Page 32 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard what people are saying about us.” Finn chuckles darkly.

I hate the traitorous zing of awareness that rushes through me at the thought of Finn and I as anus.

“Those girls, regardless of my hatred and their better sense, want to be you right now.”

“Even Cora?”

“Especially Cora,” he snorts. “Her stock is slipping around here, and she’d love nothing more than the boost a roll in the sheets with me could get her. It’s why she shoved that pill between her tits.”

The mention of Friday night brings back every other memory from that night, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. My heart starts to thunder in my chest, and I lay a hand over it, trying to ground myself, trying to catch my breath.

Suddenly, Finn is in front of me. He presses our foreheads together and takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. I follow suit, breathing in and out with him for a long time.

Once my heart steadies, I realize my fingers are wrapped around his. Even worse, I’m clutching his hand against my chest … directly between my breasts.

I jerk away, dropping his hand like a hot coal.

He grabs my elbow and pulls me to my feet with a smile. “Don’t get shy on me now, DeVry. I’ve already seen it. Believe me, I’ve been remembering it well the last two nights.”

My skin warms under his appraisal, and I turn away from him. “You should go. I don’t want any part of whatever is going on. The party was too much for me. I’m done.”

“Are you?” Finn steps forward and drops his hand to my hip, his fingers curling around the waistband of my cotton boy shorts.

Butterflies swarm in my stomach, and I swallow against the nerves rising in my throat. “Dallas…,” I say softly.

His fingers tighten on my hip, digging into the soft flesh. “Stop pretending you know everything. You don’t understand anything.”

“Then teach me,” I say. I want to sound bold and defiant, to let him know I’m not a pushover.

But when I turn to face him, all of that goes out the window. He makes me feel…stuff.

Stuff that doesn’t make any sense.

I only realize how close we are standing when the tips of our noses touch. He is so close I have to choose which eye to focus on.

This close, I can see that his stormy blue eyes are ringed in turquoise and yellow, the two colors blending to green in the middle. They are beautiful.

Finn is looking back at me too, his gaze shifting from my eyes to my mouth and back again. He licks his lips and leans forward.

And, despite everything I know about him, despite every fear and thought I’ve had over the weekend, my eyes flutter closed and I lean towards him.

I feel the breath of his laugh on my face. “Lesson number one: don’t lie to yourself.”

Shame coils in my stomach like a snake. “About what?”

Finn’s fingers slide from my hip to the soft skin just below my belly button. Then, slowly, gently, they slide lower, dipping beneath the waistband of my panties and further still, until he is stroking my wet center.

“About what you want,” he breathes as he fingers the evidence of my arousal.

My body is a traitor. A horny, unforgivable traitor who has no concern for my thoughts or safety.

I grab Finn’s wrist, ready to pull him away and run out of the locker room in my bra and panties if that is what it takes.

But just as I do, his thumb brushes over my center, and I moan.

It is a deep, primal sound, and Finn grips my chin and brings his lips to mine, swallowing the noise with his kisses. His tongue dives into my mouth, searching, while his fingers do the same.

I’m so overwhelmed with sensation that I wrap my arms around his neck just to have something to hold onto, just to keep myself from sliding to the floor.

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