College Girl (27 page)

“Do we need to wait before we do
that again?”

My cock, which had been at
half-mast, pulsed instantly.

“You bled a little. You might be
sensitive,” I said carefully.

“But can you?” she asked. “Guys
need, um, time to recover, right?”

I was already grabbing a condom
and the lubricant. I shifted her onto her back and came over her, watching as
her lips parted. Taking her hands, I brought them over her head as I slipped
slowly into her pussy.

Alex

It was strange to wake up in the middle
of the night in Ryan’s arms and realize that I wasn’t a virgin. Tonight had
definitely been impulsive, but I didn’t regret it. Even though I didn’t have
much experience, I still couldn’t imagine sex getting any better than that.

But
that
was the problem. What would happen tomorrow?
Or the next day?
Or at the end of the year—when he was
done with graduate school and I still had three years left of school?

When this ended, would I be doomed
to compare every guy I met to Ryan?

I looked at his face. He was
gorgeous. But that wasn’t all. He was generous, smart, gentle, funny—and
at least somewhat emotionally unavailable. Frowning, I wondered how long it
would take for that to really start to hurt. Careful not to disturb him, I
rolled away and got up, looking around for the black silk pajamas. When I had
packed them, I had thought that they might come in handy
someday
, just not today. Slipping them on, I whispered for Finn to
get down when he jumped up to follow me. Then I walked quietly across the room
and opened the door to the balcony before closing it behind me.

Outside, it was chilly, but
nowhere near as cold as I had been expecting. It was like spring had come
overnight. But even though I could smell the ocean and hear the waves, a part
of me still felt like the whole night had been a dream, invented by my brain as
a way of holding onto Ryan. I used to have dreams like this all the time. Well,
not like
this
, but wistful ones where
my father would show up and take me to the beach or Disneyland—or just
show up when he said he would.

Suddenly a wave of dread hit me.
Was
that
why I was so freaking
obsessed with Ryan knowing that I loved him? Did I think it would change
anything? And did I think him loving me back would prove something? Fix something?
Fix
me
? How fucking pathetic. Even
worse, when we got back to school, would he just disappear now that we’d had
sex?

Fuck! I had never wanted to be
like Brit, sleeping with guys just for the hell of it. Maybe some people could
handle it, but I knew myself better than that. Eventually it would eat away at
me. I jumped when a pair of warm arms slipped around my waist. Then I
stiffened.

“What are you doing out here?”
Ryan asked sleepily.

I shrugged.

“Thinking.”

He ran his hands along my arms.

“Do you regret tonight?” he asked
carefully.

I flinched. I had asked him almost
the exact same thing at his house the morning after he first brought me there. Shaking
my head, I turned and reached to touch his cheek.

“No. Tonight was—”

“Was? It isn’t over yet.”

Ryan pulled me to him, and I
shivered against the heat of his chest. When he bent down and lifted me, I
locked my arms around his neck, wishing I could stop time.
For
a day, a week, a month—and just live in this moment.

He carried me into the room and
laid me down on the bed. Then he just watched me for several seconds. When I
reached for him, he finally bent down, lifting my top and pulling it over my
head before pulling the shorts down. He kissed my ribs, then my breasts. The
touch of his tongue caused a shockwave of desire to course all the way down
between my legs. He stopped and looked up at me.

“Alex …”

The way he said my name increased
the pleasure of his touch, and I squirmed beneath him. When he rolled away, I
frowned.

“I want you to touch yourself for me,”
he said quietly.

I wasn’t sure I had heard him
right over the pounding of my pulse. My breathing hitched, and I shook my head,
embarrassed.

“I’ve never … I don’t know how.”

I felt his breath at my neck.

“It’s time to learn. Think about
how I touch you.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, trailing
my fingers down between my thighs. Of course, I knew what my clitoris
was—I had been through Sex Ed twice. Then again, even if I hadn’t known
before, I definitely knew now, thanks to Ryan. Before tonight, though, touching
myself had never even been a consideration. Through senior year of high school,
I had shared a room with Stephie—and there had been no fucking way I had
been about to start experimenting in the dorms with any chance Brit would walk
in.

Touching myself tentatively, I
frowned. It didn’t have the same effect as when Ryan did it. Trying to remember
how his fingers had felt, I quickened the pace until I felt the first shudder
of real pleasure. My lips parted, and I stroked in little circles until Ryan gripped
my wrist. Opening my eyes, I looked up and saw him watching me with a hungry
expression.

“You’re so beautiful … and I may
have overestimated my control.” His tone was humorous, but the way he was
looking at me wasn’t. “I need you. Now.”

I looked down and saw he was
already wearing a condom as he knelt between my legs. I held my breath as he
pressed against me and then moaned when he pushed all the way inside. Wrapping
my legs around him, I felt my hips begin to rock desperately against him,
seeking the same pleasure that had been building.

“Slowly,” he whispered.

His eyes never leaving mine, he
began moving me in a steady rhythm as he leaned down and kissed me, his tongue
easing in and out of my mouth until I couldn’t take it. I was about to cry out
in frustration when he shifted angles again, bringing the most sensitive part
of me against him. Pulling back, he watched me, the blue of his eyes nearly
black as he began moving faster.

“Oh … god. Ryan!”

Feeling my body explode with
pleasure, I wrapped my arms around him as he lifted me into his lap. With his
hands on my hips, he drew me down until he was deep inside me. I couldn’t hold
out any longer. I came again, harder this time, and Ryan groaned. Slowing, he
reached out and touched my cheek, his eyes burning into mine.

“Alex … I love you.”

I felt the shudder of his release,
and staring into his eyes, I knew that whatever happened I would remember this
moment for the rest of my life. We stayed very still, watching each other as
our breathing slowed. Finally Ryan lowered me to the bed, kissing me gently before
getting up.

When he walked into the bathroom,
it took a few seconds to realize that I was crying. It had never even occurred
to me that hearing him say those words could scare me worse than anything else.
I had said the same thing to him without fear, but hearing him say
I love you
? It instantly conjured every
fear and insecurity I had ever had.

Had he only said it because of the
sex? Or had he felt like he had to say it because I had? And what would happen
in a few hours, when it was daytime again? Would he still feel the same way?

Ryan got back into bed and pulled
me against him. Then he looked down and frowned when he saw me crying like a
crazy person.

“Alex? What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and wiped at my face.
How could I explain my bizarre paranoia—my fear of the morning?

“It’s stupid,” I muttered.

He grabbed my chin gently and
tilted my face toward him.

“Tell me.”

“I’m afraid things will be
different tomorrow,” I whispered.

“They will be.”

I laughed hoarsely.

“Oh, great. Thanks for making me
feel better.”

Ryan laughed. Then his expression
changed.

“Alex, I’ve been so afraid all
these years of getting too attached to anyone that I never thought I was
missing anything … until I met you.”

Looking at him speechlessly, I
willed myself not to think about the future, because I knew it would destroy
this moment in time, and I would never get it back. I reached out and held him,
feeling my eyes drifting closed as he stroked my arm.

The sound of waves woke me out of
a deep sleep. I rolled over sleepily and saw Finn staring at me. Turning to the
other side of the bed, I flinched. Ryan was gone. Shit. How long had I been
asleep? When was checkout? Sitting up, I saw the door to the balcony was open,
but Ryan wasn’t there, either. He wasn’t anywhere. I started looking around for
my pajamas before deciding that I needed a shower. Stepping out of bed, I
scratched Finn’s neck for a minute and looked around. Finally, I saw it.
A piece of paper that must have slipped off the nightstand.
Leaning down, I picked it up.

Getting breakfast. Back soon. Don’t
rush. We’re booked for another night.

R

My pulse raced as I stared down at
the paper. Another night? I bit my lip and tried not to get too excited. I was
supposed to be at the dorms by now. Of course, classes didn’t actually start
until Wednesday, but how hard was it going to be to go back to reality after
this?

Oh, yeah. Fucking impossible.

Grabbing my toiletry bag and some
clothes, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I found a washcloth
and stepped under the water, shivering under the heat. It felt like I was
melting. Taking the soap, I lathered up the washcloth and started to scrub
myself. When I touched between my legs, I was tender, but not too bad. It just
made me think of last night—how careful Ryan had been. Then I froze as I
remembered the condoms … the bottle of lubricant on the nightstand. Had he been
planning this?

Thinking it through, I shook my
head.
I
was the one who had texted
him.
I
was the one who had told him
in no uncertain terms that I wanted him. Neither of us had planned last night,
but both of us had wanted it. I let the water beat down on me for another
minute before turning it off. Opening the shower door, I was looking around for
a towel when the bathroom door began to open. I smiled, thinking it was Finn
being nosy. Then I saw Ryan. He was completely naked—and very hard. He
walked toward me, picking up a towel on his way. I swallowed, about to make a
smart comment about the state of his arousal. But I couldn’t find my voice.

Fuck, he was absolutely awesome
looking, and I loved everything about him. The way he looked down at me with
simultaneous hunger and tenderness. The way he said my name. The way he looked
while he was sleeping. The way he made me laugh. He stopped in front of me and
began drying me with the towel.

“You’re not going to shower?” I
asked.

I said this even though it was
obvious that he had already showered before leaving the hotel room. His hair
was still damp.

“No.”

I swallowed. For once, I had woken
up and reality was better than my dreams. Ryan bent down and kissed me, and I
reached out and spread my hands over the muscles in his chest—like I was
making sure he wouldn’t disappear. Then he scooped me into his arms, and we
were on the bed in seconds. Our kisses were slow and sweet at first. But each
touch made me greedy for more, and the feel of Ryan’s tongue slipping between
my lips just reminded me how good last night had been. He rolled onto his side
until we were facing each other, and I let my fingers stroke the length of him.

“Are you sore?” he whispered.

“A little.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“Hell no,” I smiled.

He kissed me gently.

“I’ll be careful.”

He bent down, and his lips touched
my throat, then my collarbone. I let my fingers trail over him as his mouth
lingered at the tops of my breasts. Then I gripped the shaft of his penis in my
hand, and he groaned.

His fingers slid down the center
of my chest to my navel, lower, and when his hand slipped between my legs, the
pleasure was immediate. I whimpered, and he stroked me until I couldn’t think
straight. I released him, and before I knew what was happening, he had rolled
onto his back and was pulling me on top of him. Looking down at him, I watched
as he rolled on a condom.

He lifted my hips, and I felt him
shift, pressing against me. Slowly he pulled me down until he was all the way
inside me. He began guiding my hips up and down, and when I shuddered, he
started moving faster. Lifting me again, he laid me back on the bed before
coming over me. Then he reached down and touched my bottom lip with his thumb.

“I can’t get enough of you.”

My head fell back on the pillow,
and I cried out as he plunged into me again. His thrusts were slow and
deliberate, his blue eyes watching me so intensely that my cheeks flushed. The
pleasure built again, but every time I got close, Ryan slowed.

“Please,” I begged.

I craved the release he could
bring me, but this feeling—of being trapped at the very edge—was
amazing and frustrating at the same time. When Ryan showed no sign that he was
going to stop torturing me, I grabbed his face in my hands and drew him down to
me, biting his bottom lip roughly. Growling, he took my hands one at a time and
brought them above my head. Then he began moving faster and didn’t slow as the
first wave of pleasure gripped me.

Ryan

I needed to get the out of this
hotel room, or I would never leave. I would just stay in bed and fuck Alex
until we were both too tired to move. She was a drug, and I was a goddamned
addict. By the time I finally dragged her out of bed and got dressed, the fog
surrounding the coast had begun to lift.

“I can’t believe you booked
another night,” Alex said as we walked out of the room.

I handed her the spare keycard.

“Disappointed?” I asked dryly.

“
Fuck
no.”

She clapped a hand over her mouth
and looked around.

“Oops. I mean, it’s going to be
seriously disappointing to go back to sleeping in the dorm with Brit.”

I felt my smile fade. In the midst
of my sex-fueled haze, I had forgotten about taking Alex back to Mercer.
Because, somewhere in the back of my mind, I had assumed that she would come
back to the house with me, and we would stay in bed, leaving only for food and
showers. Even more than that, I wanted to wake up next to her in the mornings.
When we got to the beach, I let Finn off the leash to chase the seagulls. Alex
grinned and took off her shoes.

“God, I loved coming to the beach
when I was a kid,” she said, looking out at the water. “When I went to my dad’s
during summer breaks, I would spend every second in the water. He’d bring
picnics—cold chicken from the deli counter, fruit, chips,
an
entire bag of cookies—and then he’d just sit there
all day and read while I was in the water. I loved summers. Those days just
seemed endless.”

“It sounds like you have good
memories of him.”

Alex turned back to me, squinting
in the sunshine.

“I do. It makes it harder, though.
You know? It’s like
he
’s
two
different people in my memory
. I want to be mad at him for taking off,
but I miss the good parts, too. Are you close with your dad?”

I laughed. Richard Bennett wasn’t
a
close
type of guy. He put on a good
show at public functions, but where family was concerned, he just wasn’t there.
Part of me believed that he had lost the ability to connect with people after
Reece died. And looking at Alex, I realized that I had, too.
Until
her.

“My father is a less is
more—or less is better—type of guy when it comes to family.”

“What about your sister? I liked
her a lot. You two seemed close.”

I nodded and started walking.

“Unlike the rest of us, Becca
somehow escaped the Bennett family curse and went on to become a warm, if
profane, human being.”

Alex dropped her shoes in the
stand and spun around to face me with a horrified look on her features.

“Wait. You mean … I’ve been having
sex with an
alien
for the past … um,
fifteen hours or so?”

Lifting her into my arms, I swung
her around before starting to jog down the beach with her cradled against me.
Finn barked and nipped at my heels.

“Oh … my … god … put … me … down!”
Alex shrieked.

I stopped, but didn’t set her
down.

“Ryan Bennett! You nearly had
croissant and orange juice all over your shirt.”

I smiled.

“Well, I’m on my last shirt, so
it’s a good thing you didn’t throw up, or I’d be driving home naked tomorrow.”

“Wait, really? Well, then keep
going, and I’ll see what I can do.”

I laughed and set her down on the
sand. We kept walking, and I looked back at her tiny footprints next to mine.

“What are you taking this term?” I
asked.

“Eighteenth Century Lit, French 23
C, Intro to Psych, and Intro to Lit Theory.”

“No Calculus, then?”

Alex laughed.

“Never again.”

“Psych?” I asked with a raised
eyebrow.

She shrugged.

“It’s weird. I loved my English
classes in high school, but so far in college they’ve been pretty freaking
boring.
Except the Creative Writing class last term.
Plus, in high school, my English teachers all loved me. Not so much now. Maybe
it’s shallow of me, but it kind of sucks not being the teacher’s pet. If Psych
is interesting, I might switch majors. Besides, the TAs in my English classes
are
nowhere near as hot as the Calculus TAs. I guess all the
hot guys go into math. Too bad I suck at it.”

She laughed, and then her smile
began to fade.

“When are you done with your
program?”

“June thirteenth.”

She swallowed.

“What will you do after that?” she
asked.

“Apply for a few teaching
positions, but in the end, if I’m honest with myself, I’ll go back to the winery.”

“Does that mean vacation’s over?”
she asked dryly.

I smiled as I remembered telling
her that the program was my
vacation
.

“I never intended to leave and
never go back. I just didn’t want to be one of those people who spent their
entire adult lives fulfilling their parents’ expectations—and then they
wake up one day and realize they’ve never done anything else.”

Alex nodded and sighed.

“Yeah, if I hadn’t been so awful
at Calculus, that might have been me. My mom
really
liked the idea of having a doctor for a daughter. She wasn’t
thrilled when I burst that bubble. I guess it’s up to Stephie now …”

She shrugged. Then, without
warning, she took off running across the beach. Finn looked up at me and then
ran after her. I jogged after her and then sped up, surprised by how far she
had gotten. When I caught up with her, she stopped breathlessly and stretched
up.

“This is awesome! I feel so much
better. My ribs barely even hurt. Does that mean hot sex cures everything?” she
laughed.

Blasted by another reminder of
reality, I frowned.

“Maybe you should take it easy.”

“Oh, come on. When do you think
we’ll ever get another day like this?”

She looked around and shook her
head.

“Damn,” she muttered. “I think
that was the last thing my dad said to me:
One
day at a time, Alex
. Don’t focus on tomorrow, right? I’ve always had a hard
time with that.”

I wanted to tell her that I would
never let her go, not tomorrow, not ever. But today wasn’t the day for reality.
Pulling her into my arms, I bent down and brushed my lips against hers until
she whimpered and leaned into me. I loved that I could make her lose control
with such a simple touch, and suddenly I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and
caressed her breasts with my thumbs until she stiffened and pulled away. Her
cheeks flushed as she looked around the empty beach.

“No one’s here,” I whispered.

She backed up a few steps, pulling
out her keycard and grinning at me.

“If I beat you back to the room,
then I get to blindfold
you
and tie
you
up.”

She turned and ran across the
hard-packed sand, thrilling Finn with another game of chase. Jogging after her,
I kept my pace relaxed and watched as she picked up her shoes and kept going.
Instead of following her into the hotel, I whistled for Finn and went to the
parking lot to pick up a spare towel from the trunk.

I dusted the sand out of Finn’s
coat and wiped his paws, and by the time I got up to the room, Alex’s clothes
were in a pile outside the bathroom and the shower was running. Grabbing Finn’s
dish, I fed him and pulled off my shirt. Stripping out of the rest of my
clothes, I walked into the bathroom just as Alex was wrapping
herself
in a towel and drying her hair.

She grinned and then slipped by me
into the bedroom. I wanted to follow her, but I relented and stepped into the shower
to rinse off any remaining sand. Toweling off, I walked out of the bathroom and
saw her kneeling on the bed. A jolt of pure lust coursed through me.

“I went to the mall over the
break, and it was stupid, but I thought maybe I would see you again when I got
back to school. So … I got these.”

It pained me to hear the tremor in
her voice, but I couldn’t concentrate on that for more than a millisecond as I
stared at the black and hot pink lace bra and matching panties that
looked—
fuck
. If they were
crotchless … I felt another surge of blood through my cock as I stalked toward
her. Before I could get to her, though, Alex held up her hand. I frowned at the
sight of my belt and a black silk sash in her hand.

“Your turn,” she smiled.

Standing up on the bed, she
gestured for me to come closer. When I stopped in front of her, my head came up
to her breasts.

“Turn around,” she whispered.

I couldn’t help grasping her hip
in one hand as I ran the other between her breasts, which were pressed together
quite hypnotically in the bra. Running my fingers all the way down to the
panties, I groaned. Alex shuddered and backed away from me like she was afraid
I was going to ruin
her
ability to
concentrate.

“Alex, you
are
trying to kill me, aren’t you?” I asked, looking up at her.

“Turn around,” she commanded.

I gritted my teeth and obeyed,
feeling her bring the black silk up to my eyes. She looped the material around
twice and tied it at the back, and when she grabbed my shoulders, I let her
push me back onto the bed. The mattress sank as she moved, and I lifted my neck
as she nudged a pillow beneath my head. When her hand grabbed my wrist, I
resisted instinctively before letting her lift my arm above my head. She
straddled my chest, and I thought about how easy it would be to grab her. I
didn’t, though. I let her take my other arm and then swallowed as she slipped
the belt around my wrists. Not being able to see her
or
touch her was fucking torture.

“How does it feel to be totally
under my control, Professor Bennett?” she whispered, brushing my ear with her
lips.

I wasn’t about to tell her that
she hadn’t tightened the belt enough—or that I could pull free any time I
wanted thanks to an old break in my wrist. Her lips traveled to my jaw, and I
felt her fingers skating over my
chest
as her tongue
tasted my neck. She kissed one bicep, then the other as her fingers inched down
my chest. Then she stopped. The bed shifted, and when she straddled my legs, my
muscles tensed. Her fingers brushed against the head of my cock, and I strained
against the belt as her hand gripped the base and slid all the way to the tip.

“Alex,” I snarled.

“Yes, Ryan?” she asked sweetly.

“I know I need to be gentle with
you, but right now all I want to do is fuck you until you beg me to make you
come again.”

Her hand stilled, and I heard her
breathing falter. Then she leaned forward, and I felt her hands on the
blindfold. When she pushed it up, I saw her breasts rising and falling with the
quickness of her breaths. I thought she was going to undo the belt, but she
just smiled.

“Good thing you’re tied up, then.”

She rolled away from me. Turning
my head, I watched as she took the condoms and the bottle of lubricant from the
nightstand. She came back and knelt, her legs straddling mine again as she
flicked open the bottle and squeezed some onto her fingers. I watched,
hypnotized, as her hand moved to her panties. When her finger found the tiny
slit in the material at the apex of her thighs, she grinned.

“Wow. I didn’t see that when I got
these.”

I watched hungrily as her finger
slipped into the opening of the panties. Then her cheeks flushed as she began
to touch herself. She reached for me with her other hand and gripped my cock,
her thumb brushing over the head in a way that made me groan in agony. She
began to stroke me slowly, and I watched as her eyes closed and her head fell
back.

“Fuck it.”

I sat up and wrenched my wrist
free of the belt, not caring whether I dislocated the joint. I just needed to
touch her. Alex’s eyes fluttered open in surprise.

“Shit! How the hell did you—
”

I grasped her face between my
hands and took her mouth, thrusting my tongue between her lips. Then I pulled
back, my eyes traveling over her body. Goddamn blindfold. Ruining the worst
view I had seen in years. My hands teased over the tops of her breasts before I
unhooked the bra and brought it down her arms. Then I pinched her nipples until
she moaned. Laying her back on the bed, I came down beside her and did what I
had been aching to do. I slipped my finger into the slit of her panties and
felt Alex shiver. Her hips rocked forward as I started to stroke her.

“You’re still—oh my
god—better at that,” she gasped.

“I’ve had more practice.”

Her clit was swollen and
sensitive, and I could feel each touch bringing her closer. I sped up until she
was panting. Bringing her to the very edge of climax, I rose and kneeled
between her legs as I grabbed a condom and ripped it open. When her eyes
opened, I spread the seam of her panties and lifted her hips. Then I plunged
inside her.

She was incredibly tight, and I
nearly died waiting for her to adjust to me. Pulling out, I stood at the foot
of the bed and dragged her to the edge, sliding a pillow beneath her before
pulling her legs around my waist. Pivoting my hips, I pushed all the way
in,
loving the sound of her helpless moans as I began
rocking slowly against her tight, wet heat. I dropped my hand between us and
stroked her clit.

“Ryan,” she breathed. “You feel so
…”

Her eyes closed, her breath
hitching as I shifted my hands under her ass and lifted her all the way to me. When
she cried out, I let go, pushing deeper over and over as her pussy tightened
around me. Then, with a low growl, I gave in and poured into her.

For the rest of the day, we
ordered room service and only left the room to take Finn out. Lying in bed
facing me, Alex trailed her fingers over my face, stopping at my brow.