Chapter 3
Tanner
Four years ago
We watch each other from opposite sides of the elevator, her leaning against the railing with her hands behind her back, and me gripping into one of the pieces of her bed-frame, smiling every time she meets my eyes. She lets out a pretty laugh and moves over to the doors, giving me a couple of seconds to check her out from behind.
I mean, I’ve got eyes and she’s the hottest chick that I’ve ever seen, so as I reposition the wood in my palms I let my eyes trail over her perky cheeks.
She’s wearing leggings.
Grey ones.
I clear my throat.
Goddamn.
I’m almost at the end of my first week as a freshman at Carter U and after the fucking bender that the hockey team has taken us on I’ve been feeling worse for wear. I haven’t had a tonne of classes so it’s been mainly ice time and a couple of parties, because the guys on the team are dead-set on meeting every chick in Carter Ridge.
The problem with that for me?
I already know every chick in Carter Ridge.
God knows how but even the freshmen girls have caught wind of my reputation, which is not exactly ideal seeing as I was intending to make this year my fresh start.
At high school it was fine to fuck around – we all knew that soon we’d never have to see each other again, going to different colleges or moving halfway across the country. But now I’m at college, and I’m going to be here for four more years, so I don’t want every girl that I meet thinking that I want to fuck her brains out.
Like, if I met the right girl then, yeah, I’d want to fuck her brains out. But mindlessly hooking up isn’t what I’m after anymore.
When my dad met my mom he just knew that she was it for him and, even though I’ve never told the guys, that’s what I’ve always wanted for myself.
To fall and never get back up.
So it’s kind of hard to go along with the heartless player act on week one, when really to my core I’m a hopeless romantic.
The girl in front of me peeks back over her shoulder, and a small smile tugs at the corner of her mouth.
She’s fucking beautiful.
And from the innocent, curious way that she’s looking at me? I know one thing for certain.
This girl doesn’t have a clue who I am.
The elevator doors slide open and she sweeps to the right, cute nose high in the air as she makes her way to her room.
I breathe out a quiet laugh and follow right behind her.
She twizzles her key-ring around her fingers as we approach her door, and I stop behind her, waiting for her next move.
“So would it be okay if you actually… place the bed where I need it in my bedroom for me?” she asks nervously. “’Cause I mean, you obviously do not have to do that – I could always get Connell to help me when he gets home – but it would just be, like, really helpful if you did. But no pressure, obviously! I’ll understand if you don’t feel comfortable going into my bedroom. If you want to just drop them in the living area or whatever, then that would be totally cool, too.”
I stare down at her and try to breathe around the tightening in my chest.
Who the fuck is Connell?
I roll my shoulders, hands gripping harder into the wood. “I’ll drop them in your bedroom, as long as your boyfriend is okay with that.”
I mean, what kind of jackass leaves his gorgeous girlfriend to carry a fucking queen sized bed-frame up to their bedroom on her own anyway? And, while we’re on the topic, why didn’t he get her a king size?
“Boyfriend?” she asks, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. She watches me for one long moment before she purses her lips in a secretive smile. “Oh,” she breathes, drawing out the word. She unlocks her door and gently pushes it open. “Connell isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my brother.”
Wow, this bed-frame feels really light all of a sudden. I haul it higher in my arms and jerk my chin at her.
“Brother. Good.” Wait, what? “I mean, it’s good for you. To have a brother. Someone to look out for you.”
She smiles up at me like she thinks that I’m an idiot. Which I am.
“So he lives here with you?” I ask, watching her hips sway from side to side.
“He lives on the floor below this one,” she says casually, before suddenly stilling and giving me a cautious glance. “And there’s twenty-four hour surveillance in this building, by the way. Just so you know.”
It takes a couple of seconds before understanding dawns on me.
Awesome.
She thinks I’m a serial killer.
Wanting to amend that perception as quickly as fucking possible, I lean the first piece of bed-frame against the wall outside of her bedroom doorway and hastily fumble my wallet from my shorts, before holding it out to her.
She glances at it warily as she sets my cap on top of the wooden panel.
“I’ve got my driver’s licence and cards in here. You can snap a pic on your cell if you want, send it to your brother.”
Brother . Goddamn. I don’t think that I’ve ever been so happy to hear that a chick has a brother in my entire life.
“And, like, you can just hang onto this if you want, while I help you bring your stuff up here. I swear, I’m not trying to… my intentions aren’t…”
She raises an eyebrow and I breathe out a laugh, dropping my chin so that she hopefully can’t see how fucking red I’m turning. I mean, where the hell was I going with that? My intentions ? Who talks like that?
I do, apparently. Because I’m a fucking idiot.
“Sorry,” I rasp, gripping a hand around the back of my neck. I give her a sheepish grin. “I’ll just…” I place my wallet tentatively on the floor by her bedroom door and she laughs out loud, shaking her head as if I’m downright hopeless.
But she is still smiling.
“Wow, I thought that I was the crazy one,” she says, stepping around me while I’m still crouched by her door. My pulse hammers up to triple-time as she looks back at me from over her shoulder.
She crooks her finger at me to follow.
She doesn’t need to ask me twice.
I instantly rise to my full height and we’re out of the door in under six seconds, her petite frame barely an inch in front of mine, sashaying lazily down the corridor like she owns the joint. I can’t help but smirk down at her when she glances back at me again because she’s so effortlessly confident that it’s sexy as hell.
When we’re back inside the elevator, watching each other from our respective walls, she asks me, “So you’re going to help me bring all of the pieces up to my room? Is that what’s happening here?”
“That’s right.” I think for a moment and an even better idea comes to mind. “If you’ve got the tools on hand, I’ll build it for you.”
Her jaw drops open and she blinks up at me. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll build it for you. It’s heavy and it’ll need repositioning while it’s getting screwed, so I can take care of that for you.” I shake my head, my ears turning crimson. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”
It’ll need repositioning while it’s getting screwed? What the hell is wrong with me?
I definitely need to not say shit like that when I’m standing face to face with the prettiest girl that I’ve ever seen.
“That would be amazing,” she whispers, looking at me like I’m some sort of hero. The elevator drops to the first floor and the doors slide open. “If you really don’t mind… then yes, I would love you to help me build it.”
I jerk my chin at her and step out, grabbing the next piece of thick wooden panelling.
She watches me from the doors and a feeling that I haven’t felt before spreads through my chest.
She smiles up at me, biting her lip as I haul in the next piece.
Then I trudge back inside the elevator, wait for the doors to close, and give her a wink.
“Don’t mention it.”