by K. A. Linde
He grabbed my face between his hands and roughly kissed me. “I’ll charm you right out of your pants.”
“I’m not wearing pants.”
“It’s already worked,” he said, grabbing my hand. “Come on.”
“Grant…” I groaned.
He dragged me around the side of the building and to a blank back door.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking what’s mine.”
And really…I had no argument for that. He yanked open the door and led me down the backstage hallway. The door to the lounge was ajar, but no one was inside, and the lights were out. He ushered me inside, slamming and locking the door behind him.
I reached for the light, but Grant was there before me. He grabbed my hand, keeping the lights off, and drew me toward the couch. Luckily, I was familiar enough with the back of the League to know where I was going, but still, I bumped into the coffee table as we went.
“Ow!” I yelped.
Grant laughed seductively in the dark room. He brought his lips down on mine, soft and sensual. He was in his element here. My heart beat in time with his as he clutched the material of my dress at my lower back. He traveled up the seam and tugged the zipper down to the base of my spine so quickly that I couldn’t even respond. He pushed the material over my hips and let the dress pool at my feet.
“That’s better,” he said.
“If you think about laying me down on that gross scratchy couch…”
“I like where your mind is at. You can be on top.”
He moved my hand to the waistline of his jeans. I took his lead and unbuttoned his jeans. My hand slid under his boxers, and I grasped his dick. He was already so hard and ready for me. It only intensified my ache for him. How did he make me so desperate for his touch?
“Fuck, Ari,” he groaned as I stroked him. “If you keep that up, I’m going to throw you down on that couch whether you like it or not.”
“You can tease, but I can’t?”
He tensely gripped my shoulders. “That’s right. Tease me later. Fuck me now.”
A second later, his jeans and boxers landed in the pile with my dress and panties. He sank back into the couch and pulled me on top of him. He buried his face into my neck, sending chill bumps down my arms.
“I fucking love your body next to mine,” he murmured.
Grant lowered me onto his dick. I shivered at the intimacy and connection.
A couple of months ago, I would have balked at the thought of doing this with anyone, let alone someone like Grant McDermott. Now, there was no one else but Grant McDermott.
As I wrapped my arms around his neck, he trailed kisses across my shoulder. Slowly, he lifted me off of him and then rocked me back down. He started up a steady rhythm, bouncing me up and down on top of him.
The darkness, Bank Avenue’s seductive rock tunes drifting backstage, and the intensity of our fight a minute ago made us push a little harder and go a little faster. My breath was coming out in short bursts, and I thought I was going to combust. I raked my nails across the back of his shirt and arched my back.
“Fuck,” he growled. “I’m never going to get enough of your tight pussy.”
I colored at his language. At the same time, my entire body tightened around him. He had a filthy mouth, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t turn me on.
“And you just got tighter.”
I clenched even harder. Christ, I was so close. I couldn’t believe that I was doing this. Oh my God, it was amazing. My body tingled from my head to my toes, and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I dug my fingers into his shoulders and shuddered as my orgasm hit me.
“Oh God,” I cried out, leaning over Grant.
He pumped twice more into me and then followed suit.
“That was…amazing,” I murmured.
“Yes, you are.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Fuck,” he spat. “Someone’s in here,” he called out toward the door.
We both hopped up in a hurry and threw our clothes back on. My zipper got stuck, and Grant had to try three times before he secured it back in place. My hair was a disaster. I tried to wrestle it into something other than freshly rumpled sex hair. I was probably doing more harm than good.
Grant flicked the lights on. I blinked several times and then narrowed my eyes against the harsh light.
“Hello?” the person called again from the other side of the door.
“Coming,” he said, winking at me.
Dear Lord…
He cracked open the door and smiled. “Hey, Killian.”
“Oh, Grant, I didn’t realize it was you,” she said.
The door opened wider, and I got a better look at who was standing in front of Grant. The smile dropped off my face. Really? The lead singer of Bank Avenue?
Killian glanced from Grant to me and then did a double take. “Did I interrupt?”
“No, we were just finishing,” Grant said with a dirty smirk on his face.
I coughed at the implication in Grant’s voice. “Um…hi. I’m Aribel,” I said, stumbling forward and offering Killian my hand.
“Killian.” She took my hand in hers and smiled brightly.
“I’m Grant’s girlfriend,” I said.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’m bad with intros.”
Killian still hadn’t let go of my hand, and it was starting to get awkward. She peered over at Grant. “You have a really hot girlfriend.”
“Would you expect anything else?” he asked smugly.
I pulled my hand away from Killian and stepped closer to Grant. “Well, it was nice to meet you.” Not really.
“You, too,” she said. She eyed us up and down. “I was coming to get my purse, and then I’m going to go hang out with the band. You should come, too.”
“I think we’re going to cut out early,” Grant said with a wink.
I was relieved that he’d said that, so I wouldn’t have to. I couldn’t go back out there and face everyone right now. I didn’t know what I looked like at the moment. Plus, there were too many emotions swirling around between us to act like a happy couple around everyone we knew in Princeton.
“Suit yourselves,” she said. She sauntered into the room, grabbed a studded black purse, and then turned to leave. “Bye, Grant,”
“See you around, Killian.”
She stopped when she walked through the door and invitingly looked back at us. “You know…if you would ever be down for a threesome, I’d be interested.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“I love little blondes,” she said. She bit her lip and stared back at me.
“Oh!” I gasped.
Grant laughed. “I love where this is going.”
“Grant,” I said, smacking him on the chest.
“Give me a call if you’re up for it.” She walked away.
Grant moved to run after her. “Wait!”
I grabbed his arm and yanked him back to me. “Grant…no. Just no.”
He looked pained. “But she’s into you. It would be so fucking hot.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “No.”
He slumped back against the doorframe. “Damn, this girlfriend thing is hard.”
“Hey!” I said. I walked over and stood before him. “Grant, are we going to be okay?”
“Did I fuck someone else?”
I shook my head at him and rolled my eyes. “Grant…”
He pulled me flush against him. “That guy meant nothing to you?”
“Absolutely nothing,” I whispered.
“And you’re going to tell your parents?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Yeah. Eventually.”
“Okay. Then, we’re good.”
“Just like that?” I asked, wondering where the catch was.
He nodded. “Just like that.”
“You want me to go in there?” I pointed at the brick library building in front of us.
“Come on,” Ari said. “I h
ave my O-chem study session, and the girls are already inside. We can go get dinner afterward like a totally normal couple who do things other than live in your bedroom.” She raised her eyebrows at me.
“I didn’t realize other couples lived in my bedroom, but I’m liking the way this sounds.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Please.”
“The library really isn’t my thing, Princess.” I glanced away from her hurricane-blue eyes and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
The next morning after Ari and I had left the League, we’d agreed that we wanted things to go back to the way they’d been last semester—before the ski lodge when she had caught some groupie, Kristin, trying to seduce me in my room¸ before the band had started taking off, before she’d kissed someone else. I’d fucked Ari and then fucked it all up that weekend, and then she’d been too afraid to tell me about what had happened with her. Now, we were both trying to compensate for those problems.
To her, that meant we should tone down our time in the bedroom and put more effort into talking.
With disdain, I stared up at the imposing building. I hadn’t realized that our conversation would lead to…the library.
“I know.” Ari ran her hands down the front of my shirt. “But think of all those books…so many dark corners in the stacks…”
“Are you bribing me with sex?”
“Is it working?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes. Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the entrance.
“Oh my God. Why am I not surprised that worked so easily?”
“Because I’m a guy.”
She laughed lightly, and it was all I could do not to throw her up against the wall right then and there. She’d said she didn’t want to fuck against a wall outside of the League, but she hadn’t said anything about outside the library.
I pressed her against the wall next to the sliding glass door and silenced whatever she was about to say with a kiss. I didn’t need to hear her complaints. She wanted me, and I wanted her. If she was planning to be adventurous tonight, then I was only going to encourage her.
“Grant,” she groaned between kisses.
I slipped my hands underneath her shirt and touched her warm soft skin. She shivered at my touch.
Fuck. I wanted her.
“Ahem.” Someone coughed behind us.
Ari pushed me a step back and straightened out her top. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Can we help you?” I asked, annoyed.
A blonde stared back at me. Her cheeks were bright red, and she couldn’t meet my eyes. “Uh…hey, Grant. I just—”
“What are you doing here, Kristin?” I wouldn’t forget that face soon. She had slipped through the cracks one too many times for me not to remember her now. Fucking whore had tried to ruin everything.
“She’s in my study session,” Ari spoke up. “We have a couple of classes together this semester.”
“Right. You mentioned that,” I grumbled.
Didn’t seem like the best idea for me to stick around with Kristin here. Ari had said she was over it, but I didn’t want to fuck things up right when everything was good again between us.
“I was seeing if you wanted to walk up to the session together,” Kristin peeped.
“Maybe I should go,” I said.
“No!” Ari and Kristin said at the same time.
I raised my eyebrows in question.
“I mean…not on my account,” Kristin murmured.
“I’ll meet you in there,” Ari said.
Kristin nodded in understanding and fled into the building.
“I can’t believe she’s even fucking talking to you,” I said.
“Don’t remind me. I have to see her all the time, and I have to refrain from stabbing her eyes out.”
“Now, that is something I’d like to see.”
She quizzically looked at me. “You want to see me stab someone?”
“It’d be fucking hilarious. Completely out of character.”
“Speaking of things out of character…”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the library. I groaned but kept walking. I clearly would do anything for her. I was proving that shit every time I put one foot in front of the other in this place.
We walked through the front room and into a long open corridor. My eyes widened as I took in the sheer number of books. Every shelf was filled several stories high. Who had the time to read all of this shit?
“Maybe you’ll find something you like,” she whispered into my ear.
“They have porn here?”
“Sometimes, I don’t have words for you, Grant.”
I smirked. “That’s not how I remember it. You’re actually pretty vocal.”
She flushed. “Can we go five minutes without you talking about sex?”
“Why would we want to?”
“Upstairs,” she said, pointing to the stairs. “If we keep talking about this, you’re going to steal me away, and I’m going to miss my study session.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I have a huge O-chem test tomorrow. It is a bad thing!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “O-chem.” I snickered.
“Ugh!” she groaned.
I was still laughing by the time we reached her study session. Her O-chem group was tucked away in a private study room while Cheyenne, Gabi, and Shelby were seated at a table nearby with their computers and papers strewn all over the place.
“I’ll see you after,” Ari said.
She gave me a peck on the mouth, but I didn’t let her go. I deepened the kiss and sank into the desire that always flared up between us. When she finally pulled back, her pupils were dilated, and she was breathing heavily.
She swallowed and then glanced down at my lips once more. “You’re dangerous.”
I smiled as if that were the best fucking compliment she’d ever given me. “Don’t I know it?”
“I’ll see you after.”
She sauntered over to the private study room and closed the door behind her.
With a sigh, I sank into the chair across from Cheyenne. She gave me a seductive smile and wink before returning to her homework.
I pulled out a notebook from my back pocket and fiddled with the lyrics I’d been working on this week. It was so new that I didn’t even have a title for it yet. I was pretty sure that it fucking sucked and would never see the light of day, but writing lyrics had taken the place of most of my vices when Ari was away.
I scribbled through the last line and shook my head. “Fuck.”
Cheyenne looked at me and raised her eyebrows. “You know this is a library, McDermott.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged and doodled in the margins.
“What is that?”
“What is what, Cheyenne? Don’t you know this is a library?” I pressed my finger to my lips, and she glared at me.
“That, dipshit.” She planted her finger on my notebook.
“That would be an arrow. Maybe Princeton is too hard for you, and you should return to kindergarten for shapes.”
“Oh, ha-ha.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes.
Gabi and Shelby leaned over to take a peek at what I was working on.
“What she meant is, it’s good,” Gabi whispered.
“I didn’t know you could draw,” Shelby said.
“I can’t draw. I drew a fucking arrow in the margin of a notebook.”
“Okay,” Shelby said, putting her hands up in defense. “It was a compliment.”
I went back to my notebook and tried to ignore them. The thought of Ari was making me draw things now. God, I’m such a pussy.
“So, what are you getting Ari for her birthday?” Cheyenne asked.
“What am I—what? When is her birthday? I was just getting caught up on fucking Valentine’s Day.”
“Aw,” Shelby crooned. “You have Valentine’s Day plans?”
I closed my eyes and
breathed in heavily. What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time. Birthday?”
“You have time, lover boy. It’s March fourth,” Cheyenne said. “We were thinking of throwing her a surprise party.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I fished it out and saw that my cousin, Sydney, was calling. “I’m in, but I have to take this,” I said. I walked away from the table. “Hey, Syd.”
“Grant, I’m glad you answered.”
“Of course I answered.”
“I can barely hear you. Why are you whispering?”
“Sorry. I’m in the library.”
There was a pause on the other line before she started laughing. “I’m sorry. I was trying to reach Grant McDermott with something important. Can you put him on the line?”
“You’re fucking hilarious,” I drawled. “You know, while we’re talking, what are you doing on March fourth? I’m throwing Ari a surprise birthday party. You should fucking fly up for it.”
“That sounds great. I’m sure I can make it.”
“Good. I’m thinking the League.”
“Grant,” she muttered, “that’s not why I called.”
“What’s up? You fucking too many dudes right now?”
“Grant!” she cried. Her voice wavered and then broke. “I-I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on?” It was as if she’d flipped a switch, and suddenly, I was in big-brother mode. No one fucked with Sydney on my watch.
“Have you…have you heard from my dad lately?”
“No. Should I have?”
She hesitated before responding, “I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but I think this is too big to keep from you.”
My heart sped up as I waited for whatever she was about to say. “Tell me what?”
“Your dad came by the restaurant tonight.”
“Sorry,” Grant said, peeking his head into the room. He looked right at me and tilted his head out into the hallway.
Everyone stared at me, and I sighed.
Jesus. I had too much work to do to deal with this right now. I wanted to flirt and have sex with him in the stacks, but couldn’t he wait until after my study session? I knew I’d led him on to believe it would happen soon…but not right now.
“Give me a minute,” I said. I put one finger up and finished writing in my notes.