A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(66)

I’d already had to take over Blaze’s job to write up the dialogue for the short skit we’d had to film. She was still pissed at me for calling her a loser at Forbidden, but it boggled my mind why she’d shoot herself in the foot and not even participate in the group project. Not only did the professor grade us, but we had to turn in reports on all the other group members too. No one was going to give her a good grade.

“So, this Tad guy isn’t who—” When I glanced at Noel and lifted an eyebrow, he paused and cleared his throat. “It’s just that you’ve been gone a lot more lately. I figured you might be…seeing someone.”

“Oh, you did, did you?”

“If you are,” he went on, emphasizing his words through gritted teeth, “then I want to meet him.”

It was obvious that Aspen had gotten to him and strongly advised him as to what he should and shouldn’t say to me. It was kind of funny to see him hold back and not blurt out what I knew he wanted to say, but it only made me feel worse because he was being this considerate.

Still. “If I was seeing someone,” I smiled and patted his cheek, “I’d wait a good long while before letting the poor guy meet you.”

He snorted. “Yeah, probably after you’re married and pregnant with your second—”

When my face paled, he realized what he’d done. Gnashing his teeth, he closed his eyes and cursed softly. “Shit, Caroline. I’m sorry. I forgot.”

“It’s okay.” But honestly, it hurt. It hurt like hell. “I think the whole idea is going to take us all a while to get used to.” I just had to concentrate on everything else—school, my family, Oren—and I could survive this.

Noel didn’t seem to believe my forgiveness, so I hugged him tight.

“We’ll make it through this,” he told me, “one way or another.”





I was going through Caroline withdrawals.

After she’d stayed all night with me on Friday, I woke up every morning after that reaching for her. It sucked ass that she was never there. We hadn’t even been able to sneak her over for the next four nights because of her work, my work, and f*cking school assignments coming due. So, not only did I just want her around, I was starting to get horny, too.

When I spotted her sitting under a tree on campus on Wednesday, wiping her hair out of her face as she read something on her phone, no way was I staying away.

“Just the woman I was thinking about,” I said as soon as I approached.

Her head jerked up, her eyes wide with surprise. After glancing around at all the passing people heading off to classes, she turned back to stare up at me. “People can see us.”

“Damn.” I snapped my fingers and winced as I plopped down next to her. “And here I thought my invisibility cloak was working today.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hardy har har. But seriously, what are you doing talking to me in public?”

I scowled. “Is talking to you in public not allowed?” To keep from reaching for her like I was aching to, I opened my book bag and dug around before pulling up a box full of Junior Mints.

“I just…I guess I didn’t expect for you to...you know...talk to me in public.”

After I opened the top of my Junior Mints, I silently offered her a handful.

A smile lit her face before she held out her palm. “Thank you.” I sprinkled a pile into her hand and then dumped some straight into my mouth.

“I talk to you in public all the time,” I told her around a mouthful.

She seemed to consider that a moment before shrugging and chewing. “I guess you have a point.”

“I know I do.” I swallowed and poured more mints into my mouth. “Now tell me what’s bugging you?”

Her gaze zipped to mine. “Why do you think something’s bugging me?”

I motioned to my own bangs. “You’re doing the hair thing.”

“Hair thing?” She shook her head, letting me know she had no clue what I was talking about.

“Yeah, you know.” I motioned with my hand again. “You always do that thing with your hair when something’s bothering you.”

Blinking, she leaned in toward me. “I do…what?”

“Never mind. Just tell me whose ass I have to kick.”

“You…” She set her hand over her mouth and just kind of stared at me with awe. Then she cleared her throat and dropped her hand as she shook her head. “No one’s ass needs kicking. I was just checking to see if my grade was posted for my filmography final yet.” She looked down at it again and pushed refresh on her screen. “You know the one I was telling you about? Where we had to do a group project and turn in a small skit. Since my group named me freaking director, I basically had to take responsibility for making sure everything got done?”

Hell, yes I remembered her telling me about it. It was the reason she hadn’t been able to come over at night more times than I liked. I nodded and motioned her to continue talking.

She blew out a breath. “Well, I turned it in yesterday.” With a soft growl, she went on. “And I’m worried as hell about our score. I still want to kill Blaze for flaking out on me. I ended up having to write the entire script because she was pissed at me for calling her a loser.”