Jourdan Mathews has a secret, and she knows she needs to take this one to the grave.
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Her life was never complicated: a college student with a close family, good friends, and a plan for her future as a doctor. Had that night had never happened...
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Ryder continues to hold me tightly, not speaking, stroking my hair gently until I finally feel strong enough to pull back and look up at him. The tears from before now drying as I wipe my fingers under both eyes. It's strange, as much as I had never really looked twice at Ryder before, dismissing him as nothing more than your average college fuck boy, it was almost ironic that now he made me feel safer than anyone else could.
I couldn't really explain it, but something about being around him and letting him hold me close felt right. And part of me was tired of pretending we were strictly friends who didn't make each other any promises, so I decide to choose honesty with him.
"I do like you." I whisper finally. "And not just as a friend."
His smile is easy, like he's relieved I'm finally telling him the truth and he nods.
"I know." He murmurs. "I feel the same way."
"I just don't know what this means for us."
"It means you don't go out with another guy," he says slowly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "It means you let me take you out instead."
"Are you sure?" I hesitate and he nods. Blue eyes blazing into my own, somehow reassuring me that he wouldn't be offering if he didn't mean it.
"The only thing I've ever been surer about in my life is that I want to get into the NBA." He grins and we both laugh.
"I – I just, I've got a lot of shit to work through still." I warn and he just smiles. "I can already tell you this isn't going to be easy for me, at least, not at first."
"That's okay," he says firmly, one hand cupping my cheek gently and I lean against it. "You know this is new territory for me too."
Then I lean up, wrapping my arms around his neck and he responds, coming to meet me as our lips finally connect in a burning kiss. Now electricity and feeling course through my body, desire flooding down to my toes as I pull myself closer, unable to curb the need to feel that same euphoria again. He groans against my mouth, his hands running down my body and tightening around my waist so he can hold me flush against his broad chest.
If we weren't standing in the hallway of a very crowded bar, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from letting my own hands slide lower and dive back into the bliss I'd enjoyed so much Saturday night and then again on Sunday morning.
Luckily, he seems to have the same thought, pulling back slightly with his hand wrapped gently around my jaw. He kisses me lightly one last time, his thumb brushing across my lips before he pulls back and gazes down at me.
This time the look in his eyes is almost startling, it's a reminder of what Andrew had told me and of what Justin had been hinting at earlier – that Ryder had liked me for a while, even if neither of us consciously realized it. I make up my mind to ask him about it, not right now, but eventually.
