Right, yeah—my pants are off and Dean’s jerking me off.
That’s what I should be concentrating on.
But Dean is also wrapped around my shoulders, holding me tight and letting me relax against his strong chest. His aroused breaths are loud and clear in my ear, and his lips are resting on the side of my head—it’s like he’s kissing me, and all that makes my heart flip like crazy.
It’s just the sex,I tell myself. I let out a quiet moan to prove a point to myself, and when Dean claps a hand over my mouth and strokes faster, I think I’m convinced.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DEAN
“Talk to me.” Claire bonks me on the head with her empty water bottle from across our shared library desk, and I roll my eyes at her.
“About what?”
“When your flight is. Do younotwant me to give you a ride to the airport or what?”
“I already told you I’d schedule them around yours,” I say, scrolling through my email for my itinerary. “We’re leaving at one in the morning on December 17, on the flight to Hong Kong.”
For the past three years, we’ve coordinated our flights as much as possible—Claire’s lucky enough to have a car, and we split the cost of parking at Logan Airport. This time, I’ll only have to wait around for five hours, since she and Oscar are leaving for Taiwan at eight. Besides, I’ll have Nick with me.
And I still have to tell her.
“Okay, well, have fun waiting—” She stops abruptly, narrowing her eyes at me. “Did you just saywe’releaving?”
My heart stops, and I break into a sheepish grin, embarrassment climbing up my neck.
“I did,” I admit after a pause. “I offered for Nick to come home with me, and he took me up on the offer since he’d be alone otherwise.”
She stares at me, her expression blank and unyielding. “Nick’s going to Hangzhou with you.” That’s a question, even though it doesn’t sound like one.
“He is. What about it?” Other than everything?
“I didn’t even know you two were still friends, and now he’sgoing home with you? I think you might have forgotten to update me on, like, a million things.”
What would have been the point? I don’t refresh her on what’s going on with my other friends, or give her the nitty gritty on my hookups. Nick happens to be both of those, and that’s no reason to change what I do.
Claire’s determined stare withers my resolve, so I spill. I tell her about Thanksgiving break and the two weeks afterward.
“You’re telling me this guy who you’re such casual friends with, just, like, up and bought a ticket to visityour parentsfortwo weeks?”
I nod.
“You two are so fucking stupid.”
Frowning, I toss a pen at her. “Hey. He’s doing this because he doesn’t have a family of his own. He’d be lonely.”
“So his solution is to go to Hangzhou. With you. To seeyourfamily.” She’s going in circles, but she isn’t wrong. “He’s going to want tobecomepart of your family by the end of this. I’m calling it now.”
My heart flips at the same time my stomach drops. “You think he’s going to catch feelings?”
She throws up her hands, laughing. “If he hasn’t already! Think about what he’s actually doing!”
I don’t want to. There’s no reason to dwell on it.
“We won’t do anything stupid like that,” I counter. “We’re both well aware there’s an end date to this.”
Claire scoffs at me, shaking her head. “Like that’s ever stopped anyone.” Sucking in a breath, she adopts a terse smile. “Whatever. I hope things work out well. What did you even tell your parents?”
