“Not for the whole four hours,” she said, almost sounding embarrassed. “I went on a walk and then hung out at the library for a while.”
My thoughts got hung up on the word walk. “Wait, you’re telling me you went on a walk alone, at night, in the dark, in those shorts?”
Her knees were bent up, and I could see just how short her shorts were.
“What’s wrong with my shorts?” she asked, looking confused.
I nodded to where she was showing a lot of skin. “They’re short.”
Red bloomed on her cheeks, and she quickly straightened her legs out in front of her, resting them on the ground. “Oh, sorry.”
“No need to apologize. We’ve already covered how much I like your behind,” I said, hoping she could hear the playfulness in my voice.
Her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a little laugh. “Yes, you’ve definitely been forthcoming about that.”
I laughed. “How proper we are, using words likebehindandforthcoming.”
She laughed too. “It’s like we’ve stepped out of a Regency romance novel.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Romance?”
Cue her blushing cheeks again. “Uh, no,notromance. That’s not what I meant. There’s nothing romantic between us. I, uh, just meant that we sounded like people from the eighteen-hundreds, that’s all.” Her words came out in a rush, and watching her get so flustered had a smile tugging at my lips.
“Speaking of romance,” I said. “Why has your boyfriend not come to your rescue?”
She looked away from me and then down at her phone, saying quietly, “I can't reach him either. And he wasn’t at his apartment when I stopped by.”
My eyes widened. She couldn’t be serious. She hadn’t been able to get ahold of her boyfriend for the lastfourhours? Where the hell was he? It’s not like he had late classes or soccer practice. Which meant he was either hanging out with his friends ignoring her, or he was with another woman. Probably both. Gosh, he was such a jackass.
Instead of saying all that, I said, “Why don’t you come inside with me and wait for your roommate to come home?”
“That’s okay. I’m sure she’ll be home soon.”
“I wasn’t really asking you,” I told her. “It’s not safe or warm out here. I promise to keep comments about your behind to a minimum.”
“But how do I knowyou’resafe? We hardly know each other,” she countered. “I’ve heard rumors about you.”
Her response had me intrigued. Crossing my arms, I said, “And what kind of rumors would those be?”
She glanced at my biceps before answering. “That you sleep your way through campus.”
Ah, that rumor. “But is it really a rumor if it’s true?”
She looked taken aback at my question.
“The definition of a rumor is a story that’s talked about but isn’t sure to be true,” I continued. “The rumor you heard about me sleeping my way around campus sounds more like an exaggeration to me.”
“So it is true?”
“It’s true that I like to enjoy the company of women, but have I slept with every woman on campus? No.” I uncrossed my arms. “And I’ll have you know that women come on to me, not the other way around. So unless you are planning to throw yourself at me as soon as we get inside, you’ll be safe from any advances.”
She stood up. “I can definitely promise you I will not be throwing myself at you.”
“That’s a shame.”
She gave me a pointed look. “I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, a lousy one.”
