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“Good morning.” He gazes down at me and flashes a shy smile.
Staring at his swollen bottom lip, I blurt out, “Do you have a sister?”
“No.” He laughs. “I’m an only child.”
With a resolute nod, I banish Nicole’s voice from my head before she has a chance to stick my foot in my mouth again.
“Did you ever wish you had one?”
“Never.” He slips his hand into mine, weaving our fingers together. “Wouldn’t want anyone stealing my toys or raiding my closet.”
Choking back a giggle, I glance down at Nicole’s stolen skirt.
“So . . .” Jordan leads me down the cobblestone path toward campus. “Where’s your other half this morning?”
“Nicole? No clue. She didn’t come home last night.”
“Dodged a bullet,” he mutters under his breath as we pass the student center. “Hate to break it to you, but I think we’ll miss breakfast.”
“That’s my fault. I couldn’t decide what to wear, and then I had to . . .” I stop rambling before I rat myself out as a closet raider.
“You’re perfect.” He tugs me against his side and kisses the top of my head. “Totally worth the wait.”
“I promise not to make you wait so long next time.” The words pass my lips, and my stomach flutters as the double meaning hits me.
Jordan eyes me and catches one of his piercings in his teeth.
“What is it?”
He opens his mouth but abandons whatever he was about to say with a shake of his head. “I’m glad today’s the last day.”
“Me, too.” More than he could possibly know. The sooner this whole ordeal is behind me, the better.
At the edge of the academic quad, he stops walking and takes my hand, threading our fingers together. “It is the last day, right?”
Our eyes meet, and the intensity of his gaze melts my insides into a puddle.
“No more lists—or group dates? No more results posted in the student center or the dining halls. No social media polls? No more competing for your attention?” He ticks off each point, each one as crazy as the last.
The damn list should’ve never gone public to begin with, so I won’t miss the competition once I put an official end to it. “No more any of it.”
“Good.” He blows out a breath, and the tension in his muscles goes with it. “I don’t want to share you with half the campus anymore.”
“I promised you I’d tell Nicole, and as soon as I see her, I will. So no more talk of losing my virginity.”
“Let’s not go that far.” Jordan’s lips curve into a crooked grin, breaking the tension. “I’m hoping maybe one day . . .”
My stomach does a perfect swan dive, plunging all the way to my toes. Warm tingles prickle over my skin as I gaze up at him from under dark lashes. “Maybe even one day soon.”
He brushes his lips across my ear. “Come on, princess. You keep talking like that and we’ll be more than a little late.”
“What are you doing?” An angry Nicole accosts us in the shadow of the great arch, her windblown violet hair tangled around her face like an out-of-control wad of cotton candy.
“Walking to breakfast?” I mirror her tone, unsure of what crime she’s accusing me of.
“I waited for you in the dining hall. You didn’t show. I thought something bad happened.” She arches a brow and crosses her arms. “I wasn’t expecting you to bring a date.”
Jordan goes rigid beside me, and I skewer Nicole with a glare. “Be nice.”
