Chapter 97: Here Goes Nothing

NORA’S POV

The deep rumble of Knox’s truck engine slowly faded down the gravel driveway, leaving the SinBin in total silence.

I let out a long, luxurious stretch across his king-sized bed, burying my face into the plush duvet.

The cotton comforter smelled entirely of him... cedar, fresh laundry, and the subtle, lingering scent of sandalwood.

I was practically swimming in his hoodie, the thick cuffs bunched loosely past my wrists, the hem brushing halfway down my bare thighs where his sweatpants had bunched around my knees.

A lazy, giddy smile spread across my face.

For the first time in months, I felt completely rested. Safe. Warm.

I rolled onto my stomach, reaching blindly across the dark wood of the nightstand for my phone.

The moment I tapped the screen, it lit up with a flood of notifications, the battery icon flashing a critical four percent.

There were six unread text messages, all sent in rapid succession between eight and eight-thirty, all in aggressive capital letters from Priya:

PRIYA: BENNETT WAKE UP.

PRIYA: Are you alive?

PRIYA: Did the captain break your box springs for real this time?!

PRIYA: I demand a full debriefing before nine o’clock.

PRIYA: If you don’t text me back in five minutes I am sending campus safety to storm the SinBin.

PRIYA: SPILL THE JUICY BOINKING DETAILS NORA.

I let out an involuntary snort of laughter, pressing the call button before my phone completely died.

Priya answered on the very first ring.

"Holy shit, finally!" Priya shrieked through the speaker, her voice practically vibrating with unhinged curiosity. "Well?! Did you do the deed? Did the captain rock your entire existence?!"

"Good morning to you too, Priya," I murmured, sinking back into the mountain of pillows with a quiet chuckle. "And to answer your vulgar interrogation: no. Nobody rocked anybody’s existence."

"What?!" Priya sounded genuinely outraged. "You stayed the night in Knox Sheridan’s bedroom, wearing his clothes, in his bed, and nothing happened?! Are you telling me the two of you just... slept?!"

"We ate steak, we talked, he put on music, and we slept," I said softly, the phantom heat of his goodnight kiss tingling across my lips. "He was... incredible, Pri. Really gentle. Respectful."

"You are lying to my face, Nora Bennett! You cannot be for real!" Priya gasped. "This is Knox Sheridan we are talking about! The man has a legendary campus reputation! Half the sorority row has a breathless story to tell about him! You literally had his contact saved in your phone as Walking STD for two months! And you’re trying to tell me he turned into a choir boy the second you climbed under his sheets?!"

"I’m telling you the truth, Pri," I laughed softly, tracing a loose thread on the duvet. "He didn’t push. Not even once."

"Well, damn," Priya murmured, completely stunned. "Either you broke the hockey captain’s brain, or he’s genuinely, hopelessly down bad for you."

"And what about you?" I asked, turning the tables with a wicked, teasing grin. "Did you use the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of an empty dorm room to finally get laid by Devon?"

There was a sudden, horrified silence on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of Priya choking on what sounded like an iced latte.

"Nora Bennett!" Priya gasped indignantly. "For your information, Devon and I engaged in mutually respectful, intellectually stimulating legal discourse."

"Uh-huh," I smirked. "On the futon?"

"Okay, fine! We made out until two in the morning and he gave me back massages while explaining tort law!" Priya confessed, groaning into the phone. "But my virtue remains intact, Bennett! Unlike yours, which is hanging by a single silver thread!"

Before I could fire back another tease, my phone let out a loud, high-pitched double chirp.

A notification banner popped up: Battery 2%. Connect Charger.

"Pri, my phone is about to die," I said quickly. "I’m at two percent and I need to juice it up a bit."

"Fine, fine! But you’re telling me everything over lunch at eleven-thirty!"

"Deal," I smiled. "See you in class."

I tapped the red button just as the screen went completely black.

"Great," I muttered to myself.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the mattress, my bare toes sank into the plush wool rug.

My canvas tote bag was leaning against the leg of Knox’s desk across the room. After rummaging through, my fingers finally wrapped around my white charging cord and adapter block.

Back by the bed, Knox’s tall mahogany nightstand was pushed against the dark grey wall, blocking the outlet.

Dropping to my knees on the soft rug, I leaned forward to peer into the shadowed gap between the side of the nightstand and the bed frame.

With one hand bracing against the floor, my other arm reached into the dark space, feeling along the wooden baseboard for the plastic socket.

My knuckles bumped against something hard and rectangular.

THUMP.

I paused.

"What is that?" I whispered.

I reached further under the nightstand, my fingers wrapping around the thick cardboard edges of a small shipping carton. It wasn’t pushed all the way to the back; it was sitting crooked, jammed halfway beneath the bottom shelf as if someone had dropped it by mistake.

I pulled it out to see it was a plain brown cardboard delivery box.

The top seam of heavy packing tape had already been freshly sliced open with a knife.

My eyes dropped to the white shipping label plastered across the front:

Recipient: Knox Sheridan

424 Oakwood, Room 2B (The SinBin)

Priority Rush Courier — Delivered: 8:15 AM Today

I blinked, staring at the label in sheer confusion.

Eight-fifteen AM today?

Knox had gone downstairs to start the coffee maker right around eight o’clock. When he had come back upstairs, he was standing awkwardly near the bed, looking flustered and guilty...

My heart did a strange, erratic flutter in my chest.

Slowly, carefully, I pulled back the brown cardboard flaps. Sitting nestled inside the carton was an elegant, blush-pink velvet box embossed with shimmering gold foil script:

The Rose Deluxe — Whisper-Quiet Precision Clitoral Stimulator.

The air was violently sucked right out of my lungs.

My jaw dropped open.

I froze on the rug, paralyzed, staring at the shimmering gold lettering as the entire universe screeched to a dead halt.

And then, like a lightning strike, the memory of last night crashed over me:

Lying in this exact bed... Knox gently smoothing my sweater down, pulling the brakes because I had tensed up... and my trembling voice whispering into the dark:

"I’ve actually never had an orgasm before, Knox. Not with an ex. Not with anyone. I don’t even know what it’s supposed to feel like."

My entire face flushed.

A breathless gasp escaped my lips as my hands began to tremble violently around the velvet box.

Did he... did he buy this for me?! Did he buy this because of what I told him last night?!

The pieces fell together in my head.

Knox lying awake in the dark. The priority rush courier arriving at eight in the morning. Knox bringing the package upstairs, slicing it open at his desk, and then frantically shoving it under the nightstand the second I woke up and yawned!

He ordered this at midnight.

He paid for same-day rush delivery to his own fraternity house, under his own name, just so I could have it.

A wave of emotion washed through my chest.

He hadn’t made a joke. He hadn’t judged me. He had listened to the most vulnerable secret I had ever confessed to another human being, and his immediate instinct was to secretly give me something safe, gentle, and completely mine.

I stared down at the blush-pink box, my pulse hammering so hard in my ears I could barely hear myself breathe.

What do I do?

Should I just put it back? Shove it back under the nightstand and pretend I never saw it?

My fingers tightened around the soft velvet.

Or... should I try it out?

The thought hit me like an electric shock, sending a sudden, liquid warmth straight down to the pit of my stomach.

I looked up at the quiet room.

The house was empty. The guys were gone. Knox had an emergency team film review at the arena and wouldn’t be back until eleven o’clock.

I had nearly two hours... alone... in his room... in his bed.

My throat went completely dry.

I stood up from the rug, my legs still shaky. Clutching the velvet box against Knox’s hoodie, I walked across the floor to the bedroom door, reached out with trembling fingers and twisted the knob until a CLICK echoed through the room.

The door was locked.

I leaned my forehead against the cool wood for three seconds, letting out a shaky breath, before turning back toward the bed.

Walking over to the mattress, I placed the velvet box on the dark grey sheets, and reached down to slip off Knox’s fleece sweatpants.

I left on his oversized number nineteen hoodie, the thick fleece falling loosely over my bare hips. I climbed onto the king-sized bed, kneeling on the mattress, and slowly lifted the lid.

Inside, nestled in custom molded satin, was a small, elegant rosebud made of silky, blush-pink silicone.

It was gorgeous.

My fingers trembled as I pressed the small gold button at the base. A quiet vibration hummed against my palm... gentle, yet it sent a sharp, thrilling shiver through my veins.

I crawled beneath the duvet, propping the pillows against the headboard, my breath catching in my throat as I parted my thighs on Knox Sheridan’s sheets.

My heart thudded wildly against my ribs as I looked down at the soft, pulsing rose in my trembling hand.

"Here goes nothing," I whispered.