Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(5)
Author: Molly McAdams

“You sure about that?” He tapped a finger on my arm that was now covered in goose bumps.

“Chase! Stop bugging her, go sit down.”

I blinked over to Breanna, remembering we were at a table with a group of other people. Chase sat a few seats away and I was grateful to be able to think clearly again. I looked around the table to see Chase’s four housemates, two other girls I knew to be girlfriends of Brad and Derek, with another girl I’d never seen before who was openly glaring at me. After shooting her a dark look I continued my inventory of the rest of the table, on the other side of Chase were two guys I had seen at the party, but didn’t know their names, and across from them was a pair of gray eyes smiling at me. I dropped my face to look down at my salad and counted to five before slowly lifting only my eyes to find him engaged in a conversation with Chase. Raising my head a little to get a better look, I took in his short buzzed hair, warm smile and single dimple on his right cheek as his laughter boomed across the table. His build was slightly bigger than Chase’s, and the way his shirt stretched across his chest and shoulders, I’d bet he was perfectly muscled. Dear God, and I’d thought Chase was the most attractive guy I’d ever seen. This guy was…just wow.

“See something you like?” Bree leaned into my side, looking down my line of sight.

“What? No.”

“Uh huh, that’s why you’re biting the crap out of your lip. He’s looking at you again.”

My head shot up, causing the mystery guy to smirk as his eyes met mine. I felt my cheeks start to burn and forced my head back down and towards Bree.

“How do we know he’s not looking at you?”

“Ha! I knew you were staring at him.” She grinned and took a massive bite of her burger.

“Wow, that’s attractive.”

She tried to talk around the mass in her mouth, “You’re just jealous you didn’t get one too.”

Looking down at my salad I grimaced. My stomach was flipping so much now I don’t think I could eat at all. “Do you know his name?” I whispered in her direction. Before she could answer, Drew interrupted.

“So Princess, how come we haven’t seen you lately? It’s been like two weeks, I feel so unloved.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him, “Oh I’m sorry, did your girlfriend deflate already?”

The entire table burst into laughter and Derek was slapping him on the back while trying to keep his drink from spewing out of his mouth and nose. A couple of the guys started making fun of “Mindy the doll”, and I was glad the attention was away from me.

Bree leaned back towards me and whispered, “His name’s Brandon, he lives with the guys too but he wasn’t at the party.”

“So you know him well?” I wanted to look at him so bad, but didn’t want to risk being caught staring again.

“Not really, he’s only a Junior, and he lived in the dorms last year. I just met him this week during lunch.”

“Only a Junior?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, the rest of the guys are Seniors.”

“Oh.” I looked up at her but gestured towards Brandon with my eyes, “Anything going on…?”

She smiled and nudged me before sitting up straight, “I’ve already got my eye on a couple other guys.”

I nodded remembering that she’d been talking about some guys in our dorm all week that she had classes with. Hearing my name, I glanced up to see Chase’s fork paused halfway to his mouth, his jaw set tight, and his eyes burning holes in Brandon who was talking with one of the guys across from him. When he was done killing him a million different ways, Chase’s eyes cut across to me and his entire face relaxed. He nodded slightly and resumed eating.

“Party tonight, you girls game?”

Bree snorted, “Seriously Zach? When have I ever not been there?”

“Princess?”

Bree answered for me, “Of course she’ll be there.” then she whispered to me, “It won’t be anything like the first one. There probably won’t even be twenty people there. They save the big parties for Friday nights.”

“Fine.” I grumbled.

“Looking forward to sharing my bed with you again, PG.”

I shot a hard look at Chase, heat flooding my cheeks. He was looking at Brandon with his head cocked the side, one eyebrow raised. I could even see the challenge in his stare.

“Thanks, but I’d rather share a bed with Drew’s blow-up doll.”

He turned his glare towards me to me and I struggled to keep my eyes narrowed at him. Is it bad that all I could think about was how his lips would feel on mine? Before I could think on it too much, the girl that had been glaring at me earlier moved around the table and sat on his lap, pressing her mouth to his neck before trailing her lips along his jaw. His hands instantly gripped her hips, but he never took his eyes off of mine.

“I’d be happy to share that bed with you Chase.” Her bubble gum voice made me want to gag. I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even sounded like that when I was five.

After she brought his mouth to hers, I spared a glance in Brandon’s direction to see him studying me. It wasn’t uncomfortable, and it didn’t last nearly as long as I would have liked it to, I could have sat there looking at him for hours. I wasn’t used to feeling anything for a guy, and now I couldn’t stop going back and forth between him and Chase. Butterflies in my stomach with one, and hot shivers with another. I almost laughed out loud when I realized how stupid it was to feel anything for Chase, his current position with the brunette proving why. Brandon on the other hand, I knew nothing about. Other than his laugh, I hadn’t even heard his voice. Ugh, I’m ridiculous, one guy is a whore, the other I haven’t even spoken to.

Saying goodbye to everyone, I picked up my bag and began walking away as a deep husky voice called my name. I didn’t stop walking, but looked over my shoulder in time to see Brandon walking around the table toward me, and Chase holding the brunette’s head away from his as he watched us, she just continued onto his neck.

Falling into step with me, he held out a hand, “We haven’t met yet, I’m Brandon Taylor.”

Dear Lord that voice could warm me on the coldest day of the year. “Harper Jackson, nice to meet you.”

He smiled as he held the door open for me, “You too. You seem to know the rest of the guys pretty well though we’re just meeting, they said you’re Bree’s roommate?”

“Uh, yeah. I am, but I don’t really know them well. I’ve only talked to them for a total of about ten minutes before today.”

“Really?” The corners of his mouth twitched up, “You seem to make quite an impression in a short amount of time then.”

“Oh I definitely made an impression with them.” I muttered.

He looked at me quizzically but I shook my head so he wouldn’t push it. We stopped walking when we got to the path that would take me to the dorms and him to his next class. I turned towards him and shamelessly took in his worn jeans resting low on his narrow h*ps and fitted black shirt before going back to his face. I hadn’t realized how tall he was when we were walking out, but he had to be at least a foot taller than me. His height and muscled body made me want to curl up in his arms, it looked like I’d fit perfectly there. I nervously bit my bottom lip while I watched his cloudy eyes slowly take in my small frame. It didn’t feel like the guys at the party, looking at me like I was something to eat. His eyes made me feel beautiful, and it thrilled me that they were on me. Thrilled me that they were on me? Get a grip Harper you just met him two seconds ago.

“Come on PG, let’s go.” Chase grabbed my arm and started dragging me away.

“Chase! Stop!” I yanked my arm out and shot him a dirty look. “What is your problem?”

“I’m taking you and Bree to the house, and you need to pack for the weekend so let’s go.” He grabbed for me again but I dodged his hand.

“The weekend, what?”

“You’re staying with me, go pack.”

I narrowed my eyes and started to turn towards Brandon, “Fine, hold on.”

“Harper.”

“Go away Chase, I’ll meet you in the room in a minute. Go find Bree.”

He moved to stand closer behind me so I just sighed and gave Brandon a lame smile. “Sorry, apparently I have to go. I’ll see you tonight?” I don’t know why I asked, he actually lived there.

A sexy smile lit up his face as his hand reached out to quickly brush against my arm, “See you then.” With a hard nod directed towards Chase, he turned and walked away.

I stalked past Chase and didn’t look back at him the entire way to my room. He stood in the doorway as Bree and I packed for the weekend, which made me uncomfortable because I couldn’t ask her which outfits I should wear. I threw in things she had gushed over at the mall, a few pairs of underwear, sleep shorts, make-up and all my bathroom supplies before finally saying anything to him.

“Why don’t you be a dear and carry this for me.” My tone was laced with anger, and he seemed to find it amusing.

I tried to squeeze by him but he caught me around my waist and pulled me close, his breath warm as he whispered in my ear, “Anything for you sweetheart.”

My heart pounded and my legs started to shake. I stayed in his arms a second too long and he noticed. I pushed him off me as soon as I saw that cocky smirk take over his face. “God you piss me off.”

“Whoa, whoa. Did you just say ‘piss’? I’m not sure if that’s PG approved.” He laughed when I glowered at him and stormed away towards the parking lot.

As soon as we got to the house, Bree was talking to some guy on her cell in Chase’s room which left me alone with Chase. Not wanting to deal with him, I grabbed the remote and spread out on the couch trying to find something other than him to hold my attention. I made it a point not to look in his direction again. Sighing, I flipped through the guide a few more times without finding anything interesting and just turned on the news. Sir would have been proud.

I hated that I knew Chase was looking at me, or where he was in the room. Why does my skin have to tingle over a guy like him? It’s not that I didn’t want it to, because to be honest, he’s all I could think about the last two weeks. But I’ve already heard all about his one-night-stand reputation from people at school, and from the stories his sister told me, I shouldn’t even want to be with someone like him. He was with different women all the time, I knew what happened in the café was completely normal and Bree said he hadn’t been in a relationship for four years because it “just isn’t his thing”. Apparently girls felt privileged to have been with him at all, I would hate to be anyone’s one nighter. He walked over to the couch and I tried to still my heart when he lifted up my legs and sat down, putting them back on his lap. No need to let him know how being near to him had me coming undone.

“So I see my sister is already influencing you poorly.”

Not like I expected a deep meaningful conversation, but I hadn’t been expecting that. “Do I even want to know what you’re talking about?”

“This.” He leaned over to touch just above my lips. Damn the stupid shivers that course through my body when he touches me.

“What, you don’t like it?”

“I never said that, it’s hot as hell.” He let his fingers trail across my jaw before sitting up with a smirk, “But I’m disappointed you’d let her start talking you into stuff already. Figured you weren’t one to give in to people like that.”