Ruin

“Stay,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. “Stay with me.”

“In your room?”

“No. On the roof.” He chuckled in my ear. “Yes, in my room. What if I promise not to touch you?”

“Isn’t that what guys say before they seduce girls? At least in the movies?”

“Not a movie.” His fingers tapped my collarbone and then moved slowly down the front of my shirt, stopping right on my heart. “I just want to feel your heart beating. That’s all.”

Was he trying to be romantic or was he serious? His hand didn’t leave my chest, and then I felt his body humming against mine as he pulled me back against him. “Please?”

“If I get kicked out of school—”

“You won’t.” He urged. “I’m the RA. You’re in a fight with your roommate. I’m protecting your honor, all that stuff.”

“Except my roommate kicks ass, you want to steal my honor, and you’re a playboy.”

“Playboy?” He removed his hand. “I guess so, but not with you.”

“Yeah, so I’m different, huh? How many times have you told that to girls in the last twenty years?”

“It started when I was eight…” He began.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“Seriously.” He turned me so I was facing him. “I’m not go

My eyes narrowed.

“Things just…” He cursed and ran his fingers through his dark blond hair. “Things just feel better with you around. More complete. Does that make sense?”

“I guess.” I wasn’t ready to admit to him that I was falling hard and fast. I mean I’d known him, what? Two days?

“Besides…” He sighed. “You came to my room, remember?”

“My uncle said to do something crazy.”

He held up his hands. “Anytime you feel the urge, I’m here. In fact, I may have to remind you of this conversation every five minutes or so, hope you don’t mind.”

“Thanks.” I gulped and shoved my hands into my pockets.

“So, we should sleep.”

“What? No painting each others nails and wearing face masks?” I joked.

He threw his head back and laughed. “Well, it’d probably get my focus off of tossing you against the wall and taking every last shred of your i

“Maybe this is a bad idea.” I started backing away.

Wes grabbed my hand. “Good. I like bad ideas, they make me feel alive.”

“And you need to feel more alive then you already do?”

His face fell. He looked down at the ground and whispered, “You have no idea.”

Chapter Thirteen

If she only knew… then again, she’d probably murder me in my sleep. I’d rather die by her hands than… well, never mind.

Weston

“So we doing this or not?” I changed the subject.

She looked at the door, then back at me, then back at the door. Making the decision for her, I twisted the lock and pulled out a pair of boxers and a t-shirt for her to wear. “We don’t have bathrobes in this fancy establishment, but I do have clean clothes for you to sleep in. Now strip.”

“Wh-hat?”

“Kidding.” I laughed though a part of me had to admit I’d been hopeful. “The bathroom’s just through there. Go change, I’ll be sure to be fully clothed when you come back.”

“Okay.” Her hands were shaking. I reminded myself to send Uncle Jo a Christmas ham for his advice. On one hand I was glad it led her to me, but on the other, had she decided to go to some other guy I would have probably ended up in prison. So, maybe not a ham… A card? Sure, a card would be nice.

I quickly peeled off my shirt, threw on a pair of workout shorts and lay on the bed. My dad had texted a few things about being nice to James and David. He also wanted to know how the new meds were. I was so sick and tired of medicine that I wanted to throw something against the wall. I was counting on Kiersten not being a snoop, since my drug collection was happily displayed under my sink, not that she’d even know what the drugs were or how they worked. Even if she did an Internet search for the names she’d be stu

“Ready.” Kiersten’s small voice called from the bathroom as the door opened and the light turned off. She was practically swimming in my clothes. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. She looked so damn sexy in my shorts I wanted to charge toward her and rip them from her body.

Self control.

I cleared my throat and patted the bed. “I don’t bite.”

“But you do lick.”

“Always.” I fought to keep my hands at my sides. Damn, but they itched to reach out and pull her against me. “I won’t lick you now, Lamb.”

“Says the wolf,” she sang as she slowly made her way over to the bed and sat next to me. “I don’t do things like this. Furthermore, I’m only doing this to prove a point to my uncle and myself.”

“And what’s that?”

“That I can live,” she said in a low voice. “That I didn’t die with them.”

“Them?” I pulled her against my chest.

“I don’t really talk about it much. Not unless you’re a doctor and charge over two hundred dollars an hour to scribble stuff on a notepad and prescribe me drugs.” Her entire body tightened. “Not that I’m on drugs. I’m just—”

“Kiersten?”

“Yeah.” She sounded like she was going to cry.

“It’s fine to have help.”

After a few moments of silence where her heartbeat slammed against my hand, she gave a jerky nod. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s be all crazy and go to sleep.”

“Like old people.” She laughed.

“Yeah, exactly like that.” Because if she squirmed any more against me I was going to lose my mind. “Goodnight, Lamb.”

“Night, Big Bad Wolf.” She yawned and turned to face me. “I should warn you, sometimes I have night terrors.”

“It’s okay, I snore.”

“Are you lying?”

“Yup.”

She sighed and bit her lip. Damn, how I wanted to hold her lips captive like her teeth were.

“I peed the bed once.”

Her eyes widened.

“I was four.”

“How life-altering.”

“It was.” I nodded. “My teddy bear didn’t make it.”

“Tragic.”

I shook my head. “I always wonder to myself, could I have done something different to save my bear?”

Her laugh made my heart skip a beat; in fact, it did a hell of a falter before going back to normal. “Thanks.”

“For what?” I brushed some hair away from her porcelain face.

“Making me feel better.”

“Well, I am your RA…”

“This probably isn’t in the job description.” She laughed. “And I know it wasn’t in the brochure.”

I shrugged. “Well, it’s in the description now. My new job description is making you laugh and chasing away the bad dreams.”

“I wish that was true.”

“Sleep.” I kissed her forehead. “And if you do any more crazy shit, can I be a part of it?”

“Sure, why?” Her eyelids fluttered closed.

Oh,you know,because I would murder anyone who touches you. “No reason, I just don’t like to think of you being all crazy without your partner in crime.”

“‘Kay.”

“Night.

“Night,” she whispered.

Chapter Fourteen

Maybe I didn’t dream because for once in my life I was living it.

Kiersten

“Morning, sunshine,” a gravelly male voice said next to my ear.

I jolted awake and almost knocked my forehead against his. It was a close call. Wes jerked back and laughed, putting his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “So, no nightmares.”

“No nightmares.” He seriously couldn’t possibly know how life-altering it was to go through a full night without waking myself up screaming. Maybe it wasn’t a side effect of the drugs. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was defective.