His thick eyebrows arch. “You did just fine a minute ago.” He spreads his fingers apart and plays a few notes, which I instantly recognize as Sia’s “I Go To Sleep”—one of the songs that had been playing on the iPod in my car just a few days ago when we somehow managed to turn the backseat, and part of the front, into a makeshift bed. It had taken some extreme acrobatics on my part, and the thought makes the back of my throat go dry.

“You will do fine,” he promises, his blue-green eyes hot against my skin as he continues to run his fingers over the keys.

I clench my thighs together, trying to deny that he’s made me wet just by banging on a few keys. “Do you have to play that song?” I demand pleadingly. He nods, changing the tempo. Each stroke of his fingers speeds my pulse up a notch. Turning away from him, I start to pace the tiny room, from where he sits to the time log hanging beside the door and then back again. Finally, I rest my elbow on the piano and slide my knee onto the bench until it bumps his leg.

He’s grinning.

Wickedly.

“I don’t think about practicing with you playing that song,” I warn him. “We should get back to work before I end up jumping you right here and now.”

He responds by playing something different. I hear the first few chords of “Everlong” which only makes the need coursing through me so much stronger. He tilts his head to the side, gazing at me. It starts at the ripped denim at my left thigh, drifts past the soft slope of my hips, and, finally, lingers on the swell of my breasts beneath my fitted black tee.

I draw in a deep, impatient breath. “Dammit, Rhys.”

“Want me to play something else?” he asks in a low voice as our eyes meet. When I shake my head, he gives me a wounded look and nods to the sheet music I’m gripping. “I guess you’re right. We should get back to work.”

“Screw work,” I mutter and drop the sheet music. I’m on him before he can protest, straddling him on the piano bench and wrapping my long legs tightly around him. I close my eyes and let him take my breath away with his mouth.

“You. Are. Killing. Me,” he grinds out. “I can’t get enough of you.”

“Please don’t,” I whisper breathlessly as he scoots the bench back in one swift motion. I give his zipper a hard jerk. Rolling myself off his body, I drag his pants down just enough for his erection to spring free and sink down on my knees in front of him. “I don’t want you to get enough of me,” I say as I lower my face and place a demure kiss on the head of his erection.

“You drive me crazy,” he swears. He fists my hair in his hands and draws my head back, so I use my hand instead—wrapping my fingers around him tightly and jerking hard. He draws in a breath, and a little wave of pleasure crashes through me. Never blinking, I stare into his eyes and move my hand up and down his shaft.

Finally, letting out a deep sound of frustration, he pushes my head down so that my lips skim his flesh. “Suck,” he says simply.

I push him into my mouth until he’s pressed against the back of my throat. Gripping the pockets of his jeans for support, I bob my head up and down. There’s something about doing this to him—listening to his thick moans of gratification and belligerent words of desire—that does it for me. I get off on feeling his hands in my hair and his eyes staring down on me, as I taste him.

“Jesus, Evel—” he groans, but the soft creak of the door opening followed by a sharp gasp muffles whatever he’s saying. It takes me a moment to process that we’ve been caught, and then, I stumble away from him. Covering my mouth with my hand, I start to turn my back to the intruders in embarrassment but not before I meet Mac’s wide brown eyes and that of the tall, skinny guy standing beside her.

“Ahh shit,” she mutters. Then, shoving the guy out the practice room, she slams the door behind them.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Hey, can you give us a few?” Mac questions Nathan two nights later after she tracks us down at the D-hall. He looks from her to his half-eaten tray and then back again. Releasing a sigh, Mac sits down across from me and supports her chin in her hand.

“If you’d like to hear about how heavy my flow is this week, you’re more than welcome to stay, Nathan.” Glancing at me, she adds, “I’m really thinking about upping my birth control and—”

“And I’m leaving.” Nathan rolls his blue eyes as he grabs his tray. “Don’t forget about meeting me in the library tomorrow morning,” he reminds me, referring to our current Sight Singing and Dictation assignment—finding a song that’s in a unique time signature. He makes a face at Mac. “Thank you for officially fucking up my meal, Mackenzie. I can always depend on you to make things awkward.”

She shrugs. “Anytime. Always more than happy to enlighten you with entries from my Kotex Diaries.” Wiggling her fingers at him, she watches as he disappears from earshot, and then she twists around in her seat to narrow her brown eyes at me. “You, my friend, have been avoiding me all day.”

Of course I’ve been avoiding her. She’d walked in on me with my face jammed between Rhys’ legs. I’m not ashamed of what we were doing, but the fact we’d been caught literally with his pants down—well, that’s an entirely different story.

“If I told you that it wasn’t what you thought it was, would you believe me?”

“Umm, no.” She leans in to me, dropping her voice to a gentle whisper. “I’m not a virgin, Evie. It’s not like you were doing something I haven’t done or seen—yes, that is me admitting that I watch porn.” When my lips twitch into a smile, she sighs. “Look, there’s no need for you whatsoever to think I’m judging you or thinking badly of you. I’m not. If anything, I should be saying sorry to you. My dumbass didn’t even pay attention to the Occupied sign on the door.”

“We should have been more careful,” I say softly. I was stupid to go after him in the music department practice room of all places. What if one of my professors had walked in on us instead?

Twisting her pink lips to the side, she lifts her shoulders. “Things happen. I mean, unless you’re holed up in a room somewhere with all the doors locked, there’s always the chance of someone walking in on you.” When my worried expression doesn’t change, she continues, “During my freshman year, I had a roommate who’d always pick the exact moment Eli and I were in bed to come home. It never failed.”

I snort. “So, what did you do about it?”

“Let’s just say poor Eli suffered quite a bit that year.”

Poor guy, indeed. I can’t help but feel sorry for him. “Still, I’m sorry you had to walk in on that.”

She brushes off my apology and plucks a fry off my tray. “What I’m more interested in knowing is how long you and Rhys have been dating.” Chewing the fry slowly, she rubs her chin thoughtfully. “Were you two together when we went to the Red Denial show? I definitely noticed you two doing that undressing thing with your eyes, but I didn’t think that—”

“No,” I cut her off quickly. “Rhys and I—it’s something recent.”

“Nice.”

Of course she’d say that. “You’re not going to say anything about what you saw, are you?”

She scrunches her features into an offended look. “Why would I? You’re both consenting adults. It’s none of my business what you’re doing behind closed doors.” She steals a few more of my fries. “Your sexy love affair is safe with me.”

After she finishes polishing off the rest of my fries, she walks with me on my way out of the D-hall. The sun has already started to go down, and it’s chilly out. I stare longingly at Mac’s thick hoodie, wishing I’d left my dorm wearing something more than a thin t-shirt and jeans.

“Alright,” she says, “I have to go home and start writing this Behemoth of a paper I’ve got due tomorrow. If you see me tomorrow and I seem all cracked out, rest assured that it’s all the 5-Hour Energy I’m about to consume.”