Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Bex: You coming or what?
Preston: I hope so *wink, wink*
Bex: Keep it in your pants.
Preston: That’s impossible to do around you. I’ll be there in 20.
Bex: I’ll be waiting.
Twenty minutes later, Preston strolls down the aisle toward my table, all muscle and swagger. Track pants hang low from his narrow hips, his T-shirt tight against his thick chest. Did he wear this on purpose?
Ugh, I’m dying over here.
My ovaries are going to explode, and it will be his fault. He looks good, too damn tempting.
I smile up at him as he pulls out a chair and sits next to me. His large frame fills up every inch of space around me. So does his manly scent. He smells like freshly dried laundry, his musky cologne, and sweat. By the looks of his forehead, he ran over here.
“Why are you out of breath?”
“It’s all you, girl.” He smirks. “You take my breath away.”
I laugh and then nudge him in the side with my elbow. “Yeah, right.”
“You kinda do. But that’s not the reason. I ran across campus to get in some cardio. I was also trying to dodge this chick I hooked up with last year. She’s a clinger.”
“Nice.” I shake my head. “This is the Preston Parker everyone knows.”
He leans in so close our lips are almost touching. “I’d never run from you.”
“You say that now because this is new and still fun. I’m sure you’ll be running from me by the end of the year.”
I have to face the reality of the situation. No matter how good the sex or how much I like him, we have no future. Our paths will never cross after graduation.
His smile fades. “You’re impossible, woman. Would you just go with the flow?” He presses his thumb to my temple. “Stop overthinking everything.”
Before I can answer, his lips are on mine invading my mouth. Our tongues collide, and it’s like a silent war with each of us pushing and pulling for domination over the other.
Someone clears their throat from a distance. I break away from Preston, sinking back in my chair. The librarian shoots a pointed stare in our direction. Using her hands, she motions for us to move our chairs apart. I scoot mine along the carpet in desperate need of some distance from him.
“How come you’re all the way up here?”
I shrug. “No one ever comes up here. That’s why I like it. I can focus on my homework or study for a test. The dorms are too noisy.”
“I have the same problem at my house. Too many guys under one roof. It gets a little crowded.”
“I really have to study,” I confess. “I wasn’t joking about that part.”
He slides my open textbook along the desk toward him. “So, what are we studying?”
“Business ethics.”
“I thought you were a sports management major.”
“I am. We’re learning how to negotiate sports contracts and how to deal with the ethical obligations in those contracts.”
“Ahh, I see. Like the dickhead agents who lure prospective clients with cars.”
I steal the book back from him. “Exactly.”
“My mom can’t stand those kinds of agents.”
“I can’t either. They use dirty tactics to gain clients.”
“I would never sign with someone who did that.”
“Isn’t your mom going to manage your career?”
“I don’t know. My family is already so involved in my life I’m not sure if I want her micromanaging my career, too.”
“What about JP?”
“Maybe,” he says. “We’ll see. I haven’t gotten that far yet. My mom assumes she’ll handle everything… because that’s what she does. I wouldn’t mind having someone outside our family.”
“No one else will ever have your back like family would.”
He moves his hand from the table to my thigh and squeezes it. “Yeah, you’re right.”
We sit in silence for a while, and I pretend to study even though Preston is too distracting. His fingers skate along my thigh, his delicate touch too much for me to stand.
“Are you doing this on purpose so I’ll change my mind about library sex?”
The dimple in his cheek pops. “Is it working?”
“Yes.” My cheeks redden. “But I do need to study. For real. I have a test tomorrow that counts for twenty-five percent of my grade. Don’t you have practice or something else you can do?”
“Nah, I’d rather bother you.” He laughs. “I don’t have practice until tomorrow morning. I’m so ahead on my managerial accounting class that I finished all of my work in the lecture hall.”
“I’m sure you could find hundreds of things to do other than sit in a library.”
“Yeah. But you’re here. So, unless you plan on relocating to my bedroom, I’m staying here until you tell me to leave.”
“You can stay as long as you stop distracting me.”
“You’re an A student, Bex. I’m sure you’ll ace this class whether I sit here with you or not.”
“You’re skating dangerously close to the line we were never supposed to cross,” I joke.