PROLOGUE
LEO
I’ve wastedweeks and I’m running out of options. I should be satisfied with what I have, but I can’t resist looking for one more. Someone different from the other two. Someone even rarer.
I’ve combed everywhere on campus and in town. Searched crowds, clusters, and classrooms. Now I’m relegated to the fraternity houses.
I stand in the kitchen, ready to give up. It’s hot and loud and so crowded I can’t see anyone’s face for more than a second. Until I see hers. She’s beautiful, with bright blue eyes and long hair the color of sunlight. And she’s looking at me.
Notthroughme.Atme.
Someone passes in front of her, but she’s still there once he goes by. Still there gazing at me. Her lips part as if she’s about to speak. Or as if she’s about to smile.
The crowd swallows her again and even though I lean, dip, and stretch, I can’t see her. A good-looking, rangy guy appears, pushing through the bodies with a purpose. I keep my eyes on him, and a moment later, find her in his arms. He laughs and kisses her neck.She wobbles and tips back her beer, steadying herself with a tight grip on his sleeve.
He doesn’t see me. Very few people do. And the one woman who does probably wouldn’t be of any use to me. She may have sweet, alert eyes, but she’s unapproachable. Off-limits. She’s an A-list party girl and someone’s girlfriend.
I stay a while longer, hoping someone else might notice me. But instead of searching for new faces, my eyes keep straying to hers. Her boyfriend steers her backwards through the crowd, keeping her in the circle of his arms. When, without warning, she goes stock-still, his momentum nearly knocks them both to the ground. He nudges her but she’s frozen, eyes wide and mouth open. He smiles and cajoles, but she shakes her head, gazing at nothing. Her white-knuckled fingers dig into his arms and all the color has drained from her face.
Downstairs, someone screams.
CHAPTER ONE
In the glowof the light over the kitchen sink stands a guy I’ve never seen before. He isn’t drinking; he’s just leaning and watching, one elbow on the counter behind him. When he straightens, I realize he’s looking at me. Looking at me looking at him.
I like the way he looks. Short dark hair, full mouth, and dark brown eyes. It’s hard to tell from a few yards away, but I’m pretty sure those eyes are rimmed with thick, black lashes.
As a couple of big guys pass between us, I suck in a breath and chastise myself. My boyfriend is somewhere in this house and here I am, staring at some strange man’s eyes. I dare to glance at him again. He’s still watching me, and his eyes are so warm, so inviting, so…
Hands seize my waist and I whip around with a squeak.
“Hey, babe.” Zander pulls me in close and plants a wet kiss on my neck. He’s sweaty and smells like weed, but he’s gorgeous. He’s never not gorgeous. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I got you another beer.”
Taking the bottle, I ask, “Where’d you put the cooler?” Zander always keeps a special stash of beer tucked away for me so I don’t have to fight my way to the keg. He hides it in a new place eachtime the frat throws a party, even though he doesn’t need to. All the Omega Chi brothers know me, and they know that cooler’s mine. If they stole even one bottle, Zander would break it over their heads.
“Doesn’t matter.” He grins and watches me take a sip. “Haven’t I been keeping you supplied all night?”
I shrug. Zander has his tricks, his ways of making sure I don’t get too far out of his sight. It’s not me he doesn’t trust, he says, it’s other guys.
I don’t glance into the kitchen again and I don’t ask Zander if he knows the stranger leaning against the counter. The Omega Chi’s will welcome any girl to their parties. I’m used to seeing new female faces, each prettier than the last. But I’m not used to seeing unfamiliar men. Because of the frat’s unofficial sixty-forty, female-to-male policy, they rarely let unvetted guys in. If I point out Brown Eyes to Zander, there’s a good chance he’d escort him personally, and forcefully, out the side door.
Zander twists my hips with his big hands. “Let’s go downstairs.”
“I just got up here.”
“So?”
He leans in for a kiss, a kiss I’m about to return, when my heart suddenly freezes and drops to my toes. Fear closes in from all sides, like a gray fog threatening to envelop me. My head buzzes and my fingers go numb. I’m in my boyfriend’s arms, surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of drunk, happy people, but it feels as though I’m standing alone in a bleak hell-scape, awaiting a catastrophe.
“Betts?” Zander squeezes me. “C’mon, let’s go.”
My insides are twisted into knots. I shake my head and will myself to breathe. I focus on his lean body pushing against mine, on the hardwood floor under my feet, on the scrape of fabric on skin as people brush past me.
He sighs. “What are you all freaked out about now?”
“Huh, what? Oh, um, nothing.” I force a smile before he can rollhis eyes. No one appreciates it when I have one of these little “moments.”
You’re too sensitive.
