"Oh, okay. He's upstairs primping."
Primping? "Excuse me?" Adam grinned and shook his head.
"He's getting all pretty for his date tonight." Something twisted in her stomach at Adam's words.
"Oh, well I wouldn't know anything about that. I'm just here to help him with his class."
Adam was staring at her strangely, and she hoped her sudden and irrational disappointment was written across her face. Before anything else was said the sound of heavy footsteps descending the stairs filled her ears. Adam grumbled something under his breath and headed back into the living room. Mary turned around and watched Alex making his way toward her. He wore a pair of loose fitting distressed jeans and a button down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up his forearms, showing off the muscular, tanned flesh, and the first two buttons at the collar of his shirt were undone. His hair was damp and the strands were spiky around his head, but that wasn't what caught her attention. A nasty bruise marred his cheek, and there looked to be a gash right above his right eye.
"You weren't waiting too long, were you?"
She shook her head, his words kind of going right through her as she stared at his wounds. "God, are you okay?" On instinct she reached out to him, but he took a step back. Mary was immediately embarrassed for doing something like that, so she took a step back herself.
"Yeah, I'm good." She wanted to ask what had happened, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Besides, Alex did have a reputation for getting into fights. Mary looked up at him again, and even though someone had gotten in a few hits, she had no doubts the other guy probably looked worse. He was close, far too close for her comfort because a rush of heat filled her. The scent of soap and a light undertone of cologne filled her nose, and she actually felt herself leaning toward him.
"Whoa, you okay?" It was only when he placed his big hand on her shoulder to steady her, or maybe it was to keep her away, that she realized what she was doing.
Oh my God. Heat rushed up her neck and covered her face. There was no doubt in her mind that she looked like a tomato, but whether Alex saw that or not was a mystery since his expression remained stoic. "Um." She cleared her throat and quickly looked toward the living room. Adam and a few other guys sat around the big screen TV watching a football game. "No, it's fine."
When she looked back at Alex he was watching her with a strange expression, and a tick under his cheek jumped. She looked to her right, into the kitchen, but it seemed there was some kind of card game going on with several more guys. Was this how it was all the time? She had only been here a few times in the late evening to help Adam, but it had never been like this. It seemed chaotic and crowded, and as if to prove her point the guys in the living room started roaring out at something that happened in the game, and the ones in the kitchen were swearing and talking about "eating out pussy" and "fucking chicks in the ass".
"Maybe tutoring on a Friday night wasn't the best plan." Mary wasn't a prude by any means, even with her upbringing. She meant it as a joke, but when she caught his eyes, saw something flash behind them, she suddenly felt far too dizzy. What was it about this guy that made her feel so on edge? Had it just been too long since she was with someone, touched by someone, or had sex? Lord, it had been far too long since she had any kind of sexual interaction with someone, not since the last time she slept with Lance. Just thinking about her ex put her in a sour mood, but then again it was welcome because anything was better than this arousal she had for a guy she could never give herself to.
"Sorry about them." He didn't look embarrassed, but then she supposed there probably wasn't much, if anything, that rattled Alex. "It's like this most days." He looked around and then suddenly seemed uncomfortable. Huh, I guess the Great Alex Sheppard can be shaken. "I hate to say this because it's going to sound like some kind of lame pickup line, but it is kind of crowded down here. Can we do this in my room?"
Her face instantly heated again at his words, because even if he didn't mean them in the way she was thinking, Mary couldn't help but imagine what they could be doing in his room instead of studying. Her silence must have made him think she was uncomfortable with the idea when in reality she was picturing all kinds of very dirty things. "There really isn't anywhere else in the house, and I didn't think these assholes would take up both rooms where we could have studied."
He glanced down, and she couldn't help but smile. She should have told him hell no to his suggestion, because heaven help her it had to be bad news to go into Alex Sheppard's room with him, where they would be so very alone. "We can go someplace else. Shit." He looked up and her and gave her a pained expression. "Sorry."
"Alex, really it's fine." Mary was quite proud of herself for keeping it together when she felt herself unraveling inside.
"You sure? I don't want to make you feel weird or anything." It wasn't like she had never tutored someone in their room before, although it wasn't really the norm, and the ones she had helped in their rooms had been female. The problem was she had never wanted any of the people she tutored. But then here was Alex, so freaking gorgeous that she couldn't stand it, and wrong for her on every level.
Just get through the next few weeks and it will be all good. You can go back to your life where Alex Sheppard doesn't even know you exist. The problem was she hated thinking that, hated knowing that it was true, and that his date tonight wasn't really a date, but his next piece of ass. That sour feeling that thinking about Lance had caused inside of her grew. She wouldn't be anyone's piece of ass, and if she let herself be with Alex that is exactly what she would be to him.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Her voice was harder, more to the point. Going out tonight was sounding better and better. Maybe if she actually let loose and had a few drinks she could relax and not think about unrealistic things? Things that would only mean trouble. "Lead the way."
He stared at her strangely again for the next several seconds, but then again her tone had been kind of sharp and to the point. He nodded once and headed up the stairs. She followed him down the short hallway and to the first door on the right. Her heart was beating a mile a minute when he pushed the door open and she followed him inside. How many other girls had he brought up here? She must be a masochist for thinking such things, because she suddenly felt so dirty, yet still aroused by it all. His room was small, but then again Alex was a huge guy, with broad shoulders and a frame that was so masculine it had her entire core melting. A large bed took up a lot of the room. A flat screen TV hung on the wall across from the bed, and a leather recliner across from that. Aside a few half-nude women draped over motorcycles, or in lingerie with football gear on, the room was bare. Yeah, it was everything she expected to find in his room.
"I don't really have any place for us to study aside from the floor, the chair, or the bed." She looked over at the huge mattress and forced herself not to blush. "The floor is uncomfortable as hell." Mary could only imagine how he would know why it was uncomfortable, and the nasty images of him and some naked girl rolling around on the ground appeared in her mind.
"The bed is fine." They stared at each other for a moment, and she realized time was being wasted over something so stupid. She made the first move, sat on the edge of his bed and got the books out of her bag. The sounds from downstairs were loud and obnoxious, but not nearly as thunderous as her beating heart. Alex sat beside her, and fortunately he was looking at the thick books she had set on the bed. He picked one up, leafed through it, and looked at her with knitted brows.
"Well, damn, these things are thick as fuck." The tension Mary had felt thus far vanished a little, and she couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't think sex was this in-depth." Still smiling, she took the book out of his hand and opened it to the first chapter.
"That's probably why you are failing Human Sexuality since it's not just about sex." Lifting only her eyes to his, she smiled at him, and a flurry of butterflies started moving in her belly and the lopsided grin he gave her.