Page 212 of Out of Bounds

I gazed at him for a long moment. Ryan was a hundred percent serious. He’d been imposing the rule right behind my back and I never caught on. That was…so needlessly reckless. And…a little hot. I shifted on my back leg, trying to seriously think it over instead of thinking about the fact that Mr. Intense didn’t even hesitate to show his claim on me.

Okay. A lot hot.

“No wonder people at the design department used to be scared shitless of me,” I realized, staring right at him. “Everybody thought you were going to shove them into a locker.”

And the more I thought about it, and saw the real life effects of the off-limits tag, the more I bounced back and forth between them. I kept up the staring contest with him.

“And…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Nobody’s grabbed my ass at the bar for literally the entire semester. I’ve walked around late on campus, nobody bothers me. And the only people thattouchme are the people Ilike…hm…”

“Kass,” Zariah chided me. “You can’t be serious.”

I hummed under my breath, considering the pros and cons while Ryan raised his eyebrows at me. Waiting.

My roommate’s mouth fell open. “Girl.”

“I’m thinking.”

“What is there tothinkabout?”

“The fans at the beginning were annoying…but none of them even got close to touching me…” I said slowly, mulling it over. “And nobody asks to use my supplies anymore. It’s the first semester that I haven’t bought replacement pencil sharpeners…”

“Kass.”

“Alright.” I nodded to myself and walked over to Ryan, jabbing him in the chest. “That was fucking uncool of you to put the tag on me.”

His eyes trailed down my face and a smirk tugged up on his lips. He reached down and took my wrist before he pressed his hand against mine, spreading out my fingers. Slowly, he placed my hand on his chest. He was warm. I could feel his heartbeat.

“Do you want the tag suspended?” he asked, no doubt already knowing the answer.

“Get back in front of the camera.”

The smirk widened. “Yes, ma’am.”

I could feel Zariah’s shocked expression on me and his teammates weren’t that much better in concealing their own. But Adam and Zariah were social butterflies, they were constantly engaging new people and tying more people into their schedule. I just wasn’t like that. I liked myownand then I liked mybubble.

Without even looking at him, I could feel his dark honey eyes on me.

I walked off to the pizza and slipped out a slice from the box when Ryan came up behind me. Under the guise of grabbing one too, he pressed up against me at the counter and I could practically feel every line of his cock, jutting against my leggings. My breath caught in my throat. I wrapped my fingers around the counter, pretending to inspect the boxes.

“Art girl,” he murmured.

“We’re working,” I told him, like a flush wasn’t spreading across my neck. “Put your boner away.”

“Spread your legs. I’ll find somewhere to put it.”

“Your friends arerightthere.”

“Say the word,” he dipped down close, reaching for a glass. “I’ll kick them out right now.”

Oh my god.

The temptation was strong but the knowledge that these mocap suits needed to be in their original packaging, in their original conditioning, was even stronger. And knowing that Ryan only had a little amount of time to spend on this was the biggest push of all.

“Nope. I’m putting you to work first.” I tried grabbing his arm to drag him off but he slipped his hand in mine instead. “Come on. You have to make up for the tag.”

86

Ryan

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