket was empty. Clearly not.

“I’ll get that,” Caleb offers, already bending.

“No need, I’ve got it.” I squeeze around him, red-faced. I bundle up the coat and the condoms into a ball and shove everything into the corner of my room.

“Aren’t you going to hang it?”

“Um, I just noticed a stain. I need to wash it,” I lie.

He nods as he steps out of his sneakers, not giving the coat a second glance.

I release a quiet sigh, relieved he didn’t see it.

By mutual agreement, we get settled on my bed, and he pulls the covers over us both. “Come here.”

To my surprise, he tugs me into his arms, pressing my cheek against his chest.

With my big light off and my bedside lamp on, it's so cozy that I don’t intend to move again for all the money in the world.

“I was staring at the ceiling as well,” he admits, again surprising me. “Usually, I think about plays.” He runs his fingers up and down my back, making me wish I wasn’t wearing PJs so it was bare skin. “Tonight was the first time I was thinking about something else.”

I relax against him. “What were you thinking about?”

“You.”

“ Me ?” I tilt my head up.

He nods. “Is there a reason you have a trench coat pocket full of condoms?” His voice is neutral.

Shit. He saw. He pretended not to, but he must have been dying of curiosity all this time, which is why he had to ask. And you know what? I can’t blame him.

“There is no way to answer that question without sounding like a psycho,” I say.

“Try.”

“I emptied a condom machine and then seduced Reid.”

The corners of his eyes crinkle. “Was emptying the condom machine a requirement for this seduction?”

“At the time, yes, it was.” Now, I struggle to understand my rationale. “Caleb?”

“Myers.”

“Does it bother you that I slept with Javier and Reid?”

“Should it?”

I search his expression but this man is impossible to read. “Well, I thought you would… well, I’m not sure what I thought you would do. Or say.”

“You’re ours, Myers.”

“And you really don’t mind…” When will I stop blushing? “Um, sharing me?”

His expression sharpens. “Is this a problem for you?”

“No,” I blurt out. “Not for me. Just…” My voice trails off.

“Just what?”

“I don’t know anyone who does what we’re doing. And I thought it would feel wrong.”

“But it doesn’t feel wrong?”

I shake my head. “Does it feel wrong to you?”

“No, it doesn’t. I’ve talked with Reid and Jay and it doesn’t feel wrong to them either.” He’s smiling slightly as he rearranges us on the bed. I assume it’s because he needs to get comfortable on a bed that’s too small for him.

“Oh, that’s good.”

It doesn’t occur to me that he might have a different reason for moving us around until he’s peering down at me with hooded eyes. “Have you always been like this?”

I scrunch my nose, confused. “If you’re thinking something good, then yes. Definitely. If it’s something bad, then no, it’s a recent development that I’m certain will go away soon.”

There. That should cover all bases.

He continues to peer down at me for so long that I get nervous. “What?”

Is he regretting coming here?

Did I say something I shouldn’t have?

Will I ever stop opening my mouth and sticking one of my size eight feet inside?

His eyes rove my face, lingering for a second too long on my lips. “I can’t believe you’ve been on the same campus as me all this time, and I never saw you.”

I swallow as my fingers clench around his dark gray T-shirt. It’s his shirt or I will give into temptation and run my fingers along his square jaw or his full lower lip.

“What would you have done if you had seen me?”

“Gotten to know you, and…”

His eyes settle on my lips, and I hold my breath when his head lowers. He doesn’t need to tell me what the other thing is.

He’s going to kiss me.

Caleb Boucher is going to kiss me, right freaking now .

I must be near blue in the face when his lips touch mine.

He lifts his head slightly, a tiny flicker of amusement warming his green gaze. “Breathe, Myers. I just found you. I’m not ready to lose you yet.”

I take a breath, and Caleb touches his lips to mine, his sweet words as surprising to me as the uncertainty of his kiss.

As if he’s afraid I might change my mind or that I don’t want this at all.

I part my lips as I stroke my palms over his back, urging him closer, so he knows I like what he’s doing and that I want him to continue.

He groans as he deepens the kiss, his hands roaming my body. He’s big everywhere, but he carefully braces himself over me so he doesn’t crush me.

I love the way he tastes. His lips are firm, his breath is hot, and there’s a quiet urgency in the way he sweeps his tongue into my mouth. It feels like he’s always been there. His body tucked against mine, and his kiss stealing all the reason from my mind.

He rocks against me. I clench the thin cotton of his T-shirt, and my breath catches as I whimper into his mouth.

He breaks the kiss, breathing hard as he stares down at me. “Myers?”

What are words again? I think I forgot. “Huh?”

“I’m not crushing?—”

“No.”

He kisses me again, then breaks away, with a muffled curse.

“What’s wrong?” My grip tightens on the back of his T-shirt in a futile attempt to keep him right where he is. If he wanted to leave, grabbing his shirt is hardly going to stop him.

He frowns down the length of my bed as he shifts around a little more. “You weren’t lying about this bed, were you? My toes are curling over the end of your bedframe.”

It’s not that funny. Truly, it’s not. Yet my giggle sneaks up on me, starting from low in my belly and working its way up.

Suddenly, all I can picture is a giant bat with Caleb’s face hanging upside down from the branches of a tree.

I try to stifle my laughter when I catch Caleb looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“What?” he asks, smiling slightly.

Taking multiple breaks to catch my breath between uncontrollable giggles, I pant out the image in my head, and his deep, rumbling laugh fills my room.

"Shit, Myers,” he breathes, “I can't remember the last time I laughed like that."

Eventually, our laughter dies down. “You still want to stay?” I ask. “Even though the bed is?—”

“I do.”

I release my hold on his shirt, figuring there has to be something I can do to make him more comfortable. “Get up.”

He raises his eyebrow. “You’re kicking me out?”

Now he’s the one gripping onto my shirt. Absolutely not what I was expecting, but I can’t say I don’t like it.

“I have an idea,” I say, sitting up.

Expression openly curious, he humors me, getting to his feet as I do the same.

I remove the bed covers and pillows and place them on the floor. With thick carpets and a heavy comforter, it should be comfortable to sleep. And our mild Pennsylvania nights mean we shouldn’t get cold with a single sheet covering us.

Caleb stands off to the side, watching me curiously as I spread everything around until I nod, satisfied.

“That’s as comfortable as I can make it.”

He joins me on our floor bed. “My feet are no longer hanging over the edge of the bedframe like a bat. Thanks, Myers.”

I giggle as he kisses me.

And everything stops being funny as I slide my arms up over his shoulders, stroking the muscles of his back as he angles his head and deepens the kiss.

His hands roam over me, exploring every inch of me, making me painfully aware that I’m not skinny like the girls from practice who were trying to capture his attention. That I could do with working out more, or losing weight from my ass, my belly, and?—

He breaks the kiss. “Myers?”

I swallow, avoiding his gaze. “Yeah?”

“Having second thoughts?”

I stare at the corner of my room, so I won’t have to look him in the eye for this. “No. Just…”

“Just what?”

I dart a rapid glance at him. “You probably… you’re probably used to less…” Geez, why did I think bringing this up was a good idea? “Of a girl.”

I wince at my utter brainlessness.

His fingers are gentle when he catches my chin.

He brings my gaze back to him. “You think I’m having second thoughts?”

I nod once, a tiny motion.

Amusement flickers across his gaze. “Was that when I was fighting to get your clothes off because you turn me on that much?”

My mouth falls open. He gently nudges it closed. “Or was it when I was so nervous I would fuck this up and you’d change your mind?”

“ You thought that?”

“I did.”

“Oh.”

Amusement flares to life. “I need more than that, Myers.”