Page 25 of Caught Stealing

We could’ve ended it right there, and I’d have been just fine. But I’m still hoping it was a fluke incident; first date jitters or whatever, and maybe another time hanging out in a group setting will make him a bit more comfortable around me.

Which is why I’m happy as a clam to see he texts back seconds later, opting to head over here and join the party.

Kason: Where are you? This house is packed.

The corner of my mouth curls up in a grin as I read the text twenty minutes later.

Me: Downstairs. Rec room.

Kason: Meet me somewhere a little more private?

Me: How private are we talking?

Kason: Private enough that we won’t risk someone walking in and finding us in a precarious situation.

A smirk spreads across my lips into a full grin at the same time my brain thinks a single victorious word.

Finally.

Kason has been adamant about letting things progress naturally, taking it slow and whatnot. And while my agreement has given me a killer case of blue balls—they honestly might be purple now—it’s also enabled me to prove a point to Phoenix. Though, if I’ve learned anything from the past few weeks, it’s that it was the dumbest agreement I could have ever made.

Me: Meet you in my room?

His reply is almost immediate.

Kason: Five minutes. Lights off. We don’t want anyone walking in.

Me: And why’s that?

Kason: Because I want you naked when I get there.

Excitement shoots through me as I reread the second text enough times I think I’m hallucinating the words altogether. Because if this conversation is leading where I think it is, I’m about to fold like a house of cards; agreement with Phoenix be damned.

Then again, if we don’t havesex,maybe I haven’t broken this unspoken deal at all?

Hell, if I know. And it’s not like I’m gonna track down Phoenix to find out.

Yet even throughout all the excitement, there’s a weird, nagging feeling in the back of my mind as I reread the text. As if this is too good to be true. Especially when the house has an additional thirty people milling about.

Fucking—or even messing around—with a house full of people doesn’t seem his style.

It’s still not enough to keep me from texting back.

Me: I better not be the only one naked for long.

Kason: ;)

I glance up from where I’ve been sitting on the couch with Theo and a few of his teammates, ready to head off to my room and wait for him. Except I don’t make it into the hallway before a familiar figure comes walking down the stairs.

Phoenix.

He sees me. I know he has to, but he makes it a point to ignore me as he moves to brush by me. That just won’t do. Not after the little stunt he pulled last week when he found out I was taking Kason out for a proper date.

I reach out my arm in front of him, pressing my palm to the wall to prevent him from going any further.

“Seriously?” His dark, penetrating stare lands on me, entirely unamused. “Move.”

“I don’t think so.”

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