Page 31 of Anchored To You

"Fuck it," I whisper to myself as I stand up. I'm opening the top of the pizza box when the door to the room swings open, Talon walking in.

"Hi," he says, a towel wrapped around his neck and his bathroom caddy in his hand. He shakes the caddy, looking at me sheepishly, "I haven't showered yet since this morning so I figured I would take a quick one while waiting for you. So that I'm fresh for whatever happens," he snickers, putting his caddy down.

My body sags, and I breathe a little easier after finding out that he was just in the shower. Damn, that was a roller coaster of emotions I just went through, but I don't want him to know that I was thinking he was out with someone else so I try to play it off, not letting him see how affected I just was.

"Damn, someone came prepared," I purr, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

His body melts into mine as he looks up at me. "Always." His stomach growls, and he laughs. "Food first, though."

"You got it."

Talon and I spend the next twenty minutes scarfing down our pizza, filling up our stomachs. We're talking about nothing in particular, but we're both laughing our asses off. Talon is perched on his bed, while I'm sitting beside him at the desk. Every so often, he taps his foot against mine, then slowly pulls away and smiles my way. After cleaning up the pizza, I take out the ice cream, handing Talon's over to him. I watch with sharp attention as he slowly slides the spoon into his mouth, letting his tongue swirl around the ice cream before he pulls the entire thing out. Fuck, if he doesn't stop that, I'll attack him before he has time to finish the ice cream.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asks, swiping the tip of his tongue up the bottom of the spoon.

"Because you're teasing me and it's hot as hell."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grins, dipping the spoon into the ice cream and putting it into his mouth again. "I'm just eating my dessert. It's not my fault you're having dirty thoughts about me. I can't help what pops into your mind."

I laugh loudly, tossing my head back at his teasing. There's something about Talon that turns me on so much. And I'm not even talking about turning me on sexually. It's the way he's so open with who he is. How easily he can joke around with me. How there was never a time when he was shy towards me. Since the first night I met him a year ago, I have been smitten. His outgoing personality, how he's so confident in who he is. And yeah, him being gorgeous as hell doesn't hurt.

But as I'm sitting here, staring at this man in front of me, I'm realizing I'm completely fucked. Because as much as I want to say this means nothing and it's only hooking up. My heart knows it's so much more.

Chapter

Fifteen

TALON

Ispoonful another helping of ice cream, shoving it into my mouth as I glance over at Beck. He's been staring at me for the last five minutes, and I can't tell if he's infatuated with me, or if I'm turning him on by eating my ice cream. There's one part of me that's hoping it's because I eat dessert sexily, but there's a small, like the smallest amount inside me, that's hoping he might be as infatuated with me as I am with him.

Even though I'm not infatuated.

Not at all.

"You seem to be thinking very hard over there. Penny for your thoughts?"

"I thought they stopped producing the penny. Seems it should now be a nickel for your thoughts," I say, placing the lid on my ice cream and reaching over my bed to put it into the small freezer attached to our dorm room fridge.

"Fine, I'll play. Nickel for your thoughts?" he asks, leaning forward and putting his ice cream next to mine. Our fingers graze one another for a brief second, but the jolt of electricity that shocks my body is strong as hell.

"I was just thinking about how tasty my ice cream was," I lie, knowing I wasn't going to tell him my thoughts were completely on him.

"I call bullshit, but I'll let you have your lies," he smiles at me, causing my heart to skip a beat. "Fuck, I'm full. Do you mind if we hang out for a little while and relax? Maybe let our food settle?"

"Oh, what a way to talk dirty to me," I joke, turning slightly to swing my feet onto the floor. I pat my stomach, knowing there's no way my body was to be bounced around right now. "That actually sounds like a great plan. Have anything in mind?"

Beck glances around our small room, his gaze stopping on the TV. "Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure."

Beck grabs the remote and looks through the Ghouloo trying to find something for us to watch, while I clean up the pizza, stacking everything neatly. Once I'm done cleaning up our mess, I'm not quite sure what to do. I know what I should do, which is to stay in bed. But Beck moved the TV at an angle, and it's facing his mattress, which means I could see the movie more clearly if I move over there. But when it comes to Beck, I've given myself one simple rule. Don't fall asleep with him.

But it's not falling asleep, right?

We'd be watching a movie, and yeah, we would be lying in the same bed, but that's not sleeping with one another. Besides, it's only for a bit until we rip each other's clothes off. I can handle being in the same bed with him for a few minutes. Beck finds a movie he wants to watch, pressing play before standing up on the side of his bed, ripping off his shirt. Damn, his body is like a god. All muscular and ripped, with abs for days on his stomach. I glance away, not wanting him to know I'm staring. I sneak a peek a few times while he strips down to his boxer briefs. Once he crawls into his mattress, I get up from my bed, doing the same and undressing until I'm only wearing my underwear. He's gazing at me, his eyes dragging up and down my body as I stand beside him, not knowing what to do.

How is he going to react once I try to get into bed with him? Will he tell me no and that I need to go back to my own bed? I don't think Beck is like that, but again, we've never done this before. Not trying to waste too much energy on what ifs, I hop into his bed, laying down next to him.