Page 83 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

Holly arched a brow at me. She’d folded her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts higher; the rounded curve of the tops made me want to run my lips across them.

Her lips twitched the way they did when she was suppressing a smile.

She ducked under my arm and slid her keycard into the door. Then she inclined her head for me to follow her.

The elevator’s first stop was floor seven. Stepping out on the floor, it had the same antiseptic institutional smell as our department, only slightly less pronounced.

“It’s a women’s only floor.” She glanced over her shoulder to find me staring at her ass.

Before that glance, I had been inspecting the living conditions. I was generous to report they were lacking. With dim lighting and dingy paint, the place was depressing as hell.

We passed a door to the women’s showers. At the end of a long hall, she turned at the last door.

“I’ll spare you the tour of the communal kitchen and lounge as you’re not supposed to be here.” She tapped the door to 725. “I’m here, safe and sound.”

“You’re not going to show me inside?”

Holly tilted her head to the side. In this light, her eyes were more green. “If you’re looking to slum it, I’m sure you can find some co-ed at NYU who would happily have sex with you in her dorm room. And it will probably have a private bath, at least.”

“I like seeing where you live. It’s a whole new side of you.” It was true. I had a hunger to know every part of her life that I’d missed.

Annoyance churned at me that I knew next to nothing about Holly besides her favored running shoe brand, and that she liked her pizza with extra pepperoni. Also, she enjoyed cat memes when she was stressed.

Her lips parted slightly. Again I was struck by the strongest impulse to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she fell breathless against me.

Voices down the hall echoed along with the ding of the elevator.

She unlocked her door, pulling me inside by the arm with a force that surprised me. The light was off. “We can get thrown out for having male guests in our rooms.” She whispered in the dark.

“How old are you?” I liked the darkness. It wrapped us in our own cocoon. I knew Holly had graduated medical school early, but now I wondered precisely how early?

“I’m twenty-two.” She laid her finger against my lips as two female voices grew louder in the hall.

Perfect. I rumbled in appreciation when I wrapped my lips around her finger.

Holly inhaled sharply, clutching my shirt in her fist. I released her finger to pull her into my arms. A breath eased from me.

Now that felt right.

In the hall, two women recapped their evening for several minutes until the sound of their keys and doors eventually rattled. Soon, the hallway grew quiet again.

Holly stepped out of my arms, flipping on the light.

If I thought the lighting was bad in the hallway, I winced.

The narrow room was wide enough to fit a twin bed under the single window with a built-in closet, a desk, and a makeshift bookshelf filled with textbooks. It was painted the same dull gray color as the hallway. There was a handmade quilt on the bed and a few pictures on the window sill.

“Home sweet home,” she said softly.

I was stunned to think this was where Holly lived. My downtown townhouse was a palace compared to this.

“Holly,” I started. I was unsure of what to say, but I wanted to say something.

“Don’t pity me.” She shook her head. Her words were low yet fierce. “I didn’t bring you here to pity me.”

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.

She flicked off the light. Stepping forward, her hands ran up the front of my shirt.

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