Free Break You by Jennifer Snyder Page B

stuffing her face with noodles of some sort. “You look like crap. Did Tinley wear you out or something?”
    “She’s such a handful. I have no clue how my sister does it.” I flopped down on the couch beside her and plunked my heavy purse on the coffee table. “I took her to the park. At first I just watched her play in the water feature thing they have, but then she wanted to swing so I had to push her. Then she moved to the slide and wanted Aunt B to go down it with her, like fifty times. I’m so tired I think I might fall asleep while eating.”
    Paige laughed. “I can’t believe how big she’s getting. I bet she’s so stinking cute now though.”
    “She is.” I nodded. I scooped up a box of what looked like chicken fried rice and the fork Paige had set out for me.
    “So, that means no cram fest together tonight then, huh?” Paige asked with mild concern. Some TV show was drawing her attention away from the conversation quickly.
    I smacked my palm to my forehead. I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to help her study tonight. I’d made note cards and everything the other night while I’d lain in bed sucking on throat lozenges.
    “I forgot! I’m sorry,” I said. “We can still study though, I’ll drink some coffee and then I’ll be good to go. Promise.”
    “Eh, it’s really not that big of a deal. I think I’ll manage. I’ll just look over those note card things you made before the test and I should be good,” she said. Her eyes were glued to the TV; she didn’t even notice when half of the noodles she’d attempted to cram in her mouth fell into her lap.
    Shifting my eyes, I realized why. It wasn’t a TV show she was watching—it was the movie Magic Mike . And dear God, I didn’t blame her for tuning me out. How Channing Tatum landed those dance moves blew my freaking mind. This couldn’t be something he was taught, that was for sure. No, not even close, those dance moves were something he was born knowing how to do. And Jesus he looked good doing them.
    * * * *
    After watching Magic Mike with my eyes glued to the TV, I made a cup of coffee and decided to cram a bit before I went to bed anyway. This would have generally been fine, but with the images from the movie still lingering in my mind and the aching they’d created between my thighs still plying for my attention—there was no studying going to happen at the moment. Picking up my phone, I tapped on Facebook to distract myself, and maybe find a good picture of Jason to stare at while I took matters into my own hands.
    Once Facebook loaded, I realized I wasn’t the only one up at midnight—Jason was too. And he instantly messaged me.
    What are you doing up so late? Allowing Facebook to distract you while taking a break from cramming the night before like the rest of us?
    Ha! If only he knew what I was trolling Facebook for.
    Yup, you caught me. What about you? Same?
    I bit my bottom lip while I waited for his response. Why was I even talking to him? No good could come from this.
    Trout, I reminded myself, you do not want to be a trout on his pole. His pole? Damn you, Magic Mike , now my mind was corrupted for good.
    Same. What’s your major again?
    I’d just told him this the other night. Was his memory really that lax?
    I’m going for my RN license.
    Oh. Right. I forgot.
    I let out a loud breath. The release I’d wanted moments ago was now gone. Maybe it had been a good thing—pleasuring myself to an image of Jason from Facebook sounded stalker-ish in more ways than I liked. By being online and talking to me, he’d actually done me a favor.
    What’s yours?
    It was part common courtesy of me to ask and partly because I wanted to know. He responded quickly.
    Psychology.
    I wasn’t sure what shocked me more—his speed at responding or his answer.
    Wow, really?
    Why, does that surprise you?
    I thought about his question for a minute, determining the best way to answer.
    Just figured you’d be studying sports medicine or