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I laugh. “Spit it out, already.”
Excitement pours off her in waves, and she rises onto her toes, bouncing again. “You know how I said the next round would be double dates? As in two guys at a time?”
“Yes?” Round three is the only round I’m looking forward to. For some reason, the prospect of a double date is far less intimidating. If I don’t connect with one guy, there’s always the other one as backup.
“I’ve been struggling to come up with a fair way of deciding which guys to put together. If we’re eliminating one from every group, we don’t want to pair your two favorite guys on the same date.”
She has a point. The idea of pairing Jordan and Elijah twists my insides into knots. “That would be . . . unfortunate.”
“Exactly.” Her smile widens. “That’s why we need one more group date. With me and Jer as chaperones, of course.”
I shake my head again and she raises her hand.
“Not a party this time but an actual date. Besides, having another hoop for the guys to jump through on their quest to separate you from your hymen can’t be a bad thing.”
“Hmm.” I almost hate to admit her idea has merit. “That could work.”
“Kennedy Beaman, you know you wanna pat me on the back.”
“I like it.” I nod. “It’s a good plan.”
She raises one eyebrow, giving me that look, and I let out a snort.
“It might be bordering on brilliant. But that’s all you’re getting from me.”
She squeals so loud, my eardrum crackles.
“Awesome! Saturday night. Eight o’clock. I already know where we’ll go. I promise it’ll be amazing!”
“It’d better be!” I shout, but she’s already flying out of the restroom to points unknown.
Disappointment oozes from my pores as I scan the campus on my way to class Friday afternoon. When Jordan said he’d be back Friday, he must’ve meant next Friday. And he was right. I do miss him—from his intimidating presence to our snarky banter.
“Whatcha doing, beautiful?” Caleb casually drapes an arm over my shoulder as I walk through the quad.
I duck under his arm, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye as I free myself. “Heading to calc.”
He doesn’t take the hint, pivoting to throw his other arm over my other shoulder, putting me back where I started. A few weeks ago, having Caleb’s arm around me would’ve given me a thrill, but after kissing Jordan, his touch leaves me cold.
“Me, too,” he says, as if we haven’t been in class together all semester.
Ditching the subtle approach, I grab his hand and drag his arm from my body with a sigh. “Did Nicole tell you about Saturday night?”
Caleb nods. “Looking forward to it.”
Determined to keep the location a surprise, Nicole hasn’t told me where we’re going yet. I suspect she threatened the others with expulsion from the game if they let the cat out of the bag, because I haven’t dragged the info out of anyone else yet, either.
“I wish I knew what to wear,” I say, fishing for information.
Caleb doesn’t take the bait.
“You’d look good in anything . . . or nothing.” He slides his gaze down my body, as if inspecting a piece of merchandise before an auction. I’m almost afraid he’ll flip me over and check for a serial number.
By the time he pulls his filthy gaze from my body, I feel like I need a shower.
“Were you just imagining me naked?” Skin crawling, I gape at him.
His crooked grin says all I need to know.
