Page 217 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"Okay. But really quick. I do not want our discussion to start out that way. Absolutely no funny business."
James lifted his hands up to either side, acknowledging that he'd behave.
I bit my lip and turned toward the stairs. I was hoping he'd abandon his resolve. I suddenly felt young and giddy. How many times had I imagined having a boy in my room? And I wasn't just bringing up any boy. I was bringing up my sexy, brooding, rich,successful professor. Maybe my parents would just be happy. James was a catch.
I made my hips sway more than usual as I walked up the stairs. I could feel his eyes on me. I tried to remember what kind of disarray I had left my room in. Hopefully it wasn't as bad as I was picturing.
"You're kind of a slob." He laughed as he stepped over some of the clothes on my floor and walked passed me.
"I'm a lot better when I have a roommate. A lot of it was from when I was packing. It's hard to know what to bring to school when you only have so much space." I picked up some of the clothes and put them into a hamper in the corner.
James walked over to my bookshelf and looked at the titles. "Jane Eyre? Are you a fan of all the classic romances?"
I laughed. "No, actually. I read it for my senior thesis. Jane and Mr. Rochester drove me crazy. Clearly they should have been together the whole time. It made me so mad." I tossed some more clothes into my hamper. I just realized the irony of what I had said. I had told James that I had wanted to wait. Was I really as annoying as Jane Eyre?
James was smiling at me. "I couldn't agree more."
"Honestly, I think I'm done reading classics as soon as I'm done with school. I prefer reading books like Harry Potter." I hoped that didn't make me seem too young.
"I prefer books like Harry Potter too." He put his hands in his pockets.
"Really? You've read Harry Potter?"
"Why is that so surprising? I'm pretty sure that Harry Potter was actually my generation's thing, not yours. And who doesn't love the concept of magic? Besides, there was this cute little red headed girl in it that I loved reading about." He smiled at me.
"I was Ginny Weasley for Halloween last year."
"Quite the leap from Ginny to sexy Poison Ivy."
"Yeah, well I started dating this sophisticated, older gentleman. I was trying to impress him."
"You don't need to change for me. I love you just the way you are." He looked over at my bed. "Stuffed animals and all. Geez, that's a lot of stuffed animals."
I laughed. "Yeah, well, I didn't have my boyfriend's sweater to snuggle up to at night. Or the man himself."
James walked over to my bed and sat down on the edge of it. "The Beatles?" he asked, nodding his head toward a poster on my wall.
"I'm an old soul."
"You're full of surprises, Penny Taylor."
"I hope that's a good thing."
He smiled at me. He looked so out of place, sitting on my unmade bed full of teddy bears. But he looked surprisingly comfortable. He looked happy. "What is the wildest fantasy you had in this room?"
"Honestly, nothing that risqué. I just had tons of dreams about getting my first kiss."
"Was your actual first kiss everything you dreamed it would be?"
"No. The first kiss we had was much more like my dreams." I walked over to him, stopping when I was standing right in front of him.
He lightly brushed his fingertips against my thigh.
I swallowed hard.
"And why is that?"
"It was sexy and romantic." Just remembering the feel of the cold, wet steel of the car against my body made heat rise to my cheeks. "Until you told me I had to stop thinking about you, of course." I laughed as he grabbed my hand and pulled me on top of him. I quickly moved my legs so that I was straddling him on my bed.
