Page 31 of Chasing Xander
“Short version? You’re trouble, and I should stay away from you. Then she rambled about you two hooking up on and off for about a year. I don’t know. I stopped listening to her.”
The tips of his ears burned with anger. “I can promise you it wasn’t a year. Not even close. And I haven’t been with her in almost six months.” Looked like he was going to have to tell Lora—again—that he wasn’t interested in her. “Trust me, I’m single.” He needed her to know that.
“Not really my business.” She climbed the steps to her residence hall, then stopped. “Thanks for walking me home.”
He plastered a smile on his face to hide the growing panic taking root in his chest. He didn’t want to leave her yet. “I don’t mind walking you all the way up to your door. Unless you don’t trust me.”
If they’d only had more time at the house, he was positive he could’ve convinced her to go up to his room with him. Of course, Lora had ruined that. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing, though. At least this way, he could get to know Kylie better and not rush into having sex with her like he had with every other woman he’d been with. Kylie was special—he’d known that the moment he’d met her—and she deserved more than his normal one-night hookup. She wasn’t a “one and done” kind of girl.
She narrowed her eyes, and then a smile lit up her face. “Ah, now I get it.”
He cocked his head. “Get what?”
She sauntered down the steps and stood directly in front of him; the only thing separating them was the bowl of rice. “Why you kept ordering shots.” She grabbed some rice and playfully tossed it at his chest. Her lips twitched as if she were trying not to laugh. “You were hoping to get me drunk so you could take advantage of me.”
“First of all…” Chuckling, he brushed off the rice that stuck to his shirt, tempted to throw some at her, too. “I wasn’t trying to get you drunk. I was trying to make sure you didn’t. And second of all, I don’tneedto take advantage of you, or anyone else for that matter.” He reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking the soft locks behind her ear. “You would have come willingly.”
She picked a stray piece of rice from his shirt and patted his chest. “Guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?” With a shrug, she turned on her heel and let herself into the residence hall.
He rushed to catch up to her, barely squeezing through the door before it closed and locked him out. Her words swirled in his mind. Was she going to invite him into her room? The idea she might excited him. Shit. Did he have a condom with him? He followed her up to the second floor.
“Oh great.” Kylie stopped outside her door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Celeste isn’t alone.” She motioned toward the bright pink sock on the doorknob.
Smiling, he shook his head, then flung his arm around her shoulders and turned her away from the door. “C’mon. She’s with Finn, and I’m not about to cock block a brother.”
“No way.” She shook her head. “Celeste wouldn’t hook up with some guy she’s only known for a week. She’s not like that.”
He stopped and dropped his arm from around her. “Then, by all means, walk in and prove me wrong.”
She glanced back and forth between him and the closed door, then sighed. She scrunched up her face. “I was really hoping to get out of these wet jeans.”
He raised a brow and leaned closer, desire curling around his shaft and squeezing. “Now I know I can help you with that.” His palms itched at the thought of undoing the button and easing down the zipper before he peeled the denim from her legs.
A short, surprised burst of laughter escaped before she slapped her hand over her mouth. Her face reddened, making her adorable freckles more prominent. “Too bad my room is occupied.”
“Mine’s not.”
“I take it we’re going back to the party, then?”
Holy shit! Her response had him taking a small step back. He never expected her to agree. In fact, he wasn’t prepared for her to, which had his mind racing. His entire body was on edge, demanding he march her back to his room and spend the night fucking her, but… He sighed and dragged a hand through his hair, knowing he was probably going to regret this in the morning. “Actually, I was thinking we’d go get some breakfast. If you want to.”
“I’d really like to get some dry pants—these are so uncomfortable—but I’m not going to interrupt them.” She inclined her head toward the closed door.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Where did you want to go?”
“There’s a great, twenty-four-hour restaurant not far from here. Best eggs and bacon ever. We’ll take my car.”
“That’s good because I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like my car.”
“Why’s that?” When they made their way back to the lobby, Xander held open the door for her.
“Because it’s invisible.” She grinned, then brushed against him on her way out the door.
