Page 43 of College-Virgin & Dark Bully Next-Door

I blink a few times and face him. “What?”

“Well, come on, it’s not obvious for you like it is for me. If this is just about experiencing things, you should get used to saying how you feel.”

“I don’t have any feelings that are important right now.” Because I’m putting a cap on the bottle that holds them and stuffing it deeper inside me so it can’t cause problems.

“Why?”

“Why what?” I almost throw the spoon into the boiling macaroni.

Ash smooths down my arms and kisses along my shoulder. The softest brush of his lips across my skin raises goosebumps, even though I don’t want to admit a damn thing. I let out a shaky breath. “Why what, Ash?”

“The feelings thing. You’re very focused onnothaving them, which is impossible. Even if my relationships don’t last long, I can say when I’m turned on, when I like someone, when I’m interested in a girl, when the sparks fade. I can say I’m pissed at my high school friends, that I love my Dad, even if he doesn’t support me.”

“I love my Dad, too,” I say. “Ta-da.”

Ash keeps kissing my skin until I shiver. His hands keep mine in place. “I’d like to try something.”

“Is it more talking?”

“No. Clearly, you fucking hate that shit,” he chuckles.

He makes another tour of my throat, all the way up to the hollow of my ear and back down to my shoulder. Then he bites me, hard. I whimper, but it feels good. The pinpricks of pain mixed with the soft suck of his mouth, then his tongue soothing the bite. He licks up my throat again before exhaling over the damp line as he moves back down my throat.

I shiver and realize I’m rubbing myself against him. He groans and slides one hand slowly up my arm, then around my belly, just below my breasts. I try to swallow, but all I can picture is his hand sinking into my pants.

He’d find me so wet, so eager. And wouldn’t his fingers be so much better than mine? All practiced and skilled. I bet he could make me come right here in the kitchen before the macaroni is done.

I rock my hips back against him again, and he bites my ear. “I should punish you for seducing me.”

“You liked it,” I say, sure. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come.”

“And you liked making me come, or you wouldn’t have touched yourself … which is something I’d love to watch.”

I have nothing to say to that. My brain is completely blank. So I turn around slowly and fit my mouth to Ash. We’re going to ruin each other in this situationship. I know it. The further we go, the more time we spend together, the worse it is going to be, so why the hell am I kissing him like I could survive on kissing him alone?

“Sky.” He breathes against my lips. “I think the macaroni is done.”

But I keep watching him, his dark eyes, the wild glint to them. Hesitantly, because I don’t know what is allowed, I touch his face. Ash leans into my touch and presses his forehead to mine. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I’m sure you have plenty of ideas.”

“And a fuck ton of patience for not putting them immediately into action,” he murmurs.

“Remind me to put a gold sticker on your forehead,” I snort.

We finish cooking, and I package some of it up for Dad, hoping he’ll eat today since there’s something easy for him to dig into. The rest goes into two bowls, and then I clean the pot and strainer and everything else we’ve used.

Ash dries and leads me back up to my room. We eat and talk about old times, like when I was determined to climb higher up in the tree than anyone and fell, breaking my arm. Ash was the first to sign my cast and drew a picture of the tree. He always was an asshole.

“It meant a lot to me that you signed it back then.”

“I can still sign you now.” He reaches around my desk and grabs a Sharpie.

“Ash!”

But he’s already drawing on my arm. “You clearly need some ink to be at peak bad-ass level.”

I laugh and see his smile. “Don’t move, this is permanent. Says so on the marker.”

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