by Sarah Nego
Ryan made another face. “Have you been in the library study rooms?”
I shook my head.
“They’re the size of a shoebox, you can’t bring in any food or drinks, and they smell like a guys’ locker room.”
“Oh.” I mentally scanned the map of campus I’d memorized weeks ago. “We could probably find a quiet spot at the student union.”
It was Ryan’s turn to shake his head. “The student government brought in a band for Friday night. No way do we get anything done there. Give me your phone.”
Before I even thought to ask why, I was already handing it over. “What are you doing?”
“We can work at my house. My roommates will be out, so we don’t have to worry about anyone bothering us. Plus, we can order a pizza. Now you’ll have my number and address.”
My heart rate took off. No way. Working at his place … alone? But I didn’t really have any other ideas on where we could work. “I’m not sure that’s—”
Ryan handed my phone back and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “Lucinda, it’s my living room, not a sex dungeon. I promise to be on my very best behavior. Unless, of course, you don’t want me to behave.”
His eyes darkened, and my stomach simmered with a low heat that could bake me alive.
At the front of the room, Professor Ramirez clapped his hands again. “All right, people, let’s bring it back in.”
I gripped my phone tighter in my hand. My brain screamed at me. Bad idea. Bad idea. Really bad idea. But when I opened my mouth, my voice betrayed me. “Okay.”
Ryan nodded and smiled, pulling his book out of his bag. He didn’t move his desk back to its rightful spot where he was a good safe distance from me. The heat of him warmed the side of my face, and I knew I wasn’t going to catch any of what our professor said in class.
I unlocked my phone so I could start my recording app, but the screen opened to my contacts where Ryan had put in his information. My fingers fumbled, and I almost dropped my cell. I never dropped anything. Under Ryan’s name, where the record had a space for Company Name, Ryan had entered: Hot Soccer Guy, Inc. I let out a silent groan. I was so screwed.
Nineteen
Ryan
Friday
Crash took another slow sip of his beer, and I let out another internal scream. I’d been waiting on my roommates to head out to our favorite pool hall for the past half hour, and they didn’t seem any closer to getting the hell out of there. “Hey, shouldn’t you guys get going? You know how busy Pockets can get on a Friday if you don’t get there early?”
“Damn, VanKamp, don’t get your panties in a wad,” Crash said, tipping his bottle up and finally finishing his beer. “Can’t a guy have a drink?”
“Of course you can.” I rolled my eyes and took the empty bottle from him. “But I told you guys that my partner is coming over to work on our Spanish project.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve only reminded us a million times.” Scooter came out of the hallway, holding his keys. He came up behind me and leaned down so Crash wouldn’t hear his next words. “I’m curious why you’re trying so hard to get rid of us. I don’t recall you ever saying who your partner is.”
The doorbell rang, making my response impossible and unnecessary.
Before I could get to the door, Crash yelled out, “Come on in.”
The door creaked open, revealing a hesitant Luci. She was wearing jeans and a red t-shirt that read Guess what? with a picture underneath of an arrow pointing to a chicken’s butt. I let out a silent groan. This outfit was far more casual than the miniskirt she’d worn on Saturday. But somehow this was hotter. With more skin covered up, my imagination instantly went to what she would look like when I stripped those layers of clothes off her.
“Interesting,” Scooter whispered in my ear before walking over to where Crash had already jumped up to introduce himself.
Crash held out one hand, and when Luci offered hers, he lifted it and kissed the back of her knuckles. I’d never in my life wanted to punch someone more. “I’m Craig Crawford, but all my friends call me Crash. You can call me whatever you like.”
I swooped in and moved Crash back by his shoulders. “Okay, let’s give the lady some room.”
“Are you going to introduce us?” Scooter crossed his arms and perched on the back of the couch.
It was clear they weren’t going anywhere until I came clean.
“Guys, this is Luci. My Spanish partner.”
Luci smiled and gave them both a little wave. God, this girl was innocence personified, and all I could think about was getting her dirty. Fuck me.
“I’m Scooter.” My roommate introduced himself since clearly my brain was too busy thinking about kicking the guys out and stripping off all of Luci’s clothes. “You look really familiar.”
Scooter shot me a look, his eyebrows raised. He knew exactly who she was, and I was definitely going to hear about it later.
“I’m the new keeper for the soccer team.”
Crash let out a long whistle. “I didn’t know you had a death wish, VanKamp.” He turned to Luci. “Does the Princess of Darkness know you’re here?”
I grabbed his shoulders and gave him a not-so-gentle shove toward the door. The last person I wanted Luci thinking about was Vanessa. “Okay then, you guys have dinner to get to, so we’ll see you later.”
Scooter stepped in and led Crash out the door before he could dig me any deeper of a hole.
“Nice to meet you!” Luci called out before the door closed, finally leaving us alone.
I let out a sigh and led her over to our sad but comfy couch. “Sorry about those guys. They’re normally not… Well, no, I guess they’re always that weird. But we’ve been friends since freshman year, so I’m kinda stuck with them at this point.”
Luci sat down and shrugged. “They seemed harmless enough.”
“Did you find the house okay?” Really? That was the best I could come up with?
Luci nodded. “Yeah. I don’t have a car here, so I borrowed my roommate’s, and she has GPS.”
She stared at the plastic crates that served as our coffee table, and we sat in an awkward silence while I tried to figure out how to talk to her. I was worse than a pre-pubescent teen trying to talk to a girl for the first time. This wasn’t at all how I’d imagined our study session. Of course, my fantasy for what would happen that night was even less appropriate than what my roommates had pulled.
“So, I think you said something about pizza as part of your pitch to woo me over here.” She sat back and smiled. “Are you going to feed me?”
“Yes, pizza.” I grabbed my laptop and sank back onto the couch. I’d already pulled up the order site for the best pizza place in town. “What kind do you like?”
“Oh.” She picked at the sleeve of her shirt. “I’m good with whatever.”
“So am I, so why don’t you just tell me what you want.”
She glanced up, and our eyes met for the first time that night, my last words hanging in the air between us. Her face softened. Not anything drastic, but it was there in the line of her mouth and how her eyes glazed a bit. I set my laptop back on the table and scooted closer to her. I wasn’t going to miss another chance to kiss her.
But then Luci blinked, and that little trace of stress that seemed to live in the little crease between her brows was back again. “Pineapple and jalapeno.”
“What?” What did that have to do with kissing her?
“I like pineapple and jalapeno on my pizza.”
I froze. My torso was already leaning in toward her. I hadn’t even realized how close I was to closing that distance and kissing her, and she was thinking about pizza toppings.
“Right.” I grabbed my computer and then glanced up at her again. “Really?”
She shrugged. “I like the taste of the jalapenos, but I’m actually a bit of a wimp. The sweetness of the pineapple cuts it down enough to enjoy the flavor.”
Sweat heat. Just like Luci. She was all inn
ocent sunshine on the surface, but I’d gotten a sample of that heat during our one and only kiss. I was desperate for another taste.
I typed in the order and sent it off. By the time I was finished, Luci already had her notebook out and was ready to go.
“Okay, so have you thought about what country we should use for our project?”
“Um.” I scratched at the back of my neck and then shuffled through my bag in search of the assignment paper that Professor Ramirez handed out.
“Did you read the assignment?” she asked. Her smug smile should have warned me, but I’d already proved my inability to use my brain cells when it came to Luci.
“Of course.” I finally found the paper and pulled it out only to realize exactly why Luci was smiling at me. The whole damn thing was in Spanish. My head fell back against the couch, and I let out a groan.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” She nudged my foot, and I sat back up. “Lucky for you, your partner is a bit of a control freak. I’ve already translated the assignment and checked with Professor Ramirez to confirm I understood it.”
“Sweet Lucinda, you’re a goddess.” And I meant it. Luci was too good for me. Way out of my league. And it only made me want her more.
Luci launched into explaining the assignment. We had to pretend we were moving to a Latin American country and use real locations and facts about the country to establish a fictional life there, complete with a job, housing, and a monthly budget. I had no idea where to start, but Luci had a list of countries she’d done some preliminary research on.
“How does Bolivia sound? I thought we could stick with living in the capital since there’s probably more information on that city than some of the smaller ones.”
“Sure. What’s the capital?”
“La Paz.”
I typed in the name and clicked on the first link. “Oh, La Paz is a swanky restaurant down in Frederick. Do you think we would get bonus points if we went there and brought back a menu?” I clicked on the menu because it was right there, and I was hungry.
She frowned down at my spastic google search, and I could see the doubt written across her face. She was probably realizing what a crappy partner I would be.
“How about this?” she asked, laying a hand over mine to stop me from continuing my research rabbit hole. “I’ll cover housing and entertainment, and you can research jobs and transportation. Then I can combine them, and you can find images to go with our report. The assignment doesn’t specify that we need images, but I don’t think it would hurt.”
I let out a laugh. “Are you always so on top of things?”
Luci shrugged, but I didn’t miss the light blush coloring her neck. I also hadn’t missed the difference in her room between Erin’s messy bed and what had to have been Luci’s side. Her comforter had been tucked into the mattress, the dresser was clutter free, and the stack of books on her desk was piled in order of size, all the spines lined up and facing out. Luci was a bit of a control freak. I tucked away that extra little detail about her, thankful for another piece of the puzzle that made up who she was.
Luci pulled her computer out, so I sat back and got to work. We started out silently working side by side, looking up information and copying details into a document. But we could only go so far into the project before we realized we couldn’t work completely separate. I needed to know what neighborhood Luci chose for housing so I could figure out the best transportation option to work. And Luci needed to know what kind of salary she was working with to determine how much could be spent on entertainment.
We started out on opposite sides of the couch, but by the time we got to monthly utility costs, Luci’s hip was pressed against mine. Every time she leaned over to get a look at my computer, I got a fresh sniff of her. She smelled like grass and strawberries, and I’d officially decided strawberry was my new favorite scent.
Our search for the right bus route from our new apartment to our job at a local rubber plant was interrupted by the arrival of our pizza.
I set the greasy box on our makeshift table and grabbed a roll of paper towels from the floor next to the couch. “Let’s take a break for a minute and eat.”
Lucy nodded and set her notebook back in her bag. “Sure, we’ve made some good progress.”
We dug in, but I waited until Luci took her first bite. She bit into the cheesy goodness and closed her eyes before letting out a little moan. Shit. I set my piece back down. It was going to be impossible to eat while she sat next to me looking so sexy and making that noise.
She swallowed and opened her eyes. Her mouth dropped in a little frown. “You hate it, don’t you?”
“No, I’m sure it’s fine.” I glanced at the pizza and then back at Luci.
She set her piece down and wiped her hands on the paper towel. “Why aren’t you eating?”
“Will you go out with me?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
“What?” Luci’s voice was a soft whisper.
“I want to take you out sometime. On a real date.” I reached for her hand, but Luci pulled away, back to looking anywhere but at me.
“No.”
I let out a deep breath and counted to five so I didn’t say the first thing that came to my mind. Something along the lines of Vanessa being a demon birthed from hell and sent to this planet to eat my soul.
I reached for her hand again, and this time she didn’t pull away. I could work with that. “Look, I know Vanessa made this new rule, but the whole thing is crazy and—”
“It’s not just Vanessa.”
I squeezed her hand. It suddenly felt like everything was riding on getting a date with Luci. It didn’t make any sense, especially since the reality was I barely knew her. But my brain was convinced that going out with Luci was a need every bit as deep as water and air. “What is it?”
Luci stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans. “Pearson is the only school with a graphic design program that offered me a scholarship.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” I wasn’t at all following where this conversation was going.
“My soccer scholarship covers about half my tuition, and I’ve got an academic scholarship to cover another quarter. I’m stitching together the rest of it with loans, and it barely covers everything. I have three younger brothers at home, so getting help from my parents is out of the question.”
“But you don’t need their help. It’s all covered.”
She paced away from me and then spun around, her eyes pleading with me to understand. “Barely. My ability to stay here is like a house of cards. One bad bump and the whole thing comes crashing down. And that’s it. Without my scholarship, the only school I could come close to affording is State, and they don’t have a graphic design program.”
“I’ve seen you work, Luci. There aren’t going to be any bumps.”
She grabbed her notebook and shoved it into her bag. “No, there aren’t. I’ve got to keep up my grades and stay on the soccer team. I don’t have time to date anyone, and even if I did, it couldn’t be you because we both know Vanessa would do whatever she needed to get me off the team.”
I should have let her go and kept my distance. Luci clearly had enough on her plate without me adding to the mix. And, sure, she was hot in the most adorable girl-next-door kind of way, and there was definitely some chemistry between us, but I barely knew her. It shouldn’t be a big deal to let her go. But I couldn’t do it. I put a hand on her computer to stop her from packing it up.
“What about what you’re giving up?” I asked.
She pressed her lips into a thin line. “I’ve always had to make sacrifices.”
“But what if you didn’t have to?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“I did.” I jumped up and stood in front of her. “And I understand why you’re so focused. And I get that you’re going to have to work your ass off for the next four years.”
She threw her
hands up in the air. “Then you understand why I can’t go out with you.”
The movement exposed a tiny inch of skin between her jeans and t-shirt. I stepped in closer to her and wrapped my hands around her waist, laying claim to that little strip of silky, smooth skin. Luci sucked in a breath, and her eyes shot to mine.
“You’re amazing. Do you have any idea how long all of this research would have taken me by myself? But you showed up with a detailed game plan like it was no big deal.” I leaned in closer so my lips barely grazed her ear, and a tiny shiver ran through Luci’s body. “I’ve seen the way you take notes in class like Professor Ramirez is dishing out the meaning of life, and I have a feeling you’re just as laser focused with everything else in our life. I’m one-hundred-percent convinced that you could do anything you wanted to. But somehow you don’t think you’re capable of staying on top of your classes and going on a date with me.”
I’d almost said “dating me.” Because I was a goner who hadn’t even gotten her to agree to a first day and was already planning to make dates with her a regular thing.
I risked it and planted the barest kiss on her neck. “I think you’re more than up for the challenge.”
Luci let out a sigh that might have been angels singing. “What about Vanessa?”
I pulled back a bit so she could look into my eyes and see how serious I was. “Let me handle Vanessa. Say you’ll go out with me.”
She took a slight step back, but not far enough to break our contact.
“How about a deal?” I reluctantly let go of her waist and grabbed her hands. “If we get an A on this assignment, then you’ll know that you’ve got this whole house of cards glued down. And you can go out with me somewhere I know Vanessa will never hear about it.”
She tilted her head to the side and studied my face like it held some kind of magical solution. “And if we don’t get an A? And I mean a solid A. None of this A minus business.”
I let out a deep breath. “If we don’t get an A, then I swear on a stack of Pelé jerseys that I’ll never ask you out again.”