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“Yours was fucking amazing. I’m trying to stop you from being even more smug than usual.”

“Moresmug?” His jaw dropped in faux outrage, and then he tackled me down onto the bed. Somehow, we ended up with him naked except for his trainers, which was kind of weird, but I didn’t care because he’d also ripped off my T-shirt, and his hand was inside my shorts…

“Nate. Nate,” I panted, arching upwards. “More.”

“I’ve got you. Shorts off,” he commanded, and I scrambled to get them down as fast as I could, kicking my trainers off as I did so. He finally toed off his own Nikes, and then his hot, hard body was plastered against mine, and I was in fucking heaven. His mouth came down on mine, and we kissed, and kissed, and kissed, rolling around on my bed, our legs tangled together and his cock hardening against mine.

It was so. Good. Even better when he flipped me onto my back and straddled my thighs, and then stroked both our dicks together, until we came almost simultaneously, his orgasm triggering mine, or maybe it was the other way around. It was hot and wet and so incredibly unexpected that I temporarily lost the ability to speak.

“Bloody hell. What wasthat?” I managed to gasp out after my vision had cleared and my brain had regained some of the blood it had lost. I gripped his wrist, pulling his hand towards my face, licking over his palm.

I grimaced, and Nate laughed. “Decided you don’t like the taste, after all?”

“Not mine, no. Just yours.”

His brows flew up. “Can you tell the difference?”I nodded. My taste buds were very well developed, thanks. Nate laughed again at my decisiveness, and then he threaded the fingers of his other hand through mine, lifting them to his mouth. He kissed my knuckles. “You’re so gorgeous.”

Butterflies swirled inside me, and even more took flight when he gave me that slow, swoony smile. I pulled him down to me,uncaring that our combined release was all over his hand and our abs. I needed to kiss him.

“Stay here tonight?” I murmured against his lips.

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay,” he said.

23

When my eyes opened to the morning sunlight filtering through the thin curtains, it took me a moment to get my bearings, and then it all came rushing back.

Last night.

We’d started out with my stupid plan to get over each other—which would never have worked—and we’d somehow ended up here. I was on my back with my head cradled by a slightly lumpy pillow and my arm curled securely around Charlie. He was sprawled out on his stomach with his head turned to the side and resting on my chest, his arm thrown across me. One of his legs was bent, covering mine, and I was suddenly very aware we were both naked under the covers.

I carefully brushed his messy brown hair away from his eyes, making his lashes flutter. He remained asleep, though, and I took the chance to study him uninterrupted.

Last night, I’d told him again that he was gorgeous, but that wasn’t a good enough word to describe him. He was beautiful, inside and out. He took my breath away, made my stomach swoop every time I was around him, occupied my thoughts day and night, and I knew that no matter how much time we spent together, it would never be enough.

This was supposed to be casual, but there was nothing casual about my feelings for Charlie Brooks.

I rubbed my hand over my face. There was no point in thinking about our inevitable end date now. It would only depress me. Instead, I carefully rolled Charlie onto his back next to me and began pressing soft kisses all over his face. His forehead. His brows. His closed eyelids. His cheeks. His nose. His chin. And finally, his mouth, which curved beneath mine.

“Mmm. What a way to wake up.”

“Yeah.” I smiled against his lips. “I hope I didn’t wake you. I just wanted to kiss you.”

“Not gonna complain about that.” He stretched, yawning, and then peeled his eyelids back, blinking sleepily up at me. “Are you okay with…uh, this? All this?”

“I’m okay,” I promised. “More than okay. Like I said last night, I can’t stay away from you, and I don’t want to. Yeah, Sophie still feels something for you, and I do feel bad about that, but… It probably makes me a bad brother, but I keep hoping she’ll be completely over you soon.”

Charlie reached up, threading his fingers through my hair. “She will be. She’s great— No, I don’t feel anything for her, before you start thinking that—but what I mean is, she’s got another two years here at LSU to meet new people, and she’s never gonna be short of options.”

I gritted my teeth for two reasons. One, the thought of smarmy guys trying it on with my sister. And two, the reminder that Charlie also had two years to find someone new when Iwas gone. It was inevitable, and we both knew where this was headed, but it still fucking hurt.

“Don’t look so murderous.” Charlie’s hand slipped out of my hair so he could smooth his fingers across my brow. “We can keep this between us. No one needs to know. No one needs to get hurt.”

Except us.

“Yeah. And then at the end of the semester?—”

Charlie shook his head violently. “Don’t. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the time we have left. Just you and me. No one else getting involved and giving their opinions. Just us.”

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