He knew he needed to let her go, and that he should keep his distance for another week, but he couldn’t keep from pulling her into his arms. “If you were any more sensual, I wouldn’t have a prayer of surviving you.”
Her answering smile was utterly radiant. “Really?”
“Really.” He picked up his bag and tugged her out of the locker room. “Now let’s get you back to your dorm room so that you can get into bed and finish what I started.” Just as he expected, her cheeks flushed. “And just so you know, I’ll be thinking of you while I do the same thing.”
He was glad when her laughter joined his as they headed out into the darkness.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Abi, can I ask you a question?”
Serena’s roommate looked up from her book. They’d just finished going over some calculus equations and Serena hoped her explanations were helping Abi a little bit, at least. Her roommate’s parents had come down on her pretty hard in the past week over not studying hard enough, which definitely sucked. Although, somehow, Serena couldn’t help but think that Genevieve’s complete and utter freeze-out—apart from the three-word phone call about the pictures online—was worse. At least Abi’s parents cared enough about her to want her to do well. Whereas Genevieve didn’t seem to care at all about Serena now that she was no longer doing what she wanted her to do.
“Sure, what’s up? Is it about your gorgeous secret boyfriend?” When Serena nodded, Abi shoved her books and laptop aside and focused every ounce of her attention on her. “You’re going to sleep with him tonight, aren’t you?”
Serena felt her entire face go up in flames. But that was nothing compared to the way her body heated up at the mere suggestion of sleeping with Sean. As if she hadn’t thought about it all week long since the football game, and wondered...
“No, I—”
“I don’t know how you can stand it,” Abi exclaimed before Serena could say anything else. “Sean Morrison is so gorgeous. And he obviously just freaking adores you if the past couple of dates are anything to go by, because I don’t know any other reason he would take you to play Frisbee Golf or paint his face and dress up like a total dork for a football game.”
Serena was really pleased that her decision to trust her roommate had been a good one. Abi hadn’t leaked anything to anyone about Serena and Sean, not even to the other girls in the dorm. And it was so nice to finally have a confidant.
“I just don’t get why you’re holding out on him like this. Not just by not doing the most doable guy on campus, but by only seeing him once a week. If it was me,” Abi said with a wicked smile, “I’d be living in his bed twenty-four seven. Hey,” her roommate added as if she’d just thought of something, “doesn’t he have a twin? Wouldn’t it be fun if we dated Morrison brothers?”
Serena didn’t know what to say. She really liked Abi, and yet she definitely didn’t feel equipped to play matchmaker. Not only because everything with Sean was so fresh and new, but also because she hadn’t even met his twin yet.
“From everything Sean has told me, Justin sounds great,” she said carefully, “but—”
“Or maybe I should go for his rock-star brother, Drew,” Abi said with a dreamy look on her face. “He’s crazy hot and his music is amazing.” Without taking a break to let Serena answer her initial questions about why she wasn’t yet sleeping with Sean, Abi said, “Have you met any of them yet?”
“No.”
She hadn’t expected to, either. She and Sean were still slowly getting to know each other. Okay, she thought as she tried to fight back a flush that Abi was sure to comment on, so maybe the way he’d been kissing and touching her last Friday in the locker room hadn’t exactly been slow. Although the way he’d stopped when she’d freaked definitely had been.
Did he have any idea how much more his stopping made her trust him? Especially when she knew he’d wanted to do anything but.
“I’m sure you’ll be meeting them soon,” Abi said with perfect confidence.
Not for the first time, Serena wished she could be like that, so sure of her place in the world and what she wanted from it. Abi was planning to go into politics and Serena had no doubt she’d get the internship she wanted in Washington, D.C.
“Anyway, remind me why you haven’t slept with Sean yet?”
Even though Abi had proved herself to be completely trustworthy so far, Serena was still scared to tell her something so intensely personal. Namely, that she was a nineteen-year-old, world-famous virgin who had only experienced a guy’s hand in her pants for the first time last Friday...and that it had fueled every single one of her private fantasies since then.
“We both want to take it slow.”
Abi snorted in disbelief. “I don’t know any guys who want to take things slow. There’s got to be another reason.”
Serena thought about the way she’d thrown herself at Sean both of the last Fridays. “What if I said I wanted to go back to your room with you tonight?” and “More. Please.” Each time he’d been the one with the self-control to make them step back from the edge.
“He knows I’m not ready.”
“Like I said, I don’t know many guys who would care whether you’re ready or not. If you ask me, there’s only one reason he’d be willing to take things slow.” Abi cradled her chin in her hand and sighed. “He’s in love with you.”
“In love?” With her? Serena shook her head, so fast and hard that she nearly fell off the bed. “No. He can’t be.”
“Why not? Like I said before, when the housing office let me know that you were going to be my roommate, I was ready to totally hate you. But not only were you not all stuck up or into yourself the way I figured you’d be, you ended up being nice and real and helpful with my classes. If I were a guy—or swung the other way—I’d be all swoony over you, too.”
“Swoony?”
Abi grinned at the way Serena repeated the silly word. “Swoony and smitten.” There was a little pause before she shifted slightly on her bed so that Serena couldn’t quite see her hands or face anymore. “Besotted. Bewitched. Captivated. Enchanted. Enraptured. Hooked.”
Serena grinned. “I think I get what you’re trying to say without the online thesaurus.”