Page 24 of Puck You Not

“Here, here, for mental simulation,” I murmured.My entire body felt flushed, and we were both still panting.If him getting on his kissing game with mental rehearsal led to this, I was all for it.

Parrish chuckled.“Here, here.Thank fuck those lips are mine now.”

“Just imagine what it’ll be like next time.”

“Or after weeks of kissing,” he suggested.“Baby, you can bet I’ll be fantasizing about that.”

My heartrate ramped up again, my pleasure centers sparking back to life after barely just calming.He was thinking of weeks with me?No complaints.

But how had my life turned upside down in less than a day?A day with a really shitty start?Everything before now was worth it.

“We should go to bed,” he murmured.He cupped my cheek, his eyes on my mouth while his thumb traced my bottom lip.It still tingled from his kiss, and I wanted more.

“Let’s,” I agreed, imagining what he’d feel like in me.He was so powerful and big.

“Just to sleep,” he asserted as if reading my lusty thoughts.He probably did.I wasn’t great at hiding my feelings.

“Okay,” I grumbled, fighting a pout.He was right.We should wait.

“Fuck, but I want to make out with you, though.Can’t.My big appendage will get ideas I can’t cash in on.Not tonight.”

Fair enough.I wasn’t the kind of girl to leap into bed with a guy she’d just met.Though technically…I supposed I actuallywasgetting into bed with him.I almost giggled at the thought, a sure sign I was overtired.

Parrish raised an eyebrow at me.“Do you want the wall side or this side?”

“You have to be up early for practice, so I guess, the wall?”I said, though it sounded like more of a question.

He nodded.“I’ll probably be back before you have to get up.”He walked over to a door I’d thought was his closet and pulled it open.“I pay more for my room than most of the other guys do.Only a few of us have our own bathrooms.”

“Nice.”I was glad I wouldn’t need to venture down the hallway to communal facilities.Eight men, one bathroom?Ew.Thankfully, Parrish’s looked sparkling.

“You can use it first while I find something to wear as pajama pants.”

Which meant he usually slept naked or just wore his underwear.I shouldn’t want to explore that when I was trying to calm my worked up libido, but I did.I really did.What was going on with me?Parrish had released a part of me I didn’t recognize.I didn’t hate it, but I needed to lock it down before I scared him off.

God sake, get yourself under control, Avie.

“Thanks,” I blurted.Grabbing what I needed from the laundry basket we’d carried in, I dashed into the bathroom.It smelled like him—fresh, outdoorsy, masculine—and I almost groaned.Though tempted to linger, I rushed through what I needed to do.

When I came back, Parrish took my place in the bathroom, and I climbed into the bed, scooting close to the wall, turning my back to where he’d sleep.When he was finished, Parrish flipped off the light on the bedside table then slipped beneath the blankets beside me.

“Thanks, Parrish,” I said into the dark.“I don’t know what I would have done tonight if you weren’t there to help me.”

“You’re welcome.But don’t sell yourself short.You would have called Nash.It would have been okay.”

“Yeah,” I said.“You’re right.But…I’m glad it was you.”

A hand curled on my elbow, gentle, reassuring.“I’m glad it was me, too.”

“I kinda feel bad for Sheena, though,” I said, wryly.

“You do?Why?”he asked, shock heavy in his voice.

“Nash is gonna decimate her.”

“Maybe.She’ll deserve it, though.And Porter’s dad is close friends with the school’s president.That might not bode well for her, either,” Parrish offered.

“No, it might not.”But Sheena hadn’t done this to Porter.And her stunt wasn’t on campus or related to a university class or organization, so it might not endanger her status at all.

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