Pretty Smart Girls

by Shae Ross

  A groan escapes from her throat and her hips grind into me. I move one hand under her ass and the other behind her head. I’m ready and she’s ready, and I start to move harder into her until I’m completely buried. She gasps, and I pull myself entirely out. Her eyes widen, and her hips arch underneath me, tempting me back. I give her what she wants, filling her. I drop my mouth and catch the sensual moan she’s releasing.

  Voices filter through our heavenly haze and stop outside the door. I’ve put the security peg on the door so I know no one is coming in, but I also know we’re about to face some form of interruption. Ryan jerks away from me as she hears the slam of the security bolt against the door, but I pull her closer.

  “Shhhh…it’s okay. I have the bolt on.”

  Ben gets it and yells in a muffled voice, “Sorry, man. I’ll come back later.”

  The startled look on Ryan’s face eases. We smile and then start to laugh. I press my forehead against hers and kiss her nose. She tries to rise under my weight, and I roll next to her and pull her on top of me. Her hair cascades around my face.

  My need for her has not been extinguished, and I feel myself swelling into her warm depth as I study her. She pulls herself up to a seated position, straddling my waist, and rocks over me. This is a dream; this beautiful, sensuous woman, smiling down at me, as if I’m making her as happy as she’s making me.

  The door bolt clicks against the jamb again and her body ducks down onto my chest. I cradle my arms over her back. “Probably Vaughn,” I whisper.

  “I’ll come back later,” he says softly.

  “I should go,” Ryan whispers. I moan in frustration, but I know she’s right. My hands linger down over her backside as she sits up. I move her long hair over her shoulder and gaze at her. Even in my own imagination, I haven’t done her justice. She leans and touches her forehead into mine.

  “You’re staring,” she whispers.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  She presses a smiling kiss to my lips and rolls off me. I move onto my side and hold my head against my palm. I watch her profile as she crosses the moonlit room. She stops to pick up her shirt and looks back at me as if she’s caught me with my hand in the cookie jar.

  I raise an eyebrow and counter with an unapologetic look. If the building were on fire, I’d stay right here, my eyes fixed on her backside. She pulls her hair up on top of her head and holds it, baring her entire back for my viewing pleasure. She dips at the knees and wiggles her ass, casting me a mischievous look over her shoulder at me.

  “My auto-show wiggle,” she says with a seductive smile. “Happy birthday.”

  “It’s not my birthday.”

  “It is now.” The crack of light streaming from the bathroom disappears as she shuts the door.

  I’m zipping my jeans when she comes out. Her half-buttoned shirt just reaches the tops of her bare legs and flashes tempting shots of her lacey bra with every step she takes. I have the urge to wrap her in my arms and carry her back to bed.

  “Well, I guess I have Devi to thank for the huge bruise on my cheek,” she says.

  “God, she really decked that guy.”

  “She trained with a boxing team for a while.”

  “No shit?”

  “Don’t mess with Devi. She’ll kick your ass.”

  “Between Ben’s wrestling skills and her boxing, they could almost be one whole superhero.”

  She laughs a rich, sweet sound. “We could call them the Super Big Badass Bar Fighters.” She’s crossing back and forth, retrieving the rest of her clothing. Her hair is tousled around both shoulders, and she’s buttoning her shirt as she looks.

  She stands with her hands on her hips and turns in a small circle. I come up behind her, move her hair and nuzzle her neck, trapping her in my arms. I’m giving serious thought to making Ben and Vaughn wait another hour.

  “I can’t find my underwear,” she whispers through a giggle.

  “Let me get the light,” I say, crossing reluctantly to the lamp by the window. A pale glow fills the room and we start searching. I pull the pillows off the couch as I watch her drop down on her knees and check under the bed skirt. Her butt lifts into the air, and I clench my jaw and rub a hand over my bare abdomen. That’s an image I’ll be thinking about later… I turn to check the bathroom while Ryan moves to the head of the bed.

  I hear a sharp intake of breath, and turn back to her. My eyebrows knit together at the vision of her small form, half doubled over, one hand on the bedside table. “Ryan?” I’m crossing to her with a concerned frown and it comes again—a ragged, gasping breath.

  “What’s wrong?” Silence. I charge to her side.

  “Ryan. What’s wrong?” She’s clutching something in her hand. She holds it up to my face. Her hand shakes, and her mouth is trembling. I squint through the light at her fist. She’s clutching so tightly that her knuckles are white and overflowing with fabric and…paper.

  Holy fuck. “Ryan.” I reach for her and she sways and wobbles and holds her fist out to stop my advance. Her eyes squeeze shut, as if she’s just been slapped.

  ”Ryan, I can explain. It’s not what you think.”

  But I can’t explain, and it is what she thinks. It’s three stupid guys who wagered on who would be the first to sleep with one of the State girls. And when it happened, Vaughn kept Jade’s Itty Bitty Kitty underwear as proof. We wrote him out IOUs for $5,000 and he pinned them to the panties and left the trophy on his nightstand. Fuck! How could I be so stupid!

  Now Ryan is clutching Jade’s panties, holding them out to me as if she’s got a loaded gun and her fingers are trigger ready. She turns her head a notch, and her eyes blaze with a fiery rage.

  “That explains why I can’t find my underwear, you son of a bitch. Am I second place? How much do you get for me? $5,000? Less?”

  “Nothing, Ryan. The bet ended.” I can’t keep the anger out of my voice, and I’m wondering how the hell she can accuse me after what just happened between us.

  “I’ll never trust another word you say.” The words fly out of her mouth, hitting my ears like shards of broken glass, shattering all hope. My knees feel weak, like I could drop. How could I have let this happen? I feel as small as the person she thinks I am, as small as the person I see reflected in her eyes. I swallow and try to calm down. My heart races as if I’m on a roller coaster that’s come completely unhitched, flying through the air, not knowing which way to turn for the softest landing or if there even is a soft landing.

  I take a deep breath, and at the risk that anything else I say will come out wrong, I say, “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll certainly never trust those words,” she sneers at me, and scrambles across the room to her boots. A cross between a gasp and a sob erupts, and she rolls a fist up to cover her mouth. Her every limb is shaking, and she nearly falls over as she flips her hair out of her eyes and jams a foot into her boot.

  “Ryan, let me help.”

  She flips her head up and holds a hand out to me. “Oh no. You’ve done quite enough.”

  Her hair is tangled around her shoulders and mascara is streaming down her cheeks over the bruise that has expanded and deepened in hue. She’s a mess, and I could not feel any more like the lowest form of pond scum.

  “Don’t touch me. Ever.”

  “Ryan, don’t do this. Not after what just happened.”

  “After what just happened?” She stomps back to where I’m standing. “You mean after you just fucked me on a bet—a bet that you could—with your stupid buddies.”

  My hand shoots out, and I grab her forearm in a firm grip, not wanting her to turn away before she hears, sees, and feels the truth of my response.

  “That is not what just happened,” I say, staring down at her. She starts shaking her head slowly at me, and when she speaks her voice is as low as a whisper.

  “Don’t worry about it, Jett. I’d already lost all faith in guys like you. I’m just back to where I started.” Her voice starts to break an
d she presses her hand to her mouth and stops talking. The tears spilling down her face have run a pattern of ashy lines across her flawless skin. Her words pierce me to the bone, and I watch her as she marches unsteadily to the door and tries to pull it open. It jerks against her arm as the security lock catches. She gasps out a half sob and her fingers reach up and fumble with the lock.

  I’m behind her in an instant. I lean my forehead against the door above her and I try one more time, breathing my words of regret into her ear. “I’m sorry, Ryan. I’m so sorry.”

  I take a deep breath, flip the lock, and open the door for her. She walks out.

  Ben and Devi are standing in the hallway, shocked speechless at the sight of Ryan stumbling out of my room, disheveled, crying, bruised, and broken. Devi takes one look at my guilt-laden face and slugs me.

  “What did you do to her, you son of a bitch?” she sneers as she swings. She almost drops me with that punch. My knees buckle, and I catch the wall.

  “Damn it, Devi,” Ben growls, locking his arms around her waist and picking her up. “At least give him a chance to answer before you swing.”

  “He deserves it. And if he doesn’t today, he will tomorrow. Put me down,” she says, kicking out at his shin.

  Ben winces and releases her. She runs down the hall after Ryan, who is just disappearing back into their room. My chest is hollow, and my breath is gone. I feel as if my heart and soul have disappeared right along with her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ryan Rose

  A ray of light spreads warmth over the side of my face, and I roll onto my back.

  “Your face looks like shit,” Devi says. She’s sitting up in bed, sipping her latte. Her messy bun is balancing on top of her head, and her lips glow with red lipstick.

  I spy the cardboard carrier with two paper cups waiting on the nightstand. Jett must have made his delivery earlier this morning. I think about what happened last night and my throat starts to swell with emotion. I push it out of my mind and press against my sore cheek, letting out a small moan. “Where’s Jade?”

  “In the shower.”

  I sit up and strain to see myself in the mirror. My bruise has spread to the size of a baby’s fist, mostly blue with a little yellow. “Shit.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m an expert at covering bruises from my boxing days. I’ve got makeup that could conceal a cannon blast. I can fix it.”

  “Are you wearing lipstick?” I scratch my head and squint at her.

  She lowers her chin and looks at me from under heavy lids, “Ummm, yes,” she says in an unremorseful tone.

  “Ummmm, why?”

  “You never know…”

  “You never know what? When the room service guy is gonna be so hot you want to jump him as he wheels in your pancakes?”

  “Oh shut up,” she says, laughing. ”I feel better with it on.” I shake my head and see her looking at the bruise on my face. “Are you okay? I mean after last night?”

  I let out a long moan. When we got back to the room last night I hadn’t wanted to talk. I told Devi I’d be all right and I just wanted to curl up in bed and douse the pain with sleep. And I did after I stopped crying. “I have to tell you something.” I groan.

  “What?”

  I sit up and pull Jade’s Itty Bitty Kitty underwear out from under my pillow, along with the guys’ IOUs.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s Jade’s underwear. I found it in the guys’ hotel room last night. They made a bet. Whichever one of them got us into bed first gets $5,000 from the others’ winnings. Apparently Vaughn won.”

  Devi’s mouth drops open. She laughs. “Oh my God, how juvenile.”

  “Yeah. And the only reason I found it is because I was looking for my own underwear.”

  Devi’s eyes widen. “Seriously, Ryan? Ugh. I’m sorry. Have you told Jade?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to?”

  I press a hand to my forehead. “I don’t know. I don’t want to hurt her.”

  “You have to tell her.”

  “It’s just that she seems so happy about Vaughn, and she’s already got so much going on. I might just wait ’til after we get home. That’s what happened between Jett and me last night. I went back to his room so he could ice my face.”

  She looks at me as if she doesn’t believe me. “Ice your face? Well, I’ve never heard it described as that before, but okay.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says. “Was it at least a good time?”

  “Oh, it was a great time, until I realized it was all part of a bet with his buddies.” I groan and pull a pillow over my face. “Why do I let myself get tangled up this way? Why can’t I just focus on my own life?”

  “I’m sure there’s more to it than that, Ryan. This competition is hard for all of us. I don’t know how you could be expected to sort out feelings for a guy you’re locked in battle with. I’m sure he likes you.”

  “Well, I’m sure he liked it.”

  “That’s not what I mean. I mean I’m sure he cares about you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. At the bar the other night, when you didn’t come to the table right away, he kept looking at the doorway waiting for you to walk through. Vaughn came back from the bathroom and told him there was some guy bothering you at the bar and he took off.

  “What if it’s all part of the big game, Devi? A game to draw us all in and distract us so they can win the competition? I feel like we’ve totally fallen for it.”

  “Hey,” Devi starts with a tone of mock defense. “I still have all of my underwear, I haven’t fallen for anything.” She laughs. “Listen, Ryan, Jett’s after you. I’m sure the guy could talk a nun into giving him a pole dance if he tried. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  “Hard on yourself for what?” Jade comes out of the bathroom, untwisting the turbaned towel from around her head. Devi shoots me a silent look.

  “For us falling for the guys,” I say. Jade picks up her soy latte and takes a sip, neither confirming nor denying my statement. I step out farther to test the waters with her. “I was just telling Devi, all the attention they’re paying to us might just be a game.” I watch for Jade’s expression to change, for her to deny the suspicion and defend her man. Nothing. She’s picked up her cell and is flipping through text messages. Devi shrugs her shoulders.

  “Jade.” I wait for her to stop texting. “I have to tell you something.”

  She looks up. “Did someone die?”

  “No.”

  “I was in the guys’ hotel room last night with Jett. I happened to find this.” I hold it out and she squints. “It’s your underwear, I’m assuming.”

  Her mouth drops and she gasps. “Oh my God, how embarrassing.”

  “I wish that were the worst of it.”

  I hold up the two scratches of paper. “The guys had a bet on which one of them could sleep with one of us first. The first one collects $5,000 from the others, assuming they win the competition. These are IOUs to Vaughn.”

  Jade’s brow furrows and she starts to laugh. Devi and I squint at each other with confused looks, which she responds to with indignation. “Well, I didn’t sleep with him!” Now we’re really confused. Who the hell else wears Itty Bitty Kitty underwear?

  “He asked me for a pair of my underwear and I gave it to him.” She flips her phone over and checks it for messages, completely disinterested in the drama unfolding. Devi and I are still staring openmouthed at each other.

  “That snake,” I say. “He’s cheating his teammates.”

  “Apparently so,” Jade says.

  “Should we tell Ben and Jett?”

  “Hell no! They deserve it.”

  “I’m glad you guys think I’m as loose as a streetwalker on Eight Mile,” Jade says with a little snort.

  Devi looks at me. “Actually, it’s Ryan that’s as loose as a streetwalker on Eight Mile.”

  Jade tilts her head to me. “Seriously?”

&nbs
p; “Thanks, Devi.” I smirk. “Yes. Seriously.” I throw the covers back. “I have to get in the shower.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry, Ryan,” Jade says as I pass her.

  “You can tell her the story, Devi. I’m done thinking about those assholes.”

  At nine a.m. we are heading into the boardroom, and I hear Robert calling my name. Great. I feel my shoulders scrunching and Jade looks at me with a questioning expression.

  “I’ll meet you in there,” I say, and I turn back to Robert.

  “Hey,” he says, and then stops short. “What happened to your face?” Even with Devi’s best makeup efforts, the purple-and-yellow-tinged bruise still looks like someone has smashed a spider on my face.

  My fingers raise to the tender spot. “Oh. I just bumped into something.”

  He stares at me as if he’s not buying my explanation and then moves on. “Are you free later?”

  “I think I am going to be pretty tied up working on our final presentation today…”

  “How about tomorrow?” he interrupts.

  “…and tomorrow…”

  He pauses and his features soften with disappointment. “ I saw you earlier this week running in the morning. Will you run with me tomorrow, Ryan?”

  I think about it. I really should give him an answer as to whether or not I want to go out with him rather than just completely blowing him off. At least we’d be in a public place, and even though his attention makes me uncomfortable, he has tried to help our team this week.

  “All right,” I concede.

  His face lights up. “Great. How about eight a.m., outside the hotel?”

  “Sounds good. See you then.” I turn away from his smiling face and duck into the boardroom.

  The guys are already there, and the only seat left open is beside Jett. He watches me as I sit and we wait for the Trotts. The room is silent with the exception of Ben’s leg, which is thumping up and down like a dog with an itch.

  “How’s everyone feeling this morning?” Ben says with a smile. “Tough crowd,” he responds to our silence as the Trott family walks in and takes their seats.