Page 23 of Blitz

“No?”

“I think you are.” She scoots her chair closer towards mine. “I think you don’t hate me nearly as much as you pretend to.”

My mouth goes dry. She’s at least three feet away, but the scent of her tangy and bright perfume washes over me as familiar as the back of my hand. It’s calming. Soothing.

“I—” My brain turns to mush.

“I would love to study with you, if that’s what you’re offering,” she says. Her voice is rich and husky. She looks up at me from beneath her lashes. “Tonight. Five o’clock. We can go to the ASC when our shift is over, grab dinner after.”

“I’m having dinner with my roommates.” It’s what we do. We eat dinner together every night, rain or shine. Sam joins us for some breakfasts and most dinners. She fits in with our ragtag group of guys. She balances us out.

“You don’t want to have dinner with me?” Her little pink tongue comes out to wet her lips. My jeans get tighter, remembering other things that tongue has done to me. Naked. “I’m a good study buddy.”

I remember studying in high school with her. Her idea of studying incentives involved straddling me and removing articles of clothing as I recited the periodic table of elements. To this day, I can’t think of the noble gases without getting hard.

“I don’t need that kind of studying.”

Her full lips curve into a victorious smile. “I’m talking about cracking open a few books in the dining hall. Not anything… scandalous.” Her fingertips brush over her collarbone. My eyes are drawn to her clingy red sweater and down, down, down to the curve of her breasts.

My eyes dart back to hers. She’s looking at me expectantly. Her smile is deadly. My stomach flips.

“It’s not a good idea.” I need to actually focus and learn the material, not get distracted every ten seconds by thoughts of her.

Who am I kidding? I already think of her every five seconds. Studying together or on our own, she’s still going to be on my mind.

“We can be friends, King,” she says quietly, her eyes locked on mine. “We can get through this awkwardness and be friends again.”

“It’s not awkward,” I lie.

She scoots her chair closer to me. She sets her hand on my knee. Sparks of electricity travel through my veins and coalesce in my gut. My cock is definitely interested in seeing where she’s going with this. Just being this close to her makes my every nerve twitch with anticipation.

“It is, and that’s okay,” she says. “We can get through it.”

“There’s nothing to get through.”

“I know you won’t forgive me,” she starts.

“We shouldn’t talk about this now.” I look pointedly at the mom and her son in the kiddie corner.

“If you had it your way, we wouldn’t talk about this at all.”

“You’re right. We wouldn’t.” My defenses slam back into place. It’s too dangerous; I can’t let my guard down around her or she’ll slip right back in. I can’t afford that. I won’t be able to survive it this time.

“I want to be part of your life,” she says quietly. “In any way you’ll allow me. Let me in, King. We can do this.”

Chapter ten

Mason

At five o’clock on the dot, we clock out of work. Tucker goes to the rack and hands me my coat, politely chivalrous. His fingers brush mine, and I find myself leaning into the contact. My fingers zip with pinpricks of delight.

“Thanks.”

He clears his throat, pulling away. He slips his arms into his coat and zips it all the way up to his throat.

“You ready for this, big guy?”

He grunts, which is better than cursing me out or cancelling our plans outright, so I’ll take what I can get.