The Reluctant Romantics Box Set (The Fall, The Mind, The Heart)

Dean

Then

“What?” She grinned.

“Nothing.” I grinned back.

She was sitting opposite of me on our dilapidated, pea green couch, perched Indian style with a pen cap in her mouth. Luckily, we were alone. It was Saturday after all and my militant girlfriend had insisted we spend it studying.

“Well, now that you have taken my attention away from my studies, Dr. Martin, you have to tell me.”

“No, I don’t,” I taunted, holding her socked foot in my lap, my thumb making slow, deliberate circles on the skin of her ankle. “I love it when you call me doctor.”

“Well, you might get the title first, but we both know I’ll wipe the floor with your ass in recognition and publication. Now stop,” she said, jerking her foot away from me. “I need to study.”

“What a completely unsupportive and bullshit statement. Don’t be jealous, Dallas. There’s room for both of us.”

“Hmph, have you chosen your specialty yet?” I ignored her as I resumed my slow, seductive torture. I would get her back for it my way, which would be her begging for mercy beneath me.

“I didn’t think so.” She looked back down at her book with a small smile on her lips, trying to ignore the effect I had on her.

We’d spent the last month hitting the books and exhausting each other in bed. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I knew she felt the same. Most nights, she would finish class then head over to the frat house to cook huge meals for the guys. She was a horrible cook and none of us had the heart to tell her, instead choosing to scarf down her offering. They were more than helpful with her in the kitchen, and even more appreciative after, but I was learning to ignore it. I’d made it very clear she belonged to me, and they gave us hell as they chanted some of the things they had heard through the walls.

Classless.

I’d thought about renting an apartment so we could spend the rest of my last year in peace, but Dallas insisted it didn’t matter and she actually liked hanging with the guys. And she was right, she fit. We fit, and I couldn’t have imagined it any better. Even her bitchy roommate Cammie would make an appearance at the frat house once in a while. I only humored her because she seemed protective of Dallas, which made her my ally.

I raked my fingertips softly up her legs, underneath her sweats, and she batted my hand away.

“I’ll leave,” she warned as I crawled toward her.

“It’s Saturday, Dr. Whitaker,” I murmured, gripping the side of the couch as I hovered above her. She slunk down into the cushion, hiding her smile.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Dean. I have a test Monday!” Her words were exasperated, but her heaving chest told me all I needed to know. I leaned down and took her lips in a slow kiss. She pushed the book that was laying on her chest to the floor.

“You’re an animal,” she said between kisses, pulling my shirt over my head. I shut her up with my tongue and she caught it, sucking hard. My already hard dick twitched in appreciation. I pulled back to gaze down at her.

“I’m your animal.”

“Finally.”

“Spaniard!” I heard Dallas call from across the quad. I laughed as I watched her running toward me. “Spaniard, I did it!”

She made a beeline for me, a single piece of paper in her hand. She didn’t slow as she approached, hurling herself at me, landing on me with enough force to knock me off my feet. I felt the thud in my back as she straddled my hips, kissing my face mercilessly.

“Yes, Dallas?” I said with a chuckle as her lips rained repeated kisses over my face.

“I did it, Spaniard. I aced it!”

“And this surprises you why?” I looked around as people stopped to gape at us. Dallas ignored them. All she saw was me.

“I thought I was going to have to break up with you.”

I sat up, gripping the sides of her head. “What?” I forced her to look at me, panic shooting through my every limb.

“Yeah, I was worried you were too much of a distraction. Too much sex. Just altogether a horrible influence. You know I would have to get rid of you and start dating a mathlete. Someone a little more serious about his education.”

I pushed her off my lap as she fell to the grass chuckling. It was starting to get colder and I slipped my freezing hand under her sweater, making her scream out.