Convenient Fall (Players of Marycliff University Book 2) (14 page)

She slid out from under Chris's arm and made her way to the bathroom. She decided to brush her teeth to get rid of the sticky, post-drinking aftertaste. The other thing about not having a hangover meant that the entire night before was crystal clear in her mind.
 

Including the fact that she'd almost told Chris that she loved him.
 

Spitting in the sink and rinsing her mouth again, Megan chastised herself for her stupidity. Some mind-blowing sex and she was about to declare love to the guy. Okay, it wasn't just about the sex, though that was pretty great. It was the way he would sit and study with her, even though she knew he hated it. The way he'd pull her in for a kiss when he saw her no matter where they were or who was around. Once she'd even bumped into him with a bunch of his teammates after her PE class, and he'd stopped mid-conversation to come over just to say hi and kiss her before she went to her next class. He was more considerate than she'd ever expected, both in and out of the bedroom. How was it that this sweet guy was the same one that just had random hook-ups at parties before now?
 

The combination of alcohol and back to back orgasms had loosened her tongue, and she'd almost spilled her feelings. She'd managed to cover it quickly enough that he hadn't seemed to notice, thank God. She didn't want to scare him off already. But if she wanted to survive this relationship without being destroyed, she needed to rein in her feelings. Though she suspected it might be way too late for that already.

She looked at herself in the mirror. “Fuck.”

“Everything alright?” Chris pushed the door open and popped his head in.

She forced a smile on her lips. “Yeah, fine. Why?”

“You don't usually say fuck for no reason.” He'd opened the door all the way and propped himself against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

Megan shrugged. “I just remembered that I have a big assignment due tomorrow that I've barely started.” That wasn't entirely true. She'd been working on her project for her art class for a while, but that was a believable reason to be cursing at herself in the mirror first thing on a Sunday morning.

Chris's eyebrows went up. “You? Forgot an assignment? I better write this down. I don't think that's ever happened before.”
 

“Haha.” She smacked him on the arm and pushed him out of the doorway so she could get through. “It's not that I forgot, I just lost track of the date. I was going through my weekly schedule in my head and realized that my figure studies are due tomorrow. I've got some of it done, but I need to finish it today.”

Chris pulled her into his arms, and she couldn't help relaxing against him. The skin of his chest was warm against her cheek, and he dropped his head to nuzzle her hair. “Since you're behind on an assignment, which seems crazy to me, do you need to get working on it right away, or can you spend a little time with me first?”

She lifted her face, accepting the kiss he pressed to her lips. “I think I have some time. I'm not that behind. It was just something that I'd forgotten I need to do today.”

“Good.” He touched his lips to hers again and again, sprinkling light, teasing kisses on her mouth, then down her jaw to her ear, where he nipped at the lobe before he sucked it into his mouth. She gasped and her core clenched from the attention. Who would've thought earlobes were an erogenous zone? No one had ever done that to her before him, and damn, it was hot.

Chris lifted his head and stepped back, leading her back to the bed where he sat down, his cock hardening again after having come down from its typical morning wood. He grabbed a condom and rolled it on before he pulled her against him so that she straddled his lap. He continued pressing light kisses over her collarbones and down the valley between her breasts. He cupped her breasts with both hands and held them so he could lavish them with attention from his mouth, alternately sucking, flicking, and biting the sensitive tips until she felt like she couldn't take anymore.
 

Megan clutched his head to her chest, grinding against his cock and letting the tip bump against her clit. She felt like she could come just from that and him teasing her breasts. He slipped one hand between them, angled himself at her entrance, and she slid down, her breath catching in her throat as he filled her. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, his head resting just above her breasts.
 

They stayed like that, joined together but still for a moment and relished the connection between them. Then Megan began to move, slowly at first, but picking up speed. She held on to Chris's shoulders and used him for leverage, lifting, dropping, grinding against him, his hands on her hips to guide her. Soon he was pushing against her as well, his hands on her hips pulling her down with more force so that he hit her just right both inside and out. Once again, when she was getting close he slipped his hand between them, his thumb circling her clit, providing the right amount of friction to send her over the edge, with him following close behind.

* * *

“Why are you drawing Matt?” Chris had come into the living room after taking a quick shower to find Matt on the couch playing video games and Megan sitting cross-legged on the floor with a sketch pad.

She glanced up at him. “I’m finishing my project that's due tomorrow. I told you about it already, remember?”

“Your homework is drawing pictures of Matt?”

“Yup.” She popped the p, then stopped and looked up at him, mischief dancing in her eyes. “It's for my figure drawing class. We're supposed to draw someone in their natural habitat, so to speak.” She waved a hand at Matt. “I’m drawing Matt. I have to do a series of sketches. This is my last one.”

Chris digested this for a moment and tried not to feel jealous that she hadn't chosen him. “Why him, though?”

She gave him a knowing smile. Damn. He was being really transparent. Even Matt snickered on the couch. “Shut up, Matt. I can't draw you very well when you're jiggling like that.”

Matt paused the game and looked affronted. “I don't jiggle!” Chris laughed out loud, not even trying to hold it back.

“Call it whatever you want. Moving some to play your game is fine, but when you're laughing or suppressing laughter it changes the tension and lines in your body. Stop it.” She turned to Chris. “And you. Stop being ridiculous. Matt was a logical choice. I see him for tutoring and at home, so I have access to him in a variety of spaces, and he doesn't try to jump my bones every time I see him. You would've spent every session trying to see my sketch pad, like you're doing right now, or trying to get in my pants. Neither of which is helpful.”

Chris grunted. He didn't want to admit she was right but knew that she was. She narrowed her eyes at him in one final quelling glare and turned back to her sketch pad. He stood off to one side, careful not to block her light, but with a good enough vantage to watch her work. He knew she was an art major, but he'd never watched her work before. It was fascinating to see her bring the image of Matt to life with what looked to him like a few sweeps of her charcoal pencil and some shading here and there. She made it look effortless, though he could see that she was completely absorbed in her work. She'd even managed to capture Matt's look of triumph when he blew up an enemy outpost on the game he was playing. It was amazing.

He waited until she'd finished to sit down on the couch. She closed her sketch pad and put it away before moving to settle in next to him. Instead he grabbed her hips and sat her down on his lap. She looked at him in surprise, but he just wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest, where he kissed her thoroughly. He only stopped when Matt made a sound of disgust next to them.

“Didn't you guys get enough of each other this morning?”

Chris smirked. “Nope.” He kissed Megan once more before he pulled back. “I had no idea how good of an artist you are.”

“Really? You've been looking at my stuff for weeks.” She gave him a quizzical look.

“What are you talking about?”

She rolled her eyes. “The paintings in my room?”

It rankled a little that she called it her room and not their room, but Chris decided not to dwell on that and focus on the important part of what she'd said. “You painted those?”

“Yes.” She was laughing at him now.

He stood up, dumping her back on the couch. He went into their room—her room—and actually looked at the artwork hanging on the walls. Some of them were famous prints, but the rest were originals. He'd noticed that, he just hadn't realized they were
her
originals.
 

“Holy shit, Megan. Those are awesome.” He settled himself against the doorway with his arms crossed.
 

Megan met his gaze, but her face was sad. “Thanks. It's nice that someone thinks so.”

“What does that mean?” Matt had paused his game and looked at her now, joining in the conversation.

She shrugged and drew her knees into her chest. “My parents don't approve of my pursuing art as a degree. To be honest, they don't approve of me in general.”

Chris frowned. Her family didn't approve of her? “Why not?”

She hugged her knees tighter, not looking at either him or Matt. “They're conservative and religious. They don't like that I'm going to a secular school, pursuing what they consider a frivolous and worldly major, and not living with them.” She did raise her eyes then. “They don't approve of parties or drinking, and they're not aware of the extent of my involvement with either of those things. And they definitely wouldn't approve if they knew I lived here.”

“You didn't tell them you moved?” That was Matt again.

“Well, I told them I moved and gave them the address, but I didn't tell them that I'm not living with Abby anymore, or that I'm living with two guys, and I definitely haven't told them that I'm now sleeping with one of my roommates.” She gave Chris a wan smile before she dropped her eyes again and started picking at the fabric of the couch.
 

Chris let his head drop for a moment and suppressed the clenching in his gut. She didn't want to tell her parents about them? Was she embarrassed that she was with him? “You haven't told them you're seeing someone?” He tried to keep his voice unconcerned, but it came out a little strangled, especially on the last word.

Megan raised her eyes again. “It's not like that, Chris.” She pressed her lips together, her nostrils flaring, and gave her head a little shake. “I haven't talked to them much in general. I don't tell them about my life. It's exhausting constantly trying to fend off their disapproval. The only reason they know my major is because I registered for my first semester before I moved out and they saw the forms declaring my major. They don't know that I have a marketing minor, even, so that I can learn how to make it as a solo artist. They don't teach that stuff in the art department, you know.” She gave him another little smile, but it still looked forced.

Chris nodded, letting his head drop again. He felt stupid for being so upset about her not telling her parents about them. Her reasons made sense, but the disappointment churning in his gut wouldn't go away. Megan's hands on his chest had him lifting his head, looking down into her brown eyes.

“Hey. Do you tell your parents everything? Have you told them about us?”

“Yes.” His voice croaked, dammit. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah, I told them a while ago.”

The sincerity in her eyes turned to surprise for just a moment. “Oh.” She apparently hadn't expected him to say that. Why wouldn't he tell his parents about her? They were together pretty much anytime they were both free. It would be hard to tell his parents anything without her coming up at some point. His eyes widened as he realized what she was getting at. She didn't tell her parents anything. At all.

“So what do you talk about with your parents?”

She shrugged. “Not much. They try to guilt me into moving back home or changing my major to something they think is more suitable like nursing or elementary ed and I make appropriate noncommittal noises for a few minutes and then we hang up. I try to keep conversations as short as possible so they know I'm alive and well, but I don't tell them much of anything about my life. It's not worth the hassle.” He nodded. Her eyes searched his face with something like wonder. “Do you really tell your parents everything?”

“Pretty much.”

“Even that you're not planning on graduating?”

He sucked in a breath at that. No, he hadn't told them that yet. He knew they'd be disappointed and he couldn't figure out how to tell them. It didn't seem like a good phone conversation topic.
 

“What? Is she serious? You're really not graduating? I know you said something about that a few weeks ago, but you've been studying so I thought you'd changed your mind. Why the fuck aren't you graduating?” Matt's words pierced their little bubble and reminded Chris they weren't alone.

He ran a hand over his face. He'd been avoiding this conversation with Matt on purpose. There were enough people nagging him about this shit. He didn't need one more. “Thanks, Megan. Way to throw me under the bus.”

She just grinned at him and moved back to the couch. He snorted before turning to Matt. “Yeah, she's serious. At this point I'm not going to graduate.”

Matt stared at him, stone-faced. “Okay. And your answer to the last question? Why the fuck not?”