But, of course, Arden doesn’t let me down that easily. “Yes, brat. I have shifts this week. My usual shifts.”
“Oh, that’s…good.” I stuff a fry in my mouth to shut myself up but they’re insanely hot so I end up having to take very deep, loud breaths to cool my mouth off.
Boy, if I really cared about impressing Arden on this date, I’d be really embarrassed but watching him crack the biggest smile at my discomfort reminds me that he’s the same boy I grew up with who made fun of me when I cut my own bangs in freshman year of high school. He’s seen much worse from me.
“What about you? Got anything special going on?” He makes a show of blowing on a french fry before putting it in his mouth and I roll my eyes.
“Nope, nothing special. Just classes and labs and keeping myself alive, the usual.”
He nods and we eat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes. It’s not that much different from when we eat together on the couch at home. Or study together. Or just hang out together. It’s all…nice. In a surprising way.
“What are you thinking about over there?” Arden asks me as he finishes the last bite of his burger. I still have half of mine left and if history is anything to go by, he’ll be finishing it off later on tonight.
“Oh nothing. Just what movie we should watch when we get home.”
He smiles and I know without a shadow of a doubt it’s because I saidhome. But it is. Our home, that we have together. That we cook in and clean in and hang out in.And have sex in. And pretend we don’t have feelings for each other in.
I shake those thoughts from my head, not wanting to ruin the good mood.
“I’m picking the movie,” Arden says as the waiter appears with a to-go box and the check, which Arden pays without even looking at it. Or without even giving me a chance to evenpretendlike I was going to offer.
“Why do you get to pick?”
“Because you picked last time,” he says as I pack up my leftover burger and fries. “In fact, you pick every time.”
“So, we should just go with that we know, then, right? Don’t want to go changing too much at once.”
We stand and go to leave but Arden tucks me into his side as we walk out the door, his arm feeling way too good draped over my shoulders. “Whatever you say, brat.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Danika
Thefeelingofrelieffollowing Saturday afternoon when I finish my last midterm is better than an orgasm. I collapse onto the couch, keeping the glass of wine I poured safe from spillage. Arden comes out from his bedroom and sits next to me. Without a word, he hands me his phone open to the online platform where our grades come in. He has it open to his statistics class. And his midterm grade.
Which is a B plus.
“Oh my god, Arden!” I throw the phone on the couch. “You did amazing!” I don’t know how or why I do it, but I end up crawling onto his lap after placing my glass of wine on the table and giving his neck a squeeze.
“Youdid amazing,” Arden laughs against me, my reaction clearly taking him off guard in a good way. He hugs me tightly against him. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
I lean back, keeping my arms around his neck but his arms around my waist don’t let me go far. “Oh please, I barely did anything. That was all you.”
I lean down to place a congratulatory peek on his lips but he meets my mouth hard and captures my lips in a soul-gutting kiss. His arms grip me tighter as the kiss deepens and I’m pushing myself closer to his body, removing any space between us. As if that’s close enough.
I grind against his lap and feel him growing harder beneath me. Just as I pull away to suggest we move this party to his bedroom, a pounding on the door interrupts our elation.
“Danika!” A loud voice calls from the hallway, yelling over the sound of pounding. “Open up!”
Who the fuck?
Tentatively, I peel myself off of Arden to open the door but he beats me to it, no doubt in an effort to keep himself in between me and possible danger.
He looks in the peephole and it’s deja vu as he sighs and opens the door widely.
Gemma squeals when she sees me, running straight past Arden. “I passed the molecular cell bio midterm!” She hugs me tightly and then pulls back. “Did you?”
“I haven’t checked, I just got—”