Rushing In (Ritter University #4) Read online

  She nodded her head as Ski stood up.

  “Thanks, man.” Danny lifted a fist to his frat brother and Ski met it with his knuckles.

  “No problem.” Ski turned to Megan. “You need a ride home?”

  “No,” Danny said. Dammit. Probably too fast. But he wasn't letting Ski near his... his friend. The big guy had a girlfriend, but that didn’t mean he needed to get close to Megan. “I'll get her home.”

  A deep laugh came from Ski as he walked back into the locker room, leaving Danny alone with Megan. “Ready to go home?” Danny ignored Ski's knowing laughter. Fucking genius. The big guy was way too perceptive. Danny didn’t have time for perceptive. He needed to focus on Megan.

  Megan rubbed her right arm. He had a feeling that side was worse. “I can get myself home.”

  Like he could allow her to go home alone. She was miserable. And anyway, he told everyone he'd get her home. “I know you can, but I promised I'd get you to your dorm.” He grabbed her bag from her shoulder. “Did you really want to walk on the treadmill tonight?”

  “Not really.”

  “Hungry?” He held out a hand. “Want dinner?”

  She rested her hand in his. Soft and warm, with a touch of electricity to make it interesting. God he loved feeling her, touching her. He pulled her easily to her feet until her face was just inches in front of his.

  “Umm... Is feeding part of that promise you made?” Her breath slid along his chin. Flowers. She smelled like a sweet bunch of flowers. He could only imagine what that combination tasted like, but he’d bet money on good.

  She pulled back and twisted herself into her knee-length black wool coat, wrapping a shiny green scarf around her neck. Damn, now her green eyes shone greener, her red hair redder. Was that even possible?

  “Nah, a bonus.” He gently cupped her elbow and led her out of the gym and into the cold winter air. He’d left his coat in the locker room, and the biting December wind pierced his Indiana Pacers sweatshirt. “Come on, Gingersnap, what do you want for dinner?” He asked the question, but his empty wallet hoped she wanted the Mehnk, the main cafeteria for the campus. Every food from the ethnic rainbow was available, and he could use his ID to purchase it.

  “The Mehnk is fine.” She slid into his red 1990 Ford Mustang, and Danny shut the door. He walked to his side of the car and tried the door handle. Stuck. Dammit. He had a love-hate relationship with his car. He loved the car, hated all the money it took to keep it up. Money he didn't have, so some projects weren't dealt with. The randomly sticky handle being one of them.

  He jiggled the handle. Eventually, if he did this just right, it would open. Most times. As he shook and pulled, Megan leaned over and grabbed the inside handle, opening the door.

  He seriously needed to get this thing fixed.

  “Thanks.” He slid in next to Megan.

  “No problem. She buried her hands... Between. Her. Thighs. His eyes couldn't move. She wiggled the appendages deeper and deeper. Fuck. He wanted to be right there. His hands, his face, his body. She was so damn hot.

  A shiver sliced through her body. Or maybe cold. She was cold. He peeled his eyes from his sexy companion and turned on the car, jacked the heat up and drove to the Mehnk.

  His hands twitched as he made his way down the winding roads. He'd like to think it was from the cold, but the explicit material Megan summoned from his mind was more likely the cause.

  Damn. This was going to be an interesting night.

  ~»ΨΡ«~

  Chapter Three

  Megan

  MEGAN SAT ACROSS from Danny in the almost empty cafeteria. Friday evenings at the Mehnk were pretty uneventful. Students were either getting ready for the evening parties or their evening out. The main lunchroom was not a popular weekend evening hangout.

  Megan raised the half-eaten sandwich to her mouth. Somehow, the fact that Danny paid for it and was sitting across from her made it taste so much better. Best sandwich she ever ate.

  “So, Gingersnap, what makes the great and powerful Megan Stewart tick? Give me your life story.”

  Great and powerful. Hah! He must be joking. She wasn’t great and powerful, far from it. She was the weak one whose arms were covered in drying blood. She was the one whose parents couldn’t trust her to cross the street without holding the hand of a grown-up.

  She almost said something snarky. Something to take the attention off of her, but the intense look he gave as he waited for her to talk said he wasn't joking.

  Damn it.

  The blush crept up her neck and wrapped around her face. She hated when she blushed, hated it. Her mom always romanticized her “porcelain complexion”. What BS. Megan was pale, and her blushes were splotchy, making her look like she’d run a marathon and burst a few blood vessels in her face. Not a good look— on anyone.

  And Danny brought that look out so easily. He looked at her sideways and she’d blush. He was so dangerous for her. Sugar-coated words from a man with Lay's disease. No matter how good the woman was in front of him, he could never eat just one. And Megan was a girl who didn't believe in sharing.

  Her parents had been married for over thirty years and they were just as in love today as they were the day they married. The fairy tale existed; she saw it firsthand every time her parents were in the same room. They’d been through so much, but it only made them stronger. That’s what she wanted. She wouldn't settle for anything less.

  Megan kept her eyes on her nice safe sandwich. “Um... There's really not much to tell. Grew up in the suburbs of Indiana with my parents. Always played sports. Other than that, life has been...”

  He finished for her. “Perfect.”

  “Dull.” She picked at the chips in front of her. “How about you?” She waited as he rubbed his pizza-tinged hand on a napkin, rolling the paper between his fingers.

  “My life...” He ran the other hand through his spiky golden hair. His life probably couldn't be summed up in a few sentences. Everything about him exemplified excitement, from the chain connecting his wallet to his belt on his low-slung jeans to the tattoos that lined his arm. He was danger, excitement, everything missing from her suburban life.

  “...hasn't been all that exciting.” He pushed the sleeves of his sweatshirt to his elbows. A colorful red dragon surrounded by blue smoke and orange fire wrapped around his right arm. The long teeth and forked tongue touched the top of his wrist. The design twisted along the outside of his muscled arm and beneath the fabric of his sweatshirt. The muscle bulged and flattened with every flex. Her eyes couldn't stop staring at the dancing reptile on his forearm— flexing, contracting...

  Not that she was staring at his arm or anything. She was looking at the artwork. That’s all. And she wasn’t picturing her hands running up and down said artwork, gliding over the enlarged muscles swelling from the bottom of his sweatshirt.

  It was all about the artwork. Yeah. That was her delusion and she was sticking to it.

  Danny shrugged. “Before I moved to the frat, I lived with my mom and brother in Cedar Glen.”

  “What about your dad?”

  “Left when I was younger.”

  “That's too bad.” She reached across the table, but he pulled his hand away.

  “Yeah, we can't all live the fairy tale, Gingersnap. We all don’t get the white picket fence and utopian existence.” He folded the large piece of pizza and took a bite.

  “I wouldn't call it a fairy tale.”

  “Right. It's boring.”

  She’d have to be completely oblivious to miss the sarcasm. Megan huffed. “You wouldn't understand. Do you know what it's like to do everything you're told all the time? Never getting a choice. I've lived a… preordained life.” She tossed her napkin on her plate. “My parents controlled everything.”

  “At least they cared enough to control you.” He took another bite.

  Everyone saw her life as perfect. No one understood. Concerned parents— that was nothing. What she lived with was beyond concern— beyond anything anyone else could understand. Her parents weren’t trying to control the direction of her future— her major, her activities. That was just one part of their puppeteering. They wanted to control her life, her breath. Everything. Because they didn’t want what happened to Chloe to happen to her.

  So Megan didn’t get to live, didn’t get to experience anything, because Chloe… No, she wasn’t going there. Megan did get to live. And screw those who didn’t get it.

  “Fine, you're right. I'm an ungrateful daughter.” She snatched her plate and dumped it in the nearest garbage can. She walked back to the table and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Ouch. Too soon. Movement was too soon. “Thanks for the bandaging and the dinner. I'll see you around.”

  Turning, she headed for the exit, making her way through the student union’s large atrium. Outside in the cool night air, she pulled her coat close and headed across the quad toward her dorm. A hand grabbed her arm and she stopped as fire scorched her bandaged skin. “Ouch.” She turned to her assailant.

  Danny threw his hands up in surrender. “I'm sorry. Forgot about the arms.”

  “What do you want, Danny?”

  “I promised I'd get you to the dorm.”

  “I'm releasing you from your promise.” She turned and he stepped in front of her, blocking her forward momentum. She thought about stepping around him, but he might try to grab her blazing arms again. Not her idea of fun.

  “I'm sorry.” He kept his hands up at his sides as his eyes pleaded.

  “For what?”

  He ran a hand through his short hair. “For grabbing your arms and for the thing I said inside.”

  For the thing he said? The thing? “What thing in particular?”

  “Honestly, Gingersnap, I have no clue.” r />
  No clue? Such a guy. An honest guy, but clueless nonetheless. “I don't judge your relationship with your parents. Don't judge mine. They care about me, but you have no idea what it’s like.” She thought about telling him about Chloe, but he didn't need any more ammunition. She hadn't told Karina, Savannah, or Gabi about her. And she liked them. All the time. Danny? Depended on the day.

  “You're right. I'm sorry. I like you. I don't want to hurt you.”

  One minute he was giving her shit about her family, the next he liked her. Jeez, he was annoying. Although she wasn’t sure which was more annoying, the way he volleyed back and forth or the fact that she felt her heart soar. Her heart actually soared, beating double-time in her chest.

  He liked her? He really liked her. She smiled until a thought wormed its way into her head. Liked her liked her or just liked her? There was a big difference. One was I wanna be friends and play Scrabble. The other one was I want to jump your bones.

  He lifted three fingers level with is head. “I won't judge again. Truce?”

  He was adorable. She hadn't actually seen the three-finger sign since she was a kid in Girl Scouts, making fabric potholders after school. It was a simpler time. Isn’t that what they always said? A simpler time. For her it was a time when she was allowed to go outside her home, and have friends. “Boy Scout sign?”

  “I take my oaths of no judgment seriously,” he said solemnly. “It requires hand gestures and everything.”

  “Funny, I was thinking of a hand gesture for you earlier, but it only had one finger. Want to see it?”

  A deep laugh flew from his lips as he threw his head back. “Not necessary. I think I've got the picture.”

  “Good.” She laughed and pushed her backpack higher on her shoulder. She wanted to switch shoulders, but the darn road rash had her right side throbbing more than the left. So the left shoulder won.

  “Want me to drive you home?”

  “It's not necessary. I'm just a couple buildings over.”

  He dropped his head and kicked at some pebbles on the ground. “Can I walk you, then?”

  “Sure.”

  Danny slid the backpack from her shoulder and started walking slowly toward her dorm. She caught his profile under one of the lampposts that were scattered around campus. The light five-o’clock stubble shadowing his sharp-angled jaw softened his already gorgeous face. Steam billowed from his straight-edged nose into the cold fall air.

  He turned to her and smiled. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” She watched his eyes as he stopped walking and stared at her. In the darkness she couldn't make out the green flecks in his slate eyes. But she knew they were there. She’d practically memorized those eyes. They were gorgeous, a window into his thoughts. Corny much? Yes. But it was so true. Megan could see his kindness in every concerned gaze, every wink.

  She couldn’t look away as Danny inched in closer. He reached for her hand and she didn't pull away. Couldn't pull away. Heat, desire, want travelled from the hand he held to the rest of her body.

  How long had she wanted this? Wanted him. The look in his eyes said he felt it too. Maybe. She wasn’t sure. She knew his reputation. She’d seen it firsthand. So many other woman had been lured in and walked away heartbroken.

  He could do a hell of a lot more damage to her than just break her heart. He’d destroy her. She somehow managed to pull her stare from his eyes. Bad move. Now her eyes locked on his mouth. His tongue slid across his bottom lip. So tasty. He looked so darn tasty.

  He leaned in. Her heart rate sped as his breath slid across her cheek just before his lips gently rested on hers. Chaste. Intense. His lips slowly demanded more, his tongue sliding along her lower lip.

  She opened for him, moving her arms to his neck. No longer chaste. He placed a hand on her back and pulled her closer. Dizzy. Body-humming intense. She wrapped her leg around his waist. How that happened? She had no clue, but it felt so darn good to be draped around him.

  Her hand slid under the jacket. He felt as good as he looked. Hard abs. Warm skin. Her mouth wanted more. Her hands needed more. More of him.

  With a groan, Danny pulled his head back. “Gingersnap, we need to stop this before we offer the students of Ritter an X-rated show.”

  She sighed and set her leg down. “What was that we just did?”

  “A hard PG-13.”

  “Yeah, it was hard.” She giggled as he groaned and pulled away, walking toward her dorm. Electricity sparked between them— she couldn’t deny that any more than she could deny that she didn't want this night to end. But once she was at the dorm, then what? Invite him up? Become another notch in his belt? No matter how bad an idea that was, she knew deep in her bones that's what she wanted.

  And wouldn’t it be nice to once, just once, get what she wanted. To not think about the fallout. Not think about what would happen next. Just take what he was willing to give and walk away.

  They climbed up the stairs to the entrance of her dorm, and Danny opened the glass front door. Heat blasted from the lobby as they crossed the threshold. A row of mailboxes lined the wall to the left, leading to the dorm’s family room. Megan slid her hand in Danny’s and pulled him to the right— to the stairs leading to the rooms.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asked as he followed behind.

  “My room.” She didn’t look back at him. She didn’t do anything that might make her change her mind— or make him change his mind.

  She guided him down the empty hallway. Empty. Thank goodness. She didn’t need to explain her little playdate with anyone. She opened her door and led Danny in.

  “Where’s your roommate?”

  “She went home for the weekend.” Apparently, Megan made too much noise for Carly to study for her finals next week. The last complaint was that Megan pressed too hard with the pen and there was a rubbing noise. Seriously? A rubbing noise?

  Thank goodness Carly had gone home. Without that, tonight wouldn't be happening and Megan needed to get Danny out of her system. She wanted what little he would give, so she could walk away and move on. That was the plan, anyway.

  She removed her jacket and scarf, hanging them on the hook stuck to the back of her door. Danny put Megan's backpack down on her desk. “So...”

  “So.” She moved up to him and grabbed his sweatshirt, pulling his body to hers. His mouth found her lips. Frantic. Hungry.

  He pulled back as her fingers slid under his sweatshirt. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” She pushed the shirt over his head and rested her hand on his tanned, broad chest. The muscles flexed beneath her fingers and desire shot to her center.

  She leaned in. God, she loved the way he kissed. Strong lips. Probing tongue. They parted only long enough for Danny to lift her T-shirt over her head, being careful of her arms. His hand found the soft pink fabric of her sports bra, sliding one finger under the band. Toying with the heated skin, he inched the material higher; the feather light caress of his hand sent an electric current of want through her body. Her back arched, begging him to get closer.

  His chest met hers as he puller her in. Yes. This was what she wanted. Closer. His lips on hers, he reached his hand around her back. Pop. Her bra loosened and slid down her chest.

  “You won’t be needing this.” He puled away just long enough to move the material from between them and lean her down onto her bed.

  He sat back on his knees. “You are so beautiful.” He drew her track pants down her legs, exposing hip-hugger panties. She cringed. Dammit. She forgot she was wearing the unromantic fabric briefs instead of one of her frilly lacy options. She didn’t generally wear satin lingerie to play a game of volleyball. She might want to reconsider that stance.

  She tried to pull the blanket over the sex-appeal impaired material before he turned back to her. No go. His hand stopped the blanket. His eyes locked on the central pink bow, right below the low waistband. His lips parted, his tongue tracing the top one like he was ready to eat. Her. Lord help her. He ran a finger over the bow, grinning.

  Megan dropped the blanket and moved to plan B, shifting her hand and covering the embarrassing clothing. “Sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone to see these.”