Chapter Twenty-Eight

Knox

She’d come to me.

To. Me.

And asked me to be her sober buddy.

Like we hadn’t crossed some stupid invisible line three days ago! I was so pissed I couldn’t see straight, and when I didn’t answer right away, she’d backed off and said she could always make sure Leo and Finn were free, which had made me start yelling for no reason.

She had stared me down as if I’d grown seven heads and barked, “My human,” while tossing her over my shoulder and stomping into my imaginary cave.

“We’ll all go,” I’d said.

Famous last words.

Because babysitting two athletes with bodies like that?

Let’s just say I’d rather be in prison.

And would probably end up there soon if the guys didn’t stop hitting on the girls.

I made sure to give her a glass of water with each drink and babysat her alcohol like she’d never been to a party before.

The girls were two drinks in, dancing with Leo and Finn in the middle of the dance floor, when I felt it. The devil, or maybe just his female minion. She snaked her hands around my chest. I’d recognize those pink talons anywhere.

“What do you want, Jess?”

“Dance with me,” she purred. I could smell the gin on her breath and visualize her come-hither glance that many a man had fallen prey to.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“I know…” She squeezed my ass.

I clenched my teeth.

This. This is why I hated my job.

They thought they had the right.

Because I’d made them feel good.

I’d made them think they were invincible.

Ninety percent of the time it was perfect.

Jessica was the other ten percent that I wished didn’t know our services existed.

“It’s late,” I said in a bored voice. “You should go home.”

“It’s midnight.”

“Exactly.” I shrugged out of her arms and made a beeline toward the middle of the dance floor, jerked my head back so Leo could see who I was talking about, and swapped him.

He could deal with Jessica; he always talked her down from her crazy better than I ever could.

And Shawn? Well, Shawn was dancing in a tiny skirt.

It wasn’t a hard choice.

Well, it was hard.

But the choice wasn’t.

I pulled her ass against me and started dancing.

She moved in sync with me then stopped and slowly turned in my arms. Her palms went flat against my chest as her face lit up. “You dance?”

“I know, I’m white. It’s almost wrong.”

She burst out laughing. “I guess I’ll just start calling you JT?”

“Or White Usher.” I winked.

Finn grabbed her one hand and dragged it south on his chest then stared me down like it was about to get real.

We’d done that before.

Played that game.

Made the crowd go wild.

Eh, why the hell not?

Magic Mike auditions, here we come.

Literally.

Though Finn never advertised it, he was with the stage show during the summer, and I was more than happy to make fun of him every chance I got.

Finn dropped to his knees behind her then twisted his body and pulled her into his arms when I shoved her away and started dancing. Finn ran his hands down her hips as she faced me, while I walked my hands down her front. Her eyes went wide with shock. We were in front and back, a bit indecent, yeah, but making the crowd lose their minds? Absolutely.

Plus, Shawn knew how to move her body. She was on me in seconds while Finn was behind her moving her hips with his hands. I grabbed her left leg, my fingers digging in to her thigh. Her lips parted as I grabbed her other thigh and wrapped them both around my waist as I ground against her. She lay back against Finn as I spread her legs wide and bent down, slowly kissing the inside of her right thigh then her left. Her eyes fluttered closed as her lips parted. People screamed around us. All I saw was her look of ecstasy as I moved my head to her left thigh, a few inches higher, and swirled my tongue against her bare skin. With a bite, I inched higher until I could see bare ass cheek, and I squeezed with my hands in time to the music pulsing through the building.

I pulled her off Finn and into my arms, her legs still wrapped around me as I ground against her again. Then Finn was reaching around me, tugging her to her feet and picking her up, wrapping her legs around him as if we were each getting a turn, when I knew, once this night was over, that mouth was mine.

She let out a little laugh in Finn’s arms, like it was fun. But in mine? In mine, she sighed; in mine, I could feel the heaviness of her gaze. He ducked his head toward her neck and kissed down to her collarbone. I clenched my fists and almost yanked her off him and punched him in the dick. He winked at me over her head.

I needed new friends who had no game.

Immediately.

With one more kiss where he made sure to make fucking eye contact with me over her shoulder, he set her on her feet, turned her toward me, and ran his hands in a silhouette fashion down her body until he was on his knees behind her, his hands on her hips. He twisted them, causing her to do a little bit of a salsa-shimmy facing me. I leaned forward and pressed a finger to her chin, then reached around her and dipped her backward. My mouth was on hers before Finn could get braver and push me further. The music ended, people went wild, but all I cared about, all I noticed, was the fact that when the music was gone. She was in my arms, not his.

Her breasts pressed against my chest as I pulled her into my embrace and kissed her harder, tasting the whiskey on her breath and the sweet mint she’d sucked earlier the way I wanted her to suck me.

We broke apart when a new song started. Our eyes locked.

Finn wrapped an arm around each of us. “That was fun.”

Shawn clung to me as if she was having trouble using her legs. By the time we made it off the dance floor, women were throwing themselves at Finn like he had the cure for lack of orgasms. He grabbed numbers, bras, and one pair of panties that he threw back into the crowd.

Leo was sipping his drink at the bar, clapping. “Well done. I saw a girl pass out the minute you kissed Shawn’s thigh. I think it was death by dancing orgasm. Either that, or she just got too hot.”

Shawn grabbed the drink from his hand and downed it.

“That good or that bad?” Leo asked, crossing his arms.

She swayed a bit, pressed her hands to her temples, and swung around so fast I stumbled backward.

Her mouth claimed mine before I could protest.

I was perfectly sober.

Yet she was somehow making me drunk.

Leo and Finn could have burned the place down, and I wouldn’t have known. All I knew was that she’d jumped into my arms and hooked her legs around me. I could feel her heat. I could feel every pulse of her blood roaring for more, and I was more than happy to give it to her.

I pulled back just in time to eye Leo. “Make sure her friend makes it home safe…” I made a get over here ASAP with my fingers then grabbed Shawn’s hand and drug her out of there.

I had driven my car since I knew I would the sober one.

I all but shoved her inside, buckled her up, and was speeding back to the dorms without even asking if she wanted to go.

Because she made me want to ravish her in the best way possible. Every time we stopped at a light, she ran her fingers along my thigh like she was reliving the dance. I finally just grabbed her hand so she’d stop the torture. Everything was fine. We were about two miles from campus when she started slowly rubbing her thumb across our joined hands.

It was simple.

Tender.

This was not normal hand holding.

I nearly ran through the next stop sign because I glanced at her. I slammed the brakes hard. “Shit.” I hit the steering wheel with my free hand. “Sorry, it snuck up on me.”

Shawn squeezed my hand harder. “The stop sign? Or the lack of traffic.”

I smirked and stared straight ahead. “You’ll pay for that.”

“What?”

“Act as innocent as you want. I’ll enjoy bringing out every single dirty part of you…”

I glanced down as she moved her legs then crossed her ankles like she was squeezing her thighs together.

“Won’t help, Shower Girl. Won’t help. But you can try.”

“What?” Her voice was husky and a little bit raspy.

“Clenching your thighs. Sad replacement. Trust me on this.”

“Trust you,” she repeated the phrase, and it hung heavy between us.

“Yeah.” I kissed her hand and tried like hell not to fly off the side of the road, park, and tug her skirt up.

“How drunk are you?” I asked once we made it back to the dorm. I cut the engine and waited. My breathing had slowed by then, though just barely.

Her eyes pierced straight through me. “One drink, two glasses of water, and a half gulp of whatever Leo was drinking that tasted like orange juice.”

I sighed in relief. “Leo rarely drinks. It was orange juice with a splash of lime.”

“It was good.”

“I’ll relay the message,” I said gruffly before grabbing Shawn and kissing the hell out of her, tasting the orange juice on her tongue and memorizing the way it slid against mine. I pulled away. “Inside. Now.”

She opened her door, straight up took off her heels, and jumped onto my back when I came around the front of the car.

I laughed and jogged inside.

People stared.

They could all go to hell.

It took me three tries to get the damn door to our suite open, and when I did, it was to see Slater sleeping on the couch with the remote in his hand.

“We have to sneak by Dad,” Shawn whispered against my ear, tickling it then tugging it with her teeth.

I slipped and nearly ran into the countertop. “You can’t bite me if you want me to be quiet.”

She bit me again.

I held my moan in and tripped over a throw pillow with her still hanging on my back.

Her muffled laughter filled the room as I finally got to my door and pulled out my keys.

Slater moaned and turned on his side.

I held my breath.

He blinked at the TV then closed his eyes again.

With an exhale, I waited for a loud commercial then slowly opened my door, crossed the threshold, and closed it.

Shawn slid down my back.

I turned the lock.

It was loud.

So loud.

Then silence.

Just our heavy breathing in the dark.

And the fact that at any minute Slater could come running and ruin everything with one truth bomb.

I braced my hands against the door, still not facing her. “Tell me you won’t scream.”

“Are your hands going to be on me?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to be touching me?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Then I can’t promise I won’t scream.”

I looked over my shoulder. “At least promise me you’ll try to muffle it in the pillow.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” She winked.

“Fuck, where have you been all my life?”

She peeled her crop top over her head and dropped it to the floor. “Oh, you know, learning how to use a microwave. Electronics are hard.” She allowed her gaze to sink lower until it fell below my belt.

“Cute.” I took a step, then two, and suddenly my hands were on her warm waist, and I was praying I could die between her breasts, or at least let them suffocate me for a good five minutes. “I mean it. Try not to scream. You scream… he comes running… my murder will be on your conscience.”

“What a way to die, though.” She shrugged.

“Oh? And what position do you think he’s going to find us in?”

“The first time or the second?” She backed up.

I chased her and grinned as I brushed a kiss across her mouth. “Innocent little Shower Girl, I meant the fourth.”