Chapter 10

10

‘ I never pulled an all-nighter at uni, but if I knew I’d feel this good I would’ve done it more often.’ Brock shot Jayda a cheeky grin before refocussing on the road.

He handled his sleek sports car as well as he did her: confident, smooth, masterful.

Heat crept into her cheeks at the memory of exactly how masterful he’d been with her all night.

‘Trust me, the all-nighters I pulled at uni to study were never like the one we just had.’

He chuckled. ‘Confession time. I did stay up some nights fantasising about you and me having the kind of night we just did.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah.’ He indicated, checked his blind spot, and pulled into the other lane. ‘I had the hots for you in uni. Big time. Permanent hard-on. Totally embarrassing.’

Jayda’s jaw dropped. ‘But you always looked at me like you couldn’t stand me. And you avoided me, unless we were forced to work together.’

‘Haven’t you had a guy pelt you with erasers in primary school because he secretly liked you?’

She shook her head. ‘I went to an all-girls private school from the age of four.’

Which explained why she’d never been any good at getting a read on men. The only guys she’d mixed with socially growing up had been sons of her parents’ rich friends, then she’d gone to uni at eighteen and been thrust into a social scene far removed from what she’d been used to.

The guys in her IT classes had been divided into two groups: the popular jocks that were so confident in their own skins they charmed everybody, and the reserved geeks like Brock who chose discerningly who they hung out with.

She’d been thrilled to be one of the girls the jocks fawned over—due to her wealth, she wasn’t a complete idiot—and had flexed her newly discovered flirting muscles. Guys like Brock had intimidated her with their high IQs and ability to see through any bullshit, which was why she’d avoided them.

To learn now that Brock had lusted after her… damn, she could’ve had four years of incredible sex if she’d known. Then again, if Brock’s adamant stance that they were over in two weeks was anything to go by, four years would’ve been out of the question.

‘Well, I wanted you back then.’ He reached over and squeezed her thigh. ‘And in case you were wondering, nothing’s changed.’

‘Sex maniac.’ She swatted his hand away and he laughed. ‘Seriously, why didn’t I have a clue?’

‘Because you were too busy being Miss Popularity.’

She crinkled her nose. ‘I wasted a lot of time trying to project an image back then, when I could’ve been having amazing sex with you.’

The faintest pink stained his cheeks. ‘If you’d actually made a move on me back then I probably would’ve hidden out in the library.’

The corners of his mouth quirked. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I was a real dork back then.’

‘A dork with a hard dick, apparently.’

Their laughter mingled, eliciting a warmth in her chest she’d never experienced. A comfortable, serene warmth that made her wish she could capture it for whenever she needed to feel good.

‘This is really nice.’ The words popped out of her mouth before she could stop them and rather than recoil in horror as she expected him to, he nodded.

‘Yeah, it is.’

He pulled over out the front of the hotel where she’d left her car last night and they eyeballed each other, as if silently daring the other to say out loud what was really going on here—they’d bonded beyond sex—but typically, they remained mute. Her, because she’d never been any good at articulating how she was feeling, him, because he’d made it more than clear all they were having was expiration-date sex.

‘Hey, want to do something completely outrageous?’ She tugged on her seat belt to ease the tension so she could swivel to face him.

‘If it involves whips and chains, that’s too outrageous for me.’

She laughed at his deadpan response. ‘If we had hooked up in uni and pulled all-nighters, we would’ve probably had breakfast together in the quadrangle at dawn.’

Understanding lit his eyes. ‘You want to do that now?’

‘Uh-huh.’ She held up her hand before he could say anything else. ‘It’s not because I’m some tragic romantic who laments the fact we weren’t closer at uni, I just think it could be fun.’

‘I don’t do fun as a rule.’ He tried a mock frown and failed. ‘But considering you kept me up all night and made me come four times, I’ll make an exception in this case.’

‘You made me come six times,’ she flung back, her wide grin telling him exactly how much she’d enjoyed each and every one of those times.

‘Care to make it seven?’

His gaze roved over her from head to foot like a physical caress and her nipples hardened in response. As he leaned over her, she placed a hand on his chest.

‘As much as I’d like to head back to your place and hit the jackpot with lucky seven, I really want to do this.’ She slid her hand up to rest it against his cheek. ‘It’ll be dawn soon and just this once I want to see what it would’ve been like if we’d hooked up back at uni.’

His exaggerated sigh made her smile. ‘You are a tragic romantic.’

‘Maybe a little?’ She brushed a kiss across his lips, soft, lingering. ‘So we’re doing this?’

He nodded, the glint in his eyes sending goosebumps rippling across her skin. ‘Yeah, we’re doing this, if I get to do you later.’