The Burning Rose

11 | Love and Pain

"Good afternoon, mia signora," he said, bowing slightly.

"Sei un idiota." (You're an idiot) His eyes widened slightly in surprise at my reply, and I giggled. "I didn't know you were part Italian," I assumed.

"Yeah, my great-great grandfather. What about you?"

"Nope. Just had to learn the language."

I stepped out of the car feeling proud that he didn't hold a hand out for me, then I glanced over my shoulder to Victoria and winked. Laughing, she walked over to the back of the car.

"Gray, can you help with these," she called, popping the trunk open.

He approached Victoria and bent down to pick up the towel rack box and duvets.

"Don't girls ever stop shopping?" he snorted.

"No, we don't. We live to spend."

Victoria and I grabbed the rest of the things. A group of three guys rushed over to help us, and we ended up not carrying anything. Victoria made small talk with them in the elevator while I stood beside Gray, nudging him with my shoulder whenever he pulled a funny face in my direction. He was being adorable, and it was causing butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

Reaching our dorm, Victoria unlocked the door and instructed them to put the things on the kitchen island.

"Thanks, boys," she said, waving at them as they exited the room. She then turned to me with an impish grin. "I better get going. I'll help you with these later, 'kay?"

"No worries, hon." We shared a quick hug. "Now hurry up and go. Your chances of getting laid rests in the hand of you arriving on time."

She poked the sides of my stomach. "You really are teasing me and my sex life now that Gray's here with you, huh?"

"Yes, yes," I nodded with exaggeration. "We will be having tons of sex with numbers. Earth-shattering brain orgasms and mind-blowing fuckery."

"That sounds like fun." She laughed, walking out of the room and shutting the door. "Remember to hang a sock!" she shouted from outside.

I shuddered at the possibility of a dozen people hearing her, panic rising in my chest at the rumors that would circulate. But before I could fully dwell on it, Gray cleared his throat.

"Earth-shattering brain orgasms?" he snickered. "Does that mean numbers get you worked up?"

"Ew, no." I dropped myself on my desk chair and spun it around to face him. "But it might as well be giving me an orgasm if I'm spending so much time with it."

He laughed this time, dragging Victoria's chair beside me and sitting. "Have you ever done it before?" he asked inquisitively.

"Jiggle down?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sex. Jiggle down. Shag. Bang." I watched him blink slowly in comprehension, and I laughed. "I could go on, actually. Do you want me to?"

"There's no need, Miss Thesaurus," he snorted, tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "Have you, though?" he asked again.

"Nope. I don't want to sound cheesy, but I want my first time to be with someone I truly trust," I said, ignoring the sudden thump of my heart at his seriousness.

"It's not cheesy at all, Shortcake," he replied with a smile, picking up my statistics notes. "And I would rather have you not wailing and bumping your head on the table. Why don't we take a ten-minute break after every thirty minutes?"

I giggled. "Thank you so much for being so considerate, my Nincompoop."

He chuckled huskily as he flipped a page of my notebook. Then he cleared his throat and loosened his shoulders. "So, do you know Bayes Theorem?"