The Love Series Complete Box Set (4 page)

Jack’s house is practically vibrating from the bass of the music. It’s so loud that I can’t even figure out what song is playing. Cammie opens the front door and drags us all in behind her. She maneuvers her way through the crowd and up the stairs. She stops in front of one of three doors in the hallway and digs through her purse for a key.

“This is Jack’s room. Our stuff will be safe in here. I’m the only one other than him who has a key.” Cammie tucks the key into her back pocket, and we all put our bags in his closet. Before we go back downstairs, Cammie fills us in on Jack’s housemates.

He shares the place with two other guys—Logan O’Rourke and Reid Connely. They are all seniors and have shared the house since the beginning of junior year. Jack is studying physical therapy and is hoping to set up his own practice after finishing grad school. Logan is the football star. Cammie jokes that he was born with a football in his hand. Reid, apparently, is the loose cannon of the group. He’s changed his major so many times that Cammie isn’t even one-hundred-percent sure what it is anymore. She knows nothing of his home life; no one does. Maybe the guys know something about him, but anytime Cammie asks Jack about it, he tells her, “Guys don’t talk about that shit,” and she just leaves it alone. The only thing she does know is that Reid is hot. Like, really fucking hot—her words, not mine. After the brief background bio on the boys, we are off to party.

The crowd seems to have multiplied in the ten minutes that we were upstairs. Cammie brings us into the kitchen and grabs some red Solo cups for the keg out on the back patio. The entire house screams “bachelor pad.” Well, bachelor pad/college frat house combo. It works, though. It isn’t so dirty that you fear contracting an STD if you sit on the couch, but it is pretty far from clean.

When we get outside, Cammie’s face softens, and her eyes light up. She has locked eyes with who I assume is Jack, who is manning the keg.

“Hey, ladies.” His voice oozes smoothness. “Thanks for coming. Did you put everything up in my room? These parties can get a little crazy.”

“Yeah, we’re good, Jack. Pour me one?” Lia holds her cup out for Jack to fill.

“Jack, this is Melanie and Madeleine.” Cammie introduces us as he moves on to filling her cup and then ours.

I take a sip, and he notices the look on my face. “Thanks, Jack, but I’m just not much of a drinker.”

“No problem, Madeleine. There’s water in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you want,” Jack instructs.

“Thanks. A college kid who doesn’t drink—I guess I belong in the Smithsonian or something, huh? Oh, and by the way, you can call me Maddy. I’m going to head inside and take you up on that water. I’ll be back out in a minute.” I hear their “okay” as I head back into the kitchen.

There is a group playing quarters on the island and another group lining up shots on the breakfast bar—so not my scene. I just shrug, open the door, and pull out a bottle of water, and, when I turn around to walk back outside, I face-plant into a wall of solid muscle.

“Hand me one?” His voice is smooth and gruff at the same time.

Red-faced, I turn back around and get him his water, glad for the cool respite that the opened refrigerator door offers.

“Here you go.” I can’t peel my eyes away from his mouth as he moves the bottle to his lips. They are perfect—beautiful and full in a completely masculine way. I watch, completely fascinated, as his throat moves, downing the water in three or four large gulps. He wipes his mouth with his forearm, and I can’t help but let my eyes travel up the rest of his arm to his biceps and shoulders. Those are the same as his lips—perfect. Amazingly, gorgeously, utterly, divinely perfect. Muscled and tanned, his arms are mouthwatering.

My knees wobble. My heart thuds. Thousands of butterflies spread their wings in my belly.

I’ve never felt like this before, even with Jay. I’m caught completely off guard.

“Thanks . . .” He stares blankly at my face for a minute, and I can’t help but wonder if he likes what he’s seeing. He clears his throat and rouses me from my little daydream where the gorgeous boy is mesmerized by the maybe-a-little-above-average-looking girl. That’s when I realize he is asking for my name.

“Maddy. Sorry, my name’s Maddy.” I nearly choke on my tongue over my freaking name.

Dork.

When I regain the ability to speak like a normal human being, I continue, “My suite mate Cammie is dating one of the guys who live here.” My mouth goes dry and it takes a monumental effort to even get those simple words out.

He just nods in return and pushes past me to grab another bottle of water. He is covered in sweat, and when he brushes my arm, he gets some on me. I am not grossed out; in fact, suddenly I wish he would get me all sweaty in an entirely different way. He’s obviously just finished working out. He is wearing a lightweight gray T-shirt and black mesh shorts, and even though he is drenched in sweat, he smells delicious. He is that divine combination of sweat and cologne and man that I’m pretty sure every woman swoons over.

The silence is killing me, so as he’s chugging down his second bottle of water, I wiggle my bottle in front of me and say, “I’m not that much of a drinker, so I hope you don’t mind if I steal one of these from you?”

“Help yourself. It’s just water. I’m going to go grab a shower. Maybe I’ll see you later, Maddy.”

And with that he is gone. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind watching him leave—his back is just as glorious as his front—absolutely yummy, but I wouldn’t have minded talking, or, um, staring, just a little longer. Knowing his name would have been nice, but seeing as he said he was going to grab a shower, he must live here. So his name was either Logan or Reid.

I go back outside as the girls are mid-laugh about something Jack is telling them. Melanie immediately notices the blush on my face. “Are you okay, Maddy? You look a little flushed.”

“I’m good. It’s just a little hot and crowded in there.”

Like six feet, two inches of solid, gorgeous, beautiful man hot and crowded.

I keep that to myself, though.

“Come on, girls, let’s go dance!” Lia, bubbly as ever, is in full-on party mode. She drags us back into the living room, changes the music to some techno dance beat, and starts moving. It’s hard not to follow her lead. She is just so much fun.

We really get into it, too. The party is in full swing, and Cammie, Lia, Mel, and I are having so much fun in our small dance group that I don’t really care that I’m not drunk like the rest of the people there. I promised myself that I would choose to be happy, and that is exactly what I am doing. I dance and dance and dance. My arms swing over my head in a languorous, smooth movement as my hips move to the beat. As I turn around, I look over at the stairs, where mystery man from earlier is walking down.

I lean into Cammie’s ear and try to keep my voice low so no one can hear me, though I’m sure the music does a good job of drowning out my question.

“Who is that, Cam? I talked to him earlier, but I didn’t catch his name. I figured it was either Logan or Reid since he said he was grabbing a shower, but he never told me.”

Cammie’s lips curve up into a knowing smile as she starts to respond to my question. “That, my dear, is Reid. I told you Jack’s housemates are easy on the eyes! He’s delish, right? Logan won’t be here tonight. He’s got a mandatory study session and then films for football.”

“Delish” does not even begin to cover it. I thought Jay was good-looking, but Reid puts him to shame. Reid is the epitome of tall, dark, and fucking amazingly handsome. And even that description doesn’t seem to cut it.

Based on his attire from earlier, it is clear that he works out, but his body seems even more defined in the fitted black tee and loose, but not-too-loose, faded jeans he is currently wearing. His all-over-the-place, messily styled medium brown hair is still a little wet from his shower, and I can see a few droplets of water on his neck. Lucky water droplets. I want to lick them up.

He catches me staring and shoots me a quick look of recognition and a brief nod—so calm and cool, when I am over here stifling the urge to jump up and down, flailing my arms to get him to come over to me. I maintain my cool, though, and just keep dancing, my inner voice telling me that it would be so very lame to be “that girl” at my first party.

An hour or so and who knows how many dances later, and my feet are killing me. I am ready to call it quits when I feel hands grab at my waist from behind. I can’t see who it is initially, but I can tell just from the smell; it isn’t as sweaty as it was earlier, but it is the same combination of cologne and man, with the new addition of body wash, that makes me give my thighs a tight squeeze.

“I think you owe me a dance.” His warm breath on my neck makes my legs turn to Jell-O and my heart thud in my chest.

“Owe you? For what?” My voice sounds breathy even to me.

He spins me around so that we are face to face. “For the water, of course,” he says.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. . . .” My voice trails off, and his lips quirk up into a little smile. A gorgeous little smile. Call me crazy, but the look in his eyes is one of flirtation. Reid is flirting with me. Well, color me confused!

“It’s okay, Maddy. I’m kidding. C’mon, let’s dance a little.” His voice relaxes me a little, but my heart refuses to beat anything other than a furious tattoo against my ribs.

The bastard is laughing at me.
Well, you want to dish it out, I’ll dish it right back.
I lower my lids to a sexy, sultry look, wrap my hand around his neck, and bring his ear to my lips. Without a centimeter of space between us, I murmur, “I could pay you back with more than a dance, Reid.”

I place my hands on his chest and push back just slightly. I see his pupils dilate and hear the hitch in his breath. Score one for Maddy!

“So you did a little digging, huh?”

I’m pretty sure my face conveys my confusion, as my brows are furrowed. Digging? Huh?

“My name—you just had to find out who I am, didn’t you?” He is amused and playing along.

“Of course I dug. I needed to know who was responsible for getting me all hot and sweaty before.” I realize my error as soon as the words are out of my mouth.

“So I got you all hot and bothered, hmm? Let’s see if I can do it again.” With that, he grabs my hand and pulls me to the dance floor.

The music has slowed a little. It is no longer a techno club beat. It is smooth and rhythmic—what I would imagine sex would sound like if it were music. Not that I would know anything about that.

He wraps his arms around my waist and brings me in close to him. I don’t know where to put my arms at first, afraid that I’ll go up in flames if I actually touch him, so I bring them up in the air above my head.

Wrong move. He raises his arms, too, and caresses them down over mine, lightly grazing my skin with his callused fingertips, causing goosebumps to pimple my flesh. My nipples harden instantly and almost painfully. I try to squeeze my legs together to keep myself from convulsing on the spot.

When his hands reach mine, he laces our fingers together and brings my arms around his back so that I can go exploring over the hard planes and ridges of his muscled and sculpted back. Damn T-shirt for getting in the way. I want to touch his skin, but somehow ripping off his shirt in the middle of his living room just doesn’t seem appropriate. Hell, nothing that I want to do seems appropriate.

He must see the look in my eyes because he chuckles lightly; the rumbles from his equally ridged and sculpted chest move through my body in waves and pulses. Our bodies move together as one—swaying and grinding to the music. His large hands roam all over my back but always return to the small expanse of skin that is exposed between my tank top and my denim skirt. At one point, I’m pretty sure he leans down to inhale the scent of my hair. I could be imagining that though; I am just so lost in the feel of his body next to mine that I can’t be sure. He cups my face at one point, and we hold each other’s gaze for long moments.

As our eyes lock, wow—just wow. Endless seas of the deepest blue I have ever seen meet my green eyes, and I am transfixed. He is beautiful; that is certain. But there is something in those eyes that makes him so familiar to me. It takes me a minute to put my finger on it, and I think he catches my quizzical stare.

He spins me around a few times ballerina-style and then dips me as the song ends. By the time he rights me and releases my waist, I figure it out. It is pain. It is the pain I see in my own eyes all too frequently.

Sensing that I’m seeing something he doesn’t want me to see, he abruptly lets me go and says thanks for the dance. There is an edge to his voice that was not there before. The change in his demeanor is instantaneous. I feel cold and bereft in his absence, and I can’t ignore the pang of jealousy that I feel as I watch him stalk off to some leggy blonde dancing on the other side of the room.

By the end of the night, Reid and leggy blonde are lip-locked on the couch. I haven’t said more than a handful of words to him, and he’s already done with me.

I guess I can choose happy as much as I want, but it doesn’t mean much if I’m not chosen back.

Chapter 4

I try not to think of Reid for the rest of the weekend. I am not successful. He is in my dreams. I can feel his hands on my body. I can see the pain in his eyes, and to say my curiosity, and my lust, for that matter, are piqued is an understatement. I want to get to know him more because in our short time on the dance floor, I felt something. I felt a lot, actually. I relaxed into him, and there was a definite connection—One he apparently doesn’t want to acknowledge, but one that is there nonetheless. I try not to think of him, but sadly spend most of the weekend doing just that.

When my alarm buzzes at 6 a.m., I am already awake. I always run in the morning, and a good run before my first day of classes is exactly what I need to clear my mind. I don’t have class until 10:30, and since I don’t really know how safe the local trails are, I figure I will make my way to the gym and hop on a treadmill.