Your Gravity

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I loved Greg. He was family. But man, he had the tiniest bladder known to mankind. I knew he shouldn’t have had that second cup of coffee.

I pressed myself against the wall as crowds of students carrying books and backpacks passed. Most knew exactly where they were going. It was easy to pick out the college freshman. They all had that lost, deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, peering at room numbers as they walked down the hall.

Juggling my iced coffee in one hand and a campus map in the other, I searched for the chemistry building as I waited for Greg to come out of the men’s restroom. If he didn’t come out soon, we were going to be late, and I was going to be showing up to class drenched. What was with the lack of AC in this building? I was so sweaty, my sunglasses kept sliding down to the tip of my nose as I searched for the chemistry building.

The campus was huge. I flipped the map over. It took two sides of the large paper just to cover the entire campus. The paper rustled as I rotated it, trying to figure which way was up. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. And it didn’t help that being nervous made me clumsy.

There was a loud ripping sound and a portion of the map fluttered to the floor and disappeared into the crowd.

Great. Knowing my luck, that was the part that showed where the chemistry building was located.

Irritated, I pushed open the men’s restroom door open. We needed to go before I started freaking out again. If I had to have another panic attack, I preferred to do it in a much cooler building.

“Greg! Did you fall in or something? You better not be messing with your hair.”

“Excuse me, ma’am.” A guy wearing a cowboy hat and boots stood at the doorway.

Good Lord, we were so in Texas.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered as I stepped back into the crowded hallway. “Excuse me. Sorry, didn’t mean to whack you with my backpack.”

It seemed like the entire Texas State student body was walking down this hall. And of course, clumsy me made sure I bumped into every single one of them. A couple of students gave me a funny look. I didn’t blame them. It was a toss up what they were staring at—my sunburned face or the long stringy hair that kept falling over it.

Finding a corner with less student traffic, I plopped on the ground and dug into my backpack, taking out my iPod. I just needed to calm down and stop acting all McGrouchy. With earplugs securely in place and Sheryl Crow crooning in my ears, I took a deep breath and searched for a hair-tie so I could put up my hair.

Damn. No luck.

I pulled out a pencil and sighed. It would have to do. Placing the pencil in my mouth, I gathered my hair into a ponytail and attempted to twist it around my finger. Sweat rolled down my face as strands kept slipping.

“Thon of a ith!”

A girl with thick raven hair stopped in front of me and raised an eyebrow at my muffled curse.

I spat the pencil out of my mouth. “Sorry, not you.”

She shook her head and headed out of the building.

Way to go. My first day of college and I was already cussing out strangers.

Placing the pencil back in my mouth, I jerked my hair back, determined to get it to behave. With a quick twist, I jabbed the pencil through the bun and finally got it to hold.

“Yes!” Feeling much cooler, I tackled the map. After studying it for a few moments, I finally found the building.

On the opposite side of campus.

Crap!

I glanced down at my watch again.

Double crap! Class starts in five minutes.

I jumped to my feet, ready to march into the restroom and drag Greg out, when my face crashed into something hard.

And warm.

Covered with a crisp white shirt.

And smelling oh so sinfully good.

There was something about touching a six—no, eight-pack that shut down all sanity. If I had been thinking straight, or thinking at all, I would’ve stopped groping the man and apologized.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

We were caught in the center of a mass of students. They bumped against me, shoving me even closer to the buff stranger.

Then he touched me.

And there were fireworks and neon lights.

I was on fire with that simple touch, a stranger’s touch.

Yet, it felt so familiar.

His chest rumbled. A deep muffled voice snapped me back to reality. That’s when I felt something cold and wet.

And I remembered I was holding coffee.

Somewhere.

Slowly, I moved back. A dark coffee stain had spread across his pristine white shirt and charcoal gray tie. It was normal for a college student to wear a tie and shiny black shoes to class. Right?

Right???

Gulping, my eyes inched up from his shoes, pressed gray slacks, and white—though, now mostly coffee colored—shirt.

I paused, studying a clenched jaw lined with stubble, which at any other time I’d find incredibly sexy. I took a breath, bracing myself to look the man in the eye and apologize for the coffee spill and the groping. My breath hitched when I gazed into an exquisite pair of sapphire blue eyes.

Even in your darkest hour, I’ll be by your side, loving you.

The words echoed through my mind, seeming to come out of nowhere. A memory? Something I’d heard on the radio?

My pulse hammered in my ears, and it took everything I had not to lean into him and drown in those blue eyes. He seemed so familiar. I wracked my brain, wondering if I’d ever met him before. Maybe at one of my parents’ dinner parties? He was definitely not the type of man anyone could forget with those broad shoulders, rich brown hair, a stunningly handsome face, and perfectly shaped lips. Lips that were moving.

“What did you say?” I blinked, wondering why I couldn’t hear him.

He scowled, making his face look dangerous and sexy. The pull I felt toward him was unbelievable. I didn’t even know this man and already I was enraptured.

My eyes widened with surprise as he reached out to my face. The palm of his hand brushed against my cheek. His touch was lightning. A surge of electricity surged through my body. My heart went into double time as he leaned closer. I held my breath, afraid to move, as his lips drifted down to me. Piercing blue eyes mixed with flecks of gold held onto to mine. I was mesmerized.

There was a tug on my ears followed by a sudden whoosh as the earplugs plopped out.

“I said, you should watch where you’re going. You’re making me late.”

The sexy stranger stepped back, wiping wet hands on his slacks.

I blinked, confused. Had I lost my mind? Turn off the hormones and help the poor man.

I fumbled in my backpack, looking for something to help him clean up.

“I, uh, you’re shirt . . . my coffee . . . stain . . .”

“Very good. You’ve managed to identify key components to the consequences of your careless actions.”

Who in the hell did he think he was? I gritted my teeth. Hot or not, this butthead was pissing me off.

“Look, I’m sorry about the coffee. I know I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m running late and—”

“I don’t need nor do I want your apologies. You’re not the only one who has somewhere to be. Students.” Mr. Butthead shook his head mumbling as he marched down the hall.

Ugh! What a prick!

I looked down at the pale yellow blouse I’d carefully picked out for my first day of class. It was dotted with brown spots.

“Great. Just great. Stupid sexy guy with his stupid blue eyes.” I could go back home, change, and miss my first class, or just suck it up and run like hell across campus.

I glanced at my watch.

Run like hell it is.

I charged into the men’s restroom and found Greg staring at the mirror, arranging and rearranging each strand of his already perfectly coiffed hair.

“Hey!” he cried when I dragged him out. “I wasn’t done.”

“Yes, you are.”

“You may be okay with that big ass sunglasses, pencil bun thing you have going on, but some of us like to look our best. And what’s up with that big stain on your blouse. I don’t think I can be seen with someone so scruffy looking.” He flashed a teasing grin.

Growling, I rubbed my hands vigorously through his hair. “There. We match. Now run.”