The Pass (Smart Jocks Book 5)

by Rebecca Jenshak

  He and Adam have been teammates and roommates since their freshmen year, so I’ve met him a few times over the years and he came home with Adam once last semester for a weekend.

  “Hey, Rhett, good to see you too.”

  He grins a little shyly.

  “Are we ready?” Adam asks. “I’m starving.”

  My dorm doesn’t have its own dining hall, so we cross the street to Freddy Dorm to eat. I follow Adam and Rhett inside, and we fall into the long line of people entering the dining hall, scanning their student ID cards as they go.

  The smell of burned toast hangs in the air as we shuffle inside the busy dining room. Rhett heads off at a near jog for food, but Adam hangs back with me. “Grab food and then meet us at the big table in the right corner. You can’t miss us.”

  With that, he rushes off too.

  I do a lap while I check out the food options. Five or six different stations are set up with varying breakfast foods ranging from yogurt to omelets and everything in between.

  I decide on waffles, get at the end of the line, and pick up a tray. The guy in front of me drums his fingers on the back of his tray impatiently. His fingers are long and strong-looking… somehow just really attractive. I let my gaze move up to his forearms and appreciate them in the same way. Tan and toned. The gray T-shirt he’s wearing hugs his back and the short sleeves are snug against his biceps. Muscular but not too beefy.

  When it’s finally his turn, he sets the tray down and grabs a plate. With his profile to me, I take in his straight nose and sharp cheekbones. Dark, messy hair that I have the ridiculous urge to run my fingers through, sticks up on his head.

  I think maybe I spent too many days in my dorm room crying over Bryan. I’m flat out gawking at this point, but it’s a little hard not to. This guy is attractive without even getting a front view. He has this whole look about him that feels like he didn’t bother glancing in the mirror this morning. Actually now that I think about it, it’s a little frustrating that I spent twenty minutes taming my hair while he rolled out of bed and managed to look like that.

  Damn. Welcome to Valley, Ginny.

  He proceeds to fill his plate with four waffles. These aren’t the size of the small, frozen waffles that you pop in the toaster, they are huge, bigger than my head waffles. He grabs a second plate and fills that one with bacon and eggs farther down the line. He glances between his plates and the food still left on the warmers ahead like he might not be finished.

  I chuckle and he glances back at me. My breath hitches when his blue eyes meet mine. Not blue, a thousand shades of blue. He gives me a sheepish smile.

  “Can you hand me another plate?” His deep voice washes over me, vibrating my insides. He’s a lot to take in, but I do, not able to stop myself. His hair isn’t only dark brown, it has hints of lighter strands too. It’s like no part of him could decide on being one thing and instead he’s made up of varying shades and depths.

  He has an athletic build, tall but not towering over me like Bryan did. My ex was six foot four, which made him a great height to see over a mass of bodies on the football field, but not so great for kissing without standing on my tiptoes. I’m standing here wondering if I could kiss this guy flat-footed.

  Aaand he asked me a question.

  “Are you serious?”

  He doesn’t bat an eye, so I grab another plate and hand it to him.

  “Thanks.”

  I fill my plate with one waffle like a reasonable human and continue to scoot down the line behind him. He’s added four pieces of toast and a handful of grape jelly packets to the third plate, and he’s still eyeing the food ahead of us.

  “Are you feeding a family of bears?”

  One side of his mouth pulls up. “Just one very hungry dude.”

  We reach the end of the line and he slows like he’s waiting for me. He eyes my tray. “Barely four hundred calories on that plate. How are you going to make it to lunch?”

  “Somehow I think I’ll manage.”

  We start walking, both in the same direction.

  “Are you following me?” I ask when we’ve walked shoulder to shoulder for three steps.

  “No. I think you’re following me.” We reach the table where Adam and Rhett are seated with a group of guys.

  “Yo, Heath!” one of the guys calls to him.

  It takes a couple of seconds for my brain to catch up.

  “You’re a hockey player?” I frown while I try to place him. I’ve only met a few of Adam’s teammates, but I’ve been to several games, so I’m surprised I don’t recognize him.

  His brows pull together studying me, maybe trying to place me as well. “Not a fan of hockey? I think you’re at the wrong table then.”

  Adam stands and puts a protective arm around my shoulders. “She’s not a fan of any men at the moment.”

  Kill me now.

  I stare down at my white tennis shoes as Adam introduces me. “Guys, this is my baby sister, Ginny. It’s her first day.”

  The group offers their hellos and grunts of acknowledgment. They’ve all got several plates of food in front of them like Heath and are shoveling it in like they haven’t eaten in days.

  I take a seat and so does Heath, across from me.

  “Did you come to the games last year?” he asks as he pours syrup over his waffles.

  “Yeah, a couple. Why?”

  “I don’t recall seeing you.”

  This makes me laugh. In a crowd of cheering fans, how could he possibly remember? “I don’t recall seeing you either.”

  He leans across the table with a cocky smirk. “I was the one doing all the scoring.”

  Continue reading Heath and Ginny’s story in Secret Puck.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks so much to everyone who has continued this journey with me. Last year I thought I was ready to say goodbye to the smart jocks, but Sydney and Shaw’s story wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote it! I hope you enjoyed going back to Valley and meeting some new characters, too. Will there be more? I’m not sure!

  Thanks to my beta readers Amber, Amy, Anelise, and Katie. I adore you girls.

  Thanks to Christine for keeping me organized, Jena for all the amazing graphic work, and Ellie for editing.