“I don’t suppose that moron, Shaun, has replied yet,” she complained, using her fingerprint to log her into her account.
Her gaze flitted to the recent notifications, her heart missing a beat, as she had several new messages.“Maybe Shaun loves me after all.”
She laughed at the idea but couldn’t deny the fizz of excitement that the prospect elicited in her tummy.
She was young, intelligent, and reasonably attractive.Was a little male attention too much to ask for?She hoped the swine had replied, if for no other reason than so she could protract his misery before replying, but the fact she yearned for his focus still gnawed at her.
She was a capable woman.What should it matter what one lousy guy thought of her?She blew out a breath as she mused on the conundrum.Her head said she shouldn’t care, yet no matter how hard she tried, her heart craved the companionship.
And the sex.
She bit back on her grin as she imagined tumbling between the sheets with Shaun.She hadn’t yet experienced the pleasure, but the recent evening they’d spent together had seen them do everything but the dirty deed.Maybe his latest missive would be the first step toward tasting that final treat.
Finding her bag, she skimmed through the contents to ensure she had what she needed for her lectures before flicking into her messages.There, where Shaun’s groveling replies should have been, were two messages from a number she didn’t recognize.
Heart pounding, she opened the first.
Well, good morning.
That was quite a statement, Kristina.
Her throat dried as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.How could someone from a number she didn’t recognize know what her name was?
I would ask what your problem was,
But there’s really no need,
We both know his name, don’t we?
S.H.A.U.N.
Her head clouded with confusion.
Whoever it was couldn’t have known about him.Only her closest friends knew her true feelings about Shaun, and neither of them would be so cruel as to prank her that way.
Her hand trembled as she flicked into the second message, her pulse picking up its already elevated pace as she consumed the content.
I don’t mind being your sounding board,
But if you ever send me such a rude message again,
Then we’re going to have a problem.
Dread collected in the pit of her stomach, furling into a curling spiral of fear.Somehow, the stranger knew her name and who she’d been dating, and she couldn’t get past the undercurrent of menace in their tone.
‘We’re going to have a problem.’
Her already parched throat dried as she re-read the final line.That was definitely a threat, implying that she was going to be the one with the ‘problem’.
“What the hell?”
What could she have written to provoke such an intimidating reply from someone she didn’t even know?
“Oh my God.”She rubbed at her temples, her feet already retreating in the direction of her unmade bed as she devoured her original message.“Tell me I didn’t send this.”
Yet, as her calves hit the side of the bed and she collapsed down on it, a vague recollection of standing in the bathroom with her phone before she’d come to bed burst into her mind.She’d been drunk, angry with Shaun, and at herself for being so needy.In that emotional headspace, she’d found the flier she’d taken from the graduate noticeboard, and the rest was history.
“Oh, God.”
