Cori put her hand up to block them from her sight. “Just two hours ago they were screaming at each other,” she explained. “And now they’re apparently totally in love again. Which means I’m going to be stuck watching them make out all night.” She glanced over at them and shook her head. “In related news, I’m glad you’re here.”
I laughed. Yeah, I definitely liked her. She motioned for me to sit in a chair adjacent to the couch.
A hot guy with dark buzzed hair stuck his head in the room. “Hey, babe. There’s about twice the number of people we were expecting, so I’m going to have to be on fucking risk all night.”
Cori looked at him sympathetically. “Have fun with that.”
He just sighed and shook his head. “No one better punch any more holes in the goddamned wall. I just finished patching the last ones.” He glanced over at Brad and Amber. “I guess they made up,” he said drily.
“Yeah…” Cori gave them a sidelong glance. “Well, before you go, this is Bri, Josh’s friend. If you see him, can you tell him she’s here?”
“Sorry, I’m being an asshole.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Luke.” As I shook his hand, he said, “I haven’t seen Josh. Have you tried texting him?”
Cori picked up a phone that was sitting on the coffee table and held it up. “Here’s his phone.”
“I’ll find him,” Luke said simply, and disappeared.
“What’s risk?” I asked.
Cori looked at me with a huh? look, which disappeared as she realized what I was asking. “Risk management,” she said. “Basically, Luke keeps people from doing stupid stuff that might get the fraternity in trouble. It’s a sucky job, but he’s the best at it, so he always ends up doing it at parties, whether he’s officially assigned to it or not.”
I was kind of impressed. I had always thought fraternity parties were drunken free-for-alls, but it seemed there was actually a lot of planning, from the guy directing traffic to Luke trying to keep everyone safe.
“You made it!” Josh stood in the doorway, his expression a mix of bewilderment and amusement. He was dressed casually in jeans and an untucked polo shirt, but he’d actually shaved, and his sandy brown hair didn’t look like it had just been on a pillow five minutes before. He cleaned up well.
Really well.
Well enough that I found myself licking my lips and looking away guiltily, only to sneak another peak.
He’s a client. Hold it together, woman! “I’ve been here twenty minutes.”
He smirked. “Counting down already. Such a shame.” He picked up a DVD case from the TV console and flung it at Brad, hitting him in the back of the head. “Yo, dude. Stop sucking face.”
“What the hell, man?” Brad rubbed his head, and Amber giggled. “Do I ever throw objects at your head when you’re with a girl?”
“Because I take care of my business behind a locked door.”
“In that case, get out. All of you. I need to lock the door.”
Josh ignored him. “This is Brianna.”
“Bri, actually.”
Josh’s eyebrows shot up, and I felt a flash of guilt for not telling him earlier that I went by Bri and not Brianna.
Just as quickly, I pushed the guilt aside. It was stupid. We weren’t friends. Our relationship was professional. In all honesty, he probably should call me Ms. Welch.
Maybe if he did my thighs wouldn’t quiver when I looked at him.
Somehow I doubted that, though. Wishful thinking.
Brad looked over at me. “Hey. I’m Brad.”
“Yeah, I know. Cori introduced you while you were, um, busy.” I tried to cough to cover my laugh and failed miserably.
Before Brad could respond, Amber reached across him to hold her hand out. “It’s nice to meet you.”
I grabbed her hand in kind of an awkward holding-hands-shake thing.
“Well, now that everyone’s met,” Josh said, pulling up a rolling desk chair, “we can get this party started.”
I looked around, expecting everyone around me to get up, but they all stayed seated. “Isn’t the party, um, downstairs?”
Cori patted me on the knee. “You don’t want to go down there. Trust me.”
Now I was totally confused. Josh wanted me to come to the party, but we weren’t actually going to go to the party?
“Unless you want some freshman guy trying to hit on you.” Josh grinned.
“No, thank you,” I said. I would like to say been there, done that, but the truth was far from it. I was probably the most awkward freshman in the history of the university. It wasn’t until my junior year that I’d had my first date. Ever. I started dating Brett shortly thereafter.
A phone alarm sounded, and Brad cursed. “Damn. I have to do a driveway shift. I promised Hunter I’d cover for him. And of course the pansy ass picked a night where it’s like nine degrees out.”
He rifled through his closet, pulling out a fleece hoodie, a parka, gloves, a ski cap, and a scarf. As he started preparing to brave the cold, he said, “Babe, you want to keep me company?”
Amber shook her head with a “you’re crazy” expression on her face. “I love you, but not that much.”
“I don’t blame you.” He wrapped the scarf around his neck three times—it was an excessively long knitted scarf—and stalked out the door.
“How much you want to bet his mom made him that scarf?” Cori asked.
“She did,” Amber confirmed. “He got it for Christmas. And speaking of Mama Highland”—she went over to a desk and retrieved a plastic container—“here’s her latest batch of cookies.”
“I’ll take those.” Josh made a grab for the container, but Amber held them over her head, which wasn’t actually very high since she was so short. She waved her finger at him in no-no fashion and handed him a few cookies.
He stuck an entire cookie in his mouth and closed his eyes, sighing. “I dream about these cookies. These cookies are what got me through freshman year. I totally would’ve flunked out except then I’d have had to leave and miss the monthly shipment of cookies.”
“Get your fill now while you can then.” It was out of my mouth before I realized I was thinking it. I blushed.
Josh, Cori, and Amber looked a little stunned, exchanging looks with one another, and I wanted to crawl under the couch. I’d basically just insulted him to his face in front of his friends.
I started to backpedal ferociously. “What I meant was—”
The girls’ laughter cut me off. It wasn’t a nervous or uncomfortable laughter. It was full-out belly-hugging, tears-down-the-face convulsions.
My comment wasn’t even funny. It was kind of mean. I shot a guilty look at Josh, who just shrugged and continued stuffing his face with cookies.
“I knew I liked you,” Cori said when she finally managed to calm herself down. She wiped under her eyes with her fingertips, drying the remaining tears. “That’s the first time I’ve heard a girl tell him how it is. No offense, Josh.”
“None taken.”
“If I had known all it took was cookies to motivate you,” I said, “I would have baked you some weeks ago and saved myself a lot of trouble.”
“Truly, Josh severely lacks motivation. I’ll pitch in for the cookie baking,” Cori chimed in.
The smile remained on Josh’s face, but the muscle in his jaw twitched and his fingers tapped lightly on his knee, signs that he wasn’t as okay with this conversation as he’d have us believe. An image of him sitting in my cubicle with his head in his hands flashed through my mind. Guilt slammed into me. I’d started the conversation going in this direction. He might act like he didn’t care, but deep down he did. He might not have before, but he certainly did now.
“Actually,” I said, clearing my throat. “Josh just passed three exams with flying colors.”
I was totally breaking the confidentiality clause, but this was an extenuating circumstance.
Heck, Josh was an extenuating circumstance. I’d done almost nothing according to the book si
nce he’d walked into my cube. And maybe that was part of why he got under my skin—he was constantly pushing against my boundaries.
“Awesome!” Amber held out the cookie container. “Have another one.”
“I feel like this is somehow demeaning,” Josh said, taking a cookie, “but I just don’t care. These cookies are an addiction. Brad’s been holding out on me since we’re not roommates anymore.”
I took the cookie that Amber offered me, and I had to admit—it was amazing.
“Hey, what time is it?” Josh said suddenly, sitting up straight. “When does Brad’s shift end?”
“Um…” Amber pulled her phone out and glanced at it. “He’s almost done.”
“Damn.” Josh leaned back in the chair. “If I had more time, I’d run out and get some Chips Ahoy to put in that container after I eat them all.”
Amber secured the lid on the cookies and moved them out of Josh’s reach. “Brad would kill you.”
“It’d be worth it just to see the look on his face.”
“What would be worth it?” Brad was back, still bundled up.
“Nothing, man.”
“Yeah, right.” Brad yanked at the scarf, but it was tangled around his neck.
Amber stood and grabbed it. “Let me help you.”
“Actually, I was thinking of starting the bonfire,” he said.
Cori frowned. “Is that a good idea with all the randoms here?”
Josh stood. “It’ll be fine.”
Cori didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t protest again.
“Give us ten minutes,” he said. “It’ll be roaring by the time you get out there.”
“I guess you’re not doing a shift on risk tonight,” I said drily. I understood Cori’s concerns. A huge fire with a bunch of drunk people? Not the smartest of ideas.
“Nah. I never do risk. I’m the reason we need risk management.” Josh flashed a grin, then snagged a few beers out of the mini-fridge and left. Brad followed.
Amber and Cori just looked at each other and shook their heads.
“So how long have you known Josh?” Amber asked.
I shifted in my seat, smoothing my sweater dress over my tights. It sounded like Josh hadn’t told them our exact relationship, and I didn’t feel comfortable divulging that info. It wasn’t my secret to tell.
But they hadn’t asked how I knew him. They just asked how long.
“Since the first week of the semester,” I answered honestly.
Amber’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. That’s a long time. For Josh, I mean.”
“Huh,” I said, not sure what else to say. It seemed they had incorrectly assumed Josh and I were dating, and like an idiot, I hadn’t anticipated that anyone would think that.
Because it was just crazy. I mean, beyond crazy. Certifiably insane.
Me and Josh? No way, no how.
And it didn’t surprise me that Josh was a bit of a man-whore. He couldn’t even decide on a major, much less limit himself to one girl.
It doesn’t matter.
All the more reason to keep a professional distance from Josh. I wasn’t the fling sort. Not that he’d even want to have a fling with me.
Just stop thinking, Bri.
“And you’re not like his normal flav—”
“Girls,” Cori interrupted, shooting Amber a look. “And we mean that in a good way.”
“Yeah,” Amber agreed. “The other girls have been— Ouch!” Cori had poked her sharply in the side, giving her another look. “Let’s just say ‘not quality.’”
I looked back and forth between them, giving a wry smile. So Josh apparently had bad taste in women. I didn’t know quite what to think about that. Maybe him not wanting to date me was a compliment.
So why was I disappointed?
Good Lord, my thoughts are out of control. I needed to rein myself in.
“Sorry,” Cori said. “Amber’s letting the drinks talk.”
“That is true,” Amber said, putting her finger in the air to reiterate the point. “I quite possibly have had a few beverages.”
“But what she’s trying to say is that we like you. And we’re glad you’re with Josh.”
I sighed. I couldn’t let them think Josh and I were dating. That seemed even more wrong than telling them the truth.
And it would do me good to say the truth out loud. It seemed I needed to hear it just as much as they did.
“We’re not dating,” I said. “I’m actually his academic counselor.”
“Ohhhh.” Amber nodded like she totally understood, but the look on her face was contradictory.
“I didn’t realize he was on academic probation,” Cori said. “I’m not surprised—I mean, I love Josh. Don’t get me wrong. But he slacks off like no one I’ve ever met.” She paused. “Dang. I shouldn’t have made that comment earlier. I feel like a total bitch.”
I snorted. “If you’re a bitch, then I’m the queen bitch. I started that conversation.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it.” Amber waved her hand. “Josh never lets anything get to him.”
Cori and I exchanged a look, and I knew she was thinking what I was thinking—Josh was deeper than he appeared.
You could tell a lot about someone by the people they chose to surround themselves with. I hadn’t spent much time at all with Josh’s friends, but from my years in the foster system, I’d learned to size people up pretty quickly. And Josh’s friends were good people.
I was beginning to think I’d seriously misjudged him.
“Well, anyway, it’s too bad that you’re not dating,” Amber said, getting to her feet and slipping into her coat. “It’d be nice to add another quality female to the mix around here. We’re sorely outnumbered.”
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “Not gonna happen. We’re just…friends.”
Which was more than we even should be. I’d fulfill my promise about this party, and then I was redrawing the professional line.
I needed to put some healthy distance between us before I did something I would regret.
Chapter Eight
Josh
Derek threw another log on the fire, and ashes and sparks flew everywhere. “Yeah!” he yelled.
That dude was wasted. When did that happen? Wasn’t he just on driveway duty with Brad?
He pulled a silver flask out of his pocket and took a swig. Yup. That’ll do it.
Female voices drifted across the yard. Bri, Cori, and Amber were making their way over to the fire, so I set up the camp chairs I had pulled out of the shed.
Now that Bri was here, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. That bet seemed like a good idea at the time—then again, all my ideas seem good at the time, but I can most assuredly say that not all of them are. Dropping trou to run into the New River last March? Not such a good idea. True, it might have been the official first day of spring, but it sure as hell still felt like winter. Not to be graphic, but parts of me shriveled up so much I didn’t know if I’d ever see them again.
I almost hadn’t recognized her sitting in Brad’s room. She’d always been attractive with the potential for hotness—and the fineness of her ass was never in question—but tonight she blew me away. Her hair was in curls and pinned up at the sides, and her eyes…fuck me. They were bedroom eyes. When she’d looked at me with those eyes, and then those full lips…I almost lost my shit right there.
I was right. There was definitely more to this girl than met the eye. And I wanted to keep peeling those layers back until she was bare.
I put my hands on the back of a chair. “For you, my dear,” I said to Bri.
She gave me a small, tentative smile and sat. “Thanks.”
Yeah, definitely not sure what to do with her.
I had plenty of experience with girls, and I wasn’t shy, but Bri was different than most of the girls I’d dated.
Whoa. Hold up, hoss. You are not dating her.
Maybe that’s what made this so weird. Aside from Cori, who’d ha
d hands-off status since the moment Luke laid eyes on her, I’d never been friends with a girl.
Bri wasn’t really my friend, either, though. She was my academic counselor.
So how did one act while sitting next to his academic counselor at a fraternity party?
Hell if I knew. Because only a dumbass would invite his fucking counselor to a party. And then almost lose his shit over how fucking sexy she was.
Fuck me twice.
Bri subtly pulled her sleeve up and glanced at her watch.
“Counting down the minutes?” I asked with a smirk. I had to give it to her—she was true to her word. She came even though she obviously dreaded it.
I pushed down the disappointment. Was it that much of a chore for her to spend time with me?
“Actually, no,” she said, sounding a little surprised. “I can’t believe how fast time is flying. I’ve been here an hour already.”
“And what do you think?”
“Your friends seem really nice.”
“Does that surprise you?” I honestly wanted to know. Suddenly it mattered to me what she thought. Did she expect my friends to be total douchebags? Was that what she thought of me?
She was a lot different out of her office. Less high-and-mighty and more open, more vulnerable. Yes, she was uptight, but I was starting to think that was more of a defense mechanism than anything.
She was actually kind of shy. Color me surprised.
She hesitated. “No. Well, sort of.” She paused. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
“More about-to-flunk-out slackers?” I tilted my head back to drain the last of my beer, then crushed the can between my hands.
Bri didn’t say anything.
I sighed. “Sorry. I’m not trying to be an asshole. You just somehow bring it out in me.”
“Uh…thanks?”
“See? There it is again. Asshole.”
“You’re not an asshole.”
I looked over at her and snorted.
“Okay,” she admitted. “You can be a little bit of an asshole.”
“So, you’re admitting that I’m right?” I grinned.
She just laughed.
“That’s a nice sound,” I said. “You should laugh more often.”
The smile slowly fell off her face, and she cleared her throat.
Wanting More (Love on Campus #2) Page 7