“How’s the tea?”
His voice interrupted my thoughts and I hurriedly swallowed a big gulp that burned my throat going down. “Very good, thanks,” I choked. “I feel bad you had to go to so much trouble to make it though. Sorry for being such a burden.”
“. . . Polite too.” He grinned. “Don’t worry about it. It was no trouble at all.” His demeanor was almost the opposite of what it had been at the lake—it was relaxed and warm now. But then again so was mine. The feeling of almost dying must be wearing off for both of us.
“Are you going to have some yourself?” I asked, uncomfortable with how he was just sitting there. Right there. Half naked in front of me with a ‘V’ shaped muscle around his pelvis tempting my eyes to look down to where the slanted lines met. Wasn’t he going to take his shower?
“Probably in a bit.”
Seeing him in no hurry to leave, I wracked my brain for a conversation topic. “So . . .” I looked down at the shirt I was wearing and pinched the lettering to try to end the silence. “Are you in the Air Force?”
He paused for a second longer than I was expecting. “No, I’m just a student. Senior, actually. You go to school here too?”
I nodded. “Yeah, sophomore.”
“Cool. So why did you come to campus so early?”
“I thought it’d be good to have some time by myself to prepare for the semester. You know, mentally prepare and all that.”
He nodded. “Alone time, yeah. Helps to work things out on your own sometimes. People can be stressful, especially at this school where people like to gossip. I swear it’s like every student’s minor here.”
I wondered if his comment was specifically directed toward me and my circumstances. Did he know who I was and my reputation? “Yeah, I’m not too interested in rumors. They’re often wrong anyway.” I shifted my legs and happened to briefly brush against his. I felt my ni**les tighten from the unintentional intimate contact.
His eyes narrowed and he glanced at the offending leg. He looked at me for a while, apparently deep in thought. When his eyes glanced down at my chest, I saw an intense flicker in those dark irises—or was it a spark? “Haven’t met anyone here who doesn’t like gossip,” he said smoothly. “You do know you’re at Arrowhart right? Gossip is big here. It’s only normal that you’d be interested.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. And boy did I know. “But maybe I’m not normal.”
The smile he gave had an edge to it that made me uncomfortable and aroused at the same time. “I’d say so as well. Seeing imaginary cats and falling into frozen lakes isn’t exactly normal,” he teased, before his voice lowered intimately. “But then again, normal’s boring.”
A heated ache moved through me. Was it my imagination or was he flirting with me? It didn’t seem like he realized who I was. I noticed again how unusually neat the place was. Did he have a girlfriend that cleaned for him? Or his mom? “So do you live here by yourself?” My voice came out huskier than I intended and I cleared my throat, hoping he didn’t notice.
He smiled. “Yeah, I get plenty of alone time here.”
I found that difficult to believe given his devilish good-looks. It would be easier for me to believe if he’d said he had a ticket system for girls lining up outside his apartment door. Maybe even a BYOC policy—Bring Your Own Condom. That could explain the contents of his bathroom trash.
I forced another gulp down my throat, uncomfortable with how being so near him made me restless. “What do you like to do in your alone time?”
“In my alone time?” He cocked a brow and looked at me with curiosity.
I glanced at his sculpted chest because I couldn’t help myself. “Yeah, like when no one’s around, just in private.” I was thinking about how I liked to mope and draw in my alone time and was hoping to find common ground between us. He probably didn’t sit on icy bridges in his alone time but maybe he did something relatable so I could convince him I wasn’t just some depressed girl trying to kill herself.
A glint in his eye, his grin widened. “What do I like to do in my alone time?” he repeated, suggestively. “Oh, just the usual stuff guys do when they’re by themselves. You know, normal stuff.”
Oh no. Was I flirting with him? I’d unintentionally said something that could’ve been interpreted as a reference to his mast***ation routine. God, how awkward. This was not my lucky day. I glanced at his towel and noticed a towering bulge that hadn’t been there before. My face flushed. Shit, did I do that?
I tightened my legs together in my seat and giggled nervously. “Cool. Um . . . you can go take your shower now, you know. I don’t want to be the reason you catch a cold.”
His brows narrowed. “You gonna be okay here?”
I took a sip of my tea and forced a slight smile. “I’m not going to off myself if that’s what you’re asking. Really, I’m okay.”
“I’m asking about your comfort.” His expression became serious and a quick glance at his crotch revealed the bulge had disappeared as mysteriously as it came. “We both just had a near-death experience. It’s normal to be shaken up. Hell, even I’m still a bit affected. It might help if we kept each other company, that’s all.”
His words sent a shiver down my spine, as if he had caressed me with his hands. He was too concerned about me, too caring. I pictured everything that could happen. The whirlwind romance, the heartbreak that would come afterwards. Guys as hot and flirty as him were always dangerous, and in my current state, getting my heart broken would shatter me. What I needed was a normal and boring return to campus, and Tattoos and Muscles was clearly going to be none of those things.
I put on a more convincing smile. “I’m more than comfortable. Thanks for saving me. Thanks for everything.”
His expression relaxed and he nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“Go take your shower, we’ll have plenty of time to chat afterwards,” I lied. “Can I watch TV?”
“Sure, the remote is on the coffee table.” He nodded slowly to himself, before seeming to make up his mind. Finally he got up and headed to the bathroom.
He got up and it took an extraordinary amount of effort on my part not to check out his butt as he strolled to the bathroom. I was sure it was divine anyway. After being so close to him, I felt like I needed another shower—a cold one.
Shaking my head from a stupor, I realized I definitely needed to get out of here.
After hearing him close the door, I turned on the TV, straining my ears to listen to what he was doing in the bathroom. The TV was on ESPN. I flipped a few channels until I reached one of those juicy daytime talk shows, waiting to hear him turn on the shower. As soon I heard the showerhead running, I stood up and placed the mug on his coffee table.
Then I went over to the kitchen counter and gathered my wet clothes. I tried to be silent, but when I slipped my feet into my wet boots, they squelched loudly on the carpet. Fortunately, the woman on TV screaming at her boyfriend about how he cheated on her with her own mother was loud enough to drown out the noise.
I was about to rush out the door when I realized that I’d be stealing his clothes. Frantically thinking of some quick way to repay him, I spotted his kitchen trash can and decided to take his trash out as a way of thanking him. It wasn’t a fair payback—he’d saved my life after all—but at least it was better than nothing. To appease my guilty conscience, I ended up taking his recyclables as well.