I smiled as I held her gaze. “Yeah, I normally have class right now, but I wanted to see you.”
Shock splashed over her face, and then I saw the smile light up her eyes before it even hit her lips. Feeling that knot do a funny, twisting thing, I pivoted around before I grabbed her and kissed her.
Because I was really close to doing that.
I made it across the street before a low whistle caught my attention. Looking toward the left, I saw Jase standing under a tree, cell phone in hand. Damn. He must’ve hightailed his ass from West Campus.
“Skipping class without me?” he asked as I made my way over to him, his eyes obscured by the aviator shades he was wearing. Very few people could pull off those sunglasses without looking like a douche. I was not one of them.
I shrugged as my attention drifted beyond Jase’s shoulder, across the street, catching one last glimpse of Shortcake disappearing through the doors of Knutti Hall.
Jase sighed. “You’re obsessed.”
“Huh?”
He nodded toward Knutti. “I don’t think you’ve ever skipped a class to hang out with a girl before.”
I frowned. “How do you know I skipped a class to hang out with Avery?”
His brows rose above the sunglasses. “I’m not stupid.”
“That’s up for debate.”
Jase flipped me off. “Well, let’s see. Class let out early, so I came over here just in time to see you walking along like a good little boy. I called your name. You waved at me and kept going—or staring at her.”
My brows lifted as I wheeled around, heading for the doors. “That was you yelling my name?”
“Exactly,” he said, sighing. He looked at me, and all I saw was my face in his sunglasses. “Has she agreed to go out with you yet?”
“Nope.”
Jase shook his head. “Man, you are so fucked when it comes to this girl.”
Nine
“Apple pie for you.” I handed the small treat over to Avery and then dug the other one out of the McDonald’s bag. “And apple pie for me.”
Shortcake peeled open the box. “Do you think they use real apples?”
“God, I don’t really want to know.” I bit into the crust, groaning at the sweetness. “Ah, this shit is so good.”
Her eyes settled on me. “I swear. Every time you eat something, you sound like you’re about to have an orgasm.” She flushed as she said that. “Or whatever.”
“Well, now you know what I sound like when I come.”
She wrinkled her nose as she picked a section of the crust off. “That is something I’ve been dying to know.”
“Knew it.”
Shortcake laughed and then popped the crust in her mouth. “You are terrible.”
“I’m perfect.” I fixed my gaze out the windshield. We were sitting in the parking lot behind the science building. The dark blue of the sky was quickly turning to night, but the thick clouds rolling in looked ominous. “We should’ve probably picked a different night to do this.”
She picked up the bag and scraped off all the sliced apples into it, leaving the bottom crust cleared.
“That’s such a waste.”
Her eyes were warm as she cast me a side look. “You want to dig them out of the bag and eat them? You sound like you have a couple more good groans left in you.”
“Sweetheart, you haven’t heard anything . . .” I paused, winking at her. “Yet.”
She rolled her eyes. “More like never.”
“Does the lady protest too much, methinks?”
“You dork.” Shortcake laughed, and the sound was light. “It’s ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks.’ ”
I reached over, brushing the thick strands of hair back from her shoulder. She didn’t flinch away, which was huge progress. “The fact that you can correct that is further proof.”
Another laugh bubbled up from her as she wiped her fingers cleaned. “Whatever. You ready?”
“Been ready, but you had to stop and get an apple pie.”
“What?” She flipped in the seat toward me. “That was your idea.”
I blinked innocently. “That is not how I recollect the past twenty minutes.”
She pinned me with a dry look.
“You were all like ‘I need an apple pie’ and what could I do? I live to serve you.”
Rolling up the bag, she tossed it at me, but I caught it. “Actually, it was you saying something like ‘I need food in my belly.’ ”
I laughed. “That is not how I recall this little adventure.”
She smacked my arm and as she pulled back, I caught her hand. Her lips parted as I lifted her hand, pressing a quick, completely 100-percent chaste kiss on the center of her palm. “Ready?”
Eyes wide, she pulled her hand back to her chest and nodded. As we climbed out of the truck and headed into the building, she was flushed. The pretty pink made me want to chase it with my lips, but then she slipped in front of me.
Not that I was complaining.
I watched the sweet sway of Avery’s ass as she climbed the stairwell in front of me and by the time we reached the rooftop and were standing in front of the Philips telescope, I was throbbing between my legs.
This was getting ridiculous.
It had been months since I’d gotten off with anything except my hand, and I knew Jase would tell me to go screw someone else to just get off, but I couldn’t even think of anyone else besides Avery.
Jase had been right yesterday.
I was so fucked when it came to her, and not in the way I wanted to be.
“Are you sure you know how to use this thing?” she asked, head tilted to the side.
Moving in front of her, I shot her a look. “What? You don’t?”
“Nope.”
“Weren’t you paying attention in class when Drage went over this and the imaging cameras?”
She popped a hip out as she folded her arms. “You were drawing the cast of Duck Dynasty when he was going over that.”
I laughed, pleased because that was exactly what I had been doing when Drage went over how to operate the telescope. Which meant Shortcake was paying a hell of a lot of attention to me. I adjusted the controls. “I was listening.”
“Uh-huh.” She shifted closer as the wind picked up, whirling across the roof, picking up strands of her hair and whipping it back from her face. Christ, she looked beautiful standing there. I shook my head, focusing on the telescope again, but it was hard—I was hard.
“You’re actually a pretty good artist,” she said.
“I know.”
She made a sound that wasn’t exactly friendly.
I shifted the lever. “I’ve used a telescope a time or two in my life.”
“That’s random.”
“Okay. I used it when I had the class previously.” I flashed her a quick grin, then checked the positioning of the scope. “Man, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get anything before those clouds roll in.”
“Well, you better hurry then.”
“Bossy.”
Shortcake grinned.
“Come over here and I’ll show you how to use this.” Giving her just enough space to get in, I bit the inside of my cheek as her hip brushed mine, coming fucking close to where I literally ached. “Are you going to pay attention?”
“Not really.” She was still smiling.
“At least you’re honest.” I was into self-torture. That was the only excuse to why I leaned in, caging her with my arms. Her scent, that heavenly mixture of berries and musk, caused a lot of my body parts to twitch. I vaguely realized that she hadn’t stiffened. That was good.
“This is a Philips ToUcam Pro II.” I cleared my throat. “It hooks to the telescope. At these settings, you should be able to get a clear image of Saturn. Press this and it will capture an image.”
“Okay.” She tucked the sides of her hair back behind her ears. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be getting an image of Saturn.”