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“Nice try.” He catches my earlobe in his teeth. “I’m on the ground floor.”
“But . . .” I let my weak argument trail off as my resolve crumbles. “I had to stand on a concrete garden sphere. In the rain!”
“You did?” He lifts his head, genuine surprise in his gaze. “How the hell did you get it all the way over here from the garden?”
I shrug. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
His mouth curves into a crooked grin. “I almost wish my aunt and uncle were home to witness that.”
My criminal activities easily forgotten, his lips skate across my cheek and find mine again, each brush of his mouth more desperate than the last. Each sweep of his velvet tongue bringing me closer to begging for more.
Several heartbeats later, he stops kissing me and gazes all the way to my soul. “I thought I’d lost you today.”
I reach up and pull his face down to mine. “You didn’t.”
“Thinking about you with O’Neil wrecked me.” He exhales roughly. “I nearly drove back to campus to find him. I have no idea what I was gonna do when I got there.”
“You don’t have to worry about him, or anyone else ever again.” I plunge my hands into his dark waves and press my forehead to his, willing my words to find their target. “You mean more to me than any scholarship. You’re everything.”
He sweeps me into another all-encompassing kiss, simultaneously breaking me apart and putting me back together again.
“I want you.” I whisper into his mouth, backing him toward the bed. “I don’t want to wait any longer.”
He lifts his eyes to mine. “You can’t say things like that if you don’t mean it.”
“I mean it.” I shove him backward onto the mattress and crawl up his body to straddle him. “I can’t breathe when we’re apart.”
Rainwater drips from my hair and splashes against his bare chest.
He dips a finger into the droplet, then licks it clean. “Princess, you’re getting me all wet.”
“That’s what she said,” I whisper, nerves stealing my voice despite my bold statement.
Catching one of his snakebite piercings in his teeth, he wordlessly slides his hands under my T-shirt, peeling it away from my skin as he lifts the wet fabric up and over my head. He flings the sodden shirt onto the floor behind him and turns his attention to my jeans. He makes quick work of the fly before rolling me onto my back and dragging the wet denim down my legs, leaving me in nothing but my baby-blue Hanes.
Flushing from head to toe, I choke out a nervous laugh. “If I had known I’d end up naked in your bed, I would’ve worn nicer underwear.”
“I don’t give a damn about your underwear.” His gaze drifts down my body like a caress, and the rough sound coming from the back of his throat starts a fire low in my belly.
My stomach flip-flops as he stares down at me, a combination of desire and wonder reflecting in his gaze.
“You’re so beautiful.” Jordan stretches out beside me and combs his fingers through my tangled hair. “You have no idea how many times I’ve imagined your fiery curls spread across my pillow.”
I lift my head, bringing my lips to his. The kiss is clumsy—and rushed—as I impatiently drag him on top of me, welcoming the feel of his weight pressing me into the mattress. I have no idea what I’m doing, but he doesn’t seem to mind as he eagerly kisses me back.
“Slow down, princess,” he murmurs between kisses, lifting his hips to put space between us. “We need to take our time, or this’ll be over before it starts.”
A slow grin curves my lips. “I thought you didn’t do anything in a flash.”
He laughs, and the motion of his body on top of mine sends a shiver of need through me.
“You’re not making it easy on me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you saying I’m making it hard?”
My breath catches as he shifts his weight, repositioning himself until our bodies align in all the right places. Without a millimeter of space between us, I can feel every hard inch of him pressing against every soft inch of me.
His eyes flare, his pupils dilating. “Very.”
