by Piper Lawson
I’m numb when she hangs up.
Our door buzzer sounds, and I hop up to answer. “Yeah?”
“Hurry up, babe, we’re gonna be late.”
“Adam?”
The next voice is even more surprising. “Let’s go, fearless leader.”
“Royce. What are you doing here?”
I buzz them up and a moment later, three people wearing black spill into my dorm.
“How come you’re not dressed?” Madison chirps.
“For what?”
“The ultimate team challenge.”
“Black Build. Don’t tell me you forgot.”
I blink. With all the stuff going on, I did.
Participating in the annual Engineering Society event, open to all engineering students of any year, never occurred to me. Last year, Adam and I did it but were nowhere near winning.
“But we have midterms. And after midterms, we have the justification to prep. This is a totally optional campus prank.”
“We need to find all these items”—Royce holds up a list on his phone—“then make a tower in front of the engineering building.”
Adam’s grin disappears. “Basketball’s been rough and you’ve been working your ass off to try to make this project work. I thought this would be a good chance for the team to, you know, bond. But if you don’t want to hang out, we can go.”
I stare into Adam’s hopeful face.
This won’t help us with Stars, but they want to do it. Me being with Sawyer has put pressure on our team. This could help.
“Okay. I’m in.”
I go to my room and change into an all-black outfit of leggings and a long-sleeved turtleneck.
When I return, Royce’s eyebrows lift. “Save the fish doesn’t extend to save the cows?”
I glance down at my faux-leather leggings. “They’re vegan.”
“Oh, and we need your car,” Madison says.
I hesitate only a moment before grabbing my keys and heading for the door.
On the way to the parking lot, we review the list together.
“Must be composed of no fewer and no more than twenty unique objects sourced from within a five-mile radius of Russell U,” Royce rattles off. “Must be freestanding. Must be able to be disassembled after end of competition without use of torches or chemical agents. Bonus marks: items sourced from members of the campus community, not including the team.”
“We could bust into the engineering building and try to get behind Betty’s desk,” Adam suggests.
Madison sighs. “What does she even keep there? I don’t want to spend half our time breaking in if all we find are paperclips and coffee cups. That’s not going to help us built an epic tower.”
“She’s right,” Royce grunts as he rounds the back of my car.
“Wait. I’ve got this,” I say as I shift into the driver’s seat, thinking of his toolshed in the yard—it’s got to have some tall, sturdy building materials. “We’re going to Lancaster’s house.”
Madison narrows her eyes in the rearview mirror.
Adam switches on music, and Royce drums his fingers on the window in the back.
“What is this music?” Madison gripes, and Royce chuckles.
“What you’d rather have the holy trinity? Dolly, Reba, Shania?”
Her mouth drops open and I grin at her.
“You’re a country fan?”
“Yeah, and I’m not apologizing for it.”
I reach for the radio and flick it to a country station. “Before He Cheats” drifts lazily through my Bose speakers. “Carrie Underwood. Good enough?”
“Good enough.”
I navigate the dozen blocks from campus, turning down Hot Profs Lane. I planned to park at the end of the street to avoid being seen, but now, I realize it’s going to be out of necessity. Cars are lined up along both sides of the street.
This open house is bigger than I thought.
“How’re we going in?” Adam asks after I park and we get out.
“We’re not. I am.”
I don’t need them spotting Sawyer or tripping me up. I know this place.
Without waiting for agreement, I sneak up the driveway, using the parked cars as cover.
Even though my destination is the backyard, I can’t resist leaning against the window to peek inside.
A dozen people make conversation. They’re grown-ups, civilized.
When I spot Sawyer, my chest contracts.
He’s beautiful in a dark shirt and dress pants, his hair loose and a half-empty glass in his hand.
The realtor’s near him, all smiles and tossing him flirty looks.
I’m in stretchy pants and a beanie.
It’s a cruel reminder of the reason I said no feelings in the first place. He’s here to sell his house. He’ll leave and go back to his life and I’ll continue mine.
My attention drifts from Sawyer to an object in the corner of the room.
The telescope.
Scavenging from the backyard during a party is risky but worthwhile. Breaking into the living room to take what’s right under their noses?
It’s insane.
But my mom’s call drifts through my mind.
I’m tired of people telling me no, and Carrie’s gotten under my skin singing about her baseball bat exploits.
I tiptoe around to the back door, using the key under the mat to get in.
No one’s in the kitchen and I wait until the hall is clear to duck into the living room behind the couch.
The telescope’s in the corner, where I suggested we set it for the open house.
I cross to it and grab it.
Then peek over the back of the couch at Sawyer, my breath catching.
He’s so damn beautiful.
Get going. I creep back across the floor, my prize tucked under my arm.
I sneak a look behind me when I run into something.
Shit.
Apples spill out of the bowl and roll over the table. I grab for them, stopping them from rolling to the floor.
There isn’t time to replace them all, so I stuff a couple back in and continue on my way.
I’m nearly out the front door when I’m thrown up against the wall in the hallway. The surprise makes me drop the telescope to the carpet.
Sawyer yanks the beanie off my head, recognition and surprise cutting the accusation on his beautiful face. “Well. Look who’s stealing from me.”
He’s gorgeous and cultured, his dark blue shirt rolled down to cover the strength of his forearms, and pulling tight across his shoulders. His hair falls around his face, practically daring me to touch him. But it’s the twist of his mouth that keeps me away.
“Borrowing. It’s for Black Build.”
“You broke into my father’s home to take a telescope.”
It sounds dumb when he says it like that. “I didn’t break in. It is an open house.”
“Didn’t see you come in the front.”
He’s got me there.
“You miss me so much you couldn’t stand to be away from me for twenty-four hours?” he asks softly.
Shit. He thinks I came to see him, that I’m being clingy.
“No. I came for Black Build. That’s it.” I cut a look toward the window. “My friends are outside.”
His jaw works, like he’s disappointed by my answer.
I reach for the telescope. “You had something I needed. My team is waiting and I got what I need, so I’m going to go.”
I start to duck out from between him and the wall.
Three steps down the carpeted hallway, his voice stops me.
“If you want to leave with that, there’s a price.”
My heart kicks in my throat as I turn.
“Don’t move.”
He stalks back into the living room, and my ears strain to hear him speak. There’s nothing, only laughter and low music in the background.
A moment later, he’s back.
He reaches for an apple on the table
.
Then grabs my arm and yanks me up the stairs.
We leave the laughter and clinking wineglasses further behind with every step.
He releases me in the bedroom.
The room is dark, the rest of my team somewhere outside the window beyond.
Sawyer sets the apple on the bed, where it’s illuminated by the sliver of light through the window.
“A room full of strangers are drinking sauvignon blanc twenty feet away. What are you going to do?” I breathe.
Sawyer reaches for his belt. “Remember how I said the next time we played you’d be onside?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell me you’re onside.”
The arousal that’s always there when I’m around him flares to life. How am I always less than three seconds from wanting to beg this man to fuck me?
I nod, eager.
He pulls out his cock and fists his hand in my hair, shoving me to my knees.
The door is wide open, the sounds of music drifting up the stairs.
“Anyone could come upstairs.” Between the shock and getting the wind knocked out of me, catching my breath is near impossible.
“Then you’d better work fast.”
I rock back on my heels, my boots digging into my ass as I look up at him from the carpet.
If I thought he was in command at the front of the class, he’s even more commanding here. He’s a dark god, thrilling and a little terrifying.
“Suck.”
I tense, thinking of my team waiting outside. But this is the only way to get back out there with my prize.
He’s as thick and hard as I’ve ever seen him, as if this game turns him on more than usual.
I lick the head of his cock. He’s smooth and salty and when my lips brush his skin, he jerks in my mouth.
“More.”
I take him down my throat, his muffled groans shooting straight between my thighs.
“You want those strangers to know I can’t spend an evening with them because I love fucking my student too damned much?”
That shouldn’t be hot, but it is. Beyond hot. I’m on fire.
I slide my mouth over him and slide my hand around his shaft.
“Admit that you came here for me,” he rasps. “And I’ll make this fast.”
I pump faster and lick and suck harder.
He fists a hand in my hair, slowing me by force. Every stroke lets him go deeper, and he almost pulls out each time, as if giving me a chance to speak.
His groans are unbearably sexy. “Fuck, I love that mouth wrapped around me. The way you look sucking me off.”
When he pushes my head down, holding me by my hair, I feel imminent triumph.
He’s breathing so hard I know he’s close.
“Coming,” he warns. “Don’t move.”
His whole body goes tight, from his grip on my hair to his abs to his thighs.
When he finishes in my mouth, I swallow every drop.
Eyeliner comes off on my fingers as I swipe at my eyes and rock back on my heels to look at him.
Sawyer’s face is cast in shadows, but he’s undone. Not his clothes, but him.
He sinks to his knees, his face only a few inches away. Our breath mingles, rapid and shallow, as he strokes a thumb across my cheek with surprising gentleness.
“You’re unbelievable,” he murmurs. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
My chest expands until I can’t breathe.
“I was going to grab something from the shed, but I looked in the window and there you were and…I couldn’t leave without seeing you.”
The confession spills out before I can take it back.
His lips ghost over mine, warm and welcoming. As if my words were everything he wanted and more.
I lean in, kissing him back. I’m dizzy and giddy.
On the surface, what just went down was pure wicked sex.
But more than his arousal, I taste his affection.
More than his satisfaction, I feel his commitment.
Every inch of my body is alive with needing to be a part of this man.
What the hell is happening?
My phone buzzes with a text.
Adam: Did you find it?
Liv: Yeah, I’ll be right there.
Sawyer’s hands skim down my back and cup my ass. “Turn around.”
I blink up at him, breathless. “I paid your price.”
“That was the price. This is the reward.”
My jaw drops. “For what?”
“Admitting you couldn’t stay away.”
Before I can argue, he spins me around and gives my ass a teasing slap that echoes in the room.
Sawyer lowers the top half of my body to the ground. Then he’s dragging my leggings and thong down, leaving them above my knees. The waistband keeps my thighs pressed tight together. Heat floods me, coupled with a sweet ache. I thought we were done, but evidently my dirty professor has another plan.
“You make me crazy. Teasing me with this ass, this pussy.”
Is that what he’s going to do? Spank me here, so I feel him all night?
Before I can ask, he leans down and kisses the small of my back. He trails his tongue down my crack and I gasp.
“You like how it feels to know that while they’re downstairs talking interest rates and estate taxes, I’m taking you an inch at a time?”
Wicked anticipation surges through me, blending with arousal in an intoxicating cocktail. It’s filthy and wrong and so hot I might combust.
“You don’t want them to hear us, you had better be quiet. If you’re too loud I’m going to have to stop. Send you back out there wet and aching.”
I nod tightly. There are a lot of ways this could end badly, but that feels like the worst.
“Don’t move.”
He’s gone a moment, then returns. I can’t see what he’s brought with him, and when he reaches between my legs to stroke my clit, I officially don’t care.
It’s so good.
I’m rolling my hips, rubbing on his hand.
Sawyer curses as if my reaction is his undoing.
His fingers slip back to my slit. “Take a breath, Cherry.”
He presses inside, the thickness of two fingers making me gasp.
Just as my lungs fill with oxygen, I feel it.
There’s a buzzing sensation on my clit.
Pleasure rolls over me, one wave spilling into the next. My muscles tighten.
My mouth parts, a silent moan on my lips.
I’ve definitely never done this, but he makes me bold and brave. I’m longing for something I don’t understand, and only Sawyer seems to know how to satisfy the craving.
“So fucking wet for me.”
His touch and his words make me arch my back.
He goes deeper, the thrusting of his fingers firm and thick so at odds with the humming.
“Oh my God.”
It’s illicit tingling that’s all the more thrilling because Sawyer knows exactly what he’s doing to me.
I already ache for him.
Every jolt of sensation makes my body shake and shiver.
When he withdraws his fingers to slap my ass, I rock into his hand, desperate.
“I think you’re ready for more.”
More?
His touch withdraws, and I hear the rustle of a packet as he opens a condom and rolls it on.
He leans over and whispers in my ear. “You’re unreal like this. On your knees, wet and ready, grinding against my hand even as you arch back, searching for my cock. Do you know which part I like best?”
“No,” I manage.
“Me either.”
I know how big he feels in my pussy, and the thought of him there with the stimulation on my clit nearly breaks me.
His fingers keep up their torment and his cock bumps against my soaking slit.
The heat of it consumes me. I’m throbbing, my body shaking with anticipation.
“Get ready, sweetheart.�
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The tip of his cock slides into my opening. I moan.
Loud.
He reaches for the apple on the bed, reaching to hold it in front of my lips.
“Do you trust me?”
Do I?
“Yes.”
“Open and bite into this. Wider.”
I do as he says and my teeth sink into the apple, my lips pressed against its flesh.
Saliva floods my mouth at the intrusion. But when I try to make a noise, it’s muffled against the gag.
Sawyer grips my shoulder, pulling me down on his cock until every inch of him fills me.
I scream but nothing comes out.
“Fuck.” His voice drips with pleasure and need.
I twist my face and catch sight of us in the floor length mirror in the corner. He’s too hot. We’re too hot. I’m an inferno, melting down from the inside out.
Our gazes connect, his mouth parted, eyes hooded.
But the second I swear I can’t handle it, he reassures me with his eyes and hands and body.
We’re riding this edge together.
He starts off slow, but it doesn’t last. The moment I start to relax he knows. He fucks me with deep, sure thrusts.
I fight the pressure against my clit as every nerve inside me is on fire.
He bites my neck and my body goes rigid, my orgasm exploding.
He rides me through my release, grinding in and out of me, and then when I feel him coming, his cock jerks.
His body shakes with his own release and I slump to the carpet.
I’m boneless.
Floating.
A woman reborn in skin that’s too thin and new.
But at the same time, I know unequivocally that I was made for this.
Sawyer leans over me, all dark satisfaction with a hint of concern as he reaches for the apple and helps work it out of my mouth. I start to rub my jaw, but he moves my hand away and does it for me.
“You okay?”
“Better than okay.”
He helps me up to standing. I’m sore and used and delicious, but I wouldn’t take it back.
Not for anything.
I reach for my underwear and leggings and tug them up. My phone is on the bed somehow, and when I grab it, I spot the half dozen messages.
“Shit. I’m so late.”
Sawyer straightens his clothes, chuckling.