Chapter Seven
“Shit!” Kristin murmured and put a pillow over Sean’s crotch so he could cover up. She took a last look to make sure he was decent before she grabbed her shirt and yanked it on. She then sat on the bed next to him.
“Thought-you-were-with-your-study-group.” Her words rushed out in one breath.
“We finished early. Hey, Sean.” Zoe’s voice carried that sexy come-fuck-me tone Kristin had heard her use on more guys than she could count, and it pissed her off.
Sean put his arm around Kristin’s shoulders, kissing the crown of her head. “Hey,” he muttered.
“We’re in the middle of something…” Kristin didn’t finish the curt sentence, thinking Zoe would understand her meaning.
“I can see that.”
“Then how about you go to Jessica’s or Addy’s for a half hour or so.”
She dropped her backpack on the floor by her bed, kicked off her boots, and pulled off her coat. “Why?”
Frustration answered for Kristin. “Why do you think?”
Zoe glared at her. “From what it looked like, you want to suck him and fuck him.”
Sean muttered something in Irish and shook his head at the crass frankness.
Kristin bit her lip to hold her tongue, not wanting this to escalate into something even more embarrassing and uncomfortable. “Come on. Give us some time alone.”
“Nope. I’m going to bed. But please—you guys go on with what you were doing. I don’t mind.” Facing Sean and Kristin, she pulled her sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor. She, too, was braless, and her nipples were hard tipped peaks, standing at attention on her pert breasts. She undid the snap on her jeans, lowered the zipper, then shimmied them over her hips and down her legs. Her pink see-through thong revealed a small diamond patch of neon pink curls.
“If you ask me nicely, I’ll even join you.”
She had hooked a finger on either side of the thong and pulled it down when Sean cursed in Irish again. He stood, found his shirt, and pulled it on, then grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
Kristin didn’t understand his words, but his tone was clear—he was disgusted. With her? Zoe? Or just the turn of events?
Kristin shot Zoe a look so sharp it could maim as she pulled on her yoga pants and slipped into her flips before following Sean out the door, slamming it behind her.
Sean and Kristin headed down the stairs in silence. She kept waiting for him to say something, anything, and prayed that he would. But they reached the front door of her building and he still hadn’t spoken, so she did.
“I’m guessing you’re not into threesomes?” She smiled to let him know she was joking. But he wasn’t amused.
“There’s something seriously wrong with that girl,” he said and yanked on his coat.
“She’s having a hard time since Mason broke up with her. She sees us, and I think she’s jealous.”
“What she did up there, that’s beyond jealous.”
“It’s just the way she is, but look, I don’t want to talk about her.” She slid her arms around his waist. “Let’s go to your room and finish what we started,” she whispered. “I want you in my mouth.”
He held her close and cupped his hand over her cheek. The smell of her pussy juice on his fingers made her want to beg him to take her.
“I want you, Kristin. But not in my room.”
The words hurt her to the quick. “Why not?”
“Darlin’, it’s a guys-only floor. They’ll be listening to our every sound, flogging themselves thinking about what you’re doing with me in my bed. I’d end up punching a couple of them after they looked at you.”
She eased back out of his arms, the frustration zipping through her body and making her words sharp. “You didn’t seem to have any trouble bringing those other girls to your room.”
The second it was out of her mouth, she wished she could bring it back. But the shocked look on Sean’s face told her it was impossible. She dropped her eyes, ashamed of herself. After a moment, she felt his hand on her face, lifting it so he could see her eyes and so she could see the truth in his.
“Those girls didn’t mean anything to me,” he said, his voice soft but firm. “You do.”
She threw herself against him and hugged him. “We can’t go to my room. We can’t go to your room. Do we just give up?”
He wrapped his arms around her for a deep and soulful kiss filled with a promise that he would find a way.
“I’ll never give up on being with you…Heather.”
She choked on a chuckle. “No! Don’t you dare speak another woman’s name after giving me a kiss like that.”
He kissed her again, defusing her frustration into particles too tiny to sour her mood.
“See you tomorrow morning at eight with your…” he closed his eyes, remembering “…latte, no sugar, with whipped cream.”
She smiled, pleased that he remembered her favorite coffee drink from their walk. “Dream about me tonight,” she whispered against his mouth. “What I was going to do to you.”
“That’ll be all I think about, darlin’.” He kissed her, left her embrace, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the darkness.
****
Zoe was in bed, innocently typing on her laptop, when Kristin came in.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Kristin seethed through gritted teeth. On the climb up to her floor, her anger had risen to bubbling-over proportions.
“You could have gone to his room for your little fuck-fest. You didn’t need to kick me out of the room.” Her eyes never left the computer as she delivered the bitter words.
Kristin stormed over to her and slammed the laptop closed. “I’ve left my room for you plenty of times when you brought some guy here. The one time I ask the same of you, and you act like a bitch.”
“Oh, I’m a bitch just because I don’t do what you say? Thanks…friend.”
Kristin released a frustration-filled growl and dropped down onto Zoe’s bed. “I thought you’d be happy I’ve found someone I like after everything I went through with Nick. But ever since I met Sean, you act like you hate that he’s in my life.”
Zoe was silent, her finger tracing the paisley pattern on her comforter, her eyes following it. Then she looked up into Kristin’s eyes. “He’s going to hurt you.”
The statement came like a blow to Kristin, reminding her that only a couple of days ago she’d heard the same thing from Randy. She leaned back and stared at Zoe. “I don’t get that from him at all.”
Zoe chortled. “Sorry, honey, but when it comes to guys, you don’t have a great record.”
“That’s not true.”
“Oh? There’s Nick, who ditched you. Before him was that basketball player—what was his name? Reese?—who cheated on you with another basketball player. Female, but still. Before that was—”
Kristin held up her hand. “Enough already.” She stood and climbed into her own bed, pulling the comforter up to her chin. It smelled like him, like her, like their combined scent. “Sean’s different.”
“The only difference between Sean and those other guys is that his package is bigger.” Zoe opened her laptop again. “Much, much bigger.”
“You saw?”
“Duh! Only wish I’d whipped out my phone and snapped a pic before you smothered it with a pillow.” She sighed. “But it’s in here,” she added, tapping her temple, “and it’s going to fuel my fantasies for weeks.”
“Leave him out of your depraved fantasies.”
“I will if you will.”
“No promises. But really, Sean’s a good guy, and even if you can’t find it in your heart to be nice to him, at least be happy for me and support what I want. Can you do that?”
“No promises—not as long as what you want is him.” Zoe’s eyes were sharp flints of ice, telling Kristin that she was serious about not giving her an ounce of help with Sean.
Her phone dinging through a text from Sean curbed what she really wanted to say to her, but throughout her hour-long conversation with Sean, Zoe’s words stayed with her.
Sean hadn’t done or said anything that would make her question his sincerity or his honesty. With guys from her past, even Nick, she’d always felt a little off, like she was walking on a sloped sidewalk that could pitch her at any time. And to be honest, the possibility of being pitched had been part of the appeal. Being with Sean was like floating through a summer-blue sky—no clouds, no rain, just a light breeze to carry them forward.
Could she be wrong? Again?
****
Seeing Sean’s handsome, open, smiling face the next morning just before eight, her latte in hand, Kristin knew Zoe and Randy were wrong.
“I stayed awake all night thinking about your roommate,” he said as he walked her to class.
“Oh, goodie. Just what every girl wants to hear from her guy.”
He chuckled. “What I mean is, I thought about why she’s acting the way she is.”
“Did you come up with any conclusions? More importantly, any solutions?”
“No solutions. It’s crazy, but she’s acting like a jealous lover.”
A chill shot through Kristin at his words. Was now the time to tell him about her and Zoe? Before they got any closer? She opened her mouth to say something, but one look at him and she knew she couldn’t. Besides, she hadn’t been with her since she and Sean got together, so why tell him? He hadn’t been real open about his ex-lovers.
“Was she this bad with your other boyfriends?” he continued.
“She’s never liked any of the guys I dated, but she’s never been this…territorial.”
“So, it’s me she doesn’t like.”
She shrugged. “She thinks you’re going to hurt me.”
He stopped and faced her, his gaze serious. “And you, Kristin? What do you think?”
“I think she’s wrong.”
“I want you to know it…” he put his hand on her heart “…in here. Know that I won’t hurt you.”
She covered his hand with hers and brought it to her lips, kissing his palm. “I know it.”
He dropped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her, dropping a kiss on her head.
They got to the building where her class was but, instead of letting her go, he sat on the adobe banco and pulled her onto his lap.
“Where are you taking me for dinner tomorrow night?” she asked, her arms loosely looped around his neck.
“No place with sushi, that’s for sure,” he teased, knowing it was one of her favorite foods.
“No place with food that comes on a bun, either,” she countered, knowing of his passion for green chile cheeseburgers.
“Nah. Tomorrow we’re going someplace nice where you can wear a dress cut down to here.” His finger drew a line from her neck to her belly button, then his hand stayed to splay across her lower stomach.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said on a ragged breath.
His other hand cupped the side of her neck and pulled her in for a goodbye kiss.
As she watched him go, she noticed how many looks he got from women—and a few guys. He was beautiful and oozed sexuality, from the way he walked to the way he looked, and clearly she wasn’t the only one who saw it. Her mind flew back to Randy’s comment about the girls who visited his room, and she wondered whether Sean was telling the truth—that no girls had been in his room since the night they met.
All her doubts blew away like piles of ash when Sean looked back over his shoulder at her as if he needed just one more look. The smile on his face when he saw her still there, watching him go, warmed her head to heel.
Shaking his head, he stopped and rushed back to her. She moved toward him, too, and they met in a tangle of arms and mouths, their bodies merging like two flames, his hands splaying out across her ass, pulling her tight against him.
When they came up for breath, his eyes were heavy and glazed like he was high on some pleasure-inducing substance. His heartbeat was as thunderous against hers. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“You could have more if you’d agree to adjust the schedule.”
“If I wasn’t teaching this class…” He held her gaze, telling her everything he’d do to her if there was time.
“Go,” she said. “They’ll only wait ten minutes before they decide you’re not showing up.” She smiled. “Besides, we have tonight.”
With a groan, he kissed her again then backed away, still holding her hand. Right before his fingertips slid off hers, he said, “Tonight.” He turned and ran toward his class.
She drew in a few strong breaths to calm the racing desire washing over her, knowing she wouldn’t have the brain power to focus on anything the professor had to say until the wave had receded. Zoe was right…she needed to do him and get it over with. Maybe then her hormones would settle down and let her get back to her normal, rational self.
As she pulled open the door to the building, a woman behind her stopped her. “Hey, Kristin.”
Kristin faced the unfamiliar woman warily. “Do I know you?”
“You haven’t fucked Sean yet, have you?” Her mouth was smiling and her eyes were shining, but nothing about her looked friendly.
“That’s none of your business.” Kristin frosted her words into shards of ice to leave no doubt that she wasn’t going to continue this conversation. The woman grabbed her arm as she tried to move through the door and stuck her face close to Kristin’s.
“The way he was with you, just now? He acted like that with me, too. But once we fucked, he never spoke to me again, not even to tell me why he was ending it.”
Kristin yanked her arm from the woman’s grip. “Maybe it was your breath.”
The woman narrowed her eyes at Kristin and moved back a step. “Don’t fool yourself into believing he cares about you. He wants you, that’s clear enough from the way he was all over you. But after he’s had you, he’ll toss your ass aside, just like he’s done all the women he’s been with since he got here. Take my advice and end things with him before he takes your heart.” The woman left as quickly as she arrived.
Kristin’s face burned. Did Sean already have her heart? Had she let her desire for him morph into a deeper feeling that would only get her hurt? She stood outside for a few seconds, quieting her restless mind and stomach with a few deep breaths before going inside to make her way to class.
As she turned the corner toward her class, she saw the woman talking with Randy, heard him say, “thanks.” He handed her money, and she left the building. When Randy turned to head down the hall, Kristin was there, waiting for him with her arms crossed over her chest.
His face went pale as his mouth and eyes rounded in surprise. He closed his mouth and swallowed. “Kristin!” His voice cracked and he swallowed again.
“I know you paid that woman to trash Sean.” She advanced on him, and he backed up until he hit the wall. “Why?”
“Okay, yeah, I asked her to tell you about what happened when she was with Sean, but she wasn’t making any of those things up. He really did drop her and the other women…just like she said. For no reason.”
“Hell, Randy, even I can see she’s not right for him.”
“And what happens when he suddenly decides you’re not right for him?”
The concern in his eyes and in his voice pushed her to take time to check in with her heart. Feeling Sean’s hand there, hearing his promise to not hurt her, tasting his kisses on her mouth told her everything she needed to know. Her heart was safe with Sean O’Neill.
“I’m willing to take that chance.”
Randy looked like he’d been stabbed in the heart. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
She released a deep sigh. “I don’t enjoy hurting you, so this little ambush of yours will stay between us. However, if I even suspect that you’re pulling something like this again, you’ll be explaining to Sean why you’re interfering in our lives. He won’t be as easygoing as I am.”
He lifted his hand to her arm as she turned to go. “I care about you, and don’t want him to hurt you.”
She smiled, her face warm from thinking about Sean. “He won’t hurt me.”
“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he doesn’t.”
The concern in Randy’s eyes was touching, but the barely veiled threat in his words was troubling. Should she warn Sean or leave it alone? What real harm could Randy do anyway?