Page 20 of Study Buddies

“That could work,” I said. I’d aimed for an encouraging tone but fell short. “It’s a start, but we have to keep going. This paper is due in a week, and you said you had a game tomorrow night.”

“And parties over the weekend,” he said. “Don’t forget those.”

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the table. Finally, I looked at him. “This isn’t working, but I know something that might.”

He gave me a questioning—and arrogant—look. All of his looks were arrogant, somehow. “I’m all ears.”

“You’re not going to like it,” I began with a sign as I sank down next to him. “But I hope you’ll do it anyway.”

10

KYLE

I’d always been lucky—onor off the field. And it had been pure luck that the powers that be had assigned me the most uptight, serious, and drop-dead-gorgeous tutor ever.

She was just my type, too. A woman who didn’t know how hot she was, and didn’t yet know what her body could do. Definitely not when it was attached to mine. I was good at baseball, sure, but my talent, myspecialty, was turning studious little mice like her into sexual goddesses who weren’t afraid of their own desires.

She thought she was tutoring me this semester, but there were quite a few lessons I was going to teachher.

So yeah, I’d join her in the hall of nerds, if I had to. If nothing else, I could show her what a real man’s like. I could write a compare and contrast essay on that, no problem.

“All right,” I said.

Her eyes lit up, and a slow smile appeared on her face. Such soft, pink lips, but they’d look better when they were swollen and tender.

“Thank you,” she gushed, and then stopped as I raised an eyebrow. I knew what she was thinking, that she was supposedto help me, not the other way around. “I mean, I think this will really help you.” Her face flushed.

“You’re welcome,” I said, ignoring her second sentence. “So, where do you want to go?”

Her brow wrinkled a moment at my wording, but she shook her head as if to clear it. Her wavy ponytail danced across her back. I wanted to fist it in my hand and pull her to me and?—

“We meet in the basement of the Grainger library,” she said. “Tuesdays and Thursdays at seven. Do you want me to text you, so you don’t forget?”

“That’s not what I meant. Where do you want to go on our date?”

“Our—what?” Her voice faltered and she stared at me, wide-eyed.

“That’s the deal. I go to your nerd convention, and you go out with me.” Man, the look on her face. She was so damn fun to toy with.

“Y-you never mentioned that.”

I smirked. “Must’ve forgot.”

Tori still looked as if the world had turned inside out. “This—working together, it helps both of us, you know. My grade is tied to yours. And your place on the team?—“

I held up a hand to stop her desperate flow of words. “I know the drill. But who knows, maybe we’ll work better if we get to know each other. And maybe you’ll even enjoy it.”

Her pupils widened as she sucked in a breath. Oh yes, there was definitely desire there, buried deep. But I knew how to go deep.

Leaning toward her, I trailed a finger down her arm, and she flinched like a schoolgirl. “Maybe we’d make more progress if you learned to relax around me.”

“And you think going on adatewith you is going to accomplish that?”

I barked out a laugh, pleased that she’d finally shown some spiritandadmitted I made her nervous. “Well… maybe not.” It would probably take a long time before I could touch her without her jumping, but I was a patient man. About some things. Okay, maybe only when it came to women like her. They were generally worth it. “But I promise you, you’ll enjoy it.”

“I’m your tutor.” Her new line of defense was no less laughable than the others.

“So? Are there some sacred tutor vows you took? You’re not my shrink, my priest, or my parole officer, so it doesn’t sound like much of an ethics violation to me.”

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