I looked over at Greg, who was fiddling with the radio and grumbling about missing his CD collection. For someone who wasn’t a morning person, he was way too animated as he flipped through one country music station after another.
“Uh! I can’t find a decent radio station. Oh well, when in Rome . . .” He threw up his hands and leaned back against his seat. He sang along with George Straight crooning, off-key of course, about all his exes living in Texas.
Giggling, I turned my attention back to the road and screeched to halt, narrowly missing the car stopped in front of us.
“Damn, woman. Can you get us to campus in one piece? I’m too young and cute to die.”
My heart pounded against my chest as I stared at the bridge in front us. Blurred images sputtered in and out of in my mind like static on TV: Dark, rolling clouds; birds; and tree branches whirling through the air.
Everything began to spin and dread washed over me. I gripped the steering wheel, gasping.
A loud honking shook me awake and the images disappeared.
“Wow! That looks like some accident.” He gazed out the window, seeming to not have noticed my mini panic attack. “Truck versus bridge. Looks like the truck won.”
Taking a deep breath, I gently pressed the accelerator. Every fiber in my being screamed to get out of there, but there was nowhere to go with the bridge down to only one lane.
My breath shook as we inched forward. I brushed my sweaty hands against my pants as I watched the tow truck pull the red truck from the edge of the bridge. Metal screeched as a guardrail broke apart and fell off the ledge, landing with a splash in the river below. A sudden burst of cold hit against my chest, and I bit down on my lip, holding back a scream.
Why was I freaking out?
The moment we crossed, I pressed my foot on the gas and zoomed past the cars in front of me, ignoring the angry honks and waving hand gestures.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” The beating of my heart slowed as the bridge disappeared from view. “I’m just hungry.”
He gave me a skeptical look. My stomach rumbled on cue.
“See?” I plastered on a fake smile. I rarely kept secrets from him, but this was just too weird. It was probably just nerves. I was sure once the first day of class jitters wore off, everything would be back to normal.
I hope.
Chapter Three
I loved Greg. He was family. But man, he had the tiniest bladder known to mankind. I knew he shouldn’t have had that second cup of coffee.
I pressed myself against the wall as crowds of students carrying books and backpacks passed. Most knew exactly where they were going. It was easy to pick out the college freshman. They all had that lost, deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, peering at room numbers as they walked down the hall.
Juggling my iced coffee in one hand and a campus map in the other, I searched for the chemistry building as I waited for Greg to come out of the men’s restroom. If he didn’t come out soon, we were going to be late, and I was going to be showing up to class drenched. What was with the lack of AC in this building? I was so sweaty, my sunglasses kept sliding down to the tip of my nose as I searched for the chemistry building.
The campus was huge. I flipped the map over. It took two sides of the large paper just to cover the entire campus. The paper rustled as I rotated it, trying to figure which way was up. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. And it didn’t help that being nervous made me clumsy.
There was a loud ripping sound and a portion of the map fluttered to the floor and disappeared into the crowd.
Great. Knowing my luck, that was the part that showed where the chemistry building was located.
Irritated, I pushed open the men’s restroom door open. We needed to go before I started freaking out again. If I had to have another panic attack, I preferred to do it in a much cooler building.
“Greg! Did you fall in or something? You better not be messing with your hair.”
“Excuse me, ma’am.” A guy wearing a cowboy hat and boots stood at the doorway.
Good Lord, we were so in Texas.
“Sorry about that,” I muttered as I stepped back into the crowded hallway. “Excuse me. Sorry, didn’t mean to whack you with my backpack.”
It seemed like the entire Texas State student body was walking down this hall. And of course, clumsy me made sure I bumped into every single one of them. A couple of students gave me a funny look. I didn’t blame them. It was a toss up what they were staring at—my sunburned face or the long stringy hair that kept falling over it.
Finding a corner with less student traffic, I plopped on the ground and dug into my backpack, taking out my iPod. I just needed to calm down and stop acting all McGrouchy. With earplugs securely in place and Sheryl Crow crooning in my ears, I took a deep breath and searched for a hair-tie so I could put up my hair.
Damn. No luck.
I pulled out a pencil and sighed. It would have to do. Placing the pencil in my mouth, I gathered my hair into a ponytail and attempted to twist it around my finger. Sweat rolled down my face as strands kept slipping.
“Thon of a ith!”
A girl with thick raven hair stopped in front of me and raised an eyebrow at my muffled curse.
I spat the pencil out of my mouth. “Sorry, not you.”
She shook her head and headed out of the building.
Way to go. My first day of college and I was already cussing out strangers.
Placing the pencil back in my mouth, I jerked my hair back, determined to get it to behave. With a quick twist, I jabbed the pencil through the bun and finally got it to hold.
“Yes!” Feeling much cooler, I tackled the map. After studying it for a few moments, I finally found the building.
On the opposite side of campus.
Crap!
I glanced down at my watch again.
Double crap! Class starts in five minutes.
I jumped to my feet, ready to march into the restroom and drag Greg out, when my face crashed into something hard.
And warm.
Covered with a crisp white shirt.
And smelling oh so sinfully good.
There was something about touching a six—no, eight-pack that shut down all sanity. If I had been thinking straight, or thinking at all, I would’ve stopped groping the man and apologized.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
We were caught in the center of a mass of students. They bumped against me, shoving me even closer to the buff stranger.
Then he touched me.
And there were fireworks and neon lights.
I was on fire with that simple touch, a stranger’s touch.
Yet, it felt so familiar.
His chest rumbled. A deep muffled voice snapped me back to reality. That’s when I felt something cold and wet.
And I remembered I was holding coffee.
Somewhere.
Slowly, I moved back. A dark coffee stain had spread across his pristine white shirt and charcoal gray tie. It was normal for a college student to wear a tie and shiny black shoes to class. Right?
Right???
Gulping, my eyes inched up from his shoes, pressed gray slacks, and white—though, now mostly coffee colored—shirt.
I paused, studying a clenched jaw lined with stubble, which at any other time I’d find incredibly sexy. I took a breath, bracing myself to look the man in the eye and apologize for the coffee spill and the groping. My breath hitched when I gazed into an exquisite pair of sapphire blue eyes.
Even in your darkest hour, I’ll be by your side, loving you.