Page 16 of Don't Let Me Fall (Don't Let Me 1)

I should’ve. But I slept like shit. After my little encounter with Ashlyn in the kitchen, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her silky skin. The breathiness in her voice. The way she looked in nothing but my T-shirt. I’m still not sure how the hell she wound up in it, but I’m not about to complain. It almost makes up for the shitty orgasm I had to give myself while imagining it was her after I went back to my room.

Almost.

I should’ve invited Sophie to my room last night. It would’ve prevented a lot of issues after I turned her away in the hall. But I didn’t. I told her I wasn’t in the mood. The truth was, I wasn’t in the mood for her, which I still don’t fully understand.

“How’s your little sister doing?” Theo asks, bringing me back to the present.

I blink slowly, whiplashed. “Blakely?”

“Do you have another sister?”

I laugh and shake my head. “She’s fine. Why?”

“Just wondering.” He leans against the counter, trying to act casual, which only sends the warning bells in my head into full-blown beast mode.

My gaze narrows, but I continue anyway. “She’s coming to LAU soon.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “Yeah. She asked if I could help her find a place. She was offered an internship with the sports program, and the school wants her here before fall semester, so it makes things a little tricky with roommate contracts and shit.”

“We have an extra room,” he offers, his mouth curving up on one side.

“You think I’m gonna let my little sister move into this house?”

He bursts out laughing. “There’s the overprotective brother I’m used to.”

“Do you blame me?”

“She’s a pain in the ass,” he reminds me.

I laugh and take another swig of coffee. He’s not wrong. Blakely has the mouth of a sailor and the right hook of a boxer, but I wouldn’t expect anything less after being raised with three older brothers. My mom always said they kept having kids in hopes of one of them being a baby girl she could treat like a princess. Instead, she got Blake, who’s basically one of the boys.

When we were little, she even begged to sign up for football, but my mom enrolled her in soccer instead. She would’ve gone pro, too, if she hadn’t exploded her kneecap during her sophomore year in high school. Now, she’s studying to become a physical therapist in sports medicine, and since LAU has one of the best programs in the US, and she’s finishing her associates from the community college near our mom’s house, it made sense for her to apply here.

“Yeah, she is,” I agree. “A pain in the ass who will be at LAU soon, so I expect you to help me fend off all the guys who’ll be drooling over her. Think you can do it?”

“We’ll see. Speaking of pains in the ass, the girl I brought home. Did she already leave? I told her we could shower together after the gym.”

“Nah, I haven’t seen anyone yet this morning,” I reply, surprised by my disappointment. “Only in the middle of the night.”

He frowns. “Huh. I didn’t know she’d woken up.”

“I meant Ashlyn.”

His eyes widen. “No shit?”

“Yeah.” I bite back my laugh and add, “She was wearing my shirt.”

“What?”

I nod.

“How the hell did you manage that?”

With my hands raised in defense, I say, “Must’ve been karma or some shit, ‘cause it wasn’t me. You think Logan noticed?”

“Doubt it. He was probably too busy setting up his hookup for tonight.”

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