Текст книги "Wait for You"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

Chapter 3

Sitting through a three hour long sociology class Tuesday night hadn’t been as bad as I thought it would be, but by the time class let out, I was starving. Before I headed back to my apartment, I stopped by the Sheetz—a convenience store/gas station we didn’t have in Texas—and got a MTO. A Made To Order salad, heavy on the fried chicken strips and ranch dressing.

Mmm. Healthy.

The parking lot was packed with cars, some even in the nearby field that butted up to west campus. It hadn’t been like this when I’d left for my evening class and I wondered what was going on. I managed to find a parking spot all the way near the main road and as I turned the ignition, my cell rattled in the cup holder.

I grinned when I saw it was a text from Jacob. We’d exchanged numbers earlier in class since he lived in one of the dorms.

Art sucks was all his text said.

Laughing, I sent him a quick text back about our homework, which was to identify what painting belonged to what era. Thank God for Google, because that was how I was completing the assignment.

Gathering up my bag and food, I climbed out of my car. The air was sticky and I lifted my hair off my neck, wishing I had pulled it up into a ponytail. The scent of autumn was in the air though and I was eager to see cooler weather. Maybe even snow in the winter. I headed across the brightly lit parking lot, toward the center cluster of apartments. I was on the top floor—the fifth—it seemed like a lot of students lived here and most hadn’t really started to arrive until today, but as soon as I stepped up on the sidewalk, I knew where all the cars were coming from.

Music thumped from somewhere inside my apartment building.  A lot of lights were on and I could pick up pieces of conversation as I headed up the stairs. On the fifth floor, I found the culprit. The apartment across the hall, two doors down, was throwing a party. The door was cracked open and light and music spilled into the open hallway.

A little bit of jealousy wiggled inside my chest as I unlocked my door. All the laughter, the noise, and the music sounded fun. It all seemed so normal, like something I should be doing, but parties….

Parties didn’t end well for me.

Closing my door behind me, I kicked off my shoes and dropped my bag on the couch. Furnishing this apartment had put a dent in my account, but I’d be here for four years and I figured I could sell it when I left or bring it with me.

And it was all my stuff. That meant a lot to me.

The party raged on across the hall, long after I finished my not-so healthy salad, changed into sleep shorts and a long sleeve shirt, and finished my art homework. It was just after midnight when I gave up on reading my English assignment and started back toward my bedroom.

But I stopped in the hallway, my toes curling into the carpet.

       A burst of muffled laughter rang out and I knew their door must’ve been open, because it sounded louder than before. I was frozen, worrying my lower lip. What if I opened the door and recognized someone from class? It was obviously a college kid throwing the party. Maybe I would know the person? So what if I did? Wasn’t like I was going to join in when I was braless, wearing my jammies, and rocking the messiest ponytail known to man.

I turned and flipped on the bathroom light, staring at my reflection. Scrubbed of all makeup, the freckles on the bridge of my nose stood way out and my face seemed more flushed than normal. I leaned against the sink my mom would’ve laughed at and pressed my face closer to the mirror.

With the exception of my reddish-brown hair that was from my father, I was the spitting image of my mom. Straight nose, rounded chin, and high cheekbones, with all the cosmetic help she’d had over the years to stay looking fresh, we looked more like sisters instead of mother and daughter.

Footsteps echoed out in the hall. More laughter.

I made a face at my reflection and pushed away from the mirror. Back in the hall, I told myself to go to sleep, but I found myself walking toward my front door. I had no idea what I was doing or why I was being so nosy, but everything sounded… warm and fun out there and everything in here was cold and boring.

Warm and fun?

I rolled my eyes. God, I sounded lame. It was cold in here because I had the central air cranked like a mother.

But I was at the door and there was nothing stopping me. Yanking it open, I peered out into the stairwell, seeing two heads disappear down the steps. The door to the party was still open, and I stood there, torn. This wasn’t home. No one was going to send me a scathing look or yell obscenities at me. If anything, they’d probably think I was some kind of freak just standing there, half out my door, all bug-eyed, and letting all the cold air out.

“Bring Raphael back!” exclaimed a familiar voice and a deep laugh that had my stomach dropping in stunned disbelief. “You fucktard!”

I recognized that voice! Oh my God…

It couldn’t be. I hadn’t seen the big ass silver truck outside, but then again, there were so many cars and it wasn’t like I was searching for his truck.

The door swung all the way open, and I froze as a guy stumbled out, laughing as he set a tortoise—what the fuck?—on the floor. The thing stuck its head out, looked around, and then disappeared into its shell.

 A second later, the guy who’d put the tortoise outside was pulled back into the apartment and Cam appeared in the doorway in all his shirtless glory. He reached down and scooped up the little green guy. “Sorry Raphael. My friends are complete, fucking….” He looked up.

I tried to jerk back inside, but it was too late.

Cam saw me.

“Assholes…” He did a double take. “What the…?”

Would dive bombing into my apartment seem weird? Yes—yes it would. So I went with a very lame, “Hey…”

Cam blinked several times, as if he sought to clear his vision. “Avery Morgansten? This is becoming a habit.”

“Yeah.” I forced myself to swallow. “It is.”

“Do you live here or are you visiting…?”

I cleared my throat as the tortoise’s legs started moving like it was trying to wiggle away. “I… I live here.”

“No shit?” Those baby blues widened and he swaggered around the railing. I couldn’t help but notice how his gym shorts hung way low on his narrow hips. Or his stomach. It was ripped, taking six pack into eight pack territory.  “You really live here?”

I forced my gaze up and got stock on the sun tattoo. “Yes. I really live here.”

“This is… I don’t even know.” He laughed again, and I met his stare. “Really crazy.”

“Why?” Besides the fact he was standing in my apartment hallway, shirtless and barefoot, holding a tortoise named Raphael?

“I live here.”

I gaped at him. The whole half naked thing sort of made sense now and I guess so did the tortoise, but it couldn’t be. Way too many coincidences. “You’re joking, right?”

“No. I’ve been living here for a while—like a couple of years with my roommate. You know, the fucktard who put poor Raphael outside.”

“Hey!” the guy yelled from inside their apartment. “I have a name.  It’s Señor Fucktard!”

 Cam laughed. “Anyway, did you move in over the weekend?”

I found myself nodding.

“Makes sense. I was back home, visiting the fam.” He shifted Raphael to his other hand, cradling the squirming thing to his chest. “Well, hell…”

I was gripping the door until my knuckles ached. “That’s… um, your tortoise?”

“Yeah.” A half grin appeared as he lifted the little guy. “Raphael meet Avery.”

Giving the tortoise a little wave, I kind of felt stupid afterward for doing so. It just stuck its head back in its green and brown shell. “That’s a very interesting pet.”

“And those are very interesting shorts.” His gaze dropped. “What are they?” Leaning forward his eyes narrowed, and I stiffened. “Pizza slices?”

Heat swamped my cheeks. “They’re ice cream cones.”

“Huh. I like them.” Straightening, his gaze drifted up me slowly, leaving an unfamiliar wake of heat behind.  “A lot.”

I immediately let go of the door and crossed my arms over my chest. The corner of his lips tipped up. My eyes narrowed. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

“It should. They have my seal of approval.” He bit down on his lower lip as his lashes lifted. Those eyes pierced mine. “I need to get Raphael back in his little habitat before he pees on my hand, which he’s bound to do, and that sucks.”

My lips twitched into a small grin. “I can imagine.”

“So, you should come over. The guys are about to leave, but I’m sure they’ll be around for a little longer. You can meet them.” He inched closer and lowered his voice. “They’re no way as interesting as I am, but they’re not bad.”

I glanced over his shoulder, part of me wanting one thing and the other half wanting nothing to do with any of this. That part won out. “Thanks, but I was heading to bed.”

“This early?”

“It has to be after midnight.”

His grin was spreading. “That’s still early.”

“Maybe to you.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I have cookies.”

“Cookies?” My brows rose.

“Yeah, and I made them. I’m quite the baker.”

 For some reason, I couldn’t picture that. “You baked cookies?”

“I bake a lot of things, and I’m sure you’re dying to know all about those things. But tonight, it was chocolate and walnut cookies. They are the shit if I do say so myself.”

“As great as that sounds, I’m going to have to pass.”

“Maybe later then?”

“Maybe.” Not likely. I stepped back, reaching for the door. “Well, it’s good seeing you again, Cameron.”

“Cam,” he corrected. “And hey, we didn’t almost run each other over. Look at us, changing up the pattern.”

“That’s a good thing.” I was back in my apartment and he was still in front of my door. “You should get back before Raphael pees on your hand.”

“Would be worth it,” he replied.

My brows knitted. “Why?”

He didn’t answer that, but he did start backing up. “If you change your mind, I’ll be up for a while.”

“I’m not going to. Goodnight, Cam.”

His eyes widened only a fraction of inch, but his grin slipped into a full smile, and my stomach sort of flopped, because his smile was wow. “See you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Astronomy class? Or are you skipping again?”

My cheeks heated all over again. God, I had almost forgotten about running away in front of him like a total idiot. “No,” I sighed. “I’ll be there.”

“Great.” He started backing up again. “Goodnight, Avery.”

Ducking behind the door, I closed it and then locked it. I swore I heard him chuckle, but I had to be crazy.

I stood there a few moments and then I whipped around and raced back to my bedroom. Diving under the covers, I rolled onto my stomach and shoved my face into a pillow.

Sleep. Just go to sleep.

Cam lived across the hall?

You need to get up early. Go to sleep. 

How in the world was that possible? He was everywhere I went.

Go to sleep. 

And why did he have a pet turtle and did he seriously name it after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because that was kind of funny.

Morning’s going to come soon.

Did he only wear a shirt during class? Oh my God, he seriously lived across the hall. Jacob was going to flip… and probably move in. That would be fun. I really liked Jacob, but I had a feeling he’d borrow my clothes.

Go the fuck to sleep. 

 I can’t believe the hot dude I ran into and then ran away from lived across the hall. I don’t even know why I cared. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t interested in guys or girls, but he was extraordinarily hot… and kind of funny… and kind of charming.

No. No. No. Stop thinking about him, because it was pointless and hopeless, so go to sleep.

Did I eat all that salad? Man, those cookies sound good right about now.

“Ugh!” I groaned into the pillow.

This crap went on for about an hour before I gave up and threw myself out of bed. Out in the living room, I didn’t hear any music or noise coming from Cam’s apartment. He was probably sleeping soundly while I was up obsessing over cookies and chicken tenders and ripped stomachs.

Stomping into the extra bedroom that had become more of a library/office, I powered on the laptop and brought up my email. There was one unread email in my inbox from my cousin. I deleted that without even opening it. On the left toolbar, I saw I had a couple of unread emails in my junk folder. Bored out of my mind, I clicked on the link and scanned the prescription drug offers, the “I have money in a foreign account” emails, and the notice that Bath and Bodyworks was having a sale. My eyes narrowed on the subject line of the one email that came in at around eleven last night.

It read AVERY MORGANSTEN and was from an email address I didn’t recognize.

Well, that was strange, because my email wasn’t set up under my real name, so it would be unlikely that it was a phishing scam. Only my parents and cousin had my email because, even though they had my telephone number, I’d rather have them contact me that way instead of calling, but no one else had it.

My finger hovered over the mouse pad. Unease rose as knots formed in my stomach. Tucking my legs against my chest, I told myself not to open it. To just delete it, but I clicked because I had to. It was like looking at a bad car accident alongside the road. You knew you shouldn’t, but you did.

I immediately wished I hadn’t. The knots in my stomach tightened and a lump formed in the back of my throat. Sick to my stomach, I pushed away from the desk and slammed the laptop shut. Standing in the middle of the room, I sucked in a deep breath and curled my hands into fists.

It was just three lines.

That was all.

Three lines erased thousands of miles.

Three lines ruined my entire night.

Three lines found me all the way in a little college town in West Virginia.

You’re nothing but a liar, Avery Morgansten. You’ll get yours in the end. And it won’t be in the form of money. 

Chapter 4

I dragged myself into astronomy class ten minutes early and picked what I believed to be an inconspicuous seat in the middle of the amphitheater style classroom. A few other students were already there, sitting up front. Yawning, I scooted down in my seat and rubbed my eyes. The gallon of coffee I drank this morning hadn’t done a thing for me given that I only had an hour of sleep.

Three little sentences.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I rested my head on my forearm. I didn’t want to think about the email or the fact that I had reopened my laptop and went into my trash folder to see what my cousin had said. His email had just been one giant bitchfest on how I was letting my parents down and how his were worried sick and afraid I was going to put Mom and Dad through another episode. You need to come home, he had written. It is the right thing to do. It was the right thing for them, and while my cousin sided with my parents and oh, about ninety-nine percent of the town, I doubted he had been behind the email.

The email address was unrecognizable to me, and while there were a lot of people that it could’ve come from, I really didn’t know who it was. It couldn’t be him because even he wasn’t that stupid to try to contact me.

Or was he?

A shudder rolled down my spine. What if it had been Blaine? What if he found out where I moved to? My family wouldn’t have told him. Then again, they could’ve told his parents because they were, after all, country club pals. I was going to murder them if they did. Seriously. Catch the next flight to Texas and murder them, because the whole point of coming here was to get away from—

“Morning, sweetheart,” came a deep voice.

I jerked my head up and twisted in my seat. Surprised into speechlessness, I watched Cam slide into the empty seat next to me. I was a little slow on the uptake because I knew I should’ve said the seat was taken or tell him to move, but all I could do was stare.

He settled back, looking at me sideways. “You look a little rough this morning.”

And he looked remarkably refreshed for someone who had been partying last night. Hair damp and all over the place, eyes bright. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Glad to see you make it to class this time.” He paused, tilting his head back against the seat and kicking his feet up on the seat in front of us, his eyes on me. “Though, I kind of missed the whole running into each other thing. Provided a lot of excitement.”

“I don’t miss that,” I admitted, bending over and rummaging through my bag for my notebook. “That was really embarrassing.”

“It shouldn’t have been.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re the one who got plowed. I was doing the plowing.”

Cam’s mouth opened. Oh my God, did I really just say that? I had. Flushing to the roots of my hair, I flipped open my notebook.

“Raphael is doing great, by the way.”

A relieved grin snuck out. “That’s good to hear. Did he pee on your hand?”

“No, but it was a close call. Brought you something.”

“Turtle pee?”

Cam laughed and shook his head as he reached into his backpack. “Sorry to let you down, but no.” He pulled out papers stapled together. “It’s a syllabus. I know. Thrilling shit right here, but figured since you didn’t come to class on Monday, you’d need one, so I got it from the Professor.”

“Thank you.” I took the paper from him, somewhat shocked by the act. “That was really thoughtful.”

“Well, prepare yourself. I am all kinds of thoughtful this week. I brought you something else.”

I bit down on the edge of my pen as he rooted around and took the moment to openly gawk at him without him knowing. It really had been a long time since I held a conversation with the opposite sex that wasn’t related to me, but from all the people watching I’d done over the years, I thought I was handling this well. Besides the plowing comment, I was sort of proud of myself.

Cam pulled out a napkin and unfolded it with long fingers. “Cookie for you. Cookie for me.”

Removing the pen from my mouth, I shook my head. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s just a cookie, sweetheart.”

I shook my head again, because it just didn’t make sense to me. Cam didn’t make sense to me. Hell, most people didn’t make sense to me.

He looked up through those impossibly long lashes and sighed. Tearing the napkin in half, he folded up one of the cookies and then dropped it in my lap. “I know they say you shouldn’t take candy from strangers, but it’s a cookie and not candy and technically, I’m not a stranger.”

I swallowed.

Cam took a bite of his cookie and closed his eyes. A deep sound emanated from his throat—a growl of pleasure. My heart jumped and my cheeks heated even more as I stared at him. He made the sound again, and my mouth dropped open. A row down, a girl turned in her seat, her eyes clouded over.

“Is it really that good?” I asked, glancing down at the cookie in my lap.

“Oh, yeah, this is the shit. I told you that last night. Be better if I had some milk.” He took another bite. “Mmm, milk.”

 I dared another peek at him and he looked like he was on the verge of having an orgasm or something.

One eye opened. “It’s the combination of walnut and chocolate. You mix that together and it’s like an explosion of sex in your mouth, but not as messy. The only thing better would be those teeny tiny Reese’s Cups. When the dough is warm, you plop those suckers in…. Anyway, you just need to try it. Take a small bite.”

Oh, what the hell? It was just a cookie, not a crack pipe. I was being stupid. I unfolded the napkin and took a bite. The cookie practically melted in my mouth.

“Good?” Cam said. “Right?”

I took another bite and nodded.

“Well, I have a whole ton of them at home.” He stretched as he rolled up his napkin. “Just saying.”

Finishing off the cookie, I had to admit that it was a pretty damn good cookie. Wiping off my fingers, I started to roll up the napkin, but Cam reached over and took it from me. He twisted a bit in his seat, causing his knee to brush my leg.

“Crumb,” he said.

“What?”

A slight grin appeared on his face and then he reached out, without the napkin, and before I knew what he was doing, he smoothed his thumb over my bottom lip. Every single muscle in my body locked up and became painfully tense. My eyes widened and the air caught in my throat.  The touch was slight, barely anything, but I felt it in several parts of my body.

“Got it.” His grin spread.

My lip still tingled. That was all I could think about. I didn’t move, not until the door at the front of the classroom opened and the strangest man I’d ever seen rolled in. Dressed head to toe in olive green polyester, the man had thick, curly hair that went in every which direction, peppered black and gray. His glasses were huge, resting on the tip of his nose. As he crossed the main stage, I noticed he was wearing a pair of checkered Vans… that matched his bow tie.

Cam chuckled softly. “Professor Drage is a very… unique man.”

“I can see,” I murmured.

Professor Drage had an accent I couldn’t quite place, but based on his olive skin tone, I was going with Mediterranean or Middle Eastern. He launched right into the topic—no roll call or warning. I scrambled to catch up to his introduction to the field of astronomy and units and measurement while Cam scooted even further down in his seat and opened his notebook. His pen was making quick, short strokes over the paper, but he wasn’t taking notes.

He was drawing.

Cocking my head to the side, I tried to focus on what the hell an astronomical unit meant, which was some crazy number I couldn’t even begin to remember. Turned out to be the average distance the Earth orbits the sun. That was important because astronomical units were used to determine most distances in our solar system, but I found myself glancing at Cam’s notebook.

What the hell was he drawing?

“Now, most of you kiddos don’t care about astronomical units or have never really heard of them,” Professor Drage went on, passing the length of the stage. “What you are familiar with is the term ‘light year.’ Although, I doubt any of you really, truly understand what a light year is.”

I was pretty sure Cam was drawing Big Foot.

The lecture went on until Professor Drage suddenly changed gears at the end, catching me and everyone else besides Cam off guard, and started passing out star maps. “I know today is only Wednesday, but here is your first assignment for the weekend. Skies are supposed to be clear as a baby’s bottom on Saturday.”

“Clear as a baby’s bottom?” I muttered.

Cam chuckled.

“I want you to find the Corona Borealis in the sky—the actual real, honest to goodness, night sky,” Professor Drage explained, smiling as if he said something funny, but we all stared at him. “You won’t need a telescope. Use your eyes or glasses or contacts or whatever. You can view it either Friday or Saturday night, but the weather is looking sketchy on Friday, so choose wisely.”

“Wait,” someone from up front said. “How do you use this map?”

Cam handed me a map that had been passed down our row, along with several grid sheets.

Professor Drage stopped in front of the class. “You look at it.”

I bit back a laugh.

The student huffed. “I get that, but do we hold up to the sky or something?”

“Sure. You could do that. Or you could just look at each of the constellations, see what they look like and then use your own eyes and brains to find it in the sky.” The Professor paused. “Or use Google. I want all of you to start to get familiar with stargazing. You’re going to be doing a lot of that this semester and you’ll appreciate doing it now when it’s warm. So get with your partner and pick out a time. The grid will be turned back into me on Monday. That’s all for the day. Good luck and may the force of the universe be with you today.”

Several students laughed, but my stomach dropped out of my butt.

“Partner?” I said, voice low as I frantically looked around the classroom. Almost everyone was turned in their seat, talking to another person. “When did we pick partners?”

“On Monday,” Cam replied, closing his notebook and shoving it into his backpack. “You weren’t here.”

My heart thumped in my chest as I scooted to the edge of the seat. Shit. Professor Drage had already bounced from the room. Half the students were already out the door.

“Avery?”

How in the hell was I supposed to get a partner now? I really shouldn’t have run like a little baby on Monday. This was all my fault.

“Avery.”

Where was the Professor’s office? I was going to have to find the dude and explain I didn’t have a partner. I bet his office smelled weird, too, like moth balls.

“Avery.”

“What?” I snapped, turning to Cam. Why was he still sitting here staring at me?

His brows rose. “We’re partners.”

“Huh?”

“We. Are. Partners,” he repeated, and then sighed. “Apparently, Drage had the class pick their partners right at the beginning of class on Monday. I walked in afterward and at the end he told me to partner with anyone who joined the class on Wednesday or I’d be partnerless. And since I don’t like the idea of being partnerless, you and I are partners.”

I stared at him. “We have a choice to do this on our own?”

“Yeah, but who wants to go out staring at the sky at night by themselves?” He stood and slung his backpack over his shoulder as he started down the row.  “Anyway, I know a perfect place we can do our assignment. Has to be Saturday, because I have plans Friday.”

“Wait.” I stood, rushing after him. “I do.”

“You have plans on Saturday?” He frowned. “Well, I might—”

“No. I don’t have plans on Saturday, but we don’t have to be partners,” I explained. “I can do this by myself.”

He stopped so suddenly in front of the doors that I nearly had a repeat of Monday. “Why would you want to do all the assignments—and if you look at his class outline, there’s a lot—all by yourself?”

“Well, I don’t really want to.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the next. “But you don’t have to be my partner. I mean, you don’t owe me or anything.”

“I don’t get what you’re saying.” Cam tilted his head to the side.

“What I’m saying is that…” I trailed off. What the hell was I saying? The problem was I just didn’t get him—any of him. He didn’t know me. I didn’t know him and yet he was so… so friendly.  The next words just came out of my mouth. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

A brow rose. “Is that a serious question?”

“Yes.”

He stared at me a moment. “Alright, I guess I’m just a nice guy. And you’re obviously new—a freshman. You seemed to be a little out of it on Monday and then you ran off, wouldn’t even come into class and I—”

“I don’t want your pity.” I was horrified. He was being nice to me because he thought I was a freshman freak. Oh God, that was…

Cam frowned, and I mean really frowned. “You don’t have my pity, Avery. I’m just saying you seemed out of it on Monday and I figured we’d just be partners.” He stopped and his eyes narrowed. “I can see that you don’t believe me. Maybe it was the cookie? Well, you refused to taste my cookies last night and honestly, I was going to eat the other cookie, but you looked so tired and sad sitting there, I figured you needed the cookie more than I did.”

I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but there was a distinct gleam of amusement in his eyes.

“And you’re pretty,” he added.

I blinked “What?”

That frown had faded as he opened the door, ushering me out of the class and into the hall. “Do not tell me you don’t know you’re pretty. If so, I’m about to lose all faith in mankind. You don’t want to be responsible for that.”

“I know I’m pretty—I mean, that’s not what I meant.” God, I sounded vain. I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m ugly. That’s what—”

“Good. Now we’ve cleared that up. ” Tugging on my bag, he steered me toward the stairwell. “Watch the door. It can be tricky.”

I ignored that. “What does the whole pretty comment have to do with anything?”

“You asked why I’m so nice to you. It’s mutually beneficial.”

It sunk in and I stopped on the stair above him. “You’re nice to me because you think I’m pretty?”

“And because you have brown eyes. I’m a sucker for big old brown eyes.” He laughed. “I’m a shallow, shallow boy. Hey, it helps that you’re pretty. It brings out the nice guy in me. Makes me what to share my cookies with you.”

I stared at him. “So if I was ugly, you wouldn’t be nice to me?” Cam pivoted around, facing me. Even a whole step below, he was taller than me.  “I’d still be nice to you if you were ugly.”

“Okay.”

A wicked grin slipped over his full lips. He bent his head down and whispered, “I just wouldn’t offer you any cookies.”

 I folded my arms and tried to ignore the close proximity of our faces. “I’m beginning to think cookies is a code word for something else.”

“Maybe it is.” He tugged on my bag again as he took a confident step back, forcing me down another step. “And just think about it. If cookie was a code word, whatever it symbolizes, it’s been in your mouth, sweetheart.”

Part of me was slightly disturbed by that and the other part? A laugh bubbled up my throat and came out, sounding a bit hoarse. “You are really…”

“Amazing? Awesome?” He paused, brows raised. “Astonishing?”

“I was going to go with bizarre.”

“Well, hell, if I had feelings that might actually hurt.”

I grinned, falling into the easy banter with him. “I guess it’s a good thing that you don’t have feelings then, huh?”

“Guess so.” He went down a couple more steps and stopped on the landing. “You better hurry or you’re going to be late to your next class.”

Holy shit! He was right.

Cam laughed at my wide eyes and stepped out of my way as I charged down the steps. “Damn, if only you moved that fast for my cookies, I’d be a happy guy.”

“Shut up!” I tossed over my shoulder as I hit the next set of steps.

“Hey!” he yelled after me. “Don’t you want to know what cookies is a code word for?”

“No! Good God, no!”

His laughter followed me into the hall and all the way to my next class.