Page 93 of Wanted You More

Well, he won’t catch me arguing there. “The class I signed up for is all about the Brontë sisters. It’s right up my mom’s alley. Professor Kamala said it might make me feel closer to her or something like that. And it…it pissed me off. What does she know?”

My admission has his brows drawing upward. “Who’s to say it isn’t true. I’m sure she didn’t say that out of malicious intent.”

The syllabusdoesremind me of what Mom’s used to look like. I remember Dad showing us some old ones he’d held on to. I think she would have liked this course. “Maybe. I don’t want to let Dad down by scraping by again this semester.”

“Tell you what,” he propositions. “I know a good place to study that’s quiet. There are limited distractions which always helps me focus. If you want, I can take you there sometime.”

He’s willing to help me? “Are you finally taking me up on that study partner offer?”

He leans back and clears a free spot in front of him when our food is brought over. “I am. It’s my last semester and I could honestly use some help. The people in my classes are a little too competitive for my taste.”

Studying with Noah doesn’t sound as awful as it probably should. “Okay. I have a condition though.”

His head cocks to the side.

The question I’ve been dying to know has me leaning in, careful not to get my hair in my plate. “Did you punch Officer Hanger? Be honest.”

The hand that’s since healed flexes. “He saw your shirtless.”

Hewaspissed about that. “So you decided the best course of action was hitting him? What did your dad have to say about that?”

There’s no way Ben hadn’t heard about his son punching a police officer. Not even I’ve done something that dumb before.

Noah’s nose twitches slightly. “The guy was talking about your boobs, Austen. Once Dad found that out, he wasn’t as angry about me giving him a black eye. I’m not sorry and I’m not going to apologize for it.”

I didn’t think Hanger had it in him to talk about my boobs. “I guess I’m happy you did too then.”

“For the record,” Noah says, picking up his fork and knife and cutting into the chicken marsala that he got. “When I told you to be eighteen, I didn’t mean party so hard you threw up and got taken into a police station half-naked.”

Refusing to cringe, I lift a shoulder. “If it makes any difference, I was only half naked for a minute. I technically went to the police station with my shirt on.”

I don’t mention the lack of bra.

For his sake.

“Should have known that mouth of yours was going to say something sarcastic,” he muses dryly, stabbing one of the mushrooms on his plate.

“Admit it, you like my mouth.”

While the response is meant to be playful, as I start eating my cordon bleu, I feel his eyes piercing my face. When I look, the crystal blue hues are focused on my lips.

Then he hums.

It’s not a confirmation.

But it’s not denial.

SPRING 2024

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

We get shushedfor the fifth time, only causing us to laugh more as we watch the couple go behind the stacks. “The library isn’t exactly what I thought you had in mind for studying,” I tell Noah, kicking him playfully under the table.

His eyes move from where the couple disappeared back to me. “In my defense, there usually aren’t this many distractions around.”

“Or maybe,” I theorize, “you were being such a good boy studying that you didn’t realize people were sneaking off to hookup.”

Noah’s lips widen. “I’m usually more astute to my surroundings.”

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