He looks affronted. “You’ll pay for this later. I’ll want…things.”

I shiver, already thinking about those things.

He exhales and allows me to push him in the closet. Before I shut it, I give him a lopsided smile.

I can hear the front door opening into the darkened room just as he whispers, “Do I have to stay here all night?”

I ignore him, straighten my tank, snatch up my underwear, and slide them on just as Julia flips on the tiny lamp on her nightstand. I walk to her side and once she turns, she jumps and screams.

Her hand goes to her heart. “Sugar! I was trying to be quiet. I thought you were asleep.” She takes in my disheveled appearance and probably wild hair. I tug down on my tank top, thankful he at least left that on.

I’m not exactly sure why I don’t want to tell her. I mean, it’s not like a twenty-one-year-old girl can’t have sex, but avoidance is my answer to everything tonight.

Her hair is as much of a mess as mine, I notice, and it looks as if she might have been crying.

“Is everything okay?” I frown, taking a step toward her, but her look stops me.

She holds her hand up. “I’m fine. Just a long day at work.” She plops her purse down and sits on the edge of her bed.

I nod, leaning against the half-wall that separates our rooms. “I didn’t even know you had a job that went this late.”

She pulls her hair out of a messy bun and brushes at it until it falls in a sleek wave down her back. “Yeah.”

Her voice is taut with tension as if she’s mentally telling me to mind my own business. I forget for half a second that Zack is huddled up in my closet and take another small step toward her. “I’m a good listener if you want to talk…sometime.” Not tonight though, I think, crossing my fingers. I have to get him out of here.

She takes off her shirt and jeans and pulls on an oversized T-shirt. With a lingering glance, she looks as if she might tell me something, but then she changes her mind. She crawls into her bed, tucks herself under the blanket, and turns off her light. “Just exhausted. Let’s talk later. Right now I just want to listen to some Beethoven and sleep.”

Okay.

She reaches over to the nightstand, grabs her earbuds, and taps to start the music on her phone.

“Night,” she murmurs.

I mumble a response, but she’s already turning over and facing the wall.

I shuffle over to my side and stand at the door of the closet, debating, moving from side to side.

How am I going to get him out of here? Do I want to get him out of here?

As quiet as a mouse, I open the closet door, and Zack is sitting on top of my mini fridge, munching as quietly as possible on a lone Dorito. One of my silk scarves, a gift from Mara I keep in a box on the top shelf, is looped around his neck.

I sigh. A very large and naked man with a dragon tattoo is sitting on top of my mini fridge with a semi, eating chips with a scarf on. Priceless.

“I guess it was too much to ask for you to get dressed?” I hiss.

He licks his fingers clean. “I was too pissed.”

I step inside with him. “It wouldn’t be college if you didn’t have to hide in the closet of a dorm room at least once.”

He puts the chips down. “Is she gone?”

I shrug. “She’s facing the wall with earbuds in.”

“Ah.” He takes my hand and pulls me toward him until I’m standing between his legs. It’s hot in the closet and clothes hang in most of it, but he’s managed to push them all to one side. There’s not much room, but it is bigger than anything I ever had at Mama’s back in Alabama. On the top shelves are my favorite books, extra school supplies, and a few sweatshirts and sweaters. My shoes are in an organizer in the top as well, which gives me plenty of space in the middle for the fridge—and us.

His hand curls around my waist.

“You’re sitting here eating my food with a condom on. Seriously?” I take in the length that’s growing, jutting up at me.

He stands, looming large in the small space. He strokes himself, giving his head a twist.

“A man gets hungry, Sugar,” he says as he towers over me.

Swooping down, he kisses me, tasting like chips.

“Honestly, I don’t care where I am when I’m with you.” The timbre of his voice is husky. “Take your underwear back off. Please.” His forehead is against mine. “I want to fuck.”

I smile. I’m getting used to his demands. “I did have vodka. It tends to make me take my clothes off.”

He tilts my face up. “Ah, Miss Ryan, don’t blame all this on alcohol. This…” He reaches down, slips his hand inside my panties, and gives me a one-finger touch that’s there and then gone. “This is all you and me.”

I’m already moaning and opening my legs for him before he even stops talking.

I reach down and slip my panties past my hips and off. I twirl them around. “Happy?”

Damn, I like watching his eyes burn.

I tug at a strand of his hair. “I like how you look at me like you might die if you don’t fuck me.”

His lashes flutter. “I like it when you say fuck.”

“Fuck me then,” I say. “Quietly.”

“That’s going to be difficult. You call out my name…a lot.” His voice is raspy.

“Put your hand over my mouth.” My chest rises with a shiver of excitement.

“My pleasure.”

Need vibrates inside me, and part of me wonders if I should be ashamed of my brazenness, but I shove those thoughts away. We’ve gone this far, and I’m a woman and he’s a man, and this is the best sex I’ve ever had.

His shoulders rise and fall as he stares at me, ghosting over my hair and face. He cups my breast, flicking his finger over my nipple.

“Please,” I whisper, not ashamed to beg. Tomorrow I’ll worry about why he has this control over me, but right now, I just want him.

“Turn around and lean over the fridge,” he whispers. “I’ve been dreaming about taking you from behind.” I do as he says, facing the wall, and my legs tremble in anticipation as he parts them with his knee, his chest against my back. “Press your hands against the back wall and hang on.”

He gently traces his fingers down my skin and outlines the cameo with the white lily inside that’s in the center of my back. I shiver.

“I love your tattoo.” He reaches around, pushes my shirt up, and cups my breasts. I groan at his touch.

Then he worships me.

His lips and hands are everywhere in the quietness and small space, pushing my hair over my shoulders and sucking on the skin on my back, playing with the curve of my elbow and then tracing his hands down to my legs. He bites me tenderly and I quiver. My body ignites. Again. So ready, so open. I’ll do anything with him.

“Put your ass up more,” he whispers as he crouches behind me on his haunches, and I obey, gasping when I feel his tongue on me, licking me. His fingers spread me apart and he devours me, touching me, making me moan his name.

“Shhhh,” he whispers against my skin, his tongue hot, so hot against my skin.

When I’m a dripping mess and whimpering, aching to come, he finally stands and strokes down my back.

“I’m going to fuck you slow, Miss Ryan.” His hand covers my mouth, giving me just enough room to breathe, and I quake with excitement, needing him inside me.

Moving to adjust, I’m standing on tiptoe as he slides inside, his fingers on my clit, playing me in tune to his thrusts.

A long groan escapes his lips as he picks up speed, one hand over my mouth and one on my hip. “I love this,” he grunts in my ear. “I feel you around me, and this is the best thing I’ve felt in a really long time. I could fuck you for days without ever stopping. I don’t know why it’s so good, but….” His voice trails off as he clutches my hips, his fingers a brand on my body.

I tighten my walls around him and he lets out a groan, mumbling my name and several adjectives about my anatomy under his breath.

He’s incoherent.

And I want more.

My legs are near collapsing, but I don’t want this to end. I can barely breathe and I groan as his hips twist to get a deeper angle.

He growls, moving his legs to get a better position inside me. “You make me feel on top of the world when I fuck you. I can win a championship inside you. I could run the whole fucking world.” His voice is guttural as he goes deeper. “I want this pussy tomorrow and the next day and the next. Do you hear me?”

I nod, my juices dripping down my legs.

“I’m going to make you see stars.” He rubs his thumb across my bum, applying the tiniest bit of pressure there until I squirm.

“You like this, Miss Ryan?” he whispers.

I nod, breathing around his hand.

His wet finger presses inside me, just a little, and then back out. He plays there, so soft, so gentle, until I feel weak. I sway on my feet and his hips stop moving, his length twitching inside me as he adjusts me. Heavy breathing and silence fill up the closet and, shit, I want so much more. I wiggle back at him.