Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
The flirting I like, but the actual reality of him slipping inside me, I know I’d love more. Even if it’s probably incredibly stupid to sleep with a guy who’s not sticking around. I don’t care.
I don’t care.
I crunch on the tiny bit of hard candy left in my mouth, breaking the spindling tension in the air.
Thankfully he speaks again. “I think you meant cold blue heart.”
I shake my head once. “Yours might be blue, but it’s not cold. It never has been.” I don’t look at him. I just slip the hardback on the shelf, still in search of Ovid. Not here. I start picking myself up.
“They want me to sleep with a girl from the Honors House.”
I literally stumble on the ascent to my feet. Ben juts out a hand, clasping my hip to balance me. My eyes are saucers. At first, I’m trapped on the horrifying image of Ben sleeping with another girl.
Them together.
Hot and heavy in bed. His hands skating down her bare skin.
And she’s in the Honors House where I want to be? Jealousy towers over me and makes me want to shrink. Until I realize, he’s not accepting the bet.
That pains me in a different, more agonized way. He’s adamant that he can’t stay with his brothers for much longer, and if he has no place to live soon, then…is he going to expedite his trip to the wilderness? Will he pack his bags next week? Three days from now? Tomorrow?
I wish I could offer my apartment, but after I asked Eden, she’s now reminded me multiple times not to let my friends spend the night. She’s paranoid I’m going to have “friendly” sleepovers when I’ve never even pushed that boundary once. I just asked one time. She said no, which I respected but hated.
Sadly, the frat really is the best solution to Ben’s crisis.
He places the protein shake on one of the library shelves, and he explains more about the bet. When he’s done, I consider the possibility of me achieving my goal of being accepted in the Honors House. “I could—”
“No,” Ben forces out.
“Ben, just listen to me for a second, please.” It hurts craning my neck to look up at him, but I still fucking do it because I want my eyes on his and he needs to hear this. “If I get into the Honors House, do you know how easy it’d be to just tell Leif we had sex and give him panties? They don’t even have to be mine, okay. We can buy a new pair, pour some bleach on them, make them look used.”
“What if you don’t get in?”
I go cold. “Then I guess you convince another girl to do that for you. Or you actually sleep with her.” What is wrong with me?! Why am I suggesting this?
He swallows hard, his nose flaring, and he stares around the dark, quiet alcove that feels like ours. I inhale the old dusty book scent, ignoring the boulder in my lungs, and he says, “I’m not fucking another girl.” His blue eyes narrow down on me. “You’re the only one I’ve even thought about sleeping with for months. You’re all I can think about every morning and every night, and if I even tried to have sex with someone else, I’m fairly certain I’d only be thinking about you, Harriet.”
For months. Every morning. Every night.
He’s been thinking about me.
Me.
It balls up in my esophagus. I’m too overwhelmed to speak.
He’s breathing harder like we’re already under the sheets together, like he’s already wrapping me up in his strong, unwavering arms. Ben licks his lips, then says deeply, “I believe in you. I know you’ll get into the Honors House because they’d be so fucking dumb not to accept you. And they’re supposed to be the smartest people on campus, right?”
I shrug. “In theory, I guess.”
“But I can’t let you go to the Kappa president and tell him we slept together.”
“Even if I lie?”
“You’re not lying for me.” Ben is very adamant, his hand leveled like this is a hard no. A thousand-foot wall he will not hurdle or let me even touch. “The risk of getting caught in a lie is one I’m not going to take. The consequences of that could be fucking catastrophic for you. Kappa could retaliate. I don’t trust what they’d do. So if I take the bet, I need to honestly complete it.”
I understand, and I’m totally fine with that too. “Okay, then I get in the Honors House and we bang.”
Ben is vigorously shaking his head.
“What’s the problem?” I question with a pained frown. “Am I such an embarrassing lay that you’d want to keep it secret?”
“What?” Shock catapults his brows and drops his jaw. “No. I’m not ashamed to be with you—are you kidding?”