Boyfriend Bargain (Hawthorne University #1)(49)

A shuddering breath comes from him. “Do you have condoms?”

Breathless, I nod, tilting my head toward the desk. “Top drawer.”

His back is to me, and I take the opportunity to rove my eyes over his rippling muscles, watching the way they glide when he moves.

I hear the familiar jingle of keys outside my door.

Julia!

No, no, no!

I jump out of bed and throw myself at him. “Z, oh, shit, hide. I think my roommate is here.”

Looking over his shoulder at me, he gives me a sardonic eyebrow. “And this is a problem?”

I swat him on the arm just as I hear a muffled curse and the sound of metal hitting tile outside. She must have dropped her keys. Yes.

“First of all,” I hiss, “you’re naked as the day you were born, and I have no underwear on. Second, we all know you can charm the dew off a honeysuckle, but you can’t charm her. She hates hockey players—”

“You’re ashamed of me?” His tone is incredulous. “Have to say, this is a first.”

“I just don’t like people knowing my business.” I’m hustling him to the closet as I speak. “Plus I have no clue where your clothes are right now!” He points to a pile near the end of the bed so I reach over and toss them at his chest. “Get in my closet.”

He looks affronted. “You’ll pay for this later. I’ll want…things.”

I shiver, already thinking about those things.

He exhales and allows me to push him in the closet. Before I shut it, I give him a lopsided smile.

I can hear the front door opening into the darkened room just as he whispers, “Do I have to stay here all night?”

I ignore him, straighten my tank, snatch up my underwear, and slide them on just as Julia flips on the tiny lamp on her nightstand. I walk to her side and once she turns, she jumps and screams.

Her hand goes to her heart. “Sugar! I was trying to be quiet. I thought you were asleep.” She takes in my disheveled appearance and probably wild hair. I tug down on my tank top, thankful he at least left that on.

I’m not exactly sure why I don’t want to tell her. I mean, it’s not like a twenty-one-year-old girl can’t have sex, but avoidance is my answer to everything tonight.

Her hair is as much of a mess as mine, I notice, and it looks as if she might have been crying.

“Is everything okay?” I frown, taking a step toward her, but her look stops me.

She holds her hand up. “I’m fine. Just a long day at work.” She plops her purse down and sits on the edge of her bed.

I nod, leaning against the half-wall that separates our rooms. “I didn’t even know you had a job that went this late.”

She pulls her hair out of a messy bun and brushes at it until it falls in a sleek wave down her back. “Yeah.”

Her voice is taut with tension as if she’s mentally telling me to mind my own business. I forget for half a second that Zack is huddled up in my closet and take another small step toward her. “I’m a good listener if you want to talk…sometime.” Not tonight though, I think, crossing my fingers. I have to get him out of here.

She takes off her shirt and jeans and pulls on an oversized T-shirt. With a lingering glance, she looks as if she might tell me something, but then she changes her mind. She crawls into her bed, tucks herself under the blanket, and turns off her light. “Just exhausted. Let’s talk later. Right now I just want to listen to some Beethoven and sleep.”

Okay.

She reaches over to the nightstand, grabs her earbuds, and taps to start the music on her phone.

“Night,” she murmurs.

I mumble a response, but she’s already turning over and facing the wall.

I shuffle over to my side and stand at the door of the closet, debating, moving from side to side.

How am I going to get him out of here? Do I want to get him out of here?

As quiet as a mouse, I open the closet door, and Zack is sitting on top of my mini fridge, munching as quietly as possible on a lone Dorito. One of my silk scarves, a gift from Mara I keep in a box on the top shelf, is looped around his neck.

I sigh. A very large and naked man with a dragon tattoo is sitting on top of my mini fridge with a semi, eating chips with a scarf on. Priceless.

“I guess it was too much to ask for you to get dressed?” I hiss.

He licks his fingers clean. “I was too pissed.”

I step inside with him. “It wouldn’t be college if you didn’t have to hide in the closet of a dorm room at least once.”

He puts the chips down. “Is she gone?”

I shrug. “She’s facing the wall with earbuds in.”

“Ah.” He takes my hand and pulls me toward him until I’m standing between his legs. It’s hot in the closet and clothes hang in most of it, but he’s managed to push them all to one side. There’s not much room, but it is bigger than anything I ever had at Mama’s back in Alabama. On the top shelves are my favorite books, extra school supplies, and a few sweatshirts and sweaters. My shoes are in an organizer in the top as well, which gives me plenty of space in the middle for the fridge—and us.

His hand curls around my waist.

“You’re sitting here eating my food with a condom on. Seriously?” I take in the length that’s growing, jutting up at me.