Dire

“What?” She put a hand on her chest. “Of course not.”

“Oh? It wouldn’t be convenient for you if I were dating Roy?”

“Sure, it would be convenient to have an excuse to spend time with Tony, but that’s not why I want you to give Roy another chance. He’s a nice guy.”

“He is nice. He’s also intelligent and cute, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend four hours in a car with him.”

“Not when you can spend the same amount of time in a car with Gage.”

“Gage drives a truck.”

Genevieve sighed. “Same thing. My point is that you have no excuse to be sitting around pining over a guy when you have real, good options knocking down your door.”

I didn’t take the bait. I was too stressed out to get into a fight about my love life. “I’m taking a shower.” I walked over to my closet and pulled down my favorite pair of worn in jeans. I took a purple thermal shirt from my dresser. December in Boston was cold.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a cold shower.” Genevieve made no move to leave my room.

“I hadn’t even gotten to the good part in my dream, so a hot shower will be perfectly fine.”

“I’ll wait here.” She lay back on my bed. “We can walk over to the exam together.”

I hesitated with my hand on the door knob. “That sounds great, but please no more overanalyzing my choice of men. I need to keep my mind focused on the test.”

“You’re going to ace it. You know this stuff inside and out.”

“Let’s hope. I refuse to become the first member of my family not to get the Youngston Fellowship, and I need to ace calculus to get it.”

“You’ll ace it, but so what if you don’t get the fellowship? You’ll still get into grad school, and you’ll be able to do exactly what you want anyway.”

“You don’t know my parents.”

She sat up. “I’ve met them.”

“Meeting them is different than knowing them.”

“Yeah, but you said they wouldn’t mind you getting a ride home with Gage. That makes me question their sanity.” She laughed. “Ok, take that shower. We don’t have much time.”

“I wonder why not.”

“Don’t start. Your alarm would just be going off.”

As if to prove her point, the dinging of my alarm started. Genevieve turned it off, and I headed down the hall to the bathroom. Four hours in the car with Gage. I could hardly wait.

Chapter Two

Gage

“Do you want to get out of here?” A girl whose name I only vaguely remembered pushed a bunch of blond hair off her shoulder. She tilted her head slightly in order to reveal her neck to me. Whether she knew it or not, that was her subconscious way of telling me she was available and willing.

The problem with majoring in Psych, and having a mom who was a psychiatrist, is you noticed those things. You noticed when a girl was acting in the same way an animal would—showing she was submissive. Some guys might have found that a turn on, but I didn’t. Unfortunately that was about the only type of girl I tended to attract. The more challenging ones, the type that wouldn’t hand over control until I earned it, were harder to come by at Eastern U. Either that or they just weren’t interested in a guy like me.

“I’m good actually.” The party was boring, but I wasn’t in the mood to even consider taking the girl home. I was more concerned with how crappy my drive home would be the next day if the snow came early.

“Are you sure?” She put a hand on my forearm and leaned in. “We could be having a lot more fun somewhere else.”

“I’m leaving early tomorrow.” That was the lamest excuse in the book, but it was nicer than any other line I could come up with.

“Oh. Ok.” Her face fell as she released my arm. “See you around.” She walked off into the crowd. I was sure she’d find someone else to occupy her time. I didn’t delude myself into thinking I was anything special to a girl like that. I was a body with a dick and some muscles. She’d find a replacement easily.

Loud laughter had me flipping around. “Cold, man.” It was Josh, of course.

“Shut up. I don’t have to sleep with every girl that comes my way.”

“No, but that one was cute enough.” He gazed in the direction she’d disappeared. He was probably staring at her ass.

“I’m not interested.” I looked out at the falling snow again.

“You have messed up taste. You still haven’t even bagged that sexy nerd who is always hanging on to your every word.”

“Who, Mary Anne?” Sexy nerd was probably a good description for the girl. I’d have never thought that Mary Anne Andrews would ever earn the label sexy, but somehow in the months since showing up at school she’d become just that. I noticed her way more than I should have, and she’d even starred in a fantasy or two. Her older brother would have had my ass for even thinking about her that way.

Josh laughed. “So you admit she’s sexy.”

“She’s attractive, I’ve never denied that.”

“But, you’ve yet to tap that resource?”

“Tap that resource? That’s a pathetic one even for you.”

“You know what I mean. She’s from your hometown. If you had her as a friend with benefits you’d get some back home too.”

“Not going to happen. I’ve known her way too long, and it’s not like that with us.” Up until a few months ago I still thought about her as a little kid. That was definitely changing, but it didn’t change whether I was going to touch her.

“That’s the excuse you can use when you’re good friends, but you’re not good friends. There is no friendship to ruin.”

“There’s still plenty to ruin. But why the hell do you care?” Josh always had ulterior motives.

“I’m getting bored. She seems like a fun new challenge.”

I shook my head. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Why not? If you’re not interested, what does it matter if I want in?”

“Because she’s off limits.” Way off limits. I wasn’t sure where the strong protective instinct came from. As Josh pointed out, we weren’t close friends, but Mayville, our hometown, was small enough that you knew everybody. Add to it that I played football and basketball with her older brother, and it seemed natural enough.