He was slender to my muscular hulk, but he didn’t look soft. I wondered what he’d look like, feel like once his clothes came off. His face was pretty, but there was a firm jaw to go with the long eyelashes. He was handsome, masculine.
Sexy.
“Is my brother a deal-breaker?” he asked.
I sucked in my bottom lip, feeling torn. I wanted him like crazy. I’d had plenty of time to feel attraction for guys, to get a bit curious and wonder … and my body was fully down to fuck, regardless of the fact I’d never been with a guy. But fucking Benji was a big deal. Jeremy expected me to protect his virtue, not throw him on the bed and ravish him.
“Ace?”
I let out an unsteady breath. “He should be. But fuck, Benji, I really like you.”
“You can never lie to me again.”
“I won’t.”
“And you’ll let me handle my brother,” he said.
I parted my lips to object, but he was full of fire — not anger this time, but something else, something more enticing — and I couldn’t find the words. He must have seen the answer in my eyes. He tilted forward, and I met him for a long-overdue kiss.
He was sweet, both tentative and eager as his lips parted under mine. Despite leading our conversation, he let me take over as soon as our mouths connected. I savored the soft feel of his lips, the hitch in his breathing as my tongue met his, the small sound of surrender as the kiss deepened.
“Whoa,” he said, voice filled with wonder, when I pulled back for a breath. His green eyes were bright, his cheeks rosy with a blush. He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“Yeah?” I murmured, feeling a bit of my old ego restored at his reaction. “Just wait.”
I took his mouth again, and this time he met me with more confidence, pushing his tongue against mine, clutching at my shoulders.
The kiss grew wet and desperate.
I grabbed his head, holding him in place to better devour him, and he pushed his hands under my shirt, feeling up my stomach to my chest. When his fingers grazed my nipples, I shivered. When he raked his nails over my abs, I moaned and thrust my hips against his. I felt his hardness behind his zipper.
Fuck yes.
It sent a thrill through me. He wanted me, and I didn’t have to question it. He was hard, just like me. Male, just like me. It was strangely erotic, knowing he was aching in exactly the same way I was.
I pushed him onto the bed, loving the feel of him pinned under me. When we needed air, I moved my lips to the creamy skin of his neck. God, I loved his skin, so fucking pale and soft.
His fingers were tangled in my hair, holding me against him, as he thrust his hips up. I could feel his cock jabbing my stomach, and I didn’t care one fucking bit. I thought maybe I’d be weirded out, like maybe I’d need to adjust to having a guy under me instead of a girl, but it didn’t matter.
Benji felt right; he felt fucking great.
Benji
Just as things started to heat up, Dre walked in. I wanted to kill him simply for the crime of being my roommate.
“Oh, dude!” He lifted a hand in front of his eyes, turning away. “Put a sock on the doorknob or something next time.”
Ace rolled off me, taking his delicious weight with him. He sat up, placing a pillow on his lap, which made me smile to myself. He was hard. For me.
It felt surreal. This couldn’t be my life, could it? I couldn’t actually have the guy of my dreams. Things like that didn’t happen to me. I’d hoped to become someone else, someone amazing when I started college, but I’d realized there was no Ben the Artiste, only Benji, the too-skinny redhead with a good eye for art.
But here was Ace anyway. Maybe I didn’t have to be someone else after all. I’d just needed to learn how to be me.
“Sorry,” Ace said.
“I’ll just go to the library,” Dre muttered, “as soon as I grab my economics text.”
He stumbled a couple of steps, hand still in front of his eyes, looking like the walking dead as he walked into the corner of his desk. “Son of a!”
“You don’t have to leave,” Ace said, to my great displeasure. How were we going to pick up where we left off — me pinned to my mattress by a hot guy — if Dre didn’t leave? Maybe I could go back to the frat… “We’re decent.”
Dre slowly lowered his hand, peeking at us as if he were afraid we’d still be grinding on the bed. He blew out a relieved breath. “Warn a roomie next time.”
“We will,” I said. “This is new.”
Ace shot me a smile that made me flash hot all over. My heart squeezed with affection, and I wanted to touch him everywhere. Damn. I’d liked him before, but now that I knew he was into me? The desire to touch every inch of his body surged in me, like a craving for chocolate. I wanted to consume him.
But Dre was talking again. Stupid roommate who lived here.
“I guess this means you figured out your secret admirer,” he said. “About time.”
That caught my attention. “What, you knew?”
Dre dropped onto his bed — or the bed-closet as I jokingly called it — on top of his pile of clothes. “Wasn’t hard to figure out. Dude’s always hanging around, looking at you with heart eyes.”
I flushed, glancing at Ace from the corner of my eye. He chuckled, ducking his head. “And here I thought I was hiding it.”
“I didn’t see it,” I muttered.
Ace reached for my hand, warm fingers folding around mine. Even that small touch made my heart skip with excitement. I was such a virgin. If handholding got me excited, what would I do when he finally touched my cock?
Oh, God. He was going to touch my cock. That was going to happen. Unless … what if he changed his mind?
“Dre, you need to leave.”
Dre glanced up in surprise. “I do?”
“Ace and I need to, uh, talk…”
I had to get Ace naked before he changed his mind, before he remembered my brother was his best friend and he shouldn’t risk that, just before … he had a change of heart.
But Ace threw a wrench into my plans. “Actually, I have to be at work soon. I should go.”
Fear pounded through me. “But what a-about finishing our talk? I mean, I don’t know—”
Ace kissed me, his lips soft and reassuring. He kissed me right in front of Dre, who averted his eyes and pretended not to notice. When he drew back, he met my eyes. Our gaze held a beat.
“I want to take you on a real date.”
My mouth went dry, so I nodded, suddenly mute.
“Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, o-okay.”
“And I want to look through your sketchbook,” he said, seeming strangely intense about that.
“Oh … kay?”
“You showed it to Jonas,” he added significantly. “But you seemed reluctant to let me look…”
Dre snorted from across the room. “Probably didn’t want you to see the dirty sketch he drew of you.”
“Dre!” I jumped off the bed, shoving his shoulder. He fell back, laughing, entirely unfazed by my reaction. “Not cool, man.”
“Whatever, you two are touching dicks,” Dre said. “It’s not like he’s gonna be shocked you drew him naked. Actually, I figured you must have worked this out sooner, because … didn’t you do that like over a week ago?”