With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men 4)

“Hmm.” Ten scratched the stubble growing at his jaw. “Still don’t remember her.”

I shoved him in the shoulder, unable to control my irritation. “Stop staring.”

“Huh?” Ten blinked and finally tore his gaze away to arch an eyebrow my way. “Why?”

“Because.” I ground my teeth together. “She…she’s Cora’s friend.”

My clueless roommate shrugged. “So? I’ve boned all of Cora’s friends. Which means…” His gaze heated with even more interest as he turned back to stare across the parking lot again. “It’s pretty much required for me to get into her panties, too.”

“No,” I ordered, grabbing his arm and physically turning him away so he could face the car we were supposed to be washing. “Not this one. She’s a good girl.”

Way too good to go anywhere near his man-whore ways.

As if being sprayed with ice-cold water, the lust faded from his eyes. “Good girl?” he echoed in horror. “Eww. Way to waste a perfectly hot body. But…” He sent one last longing glance toward Zoey, “the moment she turns slutty, I’m warning you, I’m going to be all over that, no matter what you say. Because, dayum, those legs…” He sucked in a breath. “I’m even digging the clothes. Covered up like that, she makes a guy wonder what she’s hiding under all those layers. Makes you just want to tear off the wrapping and unveil the surprise inside. You know what I mean?”

When he grinned and jabbed his elbow at me, I scowled hard in return.

I didn’t want to agree with Ten, but he did have a point. Zoey looked good in that outfit. But ogling Cora’s roommate felt all kinds of wrong. With a sigh, I shook my head and turned away. “Just get back to work.”

He did, but he didn’t shut up. Picking up the water hose to rinse off what I’d just cleaned, Ten kept talking, irritating me even more. “And she’s blonde too. I’ve been craving blondes lately something fierce.” Just as he spoke though, his gaze caught on something in an entirely different direction than where the girls were working. “Shit,” he hissed.

I glanced over and saw another blonde co-ed walking our way. Like Zoey, she was also wearing a shirt and shorts, no bikini in sight. It was the guy walking next to her that had my stomach tightening into knots.

I looked up to the quarterback of our team more than any guy I’d ever known. But today, I wished he was anywhere but here.

Spinning toward Ten, I lowered my voice, “You’re not going to tell him about the picture of Aspen on Belcher’s phone, are you?”

Ten glanced at me incredulously. “Fuck, you think I’m insane? Gamble would flip his shit if he knew people were spreading around topless snapshots of his woman.”

Noel spotted us, and he—along with the girl beside him—veered our way.

“So who’s winning so far?” he asked, obviously clueless about the picture Ten and I had deleted from the baseball player’s phone last night, “Women or men?”

I expected Ten to answer because he was always so willing to talk, but he was too busy staring at the blonde next to Noel, while trying to make it look like he wasn’t. So I cleared my throat. “I, uh, I think it’s a dead heat so far. Hi, Caroline.” I tried to offer a pleasant greeting to Noel’s sister since Ten was being no help at all. He’d gone radio silent. “Are you here to help the competition?”

She smiled back briefly. “I guess so.” Then she shot Noel a brief scowl as if he’d forced her to come with him.

“Which means, I should probably stop talking to the enemy and I head over to Team Girl.” Slapping at her brother’s elbow, she added, “Hope you aren’t a sore loser.”

Noel cracked a grin. “Oh, you’re going down, little girl.”

“Cora’s over there,” I told her helpfully as she started off. “She can help you get set up.”

“Thanks, Quinn.” She smiled at me, glanced briefly at Ten, and then kept going.

The three of us stared after her before Noel grabbed Ten’s arm and whirled him away, back toward the car we were cleaning. “Seriously, we need to work on your staring problem.”

“I can’t believe you brought your sister,” Ten said, sneaking another peek at her.

Noel snorted. “Well, we were supposed to invite a girl to help compete on the female side, and Aspen wouldn’t be caught dead at a campus event. Besides, I wouldn’t let her come. All you assholes would never be able to take your eyes off her legs, and we’d definitely lose to girls, then.”

As if on command, Ten’s gaze went straight to Caroline’s legs as he snorted. “I didn’t invite a chick.”

Noel muttered a curse and pushed Ten about a foot backward. “Eyes in your head, fucker.”

“What?” Ten cried, stumbling along behind Noel. “Why’d you bring her if you didn’t want anyone looking at her?”

I flushed because I’d been looking too, but Noel didn’t scold me. He must’ve known I wasn’t having any dirty thoughts about his sister.