Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)(53)

I glanced from him to the table with my stuff spread out. “I think I’ll go.”

He held my gaze for a long moment before nodding once and dropping his head back down on the pillow. I started to gather my stuff up when his voice stopped me.

“Or you can stay. Whatever you want to do.”

Did he want me to stay? It almost sounded like he did. I hovered, unsure. Gradually, I set my books back down on the table and moved toward the bed. Kicking off my shoes, I climbed in beside him.

I eased toward him. His body radiated heat in the bed. I relaxed, inching closer, burrowing the tip of my nose against his back, savoring the clean smell of his skin, fresh from the shower.

His voice rumbled through his back toward me. “Hey, your nose is cold.”

I grinned against his skin. “How about my feet?” I wedged them between his calves.

He hissed. “Get some socks on, woman.”

I laughed lightly. “You’re feverish. Maybe it helps.”

Rolling over onto his side, he faced me. His bright eyes seared me, probably sending my temperature soaring, too. His hand found my arm, fingers stroking up and down leisurely. Seductively. Even sick, he was seducing me. He probably didn’t even realize it. It’s just what he did. Who he was. How he affected me.

His eyes drifted shut. Without opening them, he murmured, “I like the sound of your laugh. It’s real and genuine. A lot of girls have this fake laugh. Not you.”

“I like your laugh, too,” I whispered, feeling pulled in, cozy in the cocoon of his bed.

“Yeah?”

I flattened my palm over his chest, enjoying the sensation of the firm flesh, even warm as it was. He sighed, like my cool hand offered him some relief.

“I laugh more since you came around,” he said quietly, his lips barely forming the words.

He did? I frowned. He must not have laughed at all before, then, because I didn’t think he was particularly jovial.

I held him through the night. And he held me back, tucking my head beneath his chin.. His arms surrounded me and kept me close to his overly warm body. Almost like I was some kind of lifeline. I felt the moment his fever broke around one in the morning. Confident that he was on the mend, I finally relaxed and fell asleep.





Chapter 17

The remnants of Halloween were in full evidence as I carefully maneuvered down the hall toward my room, stepping around orange and black Silly String. I could already imagine the look on Heather’s face when she woke up. Our RA would probably call a special floor meeting over this. I sighed, not looking forward to it.

Speaking of Heather. I was four doors from my room when a guy suddenly slipped out of her room. Holding his shoes in one hand, he closed the door carefully, like he didn’t want to make a sound. As he turned, we came face-to-face. I blinked up at him. “Er, Logan?”

“Hey, Pepper,” he whispered, running a hand through his artfully disheveled hair. The action only made the dark blond hair stick out more wildly. Just like his brother, he was probably hot on his worst day. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah. I live here.” My gaze flicked from him to Heather’s door—RA, grad student, and twenty-four. “Does she know you’re in high school?”

He grinned crookedly, bending to tug on his shoes. “I don’t think she cares.”

I snorted. “I bet.”

“Hey, you have a car, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, Heather drove last night. I was going to call someone for a lift back to Mulvaney’s . . .”

I smirked. “Why don’t you ask Heather?”

“Oh, I don’t want to wake her.”

“Right.” Readjusting my laundry basket on my hip, I started for my room. “Let me just drop this off and grab my keys.”

“Thanks.” He followed behind. When I glanced back it was to catch him looking nervously over his shoulder—as if he was worried that Heather was going to come after him.

I dropped off my basket and grabbed my keys, a smile twitching my mouth. “C’mon, Romeo.”

He grinned unrepentantly as we walked to the elevator. “I’m no Romeo. There’s no one girl I’m pining for.”

I nodded. “This is true.”

“Now my brother on the other hand . . .” His voice trailed off as he eyed me knowingly.

I shook my head, warmth crawling over my face and reaching all the way to my ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You two have been seeing a lot of each other.”

I shrugged one shoulder uneasily. “I wouldn’t say a lot.” Sure, I had seen more of him than any guy before, but Logan didn’t know that.

We stepped into the empty elevator. Two girls were already there, talking. Their gazes slid over Logan appreciatively before they continued with their conversation. A conversation I couldn’t help listening to—especially when I heard the words kink club. Em would want me to tell her everything I overheard. She’d been on a mission to learn more about it ever since we first heard of its existence. She thought it an insult that she somehow hadn’t landed an invitation yet.

“Yeah . . . Hannah got an invite,” one said. “Apparently she knows someone who’s already a member. And you know Hannah, she’s always been into the freaky stuff . . .”