Schooled

Chapter 21

I walked downstairs that Saturday morning in a threadbare blue tank top and sleep shorts with unicorns on them. I'd gotten them when I was thirteen and they fit a bit tighter now, but I loved them and wasn't ready to let go. My hair was pulled back in a loose bun. Girls' voices and the smell of coffee greeted me as I made my way toward the kitchen.

Ava, Jen, and Emily were sitting around the table talking. They were dressed casually, but their makeup was done. Given the relatively early hour, there was some plan in place I didn't know about.

"Hey, Lex!" Jen called when she heard my feet on the steps. "We're going to the mall, then the beach. You should join." It had been unseasonably warm this fall. Which was why I could wake up sweating even though I was wearing almost nothing. The only reason.

Rounding the corner to the kitchen, I pulled up short. Standing before me in glorious 3D was my very own guilty pleasure, complete with bottomless brown eyes and just-fucked-looking hair. The best part? He was holding the coffee pot.

"Want some?" An innocent grin accompanied the rest of the package.

It wasn't enough for him to be in my head 24/7, now he had to be in my kitchen? Freaking great. Yeah, I wanted some. Wanted to knee Dylan Cameron in the nuts. Then pull him down on top of me.

I was grumpier than usual. That happened when a girl didn't get her sleep. When she lay in bed at night thinking about lips and tongues and ...

"Shouldn't you be at the Delta Zeta house or something? You know it's Saturday morning, right?" I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and set it down in front of him so he could pour.

"Funny. You know I come here for the scintillating conversation." Dylan's voice was smooth and pleasant.

"Mmmm. Big word for 9:00 a.m.," I muttered into my coffee cup as I took the only empty seat at the table.

"It means brilliant and clever. See, hanging with you is teaching me all kinds of new things."

I nearly choked on the coffee. Glared at him out of the corner of my eye. If it were possible, his grin got bigger.

"So are you in or what?" Ava interrupted our exchange, blissfully ignorant to the subtext.

I loved the beach, but had committed to finishing a first draft of our business plan. Kirsten was going to review it and give feedback at the end of November, and one of my business professors had volunteered to look it over once first.

"I'll pass. Maybe catch up with you later." Turning to Dylan, "Is shopping part of your lifelong learning experiment?"

"Nah, I just came to drop off the car so they could." His dimple flashed.

"What a good brother." I emphasized the last two words, wondering if he'd get the hint. He clearly did and ignored it.

"I am, aren't I?" He was leaning up against the counter, looking maddeningly at home. In my kitchen. "Thought I'd stay and study for a bit, figured it'd be quieter here than at my house."

"Knock yourself out," I said. Fate was clearly trying to throw him in my face. Punishment for letting him do wicked things to me.

"We should go!" Ava jumped up and gave Dylan a quick hug. "Thanks for the car. Stay as long as you like. But fair warning, Lex is pretty OCD when she's working, and she's been extra cranky lately." I opened my mouth to protest, and from the corner of my eye—since I refused to look at him—saw Dylan's lips twitch. "If you aren't quiet she might take your head off. Consider yourself warned!"