Fair Game (The Rules #1)(45)

I flub up at the fifteenth freckle across the bridge of her nose when I hear her request. “You really want me to?” Please say no. Please say no.

She nods, her thick hair rustling against my pillowcase. “It’s late. I have class tomorrow.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to stop.” I reach out and touch her hair, testing the silky strands between my fingers.

Her cheeks flush and her gaze skitters away from mine. “I think Miss Looking for the Bathroom just ruined the moment.”

“We could pick up where we left off if you want.” I need to respect her wishes because right now, I sound desperate. What the hell is wrong with me? I never do this. I should just attack her again. She can’t resist me. I heard the little sounds she made, the way she moved against me. She was into it. I can get her right back into it with a few choice words and determined kisses.

“I don’t think so.” She winces. “Sorry. I really…should head back to my dorm. Sorry to make you drive me back. I bet I could get a ride or—”

“Hell no,” I say vehemently, rolling over so I’m sitting on the edge of the mattress, my back to her. Damn that stupid chick for interrupting what was building up to an amazing moment. “I’ll take you back. I don’t mind.”

I stare at the wall, willing my erection to calm down. I can tell she’s standing, can hear her fixing her clothes, buttoning up her shirt, smoothing out her hair, whatever. When I finally turn back around she’s standing in the middle of my room, looking a little lost, a lot embarrassed.

Without thought I go to her, pull her into my arms and drop a soft kiss on her upturned lips. “This is going to happen again, you know.”

“Who says?” One delicate brow rises and I’m relieved at seeing that tiny glimpse of the Jade I’m used to return.

“Me.” I kiss her again, my lips lingering on hers. Damn, they’re soft. And plump and delicious and f*ck me, I need to get a grip before I lose all control. “I say. So tell me. Are you game?”

A shuddering sigh escapes her, her breath wafting across my lips. “Okay,” she whispers shakily.

That girl’s interruption broke me from the Shep spell he’d been weaving. And what a spell he can weave. Holy crap, he knows how to kiss. His lips, his tongue…there are no words. My mouth is still tingling.

He’s sort of bossy. I liked how he shoved me against the door. I loved it when he picked me up and carried me over to his bed. I’m no petite little girl and he hauled me around like I weighed nothing.

Which means he’s super strong. I felt his biceps. They were the stuff of dreams. He’s the stuff of dreams.

But see, that’s the thing. Dreams are just…dreams. They’re not real. So what Shep and I are experiencing? It’s not real, not at all.

That’s what I keep telling myself so I don’t end up hurt when he dumps me out of nowhere.

We’re on our way back to my dorm hall in his precious car, neither of us saying a word. It’s so quiet I can hear him breathing. How he shifts in his seat like he’s restless. I swear I can hear him freaking blink and it’s making me slowly insane.

“That was probably a mistake,” I blurt out, clamping my lips shut the moment the words are out. I bang the back of my head against the seat, pissed that I said it.

Because I don’t mean it and I’m just proving to him yet again that I really am a Bitch Face. Or an immature idiot, take your pick.

He chuckles, the rich, warm sound slowly unfurling in my belly and making me tremble. “Liar,” he murmurs.

Now I’m sort of pissed at him for calling me out. “I mean it. We should’ve never…kissed.”

He glances at me, dark eyes flashing, his perfectly kissable lips curved into a perfectly adorable smile. “I’m calling bullshit, babe. Sorry.”

“What do you mean, you’re calling bullshit?” He called me babe. What an *.

Fine. I liked that he called me babe. A lot. Not that I’d ever, ever tell him.

“We definitely should’ve kissed. Because it was f*cking amazing before we were so rudely interrupted by Miss Bogus I’m Looking for the Bathroom, Whoops My Bad, Toodles.”

I start to laugh. I can’t help it. His frustration is so palpable. He hated how that girl interrupted us. I hated it too. I’d had freaking Shepard Prescott on top of me on his bed. He’d been this close to taking off my shirt. And I was going to let him. I desperately wanted to feel his hands on my bare skin. I still want to feel his hands on me.

The interruption helped me realize that what I’m doing with Shep is bad for me. As in, he’s going to leave me in a bad state. More like wreck me. He’s not the lasting kind. More like the f*ck ‘em and leave ‘em type. I know this. My logical, very smart, very cautious brain knows this.

But my body lights up like a burst of flame every time he so much as looks at me with those sexy, full of mystery eyes. He touches me and I melt. And when he kisses me? Oh good lord, all of my very logical, very smart brain cells evaporate into thin air and I’m left wanting more. More, more, more.

“Why are you laughing?” He sounds cranky, which makes me laugh even harder. “It wasn’t funny. We were making progress, Jade. Before she had to ruin it.”

“You call what we were doing progress?” I call it delicious.