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At the sound of my name on his lips, I shivered. His leg brushed mine, and I looked down.
My own legs were spread. I hadn’t realized it. His polished black shoe, between my pointy boots, reflected the lights of the party. Our bodies weren’t touching, but if I leaned forward, just a little, I’d be grinding on his thigh.
He nodded toward my beer. “How many have you had?”
“None of your business. And it’s only my second.”
“College isn’t all about being irresponsible and sleeping it off?”
Prickles rolled over my skin. “I never said that to you. You listened when I was on the phone today, didn’t you? You were eavesdropping.”
“Listen, babe.” The pet name raised every hair on my neck. Our room was so empty, deserted, the party elsewhere. “If you want to have a private conversation, don’t do it so loud, and don’t do it so close to someone in the quad.”
I grabbed my last dart, sighted it, and hurled it at the board. It stuck next to Patrick’s darts, just outside the bullseye.
“You didn’t have to listen.”
“You wanted me to.” His voice was soft. Slowly, my head swiveled to look up at him. My nipples hardened painfully, and an ache between my legs tugged, tugged, tugged. “You wanted me to hear every last word about your money problems, and your shitty boyfriend who didn’t do it for you, and your cold, lonely night in your dark apartment. You wanted me to feel sorry for you.”
I should step back, but I couldn’t. “I didnot.And you came up to me afterward, didn’t you? You watched me — cry.Then you dropped a goddamn invitation in the snow with nothing but a time written on it. I’m here. What do you want?”
Patrick tossed the last dart on the pool table with a clatter. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“No.” I glanced at all the people milling around outside our room.
His brows lifted. “We’ll have privacy.”
“We have all the privacy I want in here. Whatever you have to say, say it.”
He leaned against the pool table, his powerful arms folded across his chest. “There’s something I’m interested in,” he said finally. “I think you might be interested in it too.”
“Me?” I said hoarsely. “What do you know about me?”
“You don’t like asking for help. You have a lot of pride. You spend a lot of energy on faking it.” He let the silence stretch out. “And you’ve never really gotten what you want in bed.”
I stared at him, stripped naked in a few sentences. “Excuse me? You don’t know that.”
“You’ve been asleep, Christina.” His voice was soft, mocking, his pale eyes holding mine. “Haven’t you?He was finished in, like, two minutes, and I never finished at all.”He mimicked my inflections with uncanny precision.
“Shut up,” I whispered, hot and dizzy.
“Admit it. You wanted me to know.”
My face burned. “Enough. Tell me what you want.”
“I’m looking for a companion.”
“Acompanion?”I began to pace. Patrick didn’t move a muscle. Picking up a pool cue, I tapped it on the ground. “Are you, like, ninety years old? Do you need me to help you cross the street?”
His lips twitched. “Not exactly.”
Reaching into his back pocket, he whipped out a black leather wallet. Out came a wad of bills. He flashed them in front of my eyes.
Twenties. A thick handful.
God help me, I was hungry for that money. The bills looked so gorgeous, so full of promise, I almost grabbed them. Instead, I wiped my sweaty hands on my leggings.
“What the hell is that?”
