Ariana blinked and looked at Palmer. God, he was gorgeous. His brow knit in concern, and he reached for her hand under the table. His palm was warm as he cupped her fingers atop her leg. His fingers brushed her skin just under the hem of her skirt. Two weeks ago that contact would have sent her skyrocketing through the ceiling. Now all she could think about was Jasper’s hands. Jasper’s fingers. Jasper’s touch on her thighs. . . . What was wrong with her?
“Are you okay?” Palmer asked. “You seem kind of out of it.”
“Do I?” Ariana asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . I can’t stop thinking about the English exam I have on Friday. Lexa told me what to do to study for it, and I just think I should be doing that right now.”
Palmer leaned back in his chair. “Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess this can wait.”
Ariana started to gather her things. Suddenly she felt almost panicked to get back to Privilege House. To just be by herself, in her room, where things were infinitely less confusing.
“It’s just, I feel like I have the government stuff down, but for the English . . . there are just so many books. I really think I need to start making notes,” Ariana told him. She slammed her heavy government book closed, and the noise drew attention from all the neighboring tables.
“No problem. Do what you’ve gotta do,” Palmer said. He stood up as she stood up and planted a quick kiss on her lips. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay. Cool. Bye,” Ariana said.
And she was out the door without a second glance. She struggled outside with her unorganized books and notebooks, her laptop weighing down her bag against her hip. Then she hoofed it up the hill to Privilege House.
Once in the elevators, Ariana tapped her foot impatiently. The ride seemed to take forever. When the doors finally slid open, Ariana ducked out and sprinted for her room. Inside, she dropped her bags on the floor and turned to switch on the light, but before she could, a hand came down over her mouth.
Ariana’s heart leaped into her throat. She opened her mouth to bite down on the hand, but then she inhaled and stopped. It was Jasper. She could smell his piney cologne.
“Shhhhh,” he said in her ear, his chin brushing her neck from behind.
Ariana pressed her lips together to keep from giggling with relief. Then a blindfold fell over her eyes and was tied tightly at the back of her skull. She felt a brief twinge of fear mixed with annoyance over being manipulated, but then decided she didn’t care.
And just like that she surrendered herself to him. She relished the feeling of his strong grasp on her arms as he turned her around and led her silently through the door. She basked in the fact that she trusted him completely—that she was letting him do what he would. It was in that moment that Ariana knew, truly knew, that she was falling in deep.
Because there was no one, absolutely no one, for whom Ariana Osgood was willing to lose control.
At least, no one who was sti
ll breathing.
Finally the blindfold slipped from Ariana’s eyes, tickling her cheek as it fell. She gasped when she saw the spread before her. The large movie screen standing near the edge of the roof. The piles of pillows and blankets strewn across the floor. The stars twinkling overhead. She turned to Jasper, and he smiled. He was wearing a gray sweater and a black coat, and looked so handsome Ariana wanted to melt.
“Jasper. This is amazing,” she said.
“I know,” he replied with a self-satisfied grin.
Ariana clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “How did you do this without anyone seeing?” she asked. Then her heart skipped a frightened beat. “No one saw you, right?”
“Of course not,” he said. “Stealth is my middle name.”
“But what if someone comes up here?” she asked, her eyes darting to the door. “What if—”
Jasper closed the distance between them and pressed one finger to her lips. “No one ever comes up here between the months of October and April. May, June, and September are another story, since apparently the girls around here are still interested in contracting skin cancer. But November? Don’t worry about it.”
Ariana took a deep breath and let herself relax slightly. She turned and walked around a low brick wall that ran across the center of the roof. She noticed that some of the pillows had been propped up against it on the other side, forming a makeshift couch.
“You do realize that we have a movie theater right downstairs,” Ariana teased, lifting one of the velvety red pillows. “As I recall it’s supposed to be one of the privileges of living in Privilege House.”
“Privilege my ass. Do you know what they’re showing down there right now?” Jasper said, walking around to join her. “Avatar.”
Ariana snorted a laugh.
He walked over to the projector and hit a button, bringing the machine to life. “I, however, have a real movie on tap.”
Suddenly the screen flickered to life, and Ariana saw the familiar opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audrey Hepburn traipsed along the New York streets in her black dress and tiara, smiling her bright Hepburn smile. Ariana sighed contentedly. Audrey Hepburn was her favorite actress of all time, and this was the greatest of all her films.