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His eyebrows came together in question.
I shrugged, expelling a long breath before admitting, “I want to be in your life. We’ll figure out the rest.” Maybe it should have worried me that I’d take him anyway I could get him, but the feeling of contentment seeping through me swept away any concern.
His eyes hooded, concealing his emotions, and he lowered his head. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and he cleared his throat roughly before dipping his head in a curt nod. “Thank you.”
I reciprocated the gesture, inclining my head. He backed up and extended his arm, hand out. My gaze fell to his outstretched hand and my lips twitched. I placed my palm in his and his strong fingers closed around it. Electricity danced between us. I had to fight a gasp.
One thick brow arched, lips hitching up on one side. “Friends?”
I grinned, shaking my head lightly as the warmth of his hand cocooned mine. “Sure.”
We separated slowly, but our gazes held. Reaching into my pocket, I snagged the crumpled piece of paper. Closing my fist around it, I tossed it straight at his face. He caught it mid-air, some crazy cat like reflexes at play there, and brought his puzzled gaze to mine. I raised my brows, silently communicating with him to open it. His eyes lowered as he pulled it open. On the side facing me was his messy scrawl from earlier:
Clearly spent too much time looking at my dick lately if you need to stare that hard to remind yourself what my face looks like.
His lips formed the most beautiful smirk as he read my response. When his eyes met mine, I saw some of my Reno in there. That playful, arrogant guy I loved to hate, but loved to love even more. Lifting from the wall, I strode past him with a wink. Holding the door open, I stopped to glance over my shoulder before walking through. He stared after me, his gaze burning as it locked onto mine. “Don’t worry, Ri. I’ll make sure I stick around long enough that you get a real good look next time.”
My breath hitched, catching in my throat. I spun away. My teeth dragged over my bottom lip, caging my smile. Friends. Weren’t supposed to look at each other’s… bits. I blew a stream of air out through my lips. God only knew what I’d gotten myself into, but my steps were lighter than they’d been in a long time. I almost floated down the hall.
Thirty-Three
Riley
“Why Reno?” I asked, as I sat cross-legged on his couch.
“What?”
“Reno? Why does everyone call you Reno now? I don’t remember where the o came from. It was Renner or Madd when I first moved here. I remember that because I thought it suited you.”
He raised his brows, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Which?”
I grinned, twisting my hair into a messy bun and threading my pen through it to keep it in place. “The latter. You’d have been so much cuter as a kid if you weren’t constantly scowling.”
His lips curved into a smirk. “That right?” I tipped a shoulder, a smile playing over my mouth. “I still scowl all the time now, and we all know how hot you are for me.”
My face heated, instantly verifying his claim. He leaned forward on one elbow, chuckling as his pen lid pressed softly into my warm flesh.
“You blush so easily, Ri. So fucking adorable...” his voice trailed off. Our gazes clashed. All traces of humor vanished.
Feeling my heartbeat speed up, I backed away from him, squeezing into my corner as I tucked a section of loose hair behind my ear and averted my gaze. Moments like this reminded me we were undefined. He’d offered me friendship, and we were nailing that part of our arrangement, hence the current study session in his trailer, but he’d sort of also offered to show me his penis at the same time. And that was where it got complicated. Being just friends was a damn minefield. Every inadvertent touch sent electricity shooting through me. Every heated glance, or reference to anything even remotely sexual, resulted in this charged tension that neither one of us knew how to deal with. Eventually someone would change the subject to the weather, or school, or something equally mundane, and we’d carry on like there hadn’t been an entire minute where we’d imagined tearing off each other’s clothes.
Yeah, it was great.
Ren cleared his throat. “So, Reno, huh? You wanna know where it came from, right?” His rushed words brought a grin to my lips. I liked seeing him flustered. I nodded, chewing my thumbnail. “I got into it with some shithead from Dalton.” He broke off abruptly, hitting me with a stern glare.
That was still a sore subject. I rolled my eyes and mouthed let it go.
“So yeah, some prick from Dalton. I’m sure you know him,” he muttered sarcastically.
My brows lifted. “Really? We’re going there again?”
He shrugged. “It was damn irresponsible, Riley.”
“So, you’ve said. Please continue.”
“Anyway, this guy’s ugly. Like fucking ass ugly. I beat on him a bit and he went down faster than a hooker's panties.”
“Erm… eugh.”
