Page 112 of Study Buddies

“Me too,” Jayden said. “And I think we can make this work. Tori, since you slept with Lucas—er, shared a bed with Lucas—would you like to sleep down here tonight? And then tomorrow, maybe Kyle could let you?—”

“No,” Lucas cut in. “You’ve had a rough few days, Tori. Stay in my room for the rest of the weekend. We’ll start the bed-sharing on Monday. You shouldn’t have to share a bed with someone right after a late night.”

From the look on his face, it was clear he meant that Kyle and I shouldn’t share a bed after our date.

And… well, he might have a point there. I exchanged another look with Kyle. Instead of being mad, dark amusement flashed through his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s probably good advice.” The look he gave me was heated. “Remember what I said was going to happen when you saw me in my suit?”

It took me a moment, but then I recalled his words, and I bit back a smile.

“So we’re good here?” Jayden asked.

“For now. But we’ll have weekly meetings until we figure this out, and I’m definitely going to start paying rent as soon as Lucas figures out the amount. Right?” I looked them in the eye, one after the other.

“Right,” they echoed.

They all appeared to be in agreement.

For now.

31

KYLE

I steeredmy truck around a tight bend in the road, noticing for the third time in less than a mile that Tori was sitting as far from me as humanly possible. She was practically hugging the passenger-side door, so I decided to call her out on it—but she beat me to it.

“What?” she asked, apparently feeling my eyes on her.

“Why are you sitting so far away?”

“Because this is the passenger seat?” Her tone was half question, half statement.

I shot her a grin. “You sat in the middle that night we drove to your ex-roommate’s house.”

“Yes, but that was because Lucas was sitting over here.”

“Well, why don’t you pretend he’s there and slide over next to me?” I stopped and made a face. “On second thought, don’t do that. Tonight’s just about you and me.”

“That works for me,” she said.

“So…?” I let the word hang, hoping she’d get the hint. Shouldn’t be a hard concept—she looked so fucking hot that any man would want her closer. I’d just about fallen out of my chair when she came out of her room earlier. The dress was low-cutand clung to her curves. It fucking showed off every single one of them. It made her look classy and sexy and beautiful all at once.

And she’d gone all out. She had natural dark eyes and long lashes, but she’d amped them up tonight—smokey makeup, I guessed it was called. Her hair was pinned up, except for a few loose strands that framed her face. She was stunning. A goddess. I had a pretty damn high opinion of myself, and evenIthought she looked out of my league.

I’d taken one look and instantly gotten hard—and completely forgot how to speak. Luckily, no one saw that but her, and she’d been busy checking me out at the same time.

Our other two roommates were nowhere to be seen, and I had a feeling Jayden had taken it upon himself to get Lucas out of the house. I appreciated it. Like I’d said, tonight was just Tori and me.

She gave a small sigh, then undid her seatbelt and slid across the bench seat. As soon as she was next to me, the sweet scent of her perfume hit. She wreaked havoc on all my senses—including touch, now that she was so close.

“Got your seatbelt on?” I asked. Her safety mattered, but it was also smart to keep her strapped in so I wouldn’t be tempted to pull her into my lap.

“I’m working on it. There’s not enough room for my feet.” Her legs were angled away from the gearshift on the floorboard.

“You could straddle it, one foot on either side.” I let my fingers hover over the gearshift and gave her a not-so-subtle look. “I already know you like it when my hand’s between your legs.”

“It’s not movie night,” she finally said, trying to sound unaffected—but I knew better.

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