6. Rose #2
This was probably the dumbest idea in the world.
A couple of conversations weren’t a good enough hint at who he was as a person.
Laurel and her crew would hate her if this backfired.
However, she had already gone to a party, so she had technically fulfilled Kenzie’s request, and she was bored to death sitting in her room and the library all the time.
She’d shut Kirin down last night when he offered to talk to her about this, so he’d shown up to talk to her about anything else.
That was a good sign, right? But Preston pursued her too, a challenge for the competitive athlete.
So maybe this was another potentially dumb decision.
The prospect had her ready to crawl out of her skin.
Maybe she should have given Kirin a chance to reassure her this would work, let him walk her through his plan a little more thoroughly and with some context after she moved it up a week because she couldn’t handle waiting.
Everything about their project was hypothetical, options they may or may not act on until now.
She stood inches from him, frozen when she felt the attention and watched in what felt like mortifying slow motion as Harrison nudged Kirin.
Then he was glancing over his shoulder at her, and past her to the wing women, who were no doubt close behind her.
They were tiny in comparison. She looked over their heads more than once tonight.
She was used to Kenzie and her teammates, who were almost all eye level.
It was probably half a second, but then Kirin’s attention was back on her, the gray eyes almost silver when they sparked with an alarming amount of joy.
“Flower, I thought I missed you.” Kirin wrapped an arm around her waist, and when she winced, he brushed a kiss against her hair in silent apology.
It had her insides warming: his massive hand gently cradled the sliver of exposed skin just above her hip, his thumb moving to rub soothingly over her ribs.
When he brushed another kiss along her cheek, not an apology but almost like he couldn’t help it, she stiffened. Then the name clicked in her brain.
Flower? They hadn’t discussed nicknames.
“Kirin,” she squeezed out, dreading the wide-eyed look she was about to get from her roommates. “These are my roommates, Harper and Ainsley.”
“Nice to meet you.” Kirin passed his drink off to Leon and extended his hand out to shake the hand of each of her wide-eyed roommates. “These are my roommates, Leon and Harrison.”
Kirin took back his drink and tucked Rose into his side when people got too close to them so she was out of harm’s way.
It made her heart stutter a second before her nerves kicked her body into overdrive.
As everyone introduced themselves to one another, she tried to put some distance between herself and Kirin.
She felt like she was pressed against a furnace, and yet part of her wanted to snuggle deeper, to lean into him.
Ainsley kept throwing her glances, even as she spoke with Leon, but Harper was fighting a losing battle with a blush as she shook Harrison’s hand. Her eyes would have stars in them if they existed in a cartoon world.
“You didn’t tell me you had two roommates,” Kirin murmured against her temple. He lifted his hand off her hip and she shivered at the loss of heat, then shivered again when the backs of his fingers trailed along the edge of her shirt.
“We don’t know one another,” she reminded him through a tight smile when Ainsley looked her way again.
“We are going to need to change that to make this work,” Kirin answered, and she nodded.
“How would you like to go about that? You think someone is going to quiz us on each other’s quirks like we’re in a green card marriage?”
“Nobody is expecting you to know my favorite flavor of toothpaste, but it’s winter mint if anyone asks,” he said, his hand pressed into her lower back as he spoke to his friends over her head. “We’re gonna get a top-up. You guys want anything?”
“Nah.” Leon waved them off with a wink. Ainsley and Harper both waved them off, too.
She waited until they were in the kitchen corner, away from the people who slapped Kirin’s shoulder in congratulations on the win. They gave her a curious look as he herded her through the crowd, his hand never leaving hers before she hissed, “Did you tell them?”
“Tell who, what, Flower?” he asked while looking over the ripped-up shorts and distressed concert tee.
“Your friends about our project,” she growled. None of this would mean anything if he blabbed their plan to everyone. The key was discretion. Not something he appeared to be good at as he continued his blatant perusal of her body.
“Of course not,” he said, but he still wasn’t meeting her eyes, so she snapped her fingers in front of his face. It was enough to lift his gaze. “I promise they don’t know.”
“Then why did Leon wink at you?” she asked. She hated being on the outside of inside jokes. Being the butt of too many jokes made her more sensitive. She would not put herself in that position again.
“Rose.” Kirin’s thumb rubbed along the edge of her shorts—his eyes glazed over a bit as he took her in.
“You’re beautiful, and Leon isn’t blind.
He winked because he watched me stare at my phone, waiting for you to respond yesterday.
It was a ‘go get ’em boy’ wink, maybe even a ‘good job’ one because you showed up after I ditched him yesterday to track you down, not an ‘I know about the project’ wink. ”
She tried not to like that he thought she was beautiful, that he said it to her face. Nobody had outright said that to her in so long. Except her parents, but that didn’t really count.
“You blushing because I complimented you, Flower?” Kirin asked as he tugged her a little closer and slung his arm around her shoulders so he could talk into her ear.
“What is with the ‘flower’ nonsense?” she asked against his shoulder, tilting her head up so her nose dragged along the underside of his jaw.
“You want me to call you sweetheart or honey?” he asked, and she pinched his side, earning a chuckle.
“Flower is fine, I guess,” she grumbled. “What should I call you?”
“Whatever you want.” He reached around her to get something behind her. The movement forced her nose to drag along his neck as she breathed in.
He smelled fantastic, like laundry soap and cologne, warm and comfortable.
If she smelled that anywhere else, she’d probably snuggle into it and fall asleep.
Her eyes fluttered shut at having him wrapped around her, his warmth and comfort seeping into her bones.
She relaxed with the change of position as he pulled back.
“Get a damn room, Kirin. Nobody wants to see you shacking up in the kitchen,” a voice said from somewhere beyond Kirin’s body, and Rose froze, stiffening when her brain connected the voice with a name.
Laurel.
Shit.
Kirin stood up, laughing as he turned them around, sweeping his arm to push Rose forward until she was pressed against his front, successfully concealing the bulge she could now feel against her backside.
His hand met her abdomen, moving her hips back towards him as he held her close.
Claiming her again. Heat seeped into her blood at the contact, at the feel of his arousal against her.
The knowledge she did that with no effort was oddly empowering.
“What the—” Laurel asked. Her blue eyes widened, sliding back and forth between her and Kirin before narrowing. “What’re you doing with her?”
She felt more than saw him glance down at her.
Her attention was on Laurel, who looked pissed and pale.
Although there was a possibility Laurel felt like she was in a nightmare; she knew the feeling.
Laurel was probably praying for someone to pinch her and wake her up.
It only got worse when Kirin brushed his free hand along Rose’s waist like he could feel her anxiety ratcheting up and he wanted to soothe her.
Laurel caught it too, the pale skin of surprise disappearing in favor of red dots on her cheeks.
“Kirin, do you know who that is?” Laurel hissed.
“Rose? Yeah, we have a class together.” Kirin pressed his lips against her temple. “And she’s a historical literature major.”
“From Westmont,” Laurel hissed, her accusing look swung back to Rose. “She’s also screwing that dickwad, Preston Goodwin.”
“I wasn’t aware you were keeping tabs on me, Laurel. I’m touched,” Rose murmured, shoving down the cold trickling down her spine at the mention of her ex. It must have been obvious, because Kirin’s hand tightened. “But your source is out of the loop; we haven’t been together for almost a year.”
“Not far enough out to know you’re not loyal to anyone.
Are you planning to screw my brother, hoping to fuck with me like you did with your old captain?
” Laurel accused, and Rose stiffened. The blonde across from her caught it, then grinned.
“Yeah, I heard you got with Goodwin while he was with your captain. Is that your thing?”
Funny how rumors spread. Her former captain was an old family friend of Preston’s that he never looked twice at beyond a quick lay here and there.
That anyone knew Preston and Margot were together at all meant they’d truly trashed her reputation after she left and Margot swept right in to take her spot beside the golden boy himself.
Their families were probably thrilled. The poor girl didn’t know what she was signing up for.
Being in Preston’s bed as a sidepiece was a world away from being his public partner.
“Whatever happens between Preston and Margot has nothing to do with me, but I certainly didn’t pursue him and definitely didn’t steal him from anyone,” Rose said as she leaned back into Kirin, trying to stave off the chill that was seeping into her blood.
Laurel’s eyes narrowed. “Stay the hell away from my brother; you’re poison.”