Page 9 of Tempt

“Don’t run away,” I growl.

She gives me a wide-eyed glare. “This isn’t talking.”

“I’m saying plenty.” I smirk when she drops her gaze to my mouth. Oh, the things I want to do to her with my lips, my tongue, my teeth. “I want you. Can we talk about that?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re pretty. Because you’re smart. Because you tell the dirtiest jokes I’ve ever heard, and when everyone else is cackling, you go to a different place. You get a little dreamy.” I brush my mouth against her cheek. “I want to be a part of your dirty dreams.”

“I don’t—” She cuts herself off, becauseyes she does.

I want to crow. “You’re a dirty girl, aren’t you?”

“Everyone is,” she whispers. Then she turns her head and kisses me, her lips swollen and soft and perfect.

We kiss until she’s breathless and I’m hard, my brain a little fuzzy, and I finally put my hands on her bare fucking thighs.

She trembles under my touch.

“You make me want to do filthy things, Hazel. You know that?”

She moans as my fingers stroke higher on her thighs. Almost there. I want her shaking by the time I touch her pussy.

I licked her neck. Fuck, she tastes good. “I wanted to do this in the library. When you called me on my shit. Would you have let me then?”

She freezes.

“You wanted me in the library?” Her voice catches. “Weeks ago?”

There’s a warning flag here, but I’m not following. “Fuck, yeah.”

Wrong answer. Fuck me.

“No.” She shoves me back, stronger than she looks. Shaking, she takes two steps back towards the pulsing dance floor. Then she stops and shoots me adrop dead, assholelook. “This can’t happen, Sam. You’re an asshole. And if you want a bro tip…those assholes aren’t really your friends. But you know that, and you hang out with them anyway. So you know what? I’m done with you. If youeversee me again, pretend you don’t know me.”

3

Sam

Present Day

I didn’t seeher again. She dodged me for an entire term and didn’t show up at convocation.

What were the odds she would slide into the seat across from me a decade later?

She gave me a fake name, and that was fine. I did my part. I pretended not to know her, but I do—or did. Except she was into it, too.

Fuck.

And now she’s staring at me like I’ve ruined everything. Again.

“None of your business,” Hazel says, her eyes bright and challenging. “You started playing the game. I just took it to the next level. It’s a shame for both of us you couldn’t keep it there.”

I genuinely thought I’d never see this woman again.

I was not prepared for this evening on any level.

And yet.

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