What if I let go of the past and just did what my body was screaming for?

You’d have one hell of an orgasm tonight.

His eyes narrowed, a muscle jerking in his cheek. “I can’t handle this. I’m barely hanging on here.”

“Me too.”

He lowered his head until his mouth was an inch from mine. “Forget friendship. I want to fuck you.”

His words banged around in my head.

My tongue darted out to wet my lips. “Hartford . . .” I stopped abruptly at the anger flaring in his eyes. God. I hadn’t meant to say his name. He hadn’t even been on my mind.

“Exactly.” He let go of my hand, a pulse beating at his temple. “Goodnight, friend.” He sent me a final look and turned and walked out the door.

I WOKE UP at one in the afternoon to the smell of bacon frying and the sound of Spider yapping on the phone. Rubbing my face, I crawled out of bed and sat on the edge, snippets of last night in Remi’s hotel room coming back to me. I groaned. I’d really cocked it up with her last night, and I hadn’t even been drunk.

Clearly I’d been thinking with my dick, especially when she’d been flashing those legs, prancing around the room and offering to let me sleep in the same room as her. No doubt—us in a hotel room was a recipe for disaster.

I got angry again, remembering her saying his name and not mine. Sonofabitch.

Moving on from thoughts of her, I looked around the room. I’d be leaving next week, I thought as I took in the cream and white color scheme Spider had gone with. Roomy and furnished in mostly chrome and leather, it was a nice flat, and he was quite proud of it. He’d hired a designer and had a hand in picking out all the rugs and accessories. He took it seriously because it was his, and even though I could be a messy bastard, I’d picked up after myself.

My phone pinged with a text. Declan. He and Elizabeth were the two people I missed the most this summer. They’d fallen hard for each other last fall—two of the luckiest people I knew. Just watching them together made me envious, and part of me wanted the magic they had, but I was too scared.

I picked up the phone. I’d called him yesterday to see if he could find me a place to rent around campus and put a deposit on it until I got back into town.

There’s nothing to rent close to Whitman, but I found you an older house: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2500 square feet. Even has a little patio out back. Seventy thousand and it’s all yours. Steal of a deal.

What the hell?

I didn’t want to buy a place. I wanted a place to crash until I graduated.

I FaceTimed him since it was free.

“Hiya, bro, what’s up?” I said as soon as he answered. His hair was wet as if he’d come fresh from a shower. It was eight in the morning there.

“Hey, man, what’s up with the black eye?” Rustling sounds as he moved into his kitchen.

I touched my face, seeing the ugly gray bruise under my eye on the screen. “You know me, always into something.”

He squinted at me. “Be careful. I still haven’t taught you all my moves yet.” A grin popped up on his face. “Not that you’d ever be as good as me anyway. I’m the best.”

“I’m the best at everything else.” I chuckled.

“Whatever, tosser. Just tell me how you’ve been.”

“Trust me, you’d be impressed. I run ten miles a day, work out and, sit down for this one, I actually read some books this summer. I’m just starting one you might be familiar with. Pride and Prejudice. It’s a little slow and there’s no sex. I pretty much hate it.”

He laughed.

I saw Elizabeth in the background, her blonde hair tied up in a messy bun. She waved enthusiastically.

I blew her a kiss. “Hey, love. I miss you.”

She blew me one back and called from across the room. “Miss you more. Come home soon, please. I need a shopping buddy. Declan refuses to help me pick out purses like you do.”

In my viewer, I watched Declan smile as he took in Elizabeth pouring a cup of coffee. He chuckled and turned back to face me. “I guess you got my text?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to buy a house. Or I could move my arse in with you guys, and then Elizabeth will fall for me . . .” I laughed.

“Dude. We barely have room for our shit.”

“Yeah.” I was mostly kidding anyway.

He continued, “I checked with the housing department for open dorm rooms, but got nothing. That number will change once classes get started, but that would put you living with Dad until they had an opening.”

Ugh. Dorms.

Even worse, though, was Father.

I groaned, picturing my father’s three-story mansion with fancy furniture, housekeepers, and my five-year-old stepsister. “No way.”

Declan grinned. “You could do it. Save some money. Hang out with the horses. Swim in the pool. Have family dinners.”

“And never have sex again.”

“True.” He laughed.

“You sound happy. Things going good with the gym?”

“Thanks to Dad,” he said, “and Elizabeth.”

He sent a grin to Elizabeth, who’d popped up to kiss his cheek. “Anyway, maybe you’d like to invest in an older home, live there, and maybe do some work on it, and then resell it. Or rent to college students. The real estate market is on fire, and you’d be good at it.”

I smirked. “Me?”

“Why not? You’re a smooth talker and handsome, so why not capitalize on those traits? I’ll help out with the business side if you need it, although I think you’ll be just fine.”