Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (10 page)

"How are we going to go barhopping? We're underage."

"I have connections. I can scare you up a fake ID," Tay said. "You might have to dye your hair purple, though."

"No thanks."

"No problem," Nic said. "They're having a special Up All Night for the moms. Want to take her there? There will be dancing."

I hesitated.

"What's bothering you?"
 

"I hope Mom goes for it."

"Why wouldn't she? Up All Night is tradition. You can't go to college here without going to at least one. You're only other option is taking her to a movie or one of the plays or hang out in your dark room with Bre. Or hang with Logan and his family."

I held my hands out, palms up, acting like I was weighing something in each one. "The lesser of two evils?"

Nic laughed. "See what I mean?"

"Email me the schedule. I'll need to send one to Jason so he knows where to stay away from."

"You got it."

My cell buzzed. "It's Dex." I grabbed it. "Hey."

"You have to help me." He sounded desperate. "Mom's called me three times already asking what we're doing for Mom's Weekend and telling me I'd better plan and sign up for things now before they're all booked up. She's already made plans to go to the plant sale."

I couldn't help myself. I laughed.

Tay frowned, curious, and mouthed,
What's so funny?

I mouthed "plant sale" back to her and pointed to the phone.

"It's not funny," Dex said. "She'd going to drag me to the wooden boat competition at the college of engineering and the natural history exhibit."

"Your mom sounds like a real party animal," I teased.

"Shut up, Ellie. You owe me. After all that crap, she'll probably want to do something stupid and girlie like drag me through the craft fair while we're wearing our matchy-matchy sweatshirts."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Hang on," I told him. I turned to the girls. "Do you mind if Dex and his mom hang with us for a while on Mom's Weekend?"

Nic shrugged as if it didn't matter to her.

I spoke to Dex. "You can hang out with Nic and me and our moms at the craft fair."

"Thanks, Ellie! You won't regret it. I promise. I owe you one." Then he laughed evilly.
 

I recognized his prankster laugh. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing. Just a little surprise for Mom."

"Dex—"

"Don't worry. Mom can take care of herself."

I didn't like the sound of it.

Dex changed the subject. "Will Logan and his mom be joining us?"

"With any luck, no."

Dex laughed again. "That's too bad." He seemed lost in thought. "Are Nic and Tay there? Are any of you crafty?"

"We're plenty crafty."

"I mean like in crafts crafty."

I shrugged. "We like Pinterest."

"Good enough. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get some invisible-ink fabric paint?"

Chapter Eight

Logan

Logan sat at the kitchen table with a pile of engineering books in front of him, untouched. He should have been studying. Instead, he'd been poring over the day's mail. Two substantial, exciting job offers had arrived. He'd been expecting them—hoping for them, anyway. He should have been thrilled. He was. He would have been ecstatic, except he knew they'd make El sad.

One was an offer from a high-tech firm in Silicon Valley. Another from a company in South Carolina. He'd been so damn eager to get out of this university and away from his dad, and even the torture of being so near El and not being with her, that he hadn't applied at any of the premier high-tech companies in Seattle or Portland. Now he was regretting that decision big time.
 

It was way late in the game to line up a job in Seattle immediately after graduation. The best companies had started interviewing in January or earlier. It wouldn't be impossible to get a job with one eventually, not for someone with his credentials. But it would mean moving back home for as many months as it took and taking crap from his dad for everything, including turning down two good offers for no good reason. Big-time shit. Unacceptable.

Now that he and El were back together, he was rethinking his post-graduation plans. He wanted to be near her. But could he turn down these opportunities? Was it even smart to let a girl influence his plans? El was different.
But.

Whatever he decided, El wouldn't be thrilled to see these offers. He'd have to tell her about them. But he didn't look forward to it.
 

Almost as if he'd conjured her up by thinking about her, El called just as an email from her came in. Logan couldn't help smiling as he answered the call and slid the offers beneath a pile of junk mail on the counter. "Hey, I was hoping you'd call."

"A real man of action! If you wanted to talk to me, you could have called. What's the matter? Are your fingers broken?" Her voice was filled with tease.

"Cramped from writing out equations and solutions."

"Poor baby." She laughed. "That's a lame excuse, by the way."

"I'll do better next time."

"You better. I've been dying to hear how your first day back on the job with my dad went."

"That's the only reason you called?"

"One of the reasons. Are you going to keep me in suspense?"

"Maybe. Maybe I'll make you drag it out of me." He put a hint of innuendo in his voice.

"Drag it out of you? That sounds promising." She laughed. "I have my ways."

"My first day back was just fine. Normal. I joked around with Jason. Karen seemed happy to see me, too. I went out on a few calls. There's not much more to tell. What's this you just sent me? Planned our weekend already? That's so girly."

"You may not have noticed, but I
am
a girl."

"Oh, I noticed." He took a deep breath, trying to hold his interest at bay. "I'm thinking about that now."

"Don't tease."

"I'm a horny guy. I never tease. Come over?"

"It's late."

"Spend the night."

"There's an enticing idea. I was hoping you'd ask. Bre is still in major depressed mode. Going into our room is like approaching Mordor. The sense of gloom is palpable."

"Sucks for her."

"Yeah, and me. She may be like this a while."

Logan made a snap decision. "Pack a bag and come stay with me until it blows over."

El paused. "Ah, that could be
quite
a while. In the state she's in it could take days just to get back up to depressed. Are you sure?"

It hit him that he'd practically asked her to move in. "Pack enough for a few days and we'll play it by ear. I promise I'll be a lot more fun to be around than Bre."

She laughed. "That shouldn't be hard. I'll hold you to it. Zave and Collin won't mind?"

"You are way too polite and considerate. They won't care. Do I have to beg you?"

"Yes, beg, boy, beg. I'd love to hear that." She sounded relieved and happy.
 

"You really want me to beg?"

"No, just come pick me up."

"I'll be there in ten."

He texted El as he pulled up in front of her dorm. She was waiting for him and came bounding out with a playful bounce in her step and a suitcase trailing behind her. He got out and kissed her, finally breaking away to help her hoist her luggage into his trunk.

"I scheduled my grad school interview today," he said, trying to sound casual, like it was no big deal.

Her smile made the agony of pretending to believe he could return to the university after the trial and go to grad school almost worth it. When she grabbed his head between her hands and pressed her lips to his again, caressing his mouth, he thought about skipping dinner and taking her straight back to his place.
 

She broke the kiss all too soon. "Do you have anything to eat at your place? I'm starving. I have RDA dollars. I can treat."

"Dining hall food? You're kidding." He was ribbing her. Some of it wasn't so bad. But after a few weeks in the dorms, the limited choices got old real fast. "I'm taking you out."

"Great. We can celebrate."

"What are we celebrating?"

"Your interview appointment and Jason taking my news that Mom is coming for Mom's Weekend so well and agreeing to stay out of sight."

Logan was happily surprised. "Yeah, I was relieved he wasn't in a bad mood on my first day back. I knew Jason would be reasonable about it." Logan generally avoided talking about Melissa much, afraid he'd give something away that he shouldn't. "So he's cool with staying away?"

El shrugged. "I don't know if he's cool. Resigned, maybe. He wants Mom and me to learn to get along, so he had no choice. It's a lost cause. I hope he'll realize that eventually."

Logan was surprisingly on Jason's side on this one. If El knew all the shit Melissa had been through, she might at least understand why Melissa was the way she was. Not that he ever expected them to be best buds or anything. Melissa had done too much bad crap to El for that.
 

Logan took El to Burger Country, the locally owned fave of students and alums alike. It had been in town forever, since Logan's parents' student days and before. He had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. El had a kid's meal and the world's tiniest dipped ice cream cone, the baby size that came with the meal. Caramel.

"Are you ever going to grow up and eat adult-size portions?"

The sparkle in her eyes turned him on. "Take me back to your place and I'll show you how grown up I can be."

"Let's go."

He had a hard-on the entire drive home. He grunted the barest greetings to Collin and Zave as he pulled El past them to his room. He was aching with need by the time he got her into his room and shut the door.

She pulled her T-shirt off over her head, kicked off her shoes, and slid her jeans off as he matched her move for move. He was turned on and breathing hard just staring at her in that lace bra and matching thong panty.

As she reached behind her back to undo the bra, he couldn't stand still. He took over for her, kissing her neck and unhooking it. He wanted her. He needed her.

He grabbed her butt. She wrapped her legs around him. He carried her to the bed as she ran her hands through his hair and nibbled on his neck. He had her on the bed, legs sprawled, hair spilling over the pillow almost before he could think. He was so hot and ready as he pressed between her legs, he just wanted to enter her. He forced himself to slow down and stay in control. Control was everything to Logan.

She moaned as he stroked her breast and kissed her. He would take his time and slowly arouse her if it killed him.
 

"Don't mess around, Logan. Get a condom and let's do this." She stroked his dick with one hand and reached for a condom in the nightstand with the other.

He beat her to it, unwrapped it, and rolled it on, because he didn't know if he had enough control to hold back if she did it. She arched against him. He plunged in and lost all rational thought. When he was with El, there was nothing but her and wave after wave of pleasure. The rest of the world disappeared. He needed the escape as much as he needed her. But the total loss of control scared him, threatening to push him to the dark side.

He thrust again and again as she moaned and squeezed him.
 

"El, you are so damned tight. Shit."

"Let go, Logan. I'm right there with you." She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss as she rocked with his motion and stroked the inside of his mouth with her tongue, mimicking the thrusting of his dick in her.

He was trying to hold back and wait for her. But he lost the battle and fell over the edge into waves of pleasure and a climax so strong it must have registered on the Richter scale. He gasped, breathless as he pulled El so tightly against him it was like she was part of him.