Friend Zoned (Barnett Bulldogs #2) (25 page)

“As long as we don’t get caught, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

His words have me instantly skidding to a halt before whispering furiously into the blackness, “You’re joking, right?”

He better damn well be joking.

His lips lift into an adorable smile that, under normal circumstances, would be melting my heart and flooding my panties with heat.  Although presently, it’s not doing a damn thing for me.  My nerves are way too jacked up for melting or flooding of any kind.

Which is a shame.

“It’ll be fine, I promise,” he chuckles, “now come on.”

With that he nabs my hand, towing me further down the darkened corridor.  My heart continues jackhammering painfully under my breast.  I’ve never sneaked into anything before.  I am a self-proclaimed rule follower.  I’ve never been much into breaking them.  Hence my decision to study law.

Which brings up an excellent point that should be brought to Sam’s attention…

“If we get caught, we’ll have a record for breaking and entering which could mean no law school.  You do realize that, right?”  At this point, I would be all too happy to get the hell out of here before we trip some kind of silent alarm system.

For all we know, the cops are already on their way to arrest us.

His hand tightens around mine before he shakes his head as if I’m a gigantic baby for even considering the ramifications of our little midnight jaunt through the athletic center.  “You need to settle.  Nothing’s going to happen.  And we didn’t break in, we used a key.”

“Yes, but I’m guessing that key isn’t actually supposed to be in your possession.”

It’s really more than a guess.

“Stop asking questions.  The less you know the better.  It’s called
plausible deniability
.  Remember that.”

“Great,” I mutter under my breath, “what are we even doing here?”

“You’ll see, now shush and follow me.”

For just a moment, I give serious consideration to his words.  Because this is Sam, and he would never do anything to get either one of us in trouble, I push my qualms aside. If there’s one single person that I trust implicitly, it’s him.  I don’t think anything will ever change that because I know Sam’s first impulse is to always protect me.

A moment later, he pulls open a door and the sharp scent of chlorine almost overwhelms me.  Not understanding what we’re doing, my brows furrow.  “Are we-”

Before I can even get the words out, he’s pulling me to him before snaking his arms around my body and smacking a quick kiss against my lips.  “No more questions.”

He holds me against his hard body for a moment or two before finally releasing me. Then he’s towing me through the men’s locker room until we’re pushing out another set of doors that lead to the Olympic sized swimming pool on campus.  Even though the lights are turned off, one whole wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows that allow bright moonlight to filter through so that it shimmers off the water.

The surface is utterly calm and glassy.

Completely beautiful and serene.

Without another word, Sam tugs the shirt over his head, revealing perfect washboard abs in the process before throwing it onto the wooden bench by the locker rooms.  My eyes widen as a small smile tugs at the corners of my lips.  There must be a silent question written within my eyes because he nods his head before sliding off his shoes.  His fingers hover over the button of his cargo pants before sliding it free from its hole. Then he’s climbing out of them.

Even though it’s dark, I can’t help the way my eyes take a long slow tour of his ripped body.  All those cut chiseled lines.  The dark blond hair that arrows sharply down his lower abdomen before disappearing inside his boxers.  The play of all that sinewy muscle as it ripples and stretches its way across his wide chest has all the saliva instantly drying in my mouth.

He’s just so… beautiful.

Is it completely wrong that I want to nip at all that rock solid strength before licking and lapping my way over every single inch of him?

Cue the panty flooding.

His socks get thrown into the growing pile of hastily stripped off clothing as I just continue standing there, enjoying the impromptu show I’m now being treated to.

“Come on, Winterfield, you gonna join me in there or just watch from the sidelines?”

Indecision flickers through me.

Am I seriously going to do this?

Am I going to strip down and jump into the campus pool after hours?

Before sound judgment can swoop in and interfere, I find myself whipping the long sleeved shirt over my head, tossing it on top of his discarded pile of clothing.  Then I wiggle out of my shoes before pulling off my socks.

The entire time I’m shedding my clothes, Sam just stands there in his thigh hugging black boxer briefs watching me.  There’s a suggestive little smile curving his lips upward.  The way his eyes follow every little movement I make is incredibly sexy.  No one has ever made me feel so wanted before.  No one has ever breathed life into the need now surging restlessly through my body.

When I’m finally down to just my bra and panties, Sam stretches a large hand out for me to take hold of.  “Come here, beautiful.”  His deep voice turns gruff.  It strums something within the pit of my belly.  I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of that feeling.

His fingers ensnare mine as we step closer to the the sparkling pool.  With our toes curling around the tiled ledge, we stand there for a moment just gazing down at the clear calm water.

“Ready?”

Sucking in a breath, I nod my head.

“One… two…
three
!”

On
three
we jump straight into the pool.  Our hands are still clenched together as we arrow through the water, touching the bottom, before pushing off and rocketing straight up to the surface.  As we bob to the top, a massive grin overtakes my face.  A bubble of giddiness explodes within me as our eyes catch and hold.

My voice is filled with barely leashed excitement now that I’m actually in the water.   “I can’t believe we’re doing this!”

Without saying a word, he leans over, capturing my lips with his own.  They’re cool and wet as they gently sweep over mine, making me forget about everything except him.

For the next thirty minutes we splash around as silvery moonlight washes over us.  Even though our laughing voices are hushed, they echo off the cavernous walls.  There’s something almost magical about being here alone at night.

Closing my eyes, I simply lay back, allowing my body to become weightless in the cool liquid.  My arms are stretched out as the water gently rocks against me. It’s ridiculously relaxing. I can almost feel all the concerns I’ve been so wrapped up in for the last couple of months falling away, slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool where they’ll hopefully stay.

I’ve spent the last three and a half years here at Barnett, steadily working towards graduation, towards my diploma, so that I could move on to the next phase of my life.  But now that it’s actually here, finally within striking distance, I’m dreading it.

Unlike Mia, I have no idea where I’ll be next year.  I don’t have a job lined up.  I’m not starting a career.  I’m applying to more schools so that I can do what I’ve always imagined myself doing, which is practicing law.  But the reality of the situation is that I don’t know if I’ll be accepted at any of the schools I’ve submitted applications to.

What am I going to do if I’m rejected?

At all three schools?

Given a thanks-but-we’re-good letter.

The mere thought of opening just such a letter is enough to freeze my blood.

And because I won’t know until the spring, everything is in limbo.  My LSAT score of one sixty is good, but not great.  Coupled with my three point five GPA, there’s always the possibility I could be rejected.  I don’t have a backup plan in place if the worst case scenario actually happens.  Plus, it’s a little late to jump tracks and change majors at this point.  So, for the time being, I’m stuck.

But still… the question of what I’ll actually be able to do with a pre-law studies degree if I don’t end up going to law school is one I can’t stop thinking about.  It’s the million dollar question right now.  Or maybe I should say- the one hundred and sixty thousand dollar question since that’s what my education here at Barnett has costed.

My guess is that it won’t be much.  I’ll be stuck working some minimum wage job while trying figuring out what plan B is.  Which seems, after four years of hard work and student loans, depressing as hell.

Sam’s lucky.  With his LSAT score and GPA, he doesn’t have anything to worry about.  He’s a shoe in for all three schools that he applied at.  Quite honestly, any of them would be lucky to have him.  He’s just so damn smart.  I know he’s going to make one hell of a lawyer someday.

Thinking about law school and Sam has me once again dwelling on the notion that at the end of this academic year, we’ll both be heading separate ways.

What then?

What happens to us?

I’m startled out of my thoughts when strong fingers wrap their way around my ankle, towing me gently through the crystal clear water until Sam’s handsome face is peering down into mine.  He gives me a slightly crooked smile, one that I’ve seen a million times over the last eight years.

I’ve always found it endearing.

Now I find it something more.

A shiver of excitement bolts through me as I continue holding his warm gaze.

“Watcha thinking about?”

I return his easy smile with one of my own.  He’s always been so good at picking up on my moods.  And then allowing me to talk out my issues without necessarily trying to fix them.  “Law school,” I admit reluctantly.  Then more softly, “What’s going to happen next year.”

He slants a brow.  “So nothing too heavy, huh?”

His lighthearted words have my lips lifting.  “Nope, nothing too heavy,” I agree.

For just a moment, we’re both silent before he finally says, “You know everything will work out, right?  You’re not going to have any problems getting into the schools you applied at.”

I shrug because you never know what the applicant pool will look like for a certain year and how you’ll stack up against the competition.  My score and grades are good, but they’re not outstanding.  I did the best I could. I don’t think I could have worked any harder.  But will it be enough?

I have no idea.

And that’s scary.

It’s scary not knowing what the next step will be.  Or if I’ll even be taking that next step.  Maybe I’ll be one of those people who get left behind.  Who aren’t good enough.  It makes me physically sick to think about everyone else moving forward with their lives while I’m stuck scrambling, trying to figure out my next move.

Closing my eyes, I whisper, “I want to know where I’ll be next year, what I’ll be doing.  It’ll be a huge relief to have everything finalized.”

One way or the other…

Leaning down, he presses his lips gently against mine.  Just when I’m about to open my mouth, to deepen the caress, he pulls back.  Not far, just enough so that I can feel his warm breath feathering lightly across my lips.  Just enough to leave me yearning for more.  Eyelids fluttering open, I find his blue depths already piercing mine.

“Everything will be fine, Vi.  You just need to relax and stop worrying so much about the future.”

I almost snort.  Sam has absolutely no idea what it’s like to work your ass off academically.  And the grades I’m pulling, they’re not exactly stellar either.  I work hard just to earn B pluses and A minuses.

“It’s so easy for you,” I finally admit, “you’ve never struggled with school the way I have.”  Ever since I’ve known Sam, he’s just breezed right through everything.  Academics have never been a challenge.  Even when he loaded up on all AP classes junior and senior year, I don’t think he expended any more energy than he did before.  Whereas I took two AP courses each year and had to hunker down, carefully plowing my way through the material.  And still I was overloaded and overwhelmed much of the time.

Ever so slowly, he brushes his lips across mine until my breath is catching at the back of my throat.  “I know,” he acknowledges, “but look how well you’ve done.  I don’t think you’ll have any problems getting into Barnett.  And you should be fine for Loyola and Purdue.  You just need to relax, baby.”

Baby.

My heart gives a little spasm of pleasure at the endearment.

I absolutely love how the word rolls so easily off his lips, as if calling me that is just so natural.

“I hope you’re right,” I finally whisper.

“Let’s just wait and see what happens in the next couple of months.”  His eyes stay locked on mine.  “You’re not alone in this, Vi.  Whatever happens, I’m here and we’ll figure it out together.”

His softly spoken words have my heart expanding until it very nearly bursts with all the love I have inside for this man.

Because he’s right…

I’m not alone in this anymore and for whatever reason, hearing him say those words makes me feel infinitely better.  No matter what happens, Sam will be at my side.  And together we’ll get it figured out.