Page 84 of The Shake Off

It was possible I was sitting in the world’s most expensive frat house. It was easily the frat house with the best view, anyway.

Settling back into the couch, I sipped my coffee and began flicking throughDon Quixote;which hadn’t just been read, it had been loved. I only managed to reach page two, however, before a movement caught in the corner of my eye. I turned to find Ace leaning under the archway leading to his bedroom, wearing a smile so soft I wanted to wrap myself in it like Kit’s cashmere blanket.

My belly did that thing again, like there was a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, making me feel giddy and lightheaded. And hot.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” He pushed off the wall and walked toward me; sauntered toward me, slowly, was more like it.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. My heart began hammering. Maybe it was that I’d never seen him like this before; barefoot, wearing an obscenely low-slung pair of shorts that emphasized that delicious divot of muscle on his hips and thick corded abs, and nothing else. If his hair didn’t always fall with that soft curl brushed away from his face, like he’d stepped off a catwalk, I’d say he’d spent half an hour styling it.

It was entirely annoying.

He stopped in front of me and dropped to his knees. I was about to make a half-hearted attempt to push him away before we started up anything his roommates could walk in on, but he merely rolled up the bottoms of the track pants I was wearing.

“I like these on you. You look cute,” he grinned, looking way cuter than anything I could master, and I knew my cheeks were now pink.

What the fuck was going on with me? And why did I feel like the high-school cheerleader who’d just spent her first night with the football captain?

“Sorry, I was planning to come back,” I thumbed behind me in the direction of his bedroom, “but I found…” I held up the coffee, because I’d clearly forgotten how to speak.

“I figured you would wake up early. I’m just happy you’re still here.”

I smiled at him, at his sincerity, but stayed silent, because what could I say to that?

“Now,” his grin widened, “you can come back to bed, and I’ll start your morning off right. Or I can make you pancakes first.”

At that moment my stomach rumbled; I grabbed it, and he stared wide-eyed before breaking into a loud laugh. He really was cute when he laughed, and I found myself enjoying the sound – which is something I don’t think I’d ever thought about before.

“I guess that’s my answer,” he replied and stood up, taking my coffee cup with him.

Holding his free hand out to me, I took it and allowed him to pull me to standing, where he smacked a quick kiss to my lips.

He laced our fingers together as he led me to the kitchen, pulling out one of the kitchen stools.

“Get comfy,” he ordered, and I jumped onto it. “You want more coffee?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

He flicked the coffee machine back on, before opening the fridge to pull out milk, eggs, butter, and raspberries. From the large drawer under the stove, he removed a cast iron pan, then grabbed a mixing bowl, a whisk, and what looked like a bag of chocolate chips.

Holy crap.

I wasn’t even sure Iowneda mixing bowl.

This was better than eating out.

By the time he laid it on the counter, the coffee had finished and he passed me a fresh cup. It was as he took a sip of his own that his eyes flicked up from mine, to something behind me. Someone, it turned out.

“Just in time. I hoped I was making enough noise to wake you.”

I turned to see Lux walking toward us, wearing the same amount of clothing as Ace, and I briefly wondered if perhaps I hadn’t woken up but was instead living some teenage-Payton fantasy, surrounded by two almost naked,very hot, guys.

“Good morning,” Lux grinned, way too wide for my liking, before his eyes dropped toDon Quixotewhich I’d brought over with me from the couch. “Oh, that’s where I left it.”

“Is this yours?”

He nodded, taking it from me and zipped his thumb over the pages. “Yeah.”

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