Not yet fully awake, I nestled against the warm body curled behind me. I felt two strong arms tighten around my midsection, and I smirked at the feel of Eric’s morning arousal pressed against my ass.

Any time in Eric’s presence was a gift, but waking up in his arms was quickly becoming one of my favorite things in the world. We were well into the semester by now, and while our schedules sometimes kept us apart for days at a time, we always found our way back into each other’s arms, and beds.

With a quiet moan, I turned to face him.

His eyes were sleepy but glittered when his lips curved into a lazy grin. “Good morning, beautiful.”

“Last night was amazing,” I whispered, warming in his embrace as I recalled our all-night romp.

His silky brown hair was perfectly mussed. I ran my fingers through it gently.

He leaned down, kissing me tenderly. “You’re amazing. I don’t know how I’m supposed to leave you today.”

Thanksgiving break was upon us. Most of the students on campus, including my roommate, had gone home for the holiday. In a matter of hours, Eric would be on his way to Ridgeville, and I’d be back to missing him all over again. Missing him and worrying…

“Do you think you’ll see Mandy?”

He traced my wrinkled brow, his expression never changing. “You never have to worry about her, okay?”

“You were with her a long time. I know things are…open…between us. But the idea of you being with her kills me. I can’t lie.”

“As long as I’m with you, you’ll never have to worry about that. She’s dead to me after what she did.”

“She’s really beautiful.”

He tucked a strand of my curly hair behind my ear and stared deeply into my eyes. “So are you, Clare. And you have my heart. She never did.”

I chewed at my lip and avoided his penetrating gaze. I had a hard time believing him when he said things like that. He was Eric Hayward. Homecoming king. Star quarterback. Fuck of the century. Staking claim to any part of him seemed impossible, except when we were together like this. Eye to eye, bodies entwined, memories of our wild fucking clinging to my skin like sex on sheets.

He shook his head like he could read the doubt written on my features. “I fucked you all damn night. I’m obsessed with you, woman. What more do I have to do?”

I sighed. “Nothing. Sorry, I’m being sensitive. I guess I already miss you.”

“Why don’t you come home with me? You shouldn’t have to stay on campus all by yourself.”

“I won’t be alone. A few of my friends are staying in the dorms for the weekend.”

“Paul?”

I lifted an eyebrow at the mention of my study partner. “Yes, Paul is staying. He lives across the country so it’s easier for him to just stay here until winter break.”

Eric’s jaw muscles tensed, but he didn’t say anything more. Paul was harmless. He’d never once made a move on me. He never partied on campus, and I doubted he’d ever dated a girl. Threat level was zero.

“I appreciate the invitation. I really do, because it’s more than my dad gave me. But I don’t want to be a burden. I’m sure your family is really excited to see you. Me, not so much.”

“One day I want them to meet you. They’ll love you.” He caressed down the bridge of my nose, an affectionate gesture that twisted my heart.

These little moments with Eric were like wisps off a dandelion, precious and gone too quickly. But I’d always cherish them, no matter what happened between us.

“I hope so. Maybe another time,” I said softly.

I didn’t want to say it out loud, but until we were a committed couple, I didn’t really want to pretend like we were. Eric and I had agreed to keep things open and enjoy whatever experiences college presented to us. And while I was definitely enjoying myself, my heart belonged to Eric Hayward and him alone. He’d always have it.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” I reassured him.

His expression was serious then. “I want you to have fun, Clare. Just don’t fall in love with anyone while I’m gone, okay?”

I shot him a smile that I hoped relieved him of all those worries. “In four days? Not possible.”

“Let me just make sure you don’t,” he said, whispering his breath down my torso until he was positioned between my thighs. “A few extra precautions to make sure this pussy stays addicted to my mouth. My cock. My fingers.” He licked me and pressed two fingers deep into my heat.

“Eric!”

His answering groan vibrated through me. “Only me.”

I closed my eyes and arched against his mouth. “Only you.”

---

I splurged on Thanksgiving dinner at the only Chinese restaurant in our quiet campus town with the few friends who’d stuck around—Paul, Kitty, and her boyfriend, Todd. Kitty and Todd spent most of the meal the way they spent most of our study dates—tangled up in each other like two sex-crazed primates.

If I’d never known love, I might have hated them, but I was happy to see my friends enjoying each other. Even if they made me a little lonely for Eric.

Our waiter packed up the leftovers, and I watched the sky grow dark outside.

“We’re taking off, I guess,” Kitty finally said, her hand tightly threaded through Todd’s.

“Okay. Have a great night. Happy Thanksgiving.” I glanced at Paul, who was studying the zodiac menu placemat in front of him like it was required reading. “Want to hang out for another round?”

Paul lifted his eyebrows, a slight movement that shifted both his black-rimmed glasses and his long dark bangs against his forehead. “Uh, sure. I guess we don’t have to worry about class tomorrow or anything.”

I smirked. Always so cautious. If I’d asked him to come back and work ahead on our biology labs for next week, he would not have hesitated. Poor Paul needed to live a little.

I signaled the waiter, who swiftly brought us refills.

“According to this menu, I’m a goat,” he said after a moment.

I giggled and leaned over his shoulder to see, though it read the same as mine. “Calm, gentle, creative, frank, and honest. Those sound like wonderful qualities, Paul. Though I wouldn’t necessarily associate them with a goat.”

He pursed his lips and nodded.

“Let’s see. What am I?” I scanned the menu for my birth year. “A tiger. Open, brave, confident, adventurous.” I made a little sound, running those adjectives around in my head a few more times. I would have never described myself that way before meeting Eric, but perhaps innately, this was who I was meant to be. Someone who wasn’t afraid of herself, of rejection, of anything that veered off the path of the norm.

“You sound surprised.” Paul’s expression seemed a little more relaxed than I’d seen it before.

I cocked my head. “I’m not as afraid of the world as I used to be. But that’s a bit of a new development.”

He looked down and picked at the corner of the bottle’s label.

“How about you? Do you feel like college has changed you at all?”

He shrugged, never meeting my gaze.

“Have you met anyone you’re interested in on campus? In class or whatever?”

He was so still, he seemed to stop breathing. He licked his lips, which I noticed in that moment were full and dark. He brushed his hair back nervously, but when he looked up, the heat in his eyes could have knocked me on my ass.

Oh fuck.

I tried to pretend like I hadn’t noticed. I cleared my throat.

“We should probably head back,” I said when I caught my breath.

“Yeah,” he said, tossing a stack of bills on the table and rising before I could reach for my wallet. He was already at the door, and I almost had to run to keep up with him.

We continued that way, him rushing and me struggling to keep up, all the way to campus. He only slowed down when we got to the entrance of my dorm.

“I’ll see you later, I guess,” he said, looking in the other direction.

“Paul.” I caught the lapel on his tweed blazer and yanked, hoping to get him to look at me. “Are you mad at me?”

His jaw tightened and he stared down at his feet. “Am I mad at you? Not exactly.”

“What is it? Talk to me.” I slid my hand up his coat, feeling his muscular chest through it. It never occurred to me that under his conservative clothes and stellar work ethic that he was ripped…and frustrated.

He caught my wrist as I molded my palm over his pectoral. Squaring his body with mine, he pushed me against the brick of the building. “Clare Winston. I’m not mad. I’m crazy… You are driving me crazy.”

Before I could say anything, his lips were pressed to mine. Hungry, seeking. In an instant, the benevolent friend I’d known had transformed into six feet of muscled desire. When his tongue probed, all reason fled and I opened for him, accepting his warm, intoxicating taste. I moaned when he positioned his thigh between my mine, putting the perfect amount of pressure against my sex.

“Paul,” I gasped.

But he only pressed harder, molding our bodies together more tightly. On the empty campus, no one was there to witness our heated embrace. He kissed me hard, like I was water and he was drinking from me to survive. Had he been starved of this kind of moment his whole life? Had something about our time together unlocked this passion?

Minutes went by and my sense of propriety temporarily won out. “We need to go inside,” I said, breathless from his intense kissing.

He nodded and followed me inside. I paused when I entered the small room.

A knot of guilt lodged in my stomach, in large part because of Eric’s jealousy. But hadn’t he been the one to tell me to have my fun, to embrace all the experiences? Would he see this as a betrayal?

Before I could dwell on it, Paul’s hands were on me, turning me to him.

I looked into his eyes. Reaching up, I took off his glasses, and for the first time since I’d met him, I could truly appreciate his face. His features were chiseled, but his eyes were by far his most striking feature. An intense green with flecks of amber around the center. Ditch the nerd wardrobe and put him in a football uniform, and Paul would have girls lined up around the building.

“You’re beautiful,” I whispered.

He cupped my cheek. “I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

He licked his lips and took a few short breaths. Grazing his hands down my sides, he gripped and stroked, as if he was experimenting with what I liked, what he wanted. Then I knew. He was a virgin.

“Paul… Have you ever…?”

“No, but I don’t want to scare you away. I’ve had chances before. I just didn’t want to waste the moment with someone who wasn’t good enough.”

I shook my head. “Why me?”

“Because you’re a tiger.” He smirked and leaned in for a kiss, this one softer and slower.

Seconds slipped by as we devoured each other’s mouths and took our time stripping our clothes to the floor. He was down to his boxers and I was in my panties, moaning as his palms curved over my breasts.

With my eyes closed, I had a flash of Eric’s face. He wasn’t angry, but he was there, his presence pulsing in my heart. I sucked in a breath and stilled Paul’s roaming hands. This could possibly be a terrible time to hit the brakes, but I owed it to Paul to be honest with him. As a friend, he deserved that.

He frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“You’re perfect. I want this, Paul. But I have to tell you something before we go any farther.”

“Tell me, because I’m about to lose my mind if I can’t be inside you soon.”

My heart skipped a beat when I thought about being the first one he’d ever be inside.

“Paul, I’m in love with someone else.”

He froze. “I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to do. I don’t want to be that guy.”

“You aren’t, I promise. Me and Eric… Our relationship is different. We aren’t exclusive. He’s okay with this. But I don’t want to hurt you because I can’t take things to the next level after tonight.”

He swallowed, the bulge in his throat bobbing with the effort. “I understand.”

“You’re amazing, Paul. I care about you so much. I don’t want things to change if we do this.”

“They won’t.”

“Are you sure?” I wasn’t sure if I could believe him in the heat of the moment, with his hard cock pressed against my belly.

“Calm, gentle, creative, frank, and honest,” he said quietly.

I smiled slowly. “A goat.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I want to fuck you, Clare. And when we’re done, you’re still going to be one of my best friends. I’ll just know what it’s like to lose myself in you. I can’t promise I won’t ever want it again. But if we can’t have it again, we can’t. I’m not giving up this moment. I’ve waited too fucking long for it.”

I’d rarely heard Paul curse. He was so precise, so deliberate and in control. I had the strong sense he was teetering on the edge of control right now, but I had no choice but to believe him. I’d barely nodded before he pushed us down onto my small twin bed. I expected him to strip us the rest of the way, but he only nestled his muscular body above me, settling his hips between my thighs. So far, there was nothing virginal about the way he touched me. My skin was on fire and my pussy was pulsing and drenched, anxious to be filled.

He pumped his hips, grinding his erection against my clit several times until I thought I might come that way. Then it occurred to me that I definitely didn’t want him coming that way either. I had no idea what his stamina was, and I wanted this to be amazing for both of us. I pushed him away just enough to grab a condom from my side table.

I pushed his boxers down and took his thick cock in my hands. I stroked it slowly, taking a moment to appreciate his girth and length. God, if half the girls in our Psych class knew what Paul was working with…

I rolled on the condom and the second I was finished, he yanked my panties down and came back between my legs like he was ready to fuck me into next week. I pressed my hands to his abs, relishing how they tightened under my palms. Gazing into his eyes, I shifted my hips just enough to bring the tip of his cock into me.

“Go slow, Paul. Then you can fuck me hard and fast. But right now, I want to feel every inch of you. I want to watch you lose yourself in me for the first time.”

He closed his eyes, his jaw agape, like the words that had rolled off my tongue might do him in alone. “Heaven help me, Clare. You’re going to be a hard act to follow.”

I licked my lips and bit the bottom one. We hadn’t even gotten started.

Then he began pushing in, short breathless thrusts that joined us together a little more each time. His gaze was riveted where his cock was stretching me. A series of absent “fucks” left his lips as he buried himself deeper inside my wet pussy. I was so intent on his experience that I nearly forgot my own until he shoved home with his last thrust.

My eyes went wide, and I grabbed his toned arms to brace myself against the abrupt invasion.

He stilled. “Shit. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Do that again.”

After a tense second he thrust again, this time with more care.

“Harder,” I begged.

His jaw clamped tight, and he grabbed my hips before lunging hard.

I groaned and my eyes rolled back. Paul was big, and long, and he felt fucking amazing. “Yeah,” I moaned, swiveling my hips against his. “Just like that.”

I heard him exhale, and then his body was hot against mine and his cock was impaling me with hard steady thrusts. They were like his passionate kisses. His hot stare. Everything about Paul was intense.

So intense that I was coming violently in a matter of seconds. It was my turn to curse into the air, my nails digging into his hips as he drove into me with abandon. Tension and determination went to war on his features. He wanted to make this last. God love him for that.

After my first orgasm faded out, I pushed him onto his back and straddled him. While I rode him, dropping down so he filled me completely and hit that magic spot inside me over and over again, he used his new position to touch me everywhere. He pinched my nipples. Caressed my skin. Toyed with my clit until I was ready to come again.

I moaned his name as he brought me down on his cock over and over.

“Clare, fuck, I’m coming.”

“Come,” I whimpered. “Come for me, Paul. God, it feels so good.”

His eyes closed, and he punched his hips up fiercely.

“Fuck me, Paul. I want to come hard with you.” I bit my lip, knowing that my dirty words would do him in the way his enormous cock was doing me in. I cried out as the orgasm ripped through me.

He sat up so he could hold me tight, chest to chest, and thrust one last time with a grunt and his lips against my neck.

“Fucking amazing,” he groaned.

The tension left his muscles and we melted into the sheets together, sated, and hopefully, still very good friends.

---

Midnight passed, but sleep evaded me. As Paul slumbered beside me, my phone rang with a text from Eric. I picked it up and read his message.

Miss you.

My heart twisted.

Miss you more.

Then…

Are you having fun?

I hesitated, not knowing if this was the best time to answer him. But if I didn’t, he’d worry more.

Yes

A moment went by that felt like eternity. My heart raced, and I worried that maybe I’d made the wrong decision with Paul.

Are you falling in love?

I sighed and tapped out my reply quickly.

Only with you. Been that way every day for as long as I can remember.

Then…

Good. See you in a few days, beautiful Clare.

I closed my eyes and put the phone down. I turned against Paul’s warm body and let sleep finally take me.