“It is,” I said. “But the Boyd alumni connections are supposed to be great for securing a job after graduation.”

“Yeah,” he said. “My friend got hired—”

A long shadow appeared, blocking the overhead light in the stairwell like a solar eclipse. We both turned to find a gigantic hockey player lurking in the doorway. Chase raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He didn’t need to.

Aaron paled. “Uh, I think I forgot something in the living room.” He darted around Chase, taking the stairs two at a time.

Chase sauntered over, swinging the beers he was holding. “Sup.”

“You’re so mean.”

“So they tell me.” He cracked one of the beers and handed it to me. “But I saw Shiv upstairs and I couldn’t find you. I was worried.”

“Oh, Shiv had to go clean up a broken glass. Aaron and I were talking about school.”

“Sure you were.” Chase smirked.

“He’s a journalism major too,” I said, holding his gaze evenly. “But if I didn’t know better, I might say you were jealous.”

He shrugged but didn’t deny it. “Just pointing out how single-minded and filthy most guys are.”

“Including you?”

He stood closer, giving me a look that did something decidedly unfriend-like to me inside. “Baby, I’m the filthiest.”

I laughed. “I know.”

“Anyway.” Chase took a sip of his drink, his throat bobbing.

My eyes lingered for a beat on his lips as a flicker of desire ignited within me.

He cleared his throat and continued. “I came to see if you were staying here or if you wanted to go home later.”

My heart went ka-thunk like a rusted old car. “Staying here?” I may have thrown some extra personal items into my bag in case this scenario arose, but I genuinely didn’t think it would.

“As a friend, James. But if you want to go home, I’ll stop drinking after this so I can drive you. This is my first beer.”

I chewed my lip, considering. I was fairly certain that if I stayed, it wouldn’t be as a friend, despite his assurance.

Did I want that? I sure did. But I was also a little scared. Okay, a lot scared.

“I don’t need a chaperone to get home.”

He leaned against the wall, biceps bulging as he folded his arms. “There’s a blue stain on my favorite pair of white sneakers that says otherwise.”

I groaned, embarrassment flooding my gut. “I don’t know.”

His eyes caught mine, questioning. Tempting. I wanted to say yes.

“Come on.” He nudged my foot with his. “I’ll let you wear my Falcons shirt again.”

“Never,” I said. “I’d rather sleep naked.”

It was meant to be sassy but was way off the mark. I blamed being in such close proximity to him; my brain was going all sorts of haywire.

His voice dropped, turning husky. “That can definitely be arranged.”