Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Then it hit.
It was him. The random man I’d kissed like my life depended on it. The one I’d straddled, writhing in his lap as if we were alone. The one whose hands had roamed over nearly every inch of me.
Oh.
My.
God.
My new residential advisor was the guy from the party.
2
MIA
What should I do?
Where could I hide?
And why the hell didn’t sofas have an escape hatch?
I drew my knees up to my chest and clutched them tightly, which hid some of the parts of my body that he’d touched, but not my face. For that, I dipped my head down, wishing I’d kept my hair down so that it could cover my eyes. Not that that was a good look.
Aaron side-eyed me. “You okay?” he whispered.
I nodded, still trying to make myself small enough to disappear.
Did Diego recognize me? Maybe I’d know if I were actually paying attention to what he was saying. With effort, I tuned back in. “We owe a lot to Richard,” he said, smiling warmly.
Who the hell was Richard?
Diego stood tall and straight, his dark eyes warm. Eyes that didn’t seem to be focused on me, but that didn’t mean anything. What if he stopped in the middle of his spiel, pointed, and said, “It’s the drunk girl from the party!”?
At the very least, he could call me the pretty drunk girl. That might be a small consolation, as I died of mortification.
“Richard Baylor hosted many foster children of his own, so, as some of you with more advanced classes may have guessed, that’s why we call this the Baylor House. Richard wanted former foster children to have a place with others who understood them. That’s why he’s provided room and board, free of charge, to each of us.”
There were polite chuckles from my fellow students, which showed that they liked Diego, given that they’d likely heard this speech before.
“We all have a duty to honor Richard’s gift by respecting this house and each other,” Diego continued. “That means following university rules. No underage drinking. No wild parties.”
Shit. Had he looked at me when he said that? I peered back at him from under my lashes. He was objectively gorgeous—far better looking than the flashes of images I had from that night. His dark hair was slicked back with some height to it. The fuzzy memories of me raking my fingers through it made my thighs clench.
“I’m not going to lie to you. Right now, most of us are just acquaintances. I’m sure you’ve all met foster parents who expected you to act like family from day one. But in time, I hope you’ll develop lifelong friendships. I know I have.” He glanced at Aaron. “The bottom line is—”
“We don’t have to be friends,” said a guy off to the left. He was the one sitting in an armchair. “We just have to respect each other’s space and privacy.”
“Thank you, Raymond. I was just getting to that.” Diego was patient and unruffled. “We talk about consent a lot these days, which is a good thing. But it applies to more than just sex.”
I flinched and just about jumped off the couch when he said that. Aaron gave me another look.
“It also applies to our personal space, as Raymond said. Don’t enter someone else’s room without permission. Treat them with respect and they’ll treat you with respect.”
Aaron snorted softly. “Not sure that’s always the way it works,” he said under his breath. I gave him a small smile when he glanced over.
“But consent does apply to sex, too.”
The shock didn’t lessen the second time Diego said that three-letter word. He couldn’t be messing with me, could he? He sounded earnest. At least, I thought he did. The flames on my face were short-circuiting my brain.
“We’re all adults,” he continued. “What you choose to do with a consenting partner is your business—just make sure you don’t make it ours. No lovers’ quarrel at three a.m. No banging on doors looking for a condom. And no doing it down here on a sofa.”
I jolted again, clapping my hand over my mouth to make sure I didn’t yelp in surprise. We’d been on a sofa, him sitting down, me with my knees on either side of his thighs. Both of us with our hands and mouths very busy.
Aaron was giving me a questioning look again, but I stared at the coffee table, carefully not looking at anyone. Aaron was a very nice guy, but after this evening, he’d think I was insane. And as for Diego—well, I hoped he never thought of me at all. Especially not in conjunction with a sofa.
“Where was I?” Diego asked, pausing. He ran a finger along a jawline that looked as if it had been carved by the gods. I’d kissed that jawline. I’d felt his stubble tickle my skin.