Page 97 of Campus Muscle

“I came here because I don’t know what to do,” I said, waiting for her to give me the smallest sign. There was none. Not even a flush of pink on her cheeks. “I’m scared of making the wrong choice. Of throwing my future away. Terrified, actually.”

Dakota didn’t move for a long while, her gaze searching mine, seeing every crack in the armor I’d spent years building.

Finally, she leaned in, her voice a soft, devastating tether. “You can’t leave. Because then you’ll be away from me.”

The air left my lungs in a shocked, surprised, relieved laugh.

That was it. The one truth I had been too afraid to admit out loud. The fear didn’t vanish, but it shifted, replaced by a surge of warmth.

I grabbed her hand and stood up, leading us to the deepest, darkest corner of the aisle. The exact spot where the light didn’t reach, and the air smelled like old paper and forgotten assignments.

“What are you—?”

I shoved her back against the shelf, hard enough to knock the end of her question into oblivion. My hands went to her waist, bunching the fabric of her jersey in tight fists.

“You have no idea,” I growled, my face inches from hers, “how hard it is for me to keep my head straight when you’re wearing my name like this. You look so hot it’s driving me insane.”

She tilted her head back, a knowing smirk playing on her lips. “And? What are you gonna do about it?”

“Always the smartass,” I whispered, then kissed the shit out of her.

35

Dakota

Trace’s mouth crashed into mine, pinning me against the shelf with a force that made my head spin. His hands locked onto my waist, the kiss raw and demanding. A sudden release of the tension that had been building between us since he’d first walked in.

He was a solid wall of heat against me, his body tuned to a frequency that made my skin catch fire. We had spent days navigating a minefield of Delaney’s threats and the team’s future, leaving no room for much else. Now, the quiet of the library welcomed our shallow breathing and the pounding of my pulse in my ears.

My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer as I felt the rigidity finally snap in his shoulders. There was a jagged edge to the way he held me, a silent admission that he was hanging on by a thread and I was the only thing he had left to grab onto. In this shadowed corner, the logic of transfer offers and career paths didn’t matter. There was only the crushing pressure of his chest against mine and the hunger that was rapidly blurring everything else out.

“I want you,” I breathed against his lips.

“Nothing’s stopping us.”

I pulled back to look him in the eyes. “In case you’ve forgotten, we’re in the school library and there are a ton of students around us.”

“I counted about two when I got here,” he said with a soft laugh, and peppered my lips with a series of quick kisses. “And they’re all the way up front.”

Common sense would’ve had me peeking out to see how true that was. But the ache between my legs became a demanding throb that would only be stilled by one thing. One person.

“We have to be quiet,” I said, a slow smile tugging at my lips.

Trace quirked an eyebrow. He had a mischievous glint in his eye that made me nervous. “I’m going to try my best to make you scream. You’re the one who has to be quiet.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but his tongue ended the debate pretty quickly, plunging into me with enough passion to lift me off my feet. He slammed me against the shelf again, and I hiked my legs around his waist, my skirt riding up to fully receive the blazing friction of his dick.

Even through his jeans, I could tell he was already rock hard. Just the thought of his thick shaft stretching my pussy to the limit got me wet.

Every time he moved, the books behind my head jostled, the sound magnified in the suffocating silence of the top floor. My heartbeat was a furious drum against my ribs. The way he devoured my mouth, the terrifying, electric knowledge that anyone could round the corner at any second…

It turned me the fuck on like nothing else.

We were completely exposed. A single curious student or a roaming librarian was all it would take to end us, and the risk was like gasoline on the fire Trace had ignited. I should have said no. I should have pushed him away and straightened my skirt.

Instead, the possibility of being caught made my skin hum with a reckless, impatient need that I could feel all the way down to my toes.

Trace pulled back just an inch, his eyes blown out with desire as he watched me struggle for air. He didn’t say a word, just reached down between us, his hand sliding under my skirt. I gasped into his mouth when his palm met the bare skin of my thigh, his touch a trail of fire as he worked his way toward my throbbing pussy.