Page 172 of Out of Bounds

"Kass…" Zariah warned. She could see my resolve crumbling in real time.

I pressed my lips together. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t you dare."

I tried to give her the popcorn bowl but Zariah refused to take it. Her eyes narrowed. And next to her, Ryan raised an eyebrow, completely unaware of the silent exchange between my roommate and I.

"You have the backbone of a dead slug," she huffed.

"I’m sorry," I apologized because I really was sorry. "I just want to fuck my boyfriend again."

Ryan straightened up with renewed interest in the conversation. "Me?"

"You’re my boyfriend. So, yes."

"Overnight?"

I sighed. "Overnight."

Ryan pushed up from the couch faster than I would’ve thought possible and kissed me on the neck. A hot blush crossed my skin. He couldn’t have noticed, he was too busy heading offto the bedroom. Which I didn’t understand because there was no way he knew what I needed to pack.

"Unbelievable." Zariah crossed her arms over her chest.

“You canceled lunch on Wednesday to give a blowjob,” I reminded her, walking backwards.

"And you declined to go to the moviestoday."

“We wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway.” I sighed at the door frame. “We’ll hang out. I promise. Ryan has a Louisiana trip coming up, he’ll be gone for five days. We’ll spend all the time together."

"Making my RA stuff for next year," she insisted.

I winced. Ugh. We’d spend the whole time working. But if that’s how I got out of the doghouse, I’d cut as much butcher paper as she needed.

"All the RA stuff," I promised and headed back to my bedroom, to find the quarterback knee deep in my worn, torn dufflebag, trying to stuff even more things inside of it. I stared at him, bewildered. "Ryan. I’m not leaving for a month."

"You have to leave stuff at my place, that’s how this works," he replied. "That’s what girlfriends do."

"I don’t have enough clothes to have two wardrobes."

"We need to go shopping then. And they’re not gifts if they’re essentials."

"Hilarious." I took the duffel bag from him and started pulling things out, trying to pack them again, like how they were supposed to be. Like how Ryan kept his locker.

Besides the sketches.

I bit back a smile and folded my pajamas in the bottom of the bag. Ryan took his place behind me and kissed the back of my neck. A shiver ran across my skin.

"You think you’ll be wearing something in my bed?" he murmured.

Damn. He has a point.

"Just in case someone comes over," I replied.

"I’ll lock the door."

"And if it’s an emergency?"

"Nothing could be more important than this." He dipped down low and kissed my collarbone, all slow and sweet. I breathed out, leaning back against his chest. His lips trailed up to the base of my throat. "You do need your ID though. I don’t like that you were locked out from my place."

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