Page 14 of Room 1212

I was very quickly surrounded by a crowd of excited seniors. I hadn’t exactly been planning a meet-and-greet, but I would never turn away a fan. I shook hands and answered questions. One man even asked me to sign his chest. That was the point when Drew finally stepped in.

“All right, everyone, that’s enough. We don’t want to overwhelm the poor man.”

A woman in her 40s wearing black scrubs stepped up to help with crowd control. “Isn’t it time for bingo?”

I was surprised by how efficiently that worked to distract everyone. Drew grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door and into the hallway. “Quick, in here,” he said, yanking open a door and shoving me inside.

“Is this a broom closet? Talk about cliché,” I teased as he closed the door behind us.

He snorted, pulling on the dangling string to turn on the bare lightbulb. “Only if we planned on having sex in here—which I don’t.”

“But we could…” I suggested, looking down to where our bodies were nearly touching.

Flustered, he quickly stepped back as far as the closet allowed, which wasn’t far. He pinched his eyes closed and took a steadying breath, but it was hard to hide how affected he was. “Why are you here, Jordan?” he asked, his cheeks turning pink.

“It seems it’s my turn to apologize.”

He cracked one eye open to peek at me. “It is?”

“Yes. I shouldn’t have just blurted out my proposition. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I wasn’t offended. You just surprised me, that’s all.” He pursed his lips, thinking over my apology. “I notice you didn’t say you regret making the suggestion.”

“Nope,” I said simply, offering him what I hoped was a sexy smile. “Don’t regret it in the least. In fact, that’s the other reason I’m here. I thought I might try to convince you what a good idea it is.”

He groaned and rocked back on his heels, bumping into the door, out of space to retreat further. “Jordan, no. I can’t have sex with you, especially not for research purposes. It’s an awful idea.”

“Why? Are you dating someone?” I asked. I assumed he would’ve come straight out with it if that were the case.

“No,” he confirmed.

“Well, don’t you find me attractive?” I was pretty sure he did, but maybe I was just reading him entirely wrong.

He ran a hand over his face, his eyes flicking over my body. “No, I promise that’s not the problem.” His Adam’s apple bobbed with a gulp.

I failed to see why this wasn’t a great idea, and the solution to all my problems. I would learn a thing or two, refill my well of inspiration, and I was sure he would derive some pleasure from it as well. Alphas always seemed to be obsessed with sex! “What’s wrong then? Do you doubt your skills? Oh, shit, are you a virgin?” I gasped. “I just assumed—not that there’s anything wrong with saving yourself for marriage.”

“No!” he blurted, getting defensive. “I’ll have you know I’ve had plenty of sex, loads of it! Tons! And I’m amazing at it!”

I frowned. I didn’t want to think about all the sex he was having with other people, when he was fighting so hard against me. “Is it about money? I can pay you.”

That made him scowl. “Jordan, seriously, I’m not a gigolo.”

I winced and held my hands up in surrender. “Sorry, you’re right. I don’t always think before I speak.”

He sighed and sat down on an overturned bucket. “Why me? You could have your pick of any partner.”

I crouched down so I wasn’t standing over him. I wanted to look him in the eye, let him see that I wasn’t the anxiety-ridden, socially inept omega I always seemed to be around him. I couldn’t help it; he had a way of throwing me off my game. “People hit on me all the time; I’m not saying that to brag, just to state a fact. They love my books and show up at my signings, assuming I’m going to be like one of my characters. Sometimes they’re interested because I’m rich, sometimes because I’m famous. But here’s the thing—I don’t want to be someone’s conquest or a story to tell their friends. I don’t want someone who gets giddy at the sight of me for the wrong reasons. Maybe I could have my pick, but I pick you.”

I didn’t like the pitying look he wore. “Jordan, I’m flattered, really, but these kinds of things should happen organically.”

“If this were a relationship, maybe, but that’s not what I’m asking for. There is no room in my life for a boyfriend. All I need is someone I can experiment with, someone who knows what I do for a living and who doesn’t mind trying new things.”

“I don’t really do… casual,” he said. His hazel eyes looked almost amber in the yellow glow from overhead. “We might not even have any chemistry,” he said, but it sounded to me like he was losing steam, like he was out of excuses.

“Well, there’s one way to test that for sure,” I said.

Moving slowly, like I was trying not to spook a skittish animal, I inched forward until I was kneeling between his legs. I reached out oh so slowly and placed a hand on one of his knees. He didn’t push me away or ask me to stop, so I slid it slowly north.

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