5. Kirin #2
Then he’d sent a message or ten trying to hunt her down, but he didn’t know where she lived, if she had any friends on campus, or where she might spend her time.
Kelli smiled at him from behind the counter, and whenever he caught her looking his way, he smiled back, but his heart wasn’t in it.
He’d flirted plenty with the baristas at St. James Sweets.
Most of it was unintentional, but he was trying to tone it down now.
It felt like a step into dangerous territory after spending hours with Rose on Wednesday and obsessing over her messages—or lack thereof.
Kelli probably thought he was checking her out, given their history and how closely he was watching her every move as she worked, but he had noticed that hesitation when Rose had her drink the other day.
Something made her wary of accepting drinks.
He would not look away and tell Rose he’d watched it every second when he hadn’t.
The way her nose scrunched after the first few sips gave away her dislike of how sweet the Whole Latte Heartbreak was, especially when she later downed green tea like it was going out of style.
It was a stab in the dark, but black coffee was probably too bitter, so he’d altered this one to a combination of decaf coffee and sugar-free French vanilla syrup with so little chocolate it made him question his choice.
He’d texted her twice in the last hour, but they didn’t say “read,” so he couldn’t complain too much about being ignored.
Hoping to track her down with “busy” being the only clue, he’d gone to the training center first, dreading finding her in an ice bath or working out with those bruised ribs she tried to hide.
Then he stopped by St. James Sweets in hopes he’d find her in the booth they had occupied the other night.
It was a desperate move that proved to be in vain because she wasn’t there either.
There were a ton of places on campus for people to study, which he realized when he was walking around the training center like a tool was probably the translation for “busy.” Half of them didn’t seem like somewhere Rose would want to be because they were too busy or too public.
She probably liked to be somewhere quiet.
Kind of like a library.
He paused. He was an idiot. It was so obvious.
Kelli slid the drinks across the counter with a sultry smile, and all he offered her back was a distracted thank you, his attention already on getting to the library.
It took him two trips around the first floor to ensure he hadn’t somehow missed Rose. A few girls approached him, sliding their hands over his arm and ass. It didn’t have the same effect it usually did; for the first time, he wanted distance.
He was halfway around the second floor when he caught that distinct auburn bun bobbing to whatever playlist she was listening to.
He took a slow walk around the back stacks, walking by in the most obvious way he could to avoid sneaking up on her.
It earned a few sideways looks from everyone in the vicinity except Rose.
With a sigh, he gave up and went straight for the direct approach.
He flicked one of her over-ear headphones off on his way past her, then yanked the seat across from her out and dropped into it.
She jerked up, and he leaned across the table, placing her drink and the lunchbox between them. “You realize you’re impossible to track down, right?”
Rose tugged her headphones down and around her neck and leaned back, her arms crossed. “And yet, you found me.”
“I’m determined.” He grinned, and she huffed out a laugh.
Her body relaxed, a smirk tilting her full mouth. “We aren’t supposed to be talking.”
“You said you were busy tomorrow.” He grinned, enjoying the way her body seemed to respond every time he moved, as if a string linked them. “We can appear natural. Let’s talk about other stuff.”
“I have homework to do.”
“It’s week one of classes, Rose. I’ll bet you’re already weeks ahead.” The blush that warmed her cheeks told him he was right, even when she looked away and bit her lip. “Take an hour-long break, eat the food I brought you, and then I’ll leave if you want me to.”
Hope bloomed like a firework, streaking into the sky while she considered his proposition, bursting with bright light and a smattering of booms in his chest when she sighed and reached for the lunchbox.
A giddy sense of accomplishment overtook him when she took a lungful of the pizza scent and groaned a little.
“I ate from the same pizza, so if I get food poisoning tonight or tomorrow, you’ll have some forewarning.
Also, I watched Kelli make that drink from start to finish,” he explained as she took a big bite of one piece.
“I adjusted the Whole Latte Heartbreak—this one has less chocolate, more decaf coffee and some sugar-free syrup.”
Rose swallowed another bite of pizza, flipped through her planner, and then closed her notebooks and textbooks.
If he had to guess, she just needed to do something with her hands because he couldn’t seem to stop staring at her, and it made her uncomfortable.
That made him want to watch her more, to see what she’d do, how deep her blush could get, how much she’d fidget.
Kirin watched her as she eyed the coffee while she finished her first piece of pizza, curiosity brimming in her eyes. Slowly, she lifted the cup to her lips.
“So you do listen.” She took a sip, a grin lifting her mouth. “How unexpected.”
“I try my best,” Kirin said and watched her face carefully as she took another drink, her eyes closing as she hummed to herself and a euphoric look lit up her features.
He cleared his throat and swallowed, his mind dropping into the gutter at the thought of what she might look like when she orgasmed, which was probably not too far off from the look on her face now. It seemed wildly unfair that this woman got more and more beautiful every time he was near her.
“How many times did you get stopped on your way here?” she asked from behind her cup, her voice low enough he wondered if the question had come out before she could think better of it.
He liked it. The unguarded version of her he’d gotten glimpses of where she went with it was becoming his favorite Rose.
“More times than I wanted,” he admitted, and she dropped her eyes to her cup. “You up for some questions?”
A slow blink brought her amber eyes back to him.
She tugged her bun out and rubbed her fingers over the crown of her head like the weight had hurt her.
His attention was on the sheer mass of messy curls cascading over her shoulder.
His palms itched with the want to feel the weight.
He wondered how silky smooth it would be, if the frizz that surrounded her head like a halo felt like cotton candy, and whether his fingers would get tangled in it. “Sure.”
“Do you prefer the aisle, window, or middle seat on a plane?” he asked when she took a bite of her second piece of pizza. As she chewed, she threw him a lazy look that screamed, what kind of question is that?
“Wait, wait, let me guess,” he cut in as she chewed.
She waved her pizza at him in a go-on type of way as he considered.
“You’re tall, so I’ll bet the window makes you feel cramped. The middle seat sucks, which leaves the aisle.” He grinned, and she looked at him, her lips tilted in vague amusement. “Do you stretch your legs out? I’ll bet your knees get slammed with the cart like mine do.”
“Yep,” she answered between bites.
That had his head tilting. “The joys of being taller than average. What’s your dream car?”
“A seventies Bronco,” she answered easily, giving him another long look. “What car are you planning on buying with your signing bonus?”
Kirin crossed his arms and leaned onto the table. “Who said I was entering the draft?”
Rose gave him a bored look as she stuffed the last bite into her mouth. “You’re a little hard to ignore. ESPN loves showing your highlight reels. Everyone knows you’re entering the draft.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“I knew your name long before we crossed paths by the lake, Kirin. Even people at Westmont talk about Kirin Callaghan,” she murmured. The challenge in her tone had him wondering if she was daring him to ask about her time at Westmont.
Not a trap he was going to fall into. He’d tried to figure out why she thought he would put something in her drink last night, and she shut that down faster than he could blink.
There was a story there, one he wanted to figure out, but she didn’t trust him enough for it, and he wouldn’t push.
People prying into his life was one of his least favorite parts of being so good at football.
Subjecting someone else to it wasn’t on his radar.
“Who said I was planning on buying a car?”
“Doesn’t every rookie buy a shiny new car?” she asked, her lips tilting with a tease. “Probably some kind of inferiority complex.”
“My truck works fine,” he answered. Surprise crossed her features a second before her eyes dropped to the table as if she could see through why he had any reason to have an inferiority complex.
“Gotta pay off my mom’s mortgage, pay off the loans Laurel took out for college, and then pay for my brother’s schooling if he doesn’t get a scholarship. ”
“Are you close to your siblings?” she asked, and he sucked his bottom lip in, enjoying the curiosity all over her face and considering his response.
“Laurel and I are only a year apart. We’ve always been close and highly competitive with one another. She’s probably the reason I’m as good as I am, but we are both more protective over our younger brother than we are of each other.”
She sipped at her drink again, slouching in her chair as she kicked the chair beside his and propped her feet up. “How much younger is he?”
“Four years.” He grinned at the thought of his brother. “Evander has always been the wild child, reckless and curious to a fault.”