Soon, she said, mouthing the word.
It felt like things were starting to spiral.
Ryan glanced back at me. I smiled at him as best I could.
He believed me, though.
That’s what was important.
IT STARTED in the empty hallway near the top of the stairs. I’d been trailing behind him the whole way, barely taking my eyes off his ass in front of me. He wore low-slung trousers, the tip-top crack of his ass visible with every step he took. The muscles in his back rippled, and he didn’t let me go.
I almost crashed into his back when he came to a stop. “What are we—mmgh—”
His mouth was on mine as he pressed me up against the wall. Keeping in mind that sexy is as sexy does, I just sort of sagged against him as his tongue swiped over mine. He rolled his hips against me, a quick, practiced move that never failed to make my knees a little weak. His hands were on my hips, his sweat-slick chest bumping mine. He broke the kiss and trailed his lips along my jaw. I turned my head to give him better access to my neck.
“You know,” I said, slightly strangled, “I’m totally on board with this plan, but maybe we could—” And then he did that one thing he did so well involving his teeth and my ear. I jerked my head back, smacking it against the wall. “Ow. Motherfucking ow.”
He chuckled against my face, reaching up to put a big hand between my head and the wall. “You’ve got to be more careful,” he chided gently.
“Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t be so good at eating my ear.”
“Eating your ear. Gods, Sam, way to make that sound erotic.”
“I didn’t know we were going for erotic. I can do that if you like. I’ve been practicing. Oh, side of beef, put your mouth hole back on my hearing hole and eat it out. That’s the ticket.”
He leaned back, face twisted up in a grimace. “Mouth hole?”
I shrugged. “My erotic writings are intended for a specific audience.”
“A dead one?”
“Whoa,” I said. “Look who’s got jokes while I’ve got a boner. One of those things should stop. I’ll give you a hint. It’s not my boner.”
He reached between us and gripped me tight. I refused to let my eyes flutter shut, only because having him this close, sharing breaths, was a heady thing. “I’m going to take care of this,” he said, jerking me through my trousers once, then twice. “And you’re going to take care of me. And then we’re going to talk about how you’re deflecting again and how I won’t stand for it. Are we clear?”
Right then, I probably would have agreed to about anything. “Crystal,” I managed to say.
“Good,” he said before leaning in for a lingering kiss. “Now come on. You’ve got some work to do.”
“Why does even that sound hot?” I mumbled, letting him pull me along again.
“You’re twenty-one years old,” he said, glancing back at me. “Everything makes you hot.”
“Only your everything,” I said. “Which apparently I need to remind you of before you try and do even more pull-ups. Because you’re that ridiculous.”
“Did more than him,” he muttered under his breath. “And besides, I had to do something to get you out of our room that you locked me out of for two days.”
And shit. I felt bad about that. Because Ryan had essentially moved in with me a few months ago, abandoning his small single room down in the barracks. It’d been strange at first having someone in my space all the time, but then he’d pointed out he hadn’t actually spent a night in his own room in almost a month beforehand, and I got over whatever weirdness I had going on. “Yeah, about that. Um. I’m sorry? I didn’t…. Shit.” I stopped walking, pulling on his arm until he turned around and faced me. “That wasn’t fair of me,” I said when he looked at me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have— Did you do a shirtless pull-up contest just to get me out of the room?”
He grinned at me. “I’ve got brains and brawns. Felt like a good time to put them together. And since you’re a Foxy Lady, I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”
I gaped at him. “That was… devious. In a completely sexual manner. I approve, Sir Foxheart. Well played.”
The grin softened on his face. “Next time,” he said, leaning forward and kissing me on the tip of my nose, “don’t cut me out, okay? It’s rough, Sam. I know it is. But you can’t just push me away. We’re a team. And it sucks when I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
I absolutely did not get choked up at that. “Yeah. A team.”
“For all I knew, you were trying to figure out ways to break up with me to run away with Ruv,” he said, laughing. But his eyes darted away for a split second, and even though he knew that was a ridiculous thing to say, it was still coming from a place that held a kernel of truth for him.