Caught Stealing (Leighton U, #2)

by C.E. Ricci

I’m being honest, at some point, my interest in Kason became less about him in general and more about riling Phoenix up. Getting Phoenix to pay attention to me. Messing with him and crawling under his skin, just like he digs under mine, now more than ever. It just became about Phoenix.

Apparently, I’m more turned-on by Phoenix’s glare from across the bar than I am by Kason’s touch. If that isn’t messed up, I don’t know what is.

“You remember that thing I said about your eyes and your mouth not matching?” His

His proximity, paired with how he’s looking at me, instantly ignites a fire inside me. An uncontrollable inferno of hatred, passion, and desire that’s burning away the mask of indifference I’m trying so desperately to maintain.

“Eyes and mouth, Nix,” he whispers, stepping in even closer.

“You want Kason,” I remind him, which in itself is a ridiculous notion. Nevertheless, if I need to remind him who he’s here with—who asked him to come on this vacation turned hellhole—then I will.

“Why not? It’ll take your mind off it. C’mon, let’s get married.” His eyes fly open despite the height, and he looks at me like I’ve just grown two extra heads. “What?” I arch a brow, giving him a dubious look. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” “I can assure you, I don’t.” “It’s the thing you say when you’re a kid on the swings and someone beside you starts swinging in sync with you.”

“That’s what we would say when that happened. We’d look at the other person and say you’re in my shower.”

“Honey, you know you won’t lose Kason just because someone else comes into his life, right? Your friendship is the forever kind. Whatever comes between you two, you’ll come back together, stronger at the end. I have no doubt about it, and neither should you.”

Please, don’t say it. Please, please, don’t fucking say— “I think I’m starting to like him, maybe?” A vise clamps around my heart so tight, it’s a wonder I’m still alive and breathing.

“I don’t know, Phoe. I can’t really explain it. He just makes me so nervous all the time. I feel like a bumbling fool around him, so I don’t even know how to broach the subject.” I know what I want to say. It should be easy for him to talk to the guy he likes, especially about something like this.

“As much as I want you to fuck me here and now, I’d really like to prevent someone from hearing us and walking in.” “I don’t care about getting caught,” he pants, hips rocking forward into mine. A soft laugh leaves me as my mouth trails over his jaw all the way to his ear. “And here I thought you said you weren’t an exhibitionist.”

becoming enveloped in his scent, and God, if it doesn’t do something strange to my heart. It feels like he has his fist wrapped around it, and every time I catch sight of a new or innocent piece of him, he squeezes it a little harder. Claims it a little bit more.

Only a couple of weeks have passed since the start of the new semester, and Phoenix has already been buried alive beneath a mountain of classwork on top of his practice schedule. A fate I’d never wish on my worst enemy. Which, funny enough, Phoenix used to be.

“I can’t think when you bite your lip like that.” Heat flares in his eyes, but he sits back in his chair, forcing my touch to fall away. “You’re the horniest person I know.” “Guilty as charged.” A smirk lifts my lips. “Don’t try acting like you don’t enjoy it, though.”

“Sometimes I’m not too sure about that.” “Eyes and mouth, Nix.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I mutter, my voice sounding like it’s been grated over shards of glass. “Eyes and mouth, Nix.”

I wouldn’t have to know him as well as I do to realize it. It’s written all over his beautiful, lying face. “Eyes and mouth, Nix. Eyes and fucking mouth.”

I don’t have to be a mind reader to know what he’s thinking. It’s the same sentence running through my head. Eyes and mouth.