Chapter Twenty-Three

Sami

It did feel real. What we had. What we’d done together out here by the lake. Any other girl probably would have been annoyed that he’d—well, not lied, exactly. He never actually said he was a Harvard graduate. Misled was the better word. He let me assume and never corrected me until now.

But I wasn’t any other girl. I knew exactly where he was coming from. After all, I’d built a whole life out of misleading people.

A life I didn’t want anymore.

Eric gave a gentle tug on my hair. “Where did you go just now?”

I released the breath caught in my chest. “Sorry. Up in my head again.”

“Then let’s get your head back in the stars.” He settled back on the blanket again and tugged me down beside him. “Show me another constellation.”

I snuggled in beside him, enjoying his body heat, and scanned the sky. I pointed to a bright star over our heads. “That’s Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky. It’s part of the constellation Lyra, aka Aquila Cadens or Falling Eagle.” I watched him closely from the corner of my eye. He didn’t react to the A.K.A. name-drop. Maybe I was wrong, and he’d had nothing to do with the group.

He stared up at the sky in fascination. “Why does it have multiple names?”

“Because on maps it’s often depicted as an eagle carrying a lyre. So Falling Eagle. Even though it’s small, it’s one of my favorite constellations because it relates to the myth of Orpheus and his lyre. Do you know it?”

His dimple appeared and, ugh, why did that little dent make me melt? I smiled back at him. “What?”

“You light up when you talk about those stories.” He rolled over me, covering me with his body as his hand wandered down between my legs. “Have I mentioned how much I love your mind?”

I arched into his touch. “You could show me.”

And he did. We made love again under the stars. It wasn’t just sex. I may have been new at this, but I didn’t think plain old sex was so emotional. Intimate. Tender. He touched me like I was precious. Like I was meant to be adored and worshiped.

We picked our way back to his car by the light of the moon, laughing the whole way. He drove me to the dorm and jumped out almost before he had the vehicle in park. He hurried around the front of the car and opened the door for me. Nobody had ever opened a door for me. I slid out of the seat and into his arms. For a brief moment, all of my girlhood fantasies of being a princess came true.

Except my Prince Eric was a hacker with dimples and a penchant for ridiculously nerdy T-shirts.

“I don’t want tonight to end,” I whispered after he kissed me. “Can’t we go back to your house?”

He sighed and pressed his forehead to mine. “You have PT in the morning.”

Yeah, I did. Dammit. “What about tomorrow night?” God, did I sound desperate? Because I kinda was. “I mean for dinner, or we could binge Star Wars or—”

He silenced me with a kiss. “I’ll pick you up for mac and cheese and a Star Wars marathon at my place.”

“And sex,” I added.

He looked at me blankly. “It never crossed my mind.”

“Liar.” I gave his chest a playful shove, then reluctantly backed away. As much as it sucked to leave him, he was right. I had an oh-dark-thirty start tomorrow and needed sleep.

At the door, I glanced back. He stood by the open passenger side of his car, watching me. I blew him a kiss. He flashed his dimples, shut the door, and walked around to the driver’s side.

God, those dimples. They got me every time.

I wouldn’t say I floated on a cloud of hearts and butterflies when I passed the common room, but there was a happy skip in my step I couldn’t hide.

“Whoa, whoa. Hold up, sister!” Remy leaped from his seat on a beanbag in front of the Xbox and grasped me by the shoulders. He looked me up and down. “Messy hair, rosy cheeks, little hearts circling your head.” He gasped and slapped his cheeks in exaggerated dismay. “Oh, our little girl is now a woman.”

I swatted his shoulder. “Oh my God. Why don’t you take out an Instagram ad. Just announce it to the whole world.”

Unfazed, Remy sniffled and knuckled away a fake tear. “I’m so proud.”

“We know who’ll be passing all of her classes now,” Blaze muttered from behind his laptop.

“Hey,” Wolfe said and got up from his seat in another beanbag. He set down the Xbox controller and crossed his arms over his massive chest. “Blaze, man, was that necessary?”

I held up a hand to silence the others, who were all gearing up to jump to my defense, and strode over to stand in front of Blaze. I slapped a hand down on the lid of his laptop, nearly catching his fingers on the keyboard. He glared at me.

I glared right back. “Why are you such a dick? Do you get off on making people hate you?”

He shoved his laptop at Will Campbell and stood. He was a lot bigger than me, but if there was one thing I’d learned from the training program, it was that size didn’t matter. I could take him. I wasn’t afraid of him. Or, for that matter, any bully. I was in too good of a mood to let him ruin it, and I was so done with his bullshit.

But I never got a chance to put him in his place.

“Um, guys?” Will said. “Something’s wrong with this comp—”

A loud, crackling snap filled the room. I whipped toward the sound and watched in horror as the laptop that Blaze had shoved into Will’s hands exploded into a fireball.