She moans, rocking her hips in rhythm with our rushed breathing. “The only thing you have to offer me is a good lay, and I can find that anywhere.”
“You think so?” I snarl, kneading my thumbs under her bra. I brush a hardened nipple. Christ. “Are you sure about that?”
“I’m positive,” she hisses over another moan as she works the fly of my jeans.
I pull my hands from under her tank top, grip her waist, and tear my mouth from hers. “Then why the fuck are you still kissing me?”
Realization twists her face a split second before she rears back. She looks at me, hungry for more, and just when I think she’s going to kiss me again, she smacks the very same cheek she smacked the day we met.
A smirk dusts my lips. “You have no idea how hard you make me when you do that. Here.” I tap the cheek she has yet to assault. “Go at it, peach. Smack this one if I piss ya off that much.”
“You’re an asshole!” She pushes open the door and stumbles out, her knees coming close to kissing the pavement before she rights herself.
I sit up and shake my head, not even attempting to try to understand where her thoughts are at as she storms toward what I assume is her building.
Purseless.
I yank her purse from the seat, roll down the window, and punch the horn a few times. “Hey, Moretti!” I catch not only her attention as she whirls around, but several other students’. I dangle the thing in the air. “You forgot this.”
Breathing heavily, she’s rooted in her spot.
I grin, step from the car, and lean against the hood, cheerfully swinging the strap around my finger. “Well? Do you want it back or not?”
“You drive me nuts, Ryder!” She throws her arms out to the side. “Fucking nuts!”
I chuckle, completely convinced the girl’s lost her shit. “Good!”
“Good?” she parrots, her eyes as wide as basketballs. “Good? You think this is good?”
“Did I stutter?” Acting like two certified idiots has officially gained us a large crowd who’s curiously watching us. Amused, I resume acting like an idiot, well aware that I might have to transport us both to the nearest psychiatric ward by the time we’re finished. “And who’s the one driving who nuts, Amber?” Eyes still pinned on hers, I point at my hardened cock. “I didn’t do this on my own. You’re a fucking tease.”
Her jaw hits the ground. “What?”
“You heard me.” I smirk, testing just how far I can bring her. “You’re the queen of cock teasing. Take a bow for the crowd, peach.”
She looks around, and with a smirk of her own, she does just that. She takes a bow, straightens, and gives everyone the finger. “The show’s over, assholes. Time to go away.”
Yup. She’s my missing half.
As the crowd disperses—eye rolls, whispers, and laughter hot on their heels—I dig my free hand into my pocket, the other still taunting her with the purse. “You comin’ to get this, or what? Since I have nothing but a good lay to offer you, I promise I won’t attack that gorgeous body of yours.”
Amber lets out a frustrated sigh, her feet furiously pounding the sidewalk as she makes her way toward me. She steps into my face, snatches the purse, and stares into my eyes, her breathing labored as she licks her lips. Before I can blink, think, or say a word, she throws a fast arm around my neck and pulls me down to her mouth, slowly skirting her glorious tongue against mine as she fists my hair.
Fuck. Me. Now.
Her little moan causes my blood to shift into fifth gear, my heart speeding faster than that of a teenage boy about to get laid.
But it only lasts a second.
Without warning Amber spins, shoots up the stairs, and disappears into the building. I’m left with not only the reality that I will be jerking off the minute I get back to my apartment, but a clusterfuck of thoughts racing through my brain.
The first: I wonder if Amber realizes I won our bet. Despite how I achieved it, I got her to admit the color of her panties. Sex has no rules, and if it did, I’d break every fucking one of them.
The second: She initiated that last kiss, and considering she didn’t smack either of my dimples afterward, I’ve moved up a notch somewhere in her beautiful, psychotic head.
The third: I’m in deeper horse shit than I’d originally thought I was.
Still, whether it was because of the few hours we spent talking, opening up to each other in ways I’m positive neither of us expected, or the last few minutes we spent physically and mentally ripping each other apart, I have a feeling I’m about to dig my own grave with this girl.
Again, God help us both . . .
CHAPTER 6
Amber
WITH SWEAT DOTTING my upper lip and my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest, I jet down the hall, fumbling with the keys to my room as I try to figure out what the hell just came over me.
“Temporary insanity,” I mumble as I unlock my dorm door. I close it and press my back to the frame, my weakened, sex-starved body trembling. “That’s what it was.” I pull in a shuddered breath, drop my purse, and try to get myself to believe the excuse I’ve come up with.
No, it’s not an excuse. It’s a fact. I’ve been tested harder than this. God knows I have. Ryder doesn’t control any part of me.
Not one bit.
I move across the room and glance at myself in the mirror, my once-normal legs—now turned jellied—barely holding me upright. “That’s all it was,” I reinforce, staring at my reflection. “Temporary Ryder-induced insanity.”