Page 80 of Study Buddies

I didn’t answer, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I looked out the window. One of the hottest men I’d ever met had been turned on by me. Not the redhead on campus. Not some pushy woman who threw herself at him. But by me.

Kyle pulled his truck up in front of the house. “I’ll be in in a minute,” he said, and in a strange reversal, I smirked at him.

No one was on the first floor, but when I walked across the living room, I heard voices downstairs. “We’re working down here,” Lucas called.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

It was a bit of a letdown to go from an almost orgasm to clearing clutter out of the basement, but I was eager to see Lucas and Jayden, too. As long as I could look at them without being reminded of that confusing fantasy.

When I got to my room, my phone chimed with a text from Kyle, who was still out in his truck. I read his message once, then twice. And then I smiled.

That was hot as fuck, but you’ll scream even louder when I make you come for real.

24

JAYDEN

Tori wasin full-on teacher mode as she worked with Kyle at the study group on Tuesday night. Normally, we didn’t talk much except for when someone called for a study break. This was a place to focus and get some work done. But Tori was straddling the line perfectly. She was helping Kyle enough to get him started, but not enough to make him feel talked down to. And she was keeping their conversation short enough that it wasn’t bothering any of the rest of us.

Except I couldn’t accomplish much because I kept watching her.

I hadn’t seen it last year—the teacher side of her. Yes, she was kind and caring, like teachers should be, but I’d never seen her take charge, instruct, and assign work. She was a natural, though. If she could make Kyle fall in line, she could whip any high school student into shape.

She had her hair up in that no-nonsense ponytail, and I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the way it moved and bounced as she turned her head or bent over a laptop. All she needed was to peer over half-glasses set low on her nose, and she’d be the perfect fantasy of a strict schoolteacher—or a naughty librarian.

Kyle knew I was watching her and seemed amused. But for the most part, he worked, which was a minor miracle. Tori talked him through the next section and then left him to do it. She was that good.

Roger didn’t seem bothered by her and Kyle’s low voices. And Lucas, of course, was oblivious to any subtext going on around us. When he was in deep concentration mode, the rest of us could've had an orgy right here on the table, and he wouldn’t have noticed.

And shit, now that image was yet another thing keeping from working on my assignment, which was to create a risk assessment report for a fictitious company handling sensitive customer data. Which normally would interest me—but not as much asToriinterested me.

God, even Kyle was getting more done than me, which was pretty pathetic. Except then he paused, checking something on his phone and scowling before setting it back down. Then he got back to work—unlike me. I just couldn’t help watching Tori. Or thinking about her while staring blankly at my laptop.

Then Roger said he had to meet up with his roommate. He gathered up his stuff, wished us all a goodnight, and left.

And the energy around the table changed completely.

Tori looked around at each of us in turn, her eyes wide. A minute ago, there had been four men and one woman all studying here in perfect harmony.

Now there were three men and one woman, and it felt entirely different.

Tori knew it, judging by those dark, flashing eyes. Kyle knew it, judging by the hint of a grin on his face. And I knew it. Only Lucas, still absorbed in his homework, remained oblivious.

I caught Tori’s eye, and she raised her eyebrows. Did she look worried at the extra charge in the air? No. She actually looked excited. For about the thousandth time, I thought aboutthat moment at the movie night when she realized that I was watching Kyle rub her thigh. And how her arousal had only increased when I stroked her other one. It really made me wonder what might have happened if Lucas had been as blind then as he was now.

Finally, Kyle broke the silence. “So, how do you call for a study break?”

Tori smiled at him. “I think you just did.”

“If you call for it, you have to decide what we do,” I informed him.

“Oh, really?” He tilted his head as if thinking, but I saw it—that wasn’t news to him. Not at all.

But Tori didn’t realize that. She sat back, stretching her shoulders as she turned to her student. “You could lead us through some stretches—like maybe some you learned on the team?”

Finally, Lucas looked up, possibly because the idea of being made to do calisthenics was an alarming one. But I would’ve bet a million bucks that wasn’t what Kyle had in mind.

And I was right. “How about a game?” he said to her.

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