Page 47 of Shut Up and Jingle Me
Only then does he ease back, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. He stands easily, watching me with a smirk.
“Mmmm, sweet,” he murmurs, as if he’s taste-testing dessert. His eyes glitter when they lock on mine, daring me to argue.
I’m still trying to breathe, chest heaving, sweat cooling on my skin. My legs feel like lead, and my cock gives a weak twitch even though I’ve got nothing left to give. “You’re insufferable,” I rasp.
Eli grins wider, dragging his palm slowly up my thigh until it rests high on my hip. “Maybe. But you begged for it.” He leans in close, lips brushing my ear. “Begged me so pretty, Max. I like it when you beg.”
Heat scorches my neck. I should push him away, get dressed, dosomethingto put distance between us. Instead, I stay rooted to the spot, pulse thundering as though I’m still halfway to coming undone again.
He plants a quick kiss at the corner of my mouth, feather-light, before flopping onto my bed. His hair’s a mess, his lips swollen, his smugness radiating off him in waves. He kicks his boots off, and they drop to the floor with a thud.
“C’mon,” he says, patting the mattress beside him. “Get over here before you collapse. Or should I carry you, Calder?”
My jaw works, a dozen retorts jamming up in my throat. But the truth is, I don’t want space. I want to sink down beside him and let his sunshine burn me alive.
I drop down beside him, muttering under my breath, “You’re ridiculous.”
Eli scoots closer instantly, tucking himself against my side as if he was waiting for me to give in. His arm drapes across my stomach, his fingers drawing idle circles on my skin like he hasn’t just wrung me out completely.
“You love it,” he says.
I snort, tipping my head back. “Debatable.”
“Not debatable.” He props his chin on my chest, grinning up at me with those stupidly bright eyes. “You’d kick me out if you didn’t. But here I am. Still one hundred percent…” He gestures at himself as if he’s presenting a prize. “…me.”
“Unfortunately.”
He gasps, clutching his chest like I’ve mortally wounded him. “Unfortunately?After I just gave you the best orgasm of your life?”
I groan and drag a hand down my face, refusing to dignify that with a response. He wiggles in closer, satisfied anyway, his laughter muffled against my skin.
For a long beat, all I can hear is his steady breathing, the way it evens out once he’s comfortable. His body is warm, heavy against mine, grounding me in a way I didn’t realize I needed.
“Admit it,” he says softly, almost sing-song, but there’s something gentler under it now. “You like me.”
I glance down at him, at his mess of hair and smug smile and the stupid way he glows even in my dim dorm light. My throat works around words that want to say just that. “You’re impossible.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I huff out something halfway to a laugh, and he beams like he’s won. Again.
SEVENTEEN
ELI
If we don’t get up soon,I’m going to say something I can’t take back. Something dangerous. Something that might sound exactly the same asI think I’m falling for you.
Because it’s there, buzzing in my chest like static every time I look at him—his arm heavy around me, his heartbeat steady under my cheek, his gruff warmth soaking straight into my bones. I could stay here forever, tangled up in him. But if I do, the words are going to slip out, and he’ll know. Then he’d have to let me down, gently, I assume.
So I do the only thing I can. I pull away.
Max makes a low sound of protest, but I ignore it, pushing up on an elbow with my brightest smile. “We need to go find lunch,” I announce, patting his bare chest like I’m dusting him off. “And you need to get dressed before you freeze to death. I’d rather this not turn into aWeekend at Bernie’ssituation, if you know what I mean.”
His brows draw together, suspicious. “What?”
“You know—me dragging your frozen corpse around campus, trying to convince everyone you’re still alive? I don’t think I even know where my sunglasses are.”
That gets the tiniest huff of laughter out of him, and it’s enough to let me plaster over the ache in my chest with humor. If I can keep him laughing, keep him rolling his eyes at me, then maybe he won’t notice how hard I’m falling.
