by Lucy Smoke
Yeah, I thought. That was what he was supposed to say. I hefted my bag up higher on my shoulder, opening my mouth to give him another out, but he stopped me before I could say anything.
“Hey, Cody, why don’t you take her bag and coat upstairs with you and I’ll bring her up to find you when we get done down here,” he suggested.
“It’s fine,” I said quickly, heat rising to my face. I was blushing—I swore to God, I was totally blushing. Blush was not a good look on me, but knowing that fact only seemed to make my face grow hotter. “I’m sure I can find the books on my own.” But Cody was already relieving me of my messenger bag. He winked as he swung it up and over his shoulder before booping me on the nose with a finger.
“Coat, please?” he asked, holding his other hand out.
I sighed and unzipped the heavy winter coat I’d needed when I thought I’d be walking over here. Passing it to him, I grabbed the hem of my sweater and pulled it slightly lower to cover my ass. Leggings were comfortable and when I’d expected to be alone in the library, I hadn’t cared, but right now, I was very much aware of how they clung to my ass.
“Let Darren help you,” he ordered, “and you can have some of Dex’s snacks.”
“But I…” I sighed, letting it go. There was no arguing with them. I was defeated. “Fine,” I grumbled.
“Don’t sound so put out,” Cody said with a grin. “We’ll see you in a little bit.” He winked once more and headed for the stairs, leaving me alone with one, insanely hot Darren Maverick.
2
“Okay, so what are you looking for?” Darren asked, bringing my attention back to him.
“Do you know if you have the complete works of American authors?” I inquired hesitantly.
Darren turned back to the circulation desk, flipping the monitor around and then the keyboard. His fingers flew over the keys at a lightning speed that I hadn’t expected. I found myself leaning forward to see if what he was typing was even readable—he didn’t even seem to be looking down.
Not only were the words he typed readable, but he popped open several search tabs and had a list pulled up within a couple of minutes. “Looks like there’s a full volume in reference,” he said, turning back to me with a smile. I blinked up at his face. “You won’t be able to check it out, but you can use it while you’re in the library.”
“That’s fine, I won’t need it after tonight anyway,” I said. “Where is it? I’ll just go grab it and head upstairs.”
He frowned at the screen before snatching a slip of scratch paper from a container next to his computer to scribble the title and a long number—reference number, I guessed—down. “It looks like it’s on one of the top shelves. You might not be able to reach it and I’ve already put up all of the step stools for the night. You’re in luck, though, it’s upstairs. I’ll take you.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—” I tried, but he waved me off.
“Please,” he said. “No one else is gonna come in tonight—you guys are the only people crazy enough to drive in this storm. I’m bored as hell down here. I just wanna go up and talk to the guys too.”
“Oh, well then, um … thanks,” I replied lamely. “And it’s not that I’m crazy, I just have incredibly bad luck.”
He grinned at the comment and stepped past me. I had to knock my head back a few inches just to look up at him. Jesus, he was tall. Much taller standing right next to me than he appeared on the football field. He towered over me as he led me toward the stairs and gestured for me to go ahead of him. Grabbing the railing, I ascended the steps one at a time. I looked back every so often and could have sworn that I caught him checking out my ass a couple times. We reached the landing on the second floor and he took the lead, leaving me to follow after him as he headed down the aisles of old texts.
The scent of wood and paper filled my nose. Every library smelled almost the same. No matter how new or old, they all had this antiquated feel. Even if the building was far newer than the books it housed, there was something about being surrounded by volumes of words written by and about people who had long passed that made me think of old spells. But now, as the snowstorm raged outside, the books weren’t my main focus. Instead, it was the man in front of me. Darren.
My smaller legs struggled to keep up, and by the time we reached the last row of shelves, I was panting. He slid between the shelves and browsed through the very top shelf, which was, in fact, almost two feet above my head. I sighed. It was a good thing he was so tall.
“Here it is.” Darren reached for the book just as I stopped at his side. His arm rose over my head so quickly, I didn’t see when he pulled the book out, or when it slipped out of his hand.
“Shit.” Darren’s hiss was followed by strong arms sliding around my waist. He yanked me back as several books fell from the top shelf, crashing down around us. I let out a startled yelp and ducked my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, half expecting to feel the hard thump of one of the old leather bound volumes to smack into the top of my head.
Several thuds were followed by a grunt, and after a few moments when I heard nothing more and didn’t feel anything on the top of my skull, I peeked my eyes open only then noticing that Darren was hunched over my smaller form. His hands remained around my waist, big and wide—hell, he damn near spanned the whole width of the small of my back with them.
What did his parents feed him as a baby? I wondered. Raw meat?
I stared up at Darren, horrified as he groaned and pressed his forehead against my shoulder, which in turn made me infinitely aware of all of the muscles he had suddenly up against my body. I froze for a beat before hesitantly reaching up and patting his back. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“My fucking head hurts,” he groaned again, pressing his hips forward in what I assumed was an unconscious movement. I swallowed roughly. “Those damn things are fucking heavy.” There was something else heavy too—him. My brain was short circuiting. I could feel how hard his abdomen was and his chest. My mouth felt suddenly dry. “Are you okay?” he asked. “They didn’t hit you, did they?”
When he pulled back a few inches away from my face, I struggled to keep from staring at his lips and failed. For such a big man, he had soft looking lips. His mouth was wide and when the corner curled up into a quirky grin, it made my heart beat faster in my chest—a feat I didn’t think was entirely possible, not with the way my heart was already threatening to leap out of my ribcage. I licked my bottom lip and noticed the way his eyes traveled there and stayed. My cheeks heated once more, the warmth crawling from my face down my neck and up into my hairline. I moved to jerk away, only to have him stop me before I hit the bookcase again and caused another mishap.
“Whoa,” he said. “I don’t want another avalanche on my head,” he chuckled before pulling away.
“I’m okay,” I managed to squeak out. “Thanks for … um … saving me.”
I stood there, shuffling my feet once more, unsure and half aroused. He moved so fast. One second he was casually reaching up for a book, the next he was half over me—his big body pressed tightly against mine and my heart nearly beating out of my chest. I felt my face throb with the burn of my blush as my embarrassment increased the longer he stared at me. Slowly, Darren leaned down and rifled through the books on the floor before selecting one of the larger ones.
“Here,” he said, handing it to me. “This one was for you before I almost got my ass handed to me by a bunch of books.” He smiled.
I chuckled lightly as I took it. “Thank you.” Our fingers brushed, and I gulped as electricity danced between us. He paused, his gaze darting up to mine before he released the book into my grasp.
“Give me a second to pick these up, and I’ll take you to the study room,” he said, turning back to the mess on the floor.
“Oh, no,” I replied, setting the book he handed me to the side. “Let me help.”
I bent over and began to gather the fallen books one by one. I was so concentrated on the task that I didn�
�t notice he had stopped, staring blatantly at my ass. Feeling the blush on my cheeks burn hotter, I shoved the books into his arms.
What are you doing, Jamie? I mentally slapped myself. Pay attention. You’re here to study, not ogle some footballer.
My inner voice had a great point, and yet, I couldn’t stop myself as I looked back at Darren with a wince. “I … um … I can’t reach,” I said lamely, grabbing my book and backing away, feeling self-conscious.
His eyes moved down my body. Sweat was collecting against my skin beneath the thick sweater I wore. Surely, he wasn’t checking me out. Then again, if trolls like my roommate could get decent looking guys to bone her in our room practically every night, then maybe he did think I was cute. Or at least, my butt was.
3
Darren finished putting the last of the books back on the shelves, and together we strode toward the stairwell, passing it and the row of windows that lined the wall above it. It looked pitch black out there in the night, with only the hint of white wisps of snow floating past the window followed by the pelting of sleet against the glass. We made our way toward the study rooms on the other side of the floor, Darren leading the way as I trailed behind him.
Once we reached the aisle of study rooms, I saw that, at the very end, a door had been left hanging ajar as light spilled from it into the rest of the upper floor. The closer we got, the louder the masculine voices from inside rose.
“You brought Jamie with you?” I heard an unfamiliar voice ask. “Jamie Houston?”
My feet stuttered to a stop. Who was that?
“Yeah,” I heard Cody reply.
“I’m so fucking jealous man,” the unknown man said. “You know how hot she is.”
“Is hotness all you think about?” Dex chastised the unknown man.
Leave it to Dex to be the voice of reason, I thought. That is, until he continued.
“Jamie is far more than a hot ass—though I won’t argue with you on that,” he continued. My eyes bulged and my jaw dropped. “Have you seen that girl in front of a classroom? She dominates presentations. She’s incredibly intelligent.”
Dexter Smythe thought I was smart? Holy shit. Wait, had he said my ass was hot too? Darren glanced back at me and grinned. At least someone thought this was amusing.
“Yeah, smart chicks are hot, too, I guess,” the unknown guy said before he started teasing Dex. “But you sound like you want her to dominate you, man.”
There was a muffled snort before Dex responded. “I don’t let women dominate me,” he said.
“So, you like to dominate them?”
“Always.”
Okay, that was definitely enough of that, I decided, stepping around Darren and into the doorway. Darren chuckled, the sound catching everyone’s attention. Three pairs of eyes suddenly turned my way—one honey brown, one dark blue, and another molten chocolate. There was a beat of silence as they all realized that we’d overheard them. Before anyone could say anything, however, Darren pushed against my shoulder lightly, and I stumbled into the study room, dropping my book on the end of the long table.
“Hey, Jamie,” Dex said as if they hadn’t just been talking about … well … me and um … how hot I was? Domination? I eyed him. Did he really think I was confident in a classroom? I always thought I sounded like a babbling, confused, idiot. It was at least good to know I had fooled someone into thinking I knew what I was doing in front of a classroom.
“Erm … uh … hi, Dex.” I stuttered out a greeting.
He smiled back, completely at ease.
“Hey, Jamie, I have your bag over here,” Cody called from the other side of the table.
“Oh, thanks.” I moved to squeeze by him and the wall and ended up in the seat between him and the unfamiliar guy with the chocolate eyes. I took a second to examine him, wondering why he seemed so familiar. I tried to work through a list of all of Winthrope’s athletes—it was humiliating to admit but Victoria had actually forced all of the girls who’d been hoping for a bid to memorize each of them. I knew him. His name was on the tip of my tongue.
Highlighted, blond locks hovered over his forehead and curled at the nape of his neck. Dark eyes above high cheekbones and a square, angular face drew my gaze down to his lush, full lips.
Holy damn … were guys supposed to have lips like that?
“You guys mind if I join you?” Darren asked, stepping in and closing the door behind him. “No one else will probably come in, and I’m bored as hell down there by myself.”
Across the table, Dex shrugged and Cody motioned for him to take a seat across from us. I reached into my messenger bag and withdrew my laptop—though I’d need to charge it before I used it—and the one textbook I’d brought—with the reference book, I wouldn’t need anything else. The bag that Cody had brought up was propped up on the table, gaping open with the contents strewn about. I caught sight of a red bag of Twizzlers.
“Cody,” I said quietly, trying not to draw attention to myself. The guy on my other side didn’t say anything, but I noted the way he tilted his head when I moved. “Can I have some of your Twizzlers?”
Cody grinned. “I told you that you could,” he reminded me. “Were you good for Darren?”
“What?” I stared at him, horrified. Why the hell did that sound so sexual?
Cody laughed. “I mean, did you let him help you?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. We got what I needed,” I said, gesturing to the reference book.
“Then dig in,” he replied, motioning for me to grab whatever I wanted from the bag. Unable to resist, I reached for the bag of deliciousness only to have it snatched out from beneath my groping fingers. I turned betrayed eyes on the stranger and narrowed my gaze. He was hot, but that was candy that had been promised to me and I would fight for it. Casual as you please, the bastard opened the bag and plucked one out before sticking it between his lips and smiling my way with a hint of teasing in his eyes.
“Taylor,” Darren said as he laughed openly, “give the girl her Twizzlers.”
“Donovan Taylor?” I asked with a gasp, recognizing him finally. “You’re Donovan Taylor?”
Oh, if Victoria knew I was here with not just Darren and Cody and Dex, but Donovan Taylor, she’d be fucking pissed. I was shocked it had taken me so long to recognize him. He was practically a celebrity on campus. Winthrope’s golden boy quarterback.
He grinned before passing over the bag. “The one and only, baby.”
“What are you still doing on campus?” I blurted. “I thought all football players had to finish their exams early because of—” I wracked my brain. I could have sworn that football players had a game or something like that during finals week. It’d been all over the school newspaper, every freaking bulletin board across campus, and in the gym.
Taylor smirked at me. “Not a big football fan, are you?” he asked. “Don’t really follow all the breaking news in school sports?”
“I’ve been studying a lot,” I admitted with a grimacing smile. At least he didn’t seem offended.
He shook his head. “No biggie. Most girls don’t care about it either way. The game they had us stay behind for was canceled because of the snowstorm. I’m from California, and all of the flights are on hold right now because of the storm. It’ll blow over eventually, but until then, I’m grounded.”
“No one can fly or play football, but I still have to work,” Darren grumbled from across the table as he took a notebook from Cody’s bag and a pen. He flipped it open and started drawing.
“What about your parents?” I asked, curious. “What about Christmas?”
“I’m an only child,” Taylor admitted with a shrug. “So Christmases now aren’t very elaborate anymore. It’s easier to just Skype with my parents on Christmas. They send me shit through the mail all the time anyway. It’s no biggie.”
“Man, why didn’t you say anything?” Cody spoke up. “You know you can come home with me. My mom would love to have another mouth to feed. That woman cooks enough
for a freaking herd anyway. Maybe this year we won’t have a month’s worth of leftovers.”
Laughing, Taylor shook his head. “Man, you know I’d eat you out of house and home. Last time your mom sent back food, I thought I was going to have to do extra hours in the gym. That woman can cook.”
Darren lifted his head and made a comment which in turn made Dex jump in. For the moment, though, I watched the four of them. It was kind of nice to see them up close and personal like this. Even though I was here to study, since the disaster of my first semester had practically admitted me into the social pariah kingdom, I hadn’t really been able to just hang out with anyone like this. It was sweet to see how the guys acted with each other.
As far as I knew, none of them were actually in a fraternity, and that had been the majority of my experience with Winthrope guys since I started school here. Some frat guys had been nice, but a whole lot of others had been nothing more than douchebags with one goal in mind—fucking every girl they could.
Even though I doubted I’d ever actually get to experience something like this first hand, college friendships and new connective experiences—because of Victoria I felt like I’d always be on the outside looking in—it was still kind of neat to at least be so close to watch it, to admire it. My chest squeezed. Even if that meant I could never have it myself.
I remembered the very day I’d realized that being in college wasn’t all I’d hoped it would be. It was the same day that my supposed friends had all cast me to the side.
“Did you hear what Victoria said?” I heard the whisper before I turned the corner and it wasn’t so much the words as it was the voice that made me pause. It was Kelina—one of the sorority’s upperclassmen, and not one I liked very much.
All of the girls in the sorority—even the ones who hadn’t yet received bids or completed their pledge yet—were considered sisters, but I did not consider her one. She was nice around the sorority mother, helpful and always smiling around the instructors—but as soon as someone with authority looked the other way, she became mean and catty. I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose. Of course she’d be the first one to learn of what happened.