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“It’s good,” I answer, keeping my words a short clip, careful not to let the doubts swirling inside me seep into them.
“A true poet,” Tuck snarks at my terse reply. “As for me? Being tied down to one woman, long term? I don’t know. What about you, Rhys? You think you could ever settle down?”
Tuck’s question stops Rhys as he walks to the showers. Suddenly, there’s a faraway look in his eyes. I don’t have to be a mind reader to know what—or rather, who—he’s thinking about. But he shakes away the dreamy expression after a beat.
“I dunno,” he shrugs. “Probably. One day.”
“What about you, Lane?” Tuck calls to our captain. “You’re such a strait-laced golden boy, I’m surprised you’re not engaged already.”
Lane blows out a laugh. “Like I have the time. Yeah, I want a family eventually. But I’ll start thinking about all that once my pro career is stable.”
“Gotta say, Hudson,” Sebastian begins, leaning against the row of lockers. “If back in August you told me which of us was going to end up with a girlfriend this year, you’d have been my last guess. No offense.”
“None taken.” Hard to blame him, especially since it took about a week before I spoke more than two words to any of my roommates. I would’ve put myself last on that list, too.
But, then again, maybe I am still last on that list. If Summer and I really do part ways after the semester ends, I’ll be right back to a strictly no-strings-attached policy for the foreseeable future.
For the first time, the idea of that lifestyle gives me an empty, hollow feeling in my chest.
Then my phone vibrates against the wooden shelf in my locker. I check it and find a text from Summer. Just telling me about something silly Salsa is doing in her room.
All it takes is reading a text from her to make all my worries melt away.
“Salsa! Your dad’s here!”
The cat’s fluffy white head peeks out from behind Summer’s bed skirt. Her feline eyes find me, and she lets out a low, happy purr, padding out from underneath Summer’s bed and nestling against my leg.
I set down the box I’m carrying and sit on the floor. “Hey, girl,” I say, petting her all over, drawing more purrs and low meows.
“Look what I got you.” I pull over the box I just placed beside me. It’s full of cat toys. The other day I had to order a new pair of bedsheets from Amazon because my old pair decided to tear in the dryer. I saw an ad for a toy that made me immediately think of Salsa, and when I clicked on it, I saw ads for a bunch more. Even though my bank account is still hobbled from the New York trip and treating everyone who helped look for Summer’s bracelet to delivery from Marco’s, I couldn’t resist going on a cat toy buying spree.
I dump them onto the floor. I pick up a bird toy and set it on its legs in front of Salsa. I press the button on the back of it that makes its wings flap. With a big, expectant smile on my face, I wait for Salsa to pounce at it.
She doesn’t. She tilts her head slightly, regarding it curiously. The only reaction this toy gets is an unsure meow.
Summer laughs. She crosses her legs on the floor, sitting next to me. Close enough for her leg to rest against mine, making my cock twitch.
“How about this one?” she asks, reaching for a three-tier ball tower. She sets it in front of Salsa. Same reaction. The cat approaches it cautiously, sniffs at it, then turns away uninterested.
Salsa glances at the pile of toys on the ground. I can’t detect any more interest in her little black eyes than she’s demonstrated so far.
Then, she turns to the box I carried all the toys over in. An excited purr rolls from her as she hops over the edge and curls up inside it.
Summer laughs, tilting to the side to lean against me. “I think she likes the box more.”
An excited meow seems to confirm that opinion as Salsa leaps out of the box, then grabs the top edge with her paws and pulls down so that the box rolls over, covering her underneath it. The upside-down box cruises across the floor as Salsa pushes from underneath, purring happily.
“Should’ve just bought a couple more freaking boxes,” I grumble, casting a dismayed eye to the expensive pile of rejected cat toys.
“Aw, I’m sure she’ll get bored of the box soon and start playing with the toys,” Summer says. There’s no missing the tinge of sarcasm over her sympathetic tone. “We can play with them in the meantime.” She picks up a rainbow-colored fish toy and plops it on top of my head. “There. Very stylish.”
I turn my head to her, eyes narrow and lips thin, feeling the weight of a cat toy on the top of my head. My deadpan expression makes her double over in laughter.
The bright sound of her laughter, like bells ringing on a beautiful day, and the bouncy wave of her blonde hair as she hunches over to wrap her arms around her stomach, make my lips pull upward. It’s a smile I couldn’t fight even if I wanted to.
Still hunched over, she angles herself towards me—and it’s an angle that immediately makes my cock press against my jeans. She’s wearing a tank top underneath a zip-up hoodie, and right now I have the most mouth-watering view of her cleavage.
Her tits are so incredible they defy reason. Full, perky, their size exactly right for my palms. And right now, my palms are buzzing to feel their soft, firm heft. My cock throbs from base to tip, a delicious, sharp ache panging in my loins, making me roll my hips in anticipation of pushing inside Summer.
