Page 63 of His Reckless Freshman

“Sorry that I didn’t wake you. I just figured because we had the room booked for the whole night, we⁠—”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. I’ve just never spent an entire night in the same bed as a man before, and I’m worried that…” She jiggles on her toes like she suddenly needs to pee.

“Worried about what?” The elevator doors ping open, and I let her step in first.

She leans back against the wall and glances up at me. “What people will think. What my roommate will think.” Her expression crumples as if she’s just thought of something even worse. “What my parents will say.”

“You don’t have to tell anyone.” I shrug, trying to bring some calm into this situation. She’s seriously starting to spiral. “I’ll have you back to your room by five thirty. Your roommate will still be asleep, and you can sneak in and pretend like you got home after she went to bed. Which is technically true, so you don’t even have to lie.” I grin.

She gives me a dubious frown but then tips her head as though she agrees with me.

Checkout is easy because I prepaid, so I simply drop the key card at the front desk and walk to my car. I parked it myself behind the building, and as promised, I get Jolie back to Buckley Hall by 5:30 a.m.

“What’s your roommate like anyway?” I ask when I roll to a stop beside the curb.

“She’s okay.” Jolie shrugs, then looks almost sad. “I don’t know her very well yet. She only just moved in. The roommate who was there before left because…” Her voice trails off, her gray eyes glassing over. “Actually, I don’t know why she left. She wouldn’t tell me.”

“And that hurt you,” I state the obvious, gently tucking her hair behind her ear.

She sniffs, her shoulder hitching. “I know I can be a challenging person sometimes. I’m too enthusiastic, overfriendly. I definitely talk too much, which must be so annoying. I know it is—people have told me it is. Maybe she felt the same way but just didn’t want to hurt my feelings.”

I watch her for a beat, kind of hating what she just said about herself.

Sure, she can be a little hyper, but I don’t find that too annoying. At least she has a zest for life, you know?

You can think that because you don’t live with her 24-7.

But even if I did… would she drive me crazy?

Her gaze flicks up, connecting with mine for a brief second before dropping back to her bobbing knee.

Licking the corner of my mouth, I try to make her feel better. “Maybe it’s not about you at all. Maybe she left because of something to do with her.”

She glances at me like that thought hadn’t even occurred to her.

I watch her cute little blinks and end up smiling.

With a thick swallow, she dips her chin. “Thanks, Ben. For… being so nice.”

Scratching my morning stubble, I acknowledge the compliment with a stiff nod.

“And for… everything you did for me last night. I’m sorry it didn’t work, but I really appreciated that you tried.”

“We can try again if you want.”

What? Why did you just say that?

“Really?” Her voice pitches with hope, and I’m too busy trying to figure out what just fell out of my mouth. “Thank you so much. That would be… I mean, if you’re okay with it. I feel like I want to give it one more try. Even if it doesn’t work, I really enjoyed all the kissing and the…” She squirms in her seat, her cheeks flushing red, and something in my chest pops.

I don’t know how she does it, but saying no to her seems impossible.

“Sure. We should definitely try again. You’ll get more confident the more we do this, and…” I force out a soft laugh. “One more tutoring session can’t hurt, right?”

“Tutoring.” She giggles. “Right.”

“I’ll, uh…” I blow out a quick breath. “I’ll text you.”

“Okay.” Her smile is so sweet, her dimples popping into place before she slips out of the car… and I’m swallowed by instant regret.