Read So Into You [The Jane Austen Academy Series #2] for Free Online Page B

Everything rolled off him with a smile.
    "Don’t tire yourself out. Remember—you don’t learn by studying, you learn by living."
     
    * * *
     
    Josh smiled wickedly as he ushered Ellie, Lizzie, and Emma inside.
    Ellie resisted the urge to chew her cheek while Emma and Lizzie charged into the room. Emma flopped on the edge of Josh’s bed while Lizzie made a beeline for Dante’s lap as he spun in Edward’s swivel chair.
    Ellie stood awkwardly by the door, her gaze flitting to Edward behind a makeshift bar of red cups and plastic two-liter bottles.
    "Ladies!" He caught her eye and draped a hand towel over his arm. "May I offer you a beverage—some of the Ferris family’s finest creations?"
    Ellie smiled—how was he always making her smile?—as she approached the bar and nodded.
    "Only the best for our favorite customer." He grabbed a bottle of Red Bull and another of Sprite and made exaggerated long pours into one cup, then tipped another cup over it and shook them up like a cocktail. "Wait, finishing touch." He grabbed a handful of cherries and dropped them inside with a fizz.
    She took the cup, the tips of their fingers sliding together so she felt that sizzle, that zip, down her arm.
    What had he said back in her room? That she owed him a favor and he’d collect.
    She shivered and took a sip, coughing.
    He raised a brow. "Does the drink not please the lady?"
    "Um, no," she said, coughing again and laughing. "It’s . . . different." It was awful and sugary and wonderful and the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted.
    "I’ve been working on it all day," he said. "Ever since I heard you were staying."
    "Just until Thanksgiving for now."
    He looked down at his own cup and took a quick swallow. "I’ll take what I can get. Another day. Another minute." He looked at her, his eyes dark and serious. "Every second."
    Ellie’s heart seized beneath her ribs—was he saying he liked her? Did that mean he wanted to be with her? "We have over four million seconds, then."
    Edward gave her a quizzical look, pulled out his phone, and typed into its calculator function. "Did you figure that in your head?"
    "I can’t help it." She took another quick sip to cover her discomfort. "My brain just does math, whether I want it to or not."
    "That is so cool," Edward said. He took a slow sip of his own drink. "You didn’t tell me you were leaving—before, in your room."
    "I didn’t want to say good-bye."
    A slow smile slid across his cheeks. "I don’t, either. Especially not now that I know you’re some math savant. We have got to take you to Vegas and start counting cards," he teased. "Refill?"
    Josh leaned in and shook a silver flask. "A little something extra?"
    "No, thanks," Ellie handed her cup to Edward, not missing how his warm fingers teased hers as he took it back.
    "So that must be how you got the achievement award," Edward noted as he mixed another drink, this time flipping the red cup behind his back and catching it one-handed. "You’re a genius."
    "I am not." Ellie blushed.
    "She’s totally a genius!" Lizzie called from Dante’s lap.
    "I feel kinda bad about Fanny, though," Ellie said. "She’s won the award every season."
    "I told you already—she doesn’t need it," Lizzie said.
    "Yeah, isn’t she that hot track star?" Josh asked.
    Emma punched him lightly in the thigh.
    "What? She’s hot. It’s just an observation," Josh said.
    "She’s on full scholarship," Lizzie said. "I interviewed her about it when I was on the Gazette ."
    "Would you guys stop talking about boring things?" Emma groaned.
    "Let’s talk about why Fanny’s not here," Josh said.
    "She’s not really one of us," Emma said.
    "And what about Anne?" Josh asked. "Where’s she?"
    The girls went quiet. Dante and Edward did, too.
    Anne had declined to come. She’d begged off, full of apologies, talking about her workload and responsibilities. But really she’d been worried Rick would be here. The fact that he wasn’t made Ellie think Rick