Extra Credit: Three Ivy Years Novellas (The Ivy Years Book 6)

THE HOTEL IS cute and funky, with colorful modern furniture in the lobby, and a banner announcing a cocktail hour for Skippy’s and Ross’s guests at six p.m.

This means we still have time to attend to some important business first.

“Here’s the key to the mini bar,” says a smiley attendant behind the desk. “Here’s a map of the neighborhood—”

“Thanks so much,” I say, grabbing the key card off the counter.

“Would you like help with your bags?”

“Nope! Got ’em!” Graham says, eyeing the bank of elevators.

“Have a great stay,” the attendant says, although we’re halfway across the lobby by the time he’s finished the sentence.

Graham punches the elevator button, then taps his foot.

We haven’t been spotted yet by anyone in the wedding party. And I know we both want to keep it that way until we can go upstairs and unwind.

And by “unwind” I mean roll around on the king-sized bed together. Naked.

“Slow elevator,” my boyfriend grumbles. That’s all he says, but his gaze is not quiet. Those cool blue eyes sweep over me, undressing me. It’s not subtle at all.

Ding!

“Yes!” Graham exhales with relief as the doors begin to slide apart.

“Grikker!” squeals a familiar voice. I look up just as Skippy leaps off the elevator ahead of Ross, his fiancé. “Omigod you’re here! Did you just get in? Let Charles take those bags up for you! Come get coffee with us!” He grabs me into a fierce, tight hug.

“Great to see you,” I manage as soon as my lungs reinflate. “You too, Ross.”

Skippy’s man gives me a friendly nod. With Skippy this amped over the wedding, Ross probably hasn’t managed to get a word in since last Tuesday.

“We can’t right now,” Graham says forcefully. “Get coffee, I mean.” He boards the elevator, bracing the doors open with one strong arm. “We have to…” He pauses.

“Make a phone call,” I say at the exact same time that Graham says, “Do some shopping.” There’s another pause while our glances collide, wide-eyed. “He forgot his…” I try.

“Socks!” Graham finishes, as color streaks across both his cheeks.

“His socks,” I say in a too bright voice. “But we’re having cocktails later, right?” I kick my suitcase into the elevator. “Six o’clock?”

Graham jams his hand down on the button for the fifth floor.

“Yes!” Skippy enthuses. “Right here in the lobby. Oh! And let me help you find some socks. There’s a men’s store on the corner of—”

The address gets clipped as the doors slide closed. “Thank you!” I yell as the car begins to climb already. Then I laugh. “Subtle, Graham.”

But he’s not even listening. Instead, he flattens me against the wall, his big body muscling close as he gives me a bruising, desperate kiss. And then another one. I wrap my arms around him and give it to him as good as I get. “Finally,” he grants between kisses.

The elevator slides to a halt.

“Not quite yet, babe,” I say, giving him a gentle push. “Let’s at least make it into the actual room.” I grab my bag and hustle into the hallway, Graham at my heels.

I open the door to our room with the key card and flick on the lights. Room 504 is…

Okay, I have no idea what the room looks like. Graham grabs the suitcase out of my hand, and the duffel bag off my shoulder. “I should hang up my suit jacket,” I say as he aims our bags in the general direction of a luggage rack.

But I guess he doesn’t agree, because he’s backing me up toward the bed.

“King-sized. Nice,” I say as the backs of my knees hit the edge of the mattress, and I sit.

He grabs my Harkness Hockey jacket in two hands and pushes it off my body. “Strip,” he says. “Now.”

“I kind of like you bossy,” I say, giving him a smile. His zipper is right there in front of me so I pop the button on his jeans and unzip him. “Come here, pushy one.”

He takes a step closer and I kiss the soft skin of his belly, just over the waistband of his briefs. I turn my face to the side and rub my stubbled jaw over his beautiful skin.

Above me, Graham lets out a happy sigh. His fingers sift through my hair. “Can I get this shirt off you?” he asks quietly. “I want your skin on mine. All of it.”

“Heck yes.” I start unbuttoning, while Graham shucks off his own clothes. Every stitch. His cock juts proudly up at me already, and the sight makes my own leap to attention. “I guess you really did miss me.”

“So much,” he says, his voice a scrape of desire. He yanks back the covers and climbs onto the bed.

I toss my own clothes off my body and brace a knee on the mattress. “Hey, look. Now this is handy.” I grab a purple box of condoms off the nightstand. Skippy & Ross’s Wedding Favors it says.

Graham takes the box from me, shaking his head. Then he raises those serious blue eyes to mine. “Who says I want your ex to come between us?”

I snort loudly and tackle him, and now we’re finally skin to skin. I bury my face in his neck and kiss the underside of his jaw. “Do you want to fuck me?”

He goes still with surprise. “Really?”

“I wouldn’t joke about that.”

He cranes his neck so he can see my face. “Sometime, yeah. But not right now.”

“No? Why?” I know he’s interested.

“Because I’m way too impatient right now. If anyone’s getting fucked, it’s me. And quickly.” He lifts his hips off the bed an inch or so just to demonstrate his urgency. “Don’t be shy, now.”

Well, okay then. I prop myself up on an elbow and put my thumbnail under the edge of the condom box.

“Rik?” he asks, putting a big hand to my chest. “Why do we use condoms?”

Now it’s my turn to be startled. “Um…because that’s polite of me? You’re always the one getting fucked. So I didn’t want to be the one who hustles you into going without.”

“Hustle me,” he whispers. “I wanted to ask you before.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because…” He runs his hand down my flank and sighs. “I know we’re exclusive right now and don’t need them. But if there was a day coming when we weren’t anymore, and then we’d have to go back to condoms…” He winces. “That would be a really bad day.”

“Then let’s never have that day,” I say, leaning down to kiss his shoulder. “I can’t picture a scenario where I’m still with you but also fucking anyone else. That’s not how we work.”

He smiles slowly. “No, it isn’t. So maybe this is how we work.” He takes the little box out of my hand and tosses it overboard.

I hear it land lightly on the rug. And suddenly I realize what’s about to happen. “Are we totally going bare right now?”

“We totally are.” He captures my face in one hand. “And I can’t wait. So you’d better find some lube.”

I spring off the bed like a spooked Chihuahua, and pounce on my bag. Two seconds later I’m lowering myself down onto Graham’s willing body again, lunging for his mouth.

He gathers me up in two eager arms, and mission control has already locked down the launch coordinates. My kiss is fueled by fire. My hips settle onto Graham’s, and I rock purposefully against him. His knees lift to hold me in place, so we can grind together.

“I will never get enough of you,” I whisper against his lips.

“Try,” he says, pushing his hips up off the bed. “Give it to me. Fast and messy. I’ve been thinking about this since I woke up this morning.”

I lean in for one more searing kiss. Then I take the lube and pop the top, slicking up my fingers. I have to sit up to prep him. As my fingers begin their erotic tease, I watch Graham arch back into the pillow and groan. “More,” he says. “Hurry.”

“You say that now. But I think you overestimate my stamina.” No condom? “I’m going to blow like the first firework on the Fourth of July.”

He lets out a groan and wraps a hand around his own cock. The sight of him stroking himself doesn’t do a thing for my fragile control. “Just do it already,” he says, looking up at me with lust-heavy eyes.

Giving in, I line myself up. “If this is comically fast, just remember that I love you.”

“How could I forget?” He lifts his hips and beckons to me.

I ease forward, holding my breath as I begin to fit us together. It’s tight and hot and just as mind-bending as I expected it to be. “Oh, man. Wow. Fuck,” I blabber as I work forward. “Are you okay? Everything is wow.”

“Breathe, Rik.” Graham bites his lip as he bears down. “Everything is okay.”

I remember to exhale. And I realize he’s right.

There aren’t any more words spoken for a while after that. We don’t need any at all.

“This is a nice room,” Graham says a half hour later, as we lie in a heap in the center of the bed.

“Is it?” I pick my head up off his chest and scan the place for the first time. Then I put my head back down. “I don’t even know why I looked. All I care about is the bed.”

We’re both quiet for a minute as Graham plays with my hair. “I don’t know where next year will take me. And I hate not knowing.”

“I’ll bet,” I sympathize. “But it’s okay.”

“I know. It will be.”

“What’s our strategy for tonight?” I ask. “There’s a dinner after the cocktails. And then Skippy wants everyone to go to a bar in Boystown. But I could try to beg off. We can come back here and watch TV.”

“No, let’s go out,” Graham says. “I watched enough TV over break already. My parents were all jazzed up about this multi-part BBC nature thing. Bored me silly.”

“I saw the last part,” I admit. “That fucking penguin chick abandoned in the ravine? I’ve had two dreams about it already. Paging Dr. Freud.” I’m so tired of being stuck inside my own head. Graham is right—a bar is just what I need tonight.

His hands go still in my hair. “Did you watch the bonus episode? The ‘Making Of” part?”

“What? Of the nature thing? Fuck no.”

“The camera man saves it.”

“What?” I lift my face to his.

Graham tilts his head to study me for a second before he speaks. “The camera man couldn’t stand it, either. There’s some footage of him picking up the chick and chasing its mother. He puts it down and then backs away. And the mother penguin gets it back.”

“Oh. No shit?” My voice actually cracks, and I swallow hard. “That was nice of him.”

“Rik.” Graham’s arms lock around me. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I’m fine,” I say quickly. But my eyes are stinging. Fucking eyes.

“Uh-huh,” he agrees gently. I put my head back down on his chest, and his broad hand smooths the skin of my back. “I love you. So much.”

“I love you, too.” I let my eyes fall shut as he continues to rub my back.

“I’ll never stop.”

“Okay,” I agree shakily.

“Except in half an hour we have to get up and pretend to go buy some socks.”

I laugh into his hug. “Right. Sure.”

“Maybe we can find some with penguins on them.”

“Oh, stop it.”

He kisses my head and I relax against his big body. I feel happier than I have in a month. Maybe ever.

And I really am okay.