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“Nice,” I murmur, following him up the stairs.
When he opens his door, I’m expecting some kind of a mess, like most guys’ rooms. But his room is clean, exactly like he’d said.
Like, incredibly clean. It even smells fresh.
Beckett’s room always smells like a dirty sock, and Jas once told me that Dante’s room is filled with towers of old pizza boxes and half-empty beer cans.
“Wow, do you have maid service or something?” I ask him, peering around.
“No, I just hate a messy room.”
Aside from a bunch of hockey posters and a little basketball net mounted to the wall, there isn’t much in the way of decor.
Eli points to a mini fridge. “Are you hungry? I have some leftover pizza from last night in there.”
“No thanks; I’m good.”
“Do you want something to sleep in? Jeans might be a little uncomfortable.”
The room is pretty warm, and though I’m still chilled from being outside, in a few minutes I’m going to be sweating buckets in this hoodie.
“Yeah, that would be great. Do you have a t-shirt and a pair of shorts I could borrow?”
“Sure.” He digs around in his dresser and hands me a black shirt and gray shorts. “They’ll probably be huge on you.”
He grabs another t-shirt and pair of shorts from the drawer. “I’m going to the bathroom to change. Back in a few.”
While he’s gone, I get undressed and pull on the shirt and shorts, then yank the drawstring of the shorts as tight as possible. He’s right; I’m swimming in these, but at least I’ll be comfortable.
I plop down on his bed, which is adorned with a blue comforter and matching pillowcases. I can’t stop myself from thinking back to the moment when he’d tipped my chin up and told me that I was his friend.
I’d gone all warm and gooey inside, because even though he’d said we were friends... that look on his face? Well, I can’t shake the feeling that his look said something else altogether.
Gah. I really have to stop. Crush or no crush, it shouldn’t matter anyway. He doesn’t do the girlfriend thing, and we’re not ever going to be anything more than friends.
Mandi might not be able to get that through her thick skull, but I know the score.
When Eli comes back into the room, I can’t help but notice how fitted his t-shirt is and how big his thighs are. They’re huge.
Hockey keeps him in seriously good shape, that’s for damned sure.
I force my gaze away from his hot bod and count to ten in my head. Lusting after him like this is not going to help curb my crush.
“Are you ready for bed?” he asks, interrupting my thoughts. “I don’t want to kill the lights if you’re not tired.”
“No, actually I’m pretty wiped,” I admit.
“Same. Between the hockey game earlier today and the party tonight, I’m beat.” He throws a few blankets down on the carpeted floor along with a pillow, then turns off the overhead light, plunging us into darkness.
I crawl under the comforter, realizing that the bedsheets smell exactly like him—fresh soap with that subtle hint of mint.
It’s like being snuggled up right against him.
I take a deep breath and count to ten again. This is going to be harder than I thought, especially since I’m in his bed, smelling his delicious scent, and he’s a mere ten feet away from me.
“You okay?” he asks, his voice somehow sounding deeper in the dark.
“What?” I eek out. “Er... yeah. I’m fine.”
