“Miss Winslow, did you have a question?” Dr. Dair stared over the top of his glasses at my girl—no mean feat considering we sat at least ten rows up from the dais where he stood behind his lectern.
“I don’t see Emma as a feminist at all. She runs her father’s house because he’s a widower. That was common for unmarried young women at the time.” The professor dialed up his stare, and Jamaica sat a touch straighter in her seat. “She spends all her free time matchmaking everyone in her acquaintance. Preoccupation with marriage was also common at the time. Austen is making fun of that in the book for sure, but I’m having trouble seeing Emma as anything more than a caricature of Regency women.”
“You don’t believe inherent feminism plays into trying to supersede the wishes of a father or guardian when it came to the determination of whom a young woman was to wed?” he asked.
“Wives and mothers held a great deal of influence over who their husbands chose for their daughters. Austen herself is an example of an independent woman for the time considering she turned down a marriage proposal her father had approved,” Jamaica countered.
“Emma has convinced her father to let her make her own choices as well, true?”
“It benefited him to indulge her. She ran his home and kept up his social calendar so he didn’t have to think about either. Even though the story focuses on the titular character, most of the events in it benefited the male characters, which is what Austen is criticizing.”
“I’ll be interested in how you address these ideas in your project.” The tone of his voice hinted more at criticism than interest, and in spite of myself I bristled. His attitude toward Jamaica annoyed me enough, but now it seemed it threatened me too since our project was half mine. Or maybe he thought she was carrying all the weight since I was majoring in sports marketing rather than English.
When Dr. Dair directed his attention to the suck-ups in the front row, I sensed my girl deflate beside me, and I leaned into her. “You’re the most independent and exciting woman I’ve ever met. When it comes to feminism, that man is a clueless wonder.”
“Clueless or not, he holds the key to my future,” she whispered.
I rubbed my hand over her knee, giving her an encouraging squeeze. As always when I touched her anywhere on her legs, she rewarded me with a tiny squirm, telling me how my touch affected her. Suddenly my mind was on the night before when we’d started out with her sitting at my desk, me propped against the headboard on my bed, and ended up with both of us tangled in the sheets.
Now I was squirming in my seat.
As usual, Axel missed none of it, smirking at the two of us and shaking his head.
After class as I walked her to Huffine Hall, her mood hovered somewhere near the sidewalk. “I’m not trying to be contrary with him, but he brings it out in me. I honestly don’t care if he wants Emma to be a feminist. The argument has nothing to do with our approach to the text anyway.” She hitched her backpack higher on her shoulder.
Catching her free hand, I brought it to my lips and brushed a kiss over it. “I was proud of you in class today.”
“You were?”
“Dair was an ass. But you held your own without being snarky or disrespectful. The way he tried to look down his nose at you and then dismissed you in that tone…” I threaded my fingers through hers. “I wanted to sack his ass, drive him right into the turf.”
She snorted. “Have you noticed that all your metaphors are football-related?”
“Can’t imagine why,” I said drily.
Her giggle was exactly what I needed.
When we reached the intersection in the sidewalk that took her to class and me to the gym, I pulled her aside and shoved my fingers into her endlessly fascinating curls. Sliding my other arm around her waist, I tugged her close enough to rub my nose along hers. “I can’t see you tomorrow night, but I have an hour or so after practice tonight.”
“I have a staff meeting that’ll probably go until nine or nine-thirty.” Her tone was glum again.
At least this time she was sad about not seeing me rather than upset about our jackass prof.
“I’ll be in the lobby of your dorm, say 9:15 p.m.?”
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, but after all these weeks I’d figured out her tells. Yes, she wanted to see me tonight. No, she thought she shouldn’t see me tonight after spending last night in my bed. Sealing my lips to hers, I helped her make the correct decision.
Fuck, I loved kissing this girl. Those plush, soft lips were made to mold to mine. When I slipped her some tongue, she got right with the program and tangled hers with mine. Tilting my head, I changed the angle and deepened the kiss. She dug her fingers into my shoulders and smashed her delicious rack against my chest. The moan in the back of her throat vibrated into mine, and I held her closer. Desire throbbed through my veins, hot and insistent, and I forgot all about where we were and what we were supposed to be doing.
The shrill, unwelcome voice of Tory Miller interrupting our fun reminded me. “Callahan O’Reilly! What do you think you’re doing?”
With a lingering press of my lips to Jamaica’s, I slowly surfaced back to the real world and out of my fantasy of skipping the rest of the day and heading directly for her narrow bed. Tory and her posse practically surrounded us, all of them glaring mostly at Jamaica.
“Until you rudely interrupted, I was kissing my girlfriend.” The snark slipped out before I could remember who I was talking to and what kind of damage she could do.
Tory planted her hands on her hips. “You couldn’t possibly mean that this”—she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she gave Jamaica the once-over—“person is your girlfriend. Especially after what happened between us last spring.”
In my arms Jamaica’s body went rigid.
The choice between potential damage from Tory and the best thing that ever happened to me walking away was a no-brainer. “I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but nothing happened between us last spring—or ever.” My words were as much for the woman in my arms as for the skank in front of me.
Something vicious crossed Tory’s features before she schooled her lips into a pout. “That’s not true, and you know it.”
“It is true, and you know it. Now, if you’ll excuse us, ladies, we’re headed to class.” I tightened my arm around Jamaica’s waist and stepped through two of the freshmen who didn’t fuss about letting us pass.
“Don’t you walk away from me, Callahan,” Tory warned. “We’re not done here.”
Ignoring her, I walked Jamaica to her building. I was going to be late for film, which meant Coach would probably punish me with extra drills in practice. Worth it for the pleasant interlude with my girl—not so much for the confrontation with a spoiled bitch trying to impress her little gang of wannabes.
The way Jamaica reacted to Tory made me want to look out for her. I had no doubt she could hold her own with that group of nasties, but I didn’t see the point of walking away and leaving her to it when I was already right there.
“Um, Callahan—”
“Nothing happened, babe. I drunk-kissed her once for a minute in a hallway at a frat party, and I’ve stayed far away from her since.” We stood in front of her building. “I’ll see you tonight.” I grinned. “And I plan on kissing you for a lot longer than a minute.” For emphasis, I brushed a kiss over her lips. Then I turned her toward the door and patted her on the ass.
She shot me a narrow-eyed glare over her shoulder. “You’re going to pay for that, Hotshot.”
“I’m counting on it, Island Girl.”
I’m pretty sure I heard her laugh as she opened the door and disappeared inside the building.
Taking a seat in a deep leather chair in a corner of the lobby of Jamaica’s dorm, I flipped the bill of my hat forward and scrolled through my phone. I was going for inconspicuous as I waited for my girl to finish her meeting. Too bad Tory’s posse had radar or tracking devices or something when it came to guys on the team.
“Callahan?”
I made the mistake of glancing up to a voice that wasn’t my girl’s.
“It is you. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the library tonight?”
“Huh?” Smooth, O’Reilly. But, what the ever-lovin’ fuck?
“I thought you studied at the library after evening practice.”
With a raised brow I stared hard at her, and the girl fidgeted from foot to foot. Good. She should be uncomfortable keeping track of my schedule. It was bad enough the university posted the players’ academic schedules online to make sure people knew we were actually student athletes or some shit. Now I had jersey chasers bird-dogging my off hours too? Jesus.
“Um, Tory and the other girls are at the library. I wasn’t feeling well, so I stayed home. I can text them you’re here.” She reached toward the pocket of her sweats.
“Don’t bother.”
Her hand hovered above her pocket, a stunned expression on her face. Conversation carried up the stairwell in the middle of the lobby. A familiar snort-laugh followed it. Without another word for the jersey chaser, I stood and headed for the stairs. Leaning against the railing at the top, I smiled as Jamaica laughed again at something Chessly said.
This girl.
I’d never admit it to any of my buddies, but I had it so bad for her.
As if she sensed my thoughts, she glanced up, her laughter dying on her lips only to be replaced with the most gorgeous smile in the world.
“Hey, Hotshot.”
“Hey, Island Girl.”
“Hello, Callahan,” Chessly said. With a smirk in Jamaica’s direction, she added, “You were pretty patient with Liana’s endless questions tonight considering who was waiting for you.”
“Jamaica warned me her meeting could run late.” I caught her hand when she joined me at the top of the stairs. “But waiting even five minutes is forever.” Tugging her hand to my lips, I brushed a kiss over the back of it and let my eyes tell her exactly why.
Her whisper of a gasp told me she understood me perfectly.
Apparently, so did Chessly. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.” She smirked. “See you tomorrow, J. Have a nice evening.” The way she emphasized “nice evening” had me smirking back at her.
“You two done with all your innuendo?” Jamaica huffed.
Her attitude didn’t faze her friend. “He doesn’t have his backpack,” she stage-whispered. “Kind of a dead giveaway.”
“Chess!” Jamaica hissed.
Her friend’s laughter rang out as she hopped away from the friendly slap Jamaica tried to land on her ass. She chuckled as she walked in the opposite direction of my lady’s room.
“So.” I raised a brow while simultaneously stroking my thumb over the soft skin of her hand, which meant I didn’t miss the tiny shiver that went through her at my touch.
She started walking, tugging me along until I fell into step with her. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the jersey chaser furiously texting. Maybe now it was obvious I had a girlfriend, they’d forget about my schedule and stop following me around campus.
Keeping my voice low, I said, “Do you want to hear my plan for tonight’s study session?”
Jamaica shot me a side-eye.
“It involves making sure you miss me when I’m gone this weekend as much as I’m going to miss you.”
“You are so full of yourself.”
Those were her words, but she skip-hopped a couple of steps, increasing her pace as we walked to her room. I hid a grin when I saw her hands tremble as she unlocked the door and let us into her private space. Then I put both of us out of our misery.
Pinning her to the back of her door with my body, I said, “Hello, gorgeous. I’ve been waiting for this part all day.” I set my mouth on the soft skin in the corner of her jaw and nibbled my way to her plump lips. She slipped her hands around my waist, fisting my hoodie along my back and tugging me closer.
Fireworks exploded behind my eyelids as the kiss I meant as a slow seduction morphed into desperation when she pushed her tongue into my mouth. She gave mine a suck, and that was it. Flames licked through my veins at the press-and-tease, slide-and-glide game of tongue tag we played. When she rubbed her belly against my rock-hard fly, I reached behind her and grabbed two handfuls of her ass, encouraging her to wrap her lovely long legs around my waist.
Without breaking the kiss, I turned and took the three steps across her room to her bed and tumbled the two of us down on it. Only then did we come up for air.
“You’ve been looking forward to this today too, yeah?” I grinned.
She responded by wrapping a hand around the back of my neck and pulling me down to her mouth. Against my lips she whispered, “Yes,” and kissed me out of my mind.
Clothes started coming off then. First my hoodie and T-shirt, then her sweater and bra. I worked her nipple with my lips and tongue while I pushed her yoga pants down over her hips. Kissing my way down the center of her belly, I reveled in her moans and the arch of her back, aiding me in my task of undressing her. When I started to kiss my way along the smooth muscles of her calves, she sat up, her eyes green fire as she stared into mine.
“Stand up.”
I did as she commanded, and her busy fingers made short work of the fly of my jeans. My cock sprang free right in her face as she pushed the rest of my clothes down my body. A naughty grin lit up her features, and my jeans and boxers stopped their downward progress at my knees. Starting at the base of my dick, she ran her tongue along my length. The incredible sensation of that touch shuddered through me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. When she closed those gorgeous plump lips over the head, I speared my hands in her curls and held on as my knees threatened to buckle.
Then all my plans for seducing her went right off the rails as she kissed and licked and sucked me, long downstrokes that took me all the way in and pulled me hard as she hollowed her cheeks on the upstrokes. When her hands joined the fun, jacking me and massaging my balls, I saw stars.
“Jamaica.” Her name came out on a groan. “Babe, if you don’t stop, I’m gonna—” Lightning raced down my spine. “Too late,” I gritted through my teeth before I shouted her name and came down her throat.
Taking her time, she let me go, those green eyes glittering up at me in triumph. Exaggerating the motion, she ran her tongue all around her gorgeous, swollen pink lips. “Mmm. You kind of taste like the sea.” With a smile she inched back on the bed. “For the record, you’re not the only one who enjoys giving oral.”
It took me several tries to clear my throat. “You made that obvious just now.” I smiled. “Lucky, lucky me.” She left me so unsteady on my feet I had to hold onto the edge of her desk to finish kicking off my jeans and boxers. I fished a condom from my pocket and set it on the desk before joining her on her narrow bed.
I bent my elbow and propped my head up on my hand as I faced her. “I never know what to expect with you.” Grinning, I tugged a curl and enjoyed the spring. “I kind of like it.”
She grinned back. “No one’s ever accused me of being boring.”
Savoring the satin of her skin beneath my hand, I ran my palm over her shoulder, down her arm to her elbow, before finding her waist. I continued my tour to her hip, giving it a squeeze on my way to her luscious round ass. “Since you want to be in charge tonight, how about I take the mattress and you take me?” As I asked the question, I simultaneously slid onto my back and rolled her on top of me.
Resting her chin on her hands stacked on my chest, she narrowed her eyes, pretending to contemplate my suggestion. “Hmm. Sounds to me like you want me to do all the work.”
I watched my fingers as I played with her hair. “Well, I do have a big game this weekend—”
“And you need to keep your strength up for pushing defenders into the turf?” Saccharine dripped from her tone.
“For someone who didn’t start out as a football fan, you’re a quick study, Island Girl.”
She pushed up to straddle me. With all kinds of fanfare, she lifted her arms over her head and stretched, offering her gorgeous tits. Of course, I took that offer, sliding my hands up the sides of her waist and cupping and squeezing those pretty globes. From the way she wiggled on my lap, my touch excited her, and my dick perked right up. Her smile lit me up, and I shifted beneath her, encouraging her to move.
One hand held my hands to her breasts while she reached for the condom. Her eyes didn’t leave mine as she tore it open with her teeth and took her sweet time suiting me up. I slid my hands around her hips but otherwise let her do her thing as she pleasured herself rubbing up and down my length. Right as I was about to start begging, she grabbed hold of me and positioned me where we both wanted me most. When she impaled herself, taking me in all the way to the base, I gritted my teeth against surging up into her—hard. Jesus, she felt sublime wrapped tight around me.
Glancing down at my hands, she said, “I thought I was in charge this evening.”
“I’m holding on. That’s all,” I said in my defense.
She curled her fingers around my hands, prying them from her hips only to reposition them on her breasts. “If you need to hold on, hold on here.”
Oh, hell yes! I thought. What I said was, “Great idea.”
Gripping me with her inner muscles, she slowly—so damn slowly—lifted off me and equally slowly, slid back down. You would have thought that after that mind-blowing blow job she started off with, I’d be up for super slow-motion sex. You would be wrong. I did my best not to fist her perfect tits as I fought to keep from pumping inside her. Instead I pushed my head hard into the pillow even as my thighs and hips tightened in anticipation of taking over. Still, she rode me slow, the mischief dancing in the depths of her mesmerizing green eyes telling me she absolutely knew she held me on the razor’s edge of losing my mind.
Shifting forward, she rested her hands on my shoulders. “You can put your hands on my hips now.” Her couching the command as an invitation made me grin.
“Oh, I can, can I?” Turning the tables, I teased her with plucking and pinching her hard nipples.
With a gasp, she clamped down on me and increased her rhythm.
I laughed and tweaked her breasts again. “Looks like I found the speed dials.”
“Callahan!”
Her narrow-eyed stare didn’t deter me in the least. Instead of doing as I was told, I continued to play at her breasts as she ramped up the friction building between us. At last, I needed more speed than she could give me on her own. Dropping my hands to her hips, I squeezed her flesh and held her in place as I drove up into her. The bite of her nails digging into the skin of my shoulders egged me on, and soon we were both chasing our release.
A storm of incredible intensity gathered at the base of my spine. “Jamaica, babe. I’m so close. You have to come. You have to come right now.”
I covered her perfect little clit with the pad of my finger and rubbed her in tandem with my rhythms. She clinched around me hard as her back bowed and she screamed my name to the ceiling. Two strokes later I followed her right off the cliff. Her body pulsing around me sent a second mini-climax through me, and I thought I might die from the pleasure. But what a way to go.
When she floated down to rest on my chest, it took a minute for our hearts hammering against each other to settle down to something less than a full-out sprint. I drew lazy patterns up and down her back and over her ass, enjoying the shivers rippling over her skin beneath my touch. Her breathing evened out, telling me my lady was about to drop off to sleep with me still inside her.
Giving her ass a love tap, I said, “Not yet, Island Girl.”
She grumbled something into my neck, and I grinned.
“Come on, babe. You have to sit up, let me take care of a few things.”
“Now?” she whined.
“Yes.” I chuckled.
With exaggerated care she dragged herself off me and slid into the space on her narrow bed between me and the wall. After I slipped the condom off, I tied it off and dropped it in the trash while she watched me with a hooded expression.
“You have to leave, don’t you?” She pouted.
“Yeah, but not for a while.” I slid back into bed beside her, tugging the covers up over us. There wasn’t enough for two, of course, so my ass hung out in the cold, but I didn’t care. Dropping a kiss on those lips I couldn’t get enough of, I snuggled her into me. “You gonna watch me play on TV on Saturday?”
“Maybe.” Playfully, she dragged the word out against the hollow of my throat and kissed me.
“Jamaica,” I said sternly. “It’s your job as my girlfriend to watch my game.” Tightening my arm around her, I added, “I’ll know if you don’t.”
Rearing back, she caught my eye. “Yeah? How will you know?”
“I’ll feel it. Right here.” I tugged her hand to my chest and laid it over my heart.
She smirked. “Has anyone ever pointed out what a drama queen you are?”
I stuck my nose in the air. “There’s nothing dramatic about an athlete needing his lady to cheer for him.”
Both of us burst out laughing.
“Okay, Hotshot, I promise I’ll watch your game this weekend.”
We enjoyed the afterglow in silence until a tiny snore slipped from her. “Hey, babe. Wake up. You need to walk me out.” I slid from beneath the covers and dressed while she made up her mind about waking up. After I gave her lip a nip when I kissed her, she sat up, her curls a wild halo around her head as she blinked herself awake.
Two minutes later she’d slipped on a pair of leggings—without panties, which was so unfair—and a hoodie also without a bra beneath it. Again, monumentally unfair.
“You did that on purpose,” I accused.
Her grin was positively naughty. “Giving you something to think about during your long bus rides tomorrow and Saturday evening.” She wrapped a headband over her wild hair. “By the way, you’re welcome.”
“For—?”
“For giving you a fantasy to keep you going through the weekend.”
I hauled her up tight and kissed her senseless. When I let her go, her eyes remained closed as she sighed.
“That’s to tide you over until Sunday night when you come over to my place.”
“I’m coming over to your place?” Her brow shot up.
“It’s my turn to cook Sunday dinner. Get your mind out of the gutter, woman. Jeez.”
Her eyes took a turn around their sockets as she grabbed my hand and led me to the lobby.
Since it was cold outside, we said our final goodbyes near the front desk. “I’m serious, babe. I want you to come over for Sunday dinner. We can study or grab a movie or whatever afterward.”
“Does ‘whatever’ involve me bringing my toothbrush?”
I pretended to think about it. “Probably. See you Sunday.”
Her eyes twinkled, and I swooped in for another kiss. When I came up, I caught a flash of a camera out of the corner of my eye. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and I glanced over to the couches near the doors to catch Tory’s spy tucking her phone in her pocket.
Shit. That couldn’t be good.