Naughty Nights: A Bad Boy Romance by Sophie Brooks Page B

get approval for an overload was if I got a Grade Point Average of at least 3.75 this semester. So I studied my ass off for those tests, or at least I tried to, but then we had that conference and everything was batshit crazy at work. I was averaging less than four hours of sleep per night, and I was fucking exhausted.”  
    I reached over and took his hand, holding it tightly in mine as he continued. “I missed you so much, but it wasn’t until you turned me down last night that I realized what I’d done. That I’d abandoned you right at the beginning of our relationship. That’s the last thing I intended to do. I’m so sorry, Darcy.”  
    Still clutching his hand, I focused on one thing he’d said. Not that he missed me. Not sorry . But relationship . Did he truly want one? I had to know. “Do you want a relationship, Luke? It’s okay if you don’t. I—I mean, we didn’t talk about anything before we jumped into the physical stuff in my room. If you don’t, I understand.”
    “I don’t think you do,” Luke said, and he picked up my other hand, so that our arms made a circle. “You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. You’re smart, and funny, and I loved hanging out with you all those nights. You have to know that,” he said, and for a long moment, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. A tear drifted down my cheek as I listened to him.  
    “You have no idea how put together you are, Darcy. The work you do at that retirement center—you’re only twenty-five and you have a career. You have two degrees. You’re doing what you want to be doing. That’s why I talked to the counselor. I want that for myself. To have my degree and to get a position I’m passionate about. Because that’s the kind of man you deserve.”  
    Did he really think that? Didn’t he know that the guy I fell for was the night manager at a cheap hotel with a horrific boss? I wanted Luke for who he was when we were together, not who he could be when we were apart. Haltingly, I tried to explain this to him until he jumped in.  
    “But I’m ready, Darcy. Ready to be done with school and start a real career. Ready to have a real life—one with you in it. And I know I fucked things up with you, but these past two weeks, I’ve just been barely keeping my head above water. It was the most insanely busy period of my life. But I should have talked with you about it. Told you more about what was going on, so that you knew why I was being so distant.”  
    His blue eyes examined me intently. “You probably thought I was just after one thing.”  
    I looked down at our joined hands. His gaze was just too intense. Finally, I nodded. “Last week, in your friend’s hotel, that was … that felt like …”  
    “Like a booty call?”
    “Yeah.”  
    “I know I fucked that up. I was just so exhausted, and then you were there, and you looked so damn beautiful in your purple dress. And you smelled incredible … I was just so glad to see you. I’d missed you, and then I was kissing you, and, well, I guess I completely skipped over the talking part.”  
    “Yeah, you did.” I said, and now I looked up at him. “But the other part was pretty hot.”  
    “It was. But that’s not what I want. I mean, well, yeah, it is what I want… but only if it comes with the whole package. You. Me. Dating. Dining together. Talking together. And then having wildly inventive sex.”  
    A laugh slipped out of me at that last phrase. “You do have a way with words,” I said, and one corner of his mouth curved upward in a half-smile. “But you know, it wasn’t just your classes or your schedule. Before, I was staying right there in your hotel. We saw each other every night. Of course things are going to be different now that I’m not there all the time. It’s going to take some effort for us to make this work. If you truly want to, I mean. Are you sure, Luke? You have a lot going on right now.”  
    “I’m positive. I want you,