Page 26 of Off Limits

Autumn’s face twists up. “I’m not ready to go home.”

With a smirk pulling at his lips, Brad gives her a once over. “Alright, we’ll walk your friend back to campus, and you and I can find some trouble to get into instead.”

Autumn gives him an answering smile. “Perfect,” she purrs, and they both turn expectant gazes on me.

Actually, that works fine for me, too. Except for the walking part. Simon looming over me, his full lips a breath from mine, asking what I would do if he kissed me … I’d kiss him back, obviously. Wrap my arms around him, thread my fingers into his hair, open my lips and let him have his way with me. And the thought of that, of how close that came to being a reality only to have it interrupted and ripped away at the last second, still has my legs feeling like jelly. I’m gonna need a minute before I can walk. I can still smell the spicy, musky scent of him, and I really just want to bathe in it for a second, let my heart calm down and my mind resume functioning before walking anywhere. Though Autumn going somewhere else so I have the room to myself to deal with the aftereffects of that interlude sounds ideal.

I wave a hand weakly. “Gimme a sec.”

Laughing, Autumn heads back into the room, and with one last glance, Brad follows her, leaving me alone.

I sink down till I’m almost to the floor—who knows when it’s been cleaned last, though, so I don’t sink all the way down. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I shiver again at the memory of Simon’s warm breath tickling my ear, how I felt vulnerable but protected with him looming over me.

What would it feel like if he followed through on his threat? The thought of being with someone so large, so in control, is thrilling and a little scary. Like standing on the edge of a cliff working up the nerve to jump into the lake. Adrenaline still sings in my veins from when I thought he might actually kiss me.

Sighing, I stand and push away from the wall, because he didn’t. And he won’t. He made that clear, and let’s not pretend that I’m not on the same page. I was never one of those girls who tried to get with her brother’s friends. That’s just always seemed icky to me. A few girls in high school tried to befriend me to get closer to my brother, and I wasn’t cool with that either.

Friends’ siblings and siblings’ friends have always been off limits.

But Simon …

Well, I guess I’ve mentally moved him into the category of being one of my friends, or at least acquaintances. We’ve hung out several times without Cal even being in the vicinity. And Simon was ready to bail on his own friends in favor of spending time with me tonight.

Confused and flustered and irritated that my plan of finding a distraction from Simon and all the feelings he inspires not only fell apart in spectacular fashion but has actively headed in the opposite direction, I head back into the room where Autumn and Brad are waiting for me.

To find Autumn straddling Brad’s lap, his hands glued to her ass as they play tonsil hockey on the couch.

I clear my throat loudly, and Autumn sits back, wiping her lower lip with her thumb, completely unembarrassed at me walking in on them. “You ready?” she asks.

“Sure. I can find my own way back, though. I’ll just, uh, see myself out.”

Brad guides Autumn off his lap with his hands on her hips and stands, shaking his head. “Nah. It’s best if we walk you back to campus. You never know what’s going on around here on a Saturday night. I wouldn’t want you to get caught up in anything unsavory.”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Unsavory?”

He shrugs and grins at me, tugging at the crotch of his pants as his eyes scan Autumn. “Alright, everyone decent? Let’s go.”

And he leads the way out the door.

“Seriously,” I tell Autumn as we trail behind him. “I can just walk back myself. It’s not that far. I walked farther to Cal’s house that first Friday night of the semester and it was even later then.”

Autumn shrugs. “He’s insisting. It’s fine. You’re not an inconvenience, Ellie. Don’t worry so much about it.”

With a sigh, I let it go. Because what else am I going to do—sprint off into the night by myself shouting at them not to follow me? Not likely.

I’ve gotten so wrapped up in my own feelings that I momentarily forgot my brother was even here. Until I glance around one last time as we approach the door and see him glaring right at me.

“Oh, shit,” I mutter, not loud, but loud enough for Autumn to stop and see where I’m looking.

Cal’s making a beeline for me. “What are you doing here?” he shouts.

“Goddamn,” Autumn says. “I kinda thought you were exaggerating about his reaction to seeing you here, but I see I was wrong. Or maybe it was wishful thinking.”

I chuckle weakly. “Yeah, I know how that goes.”

Then Cal is in front of me. “What the fuck, Ellie? You shouldn’t be here.”

“Lucky for you, I’m just leaving,” I tell him, but I can’t contain my eye roll.

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