“I don’t need him to help me study. I’m fine on my own.”

“Sure you are,” Cory agreed, nodding. “But that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that you two have nothing in common. The things you like about him now? The stuff you think you admire most because he’s so different?” Cory leaned in, latching gazes with me. “That’s the stuff that will make you hate him later.”

Could he be right? Would I eventually hate Finn’s laid-back lifestyle? His quest for fun? The way he laughed as he surfed, his eyes lit up and his laugh blending with the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore? “You’re wrong.”

“No, I’m not. I learned it in psychology.” He nodded his head toward the dorms. “Speaking of the devil…”

Finn came up to my side and cleared his throat. He wore a light yellow shirt with a surfboard on it and plaid shorts. His shades were firmly in place, and his short curls were a little messy. Not messy enough, though, due to his haircut. “I was starting to think you forgot about me.”

“No. No, of course not. I’m just a little bit late because I got in trouble.”

“You?” Finn raised a brow. “How could you have gotten in trouble?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” I knew I should get ready for the quiz tomorrow, but I didn’t want to give up time with Finn. I could make time for both. “Come on.”

Finn took my hand and nodded at Cory. “Later, Cody.”

“My name’s Cory,” Cory said, his voice hard. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Finn said, his tone completely innocent.

Even I believed him…almost.

Cory grabbed my arm as we passed, and Finn stiffened next to me at the touch. “Are you going to study?” Cory asked.

“Yeah. Later.”

Cory flexed his jaw and let go of me. “Fine. See you later.”

“What was that all about?” Finn steered me toward his bike.

“Nothing. We have a quiz coming up. I’ll study later tonight.”

He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at Cory. “Are you sure? Your grades come first. Maybe you should go with Golden Boy.”

Golden Boy. Why did that name ring a bell? I shook my head, shaking away the niggling sensation that I’d heard those words before. “No, I’ll be fine. You promised me cheeseburgers and milkshakes, and I intend to collect.”

He wrapped his arms around me and tugged me close. “First, you need to pay up.”

He lowered his mouth to mine, giving me a passionate kiss that quite literally knocked the breath out of me. I curled my hands into his shirt, trying to urge him closer, and he moaned before breaking off the kiss. Before I could so much as blink, he slid the helmet over my head and reached for his.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.”

I bit down on my lower lip. “Oh? What is it?”

He sat down on the bike and looked straight ahead before slamming on his own helmet. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

I pulled the bike up to the curb and closed my eyes, relishing the way her arms felt around me. Loving the fact that I could show how much I liked it when she clung to me, now that we were together. Now that she knew how I felt about her. I tore my helmet off, and then picked her up, setting her on my lap.

She shrieked at the sudden movement and flung her arms around my neck. Her sweet ass pressed down on me, making my cock hard, but I wasn’t looking for that right now. I just needed to hold her because I fucking could. “Hey, babe.”

I gently removed her helmet and set it aside. The way she looked at me…

I loved it.

I could get used to seeing that same light shining in her eyes for the rest of my goddamned life. And that’s what I wanted. Not a short period of her life. I wanted forever. Even though I knew, subjectively, that we were doomed from the start. I’d started this relationship with lies, and it would end the second the full truth came out.

And even if I hadn’t lied to her, she was too young to even contemplate forever. A baby, practically. When I’d been nineteen, the furthest thing from my mind had been love or settling down with someone. To her, this was nothing more than the obligatory college fling.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked breathlessly.

I snapped myself out of whatever unicorn land I’d been stuck in. “Like what?”

“Like I bit you or something.”

I snorted. “You can bite me anytime you want, babe.”

She slapped my arm, but I barely even felt it. She was like a mosquito bite on my arm. “Keep it up, and I just might. And I bite really hard.”

“I hope that’s a promise.”

She rolled her eyes. “So is this the surprise? I already knew you had an apartment.”

I chuckled and nuzzled her neck. “That’s not the surprise.”

“Then what is?”

She arched her neck to allow me better access. Nice. I nibbled some more. “You’ll have to go in and find out.”

She hopped off my lap and practically ran up to the door. Note to self: she likes surprises. I followed her more slowly, grinning at her exuberance. When she turned to me impatiently, her hand out, I set the key in her hand. She burst inside the door—and then stopped.

She scanned the room, looking for any signs of something different. Turning to me, she cocked a brow. “Uh, where’s the surprise?”

“Right here.”

She eyed me, her eyes dancing. “Is it you?”

“I wrapped something with a bow.”

Her gaze dropped to my cock, and her voice came out breathy. “Seriously?”

I burst into laughter. “Nope.”

“Darn, that would’ve been fun.”

I made a mental note to remember the idea. “It’s better than that.” I reached into her bag and retrieved the item I needed. I brandished her anatomy book with more flair than I knew I had in me. All for the greater good, of course. “We’re spending the night…studying!”

“Studying. Really,” she said dryly. “I can hardly contain my excitement.”

“I see that,” I said, laughing. “But that’s not all.”

She perked up. “Oh? What else?”

“Every time you get an answer right, I get to kiss you anywhere I want.” I let my gaze dip down low. “And I’ve got a few ideas where I’d like to start.”

Her cheeks flushed and she licked her lips. “And if I get it wrong?”

“Then you don’t get kisses and you go home with Cory to study.”

“I thought you hated him.”

I gently shoved her down on the couch and laid my body on top of hers. “I do.” I nibbled on her ear, biting a little bit harder than necessary. “So you better get the answers right.”

She dug her nails into my shoulders. “Fine, but I need time to study.”

“Time granted.” I gave her a long, searching kiss, my tongue circling hers. When she kissed me back without hesitation, her body melding into mine more completely than her mouth, I almost forgot her need to study. Almost forgot part of my job was to make sure she didn’t get distracted from her duties.

I was distracting her, and I had to stop.

With a groan, I pulled back and ended the kiss. “No more of that until our studying session starts.” Hopping to my feet, I handed her the textbook and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll be out on the patio, cooking you dinner.”

She blinked up at me. “You cook?”

“Hell yeah, I cook. Better than that, I grill. I have one on the back porch.” I gave her a cocky grin. “I’m more than a pretty face, Ginger.”

“I already knew that,” she said gently, meeting my eyes. “In fact, I knew it as soon as you opened your mouth and told me about yourself.”

I froze. I had been mostly joking, but I’d dealt with the assumptions I was nothing more than a pretty boy with no goals all my life. Hell, right now I was playing the part of that exact type of person. She saw the real me? Knew I had goals and aspirations?