Suddenly, a hand came down on the frat boy’s wrist.
All of us looked up to find Collin Stevens standing beside me, wearing a dirty white T-shirt and baseball pants. His dark hair was wet, making his ice blue eyes even more piercing. But the scariest part was that he had his metal baseball bat leaning on his shoulder.
“Release her,” he growled.
“Stevens,” he chuckled, releasing me with a slight push that caused me to stumble.
Collin’s other hand landed on the small of my back, steadying me, the base of the bat now touching the bottom of my spine as the tip bounced against my ankles. “Sorry, man, I didn’t know you had claimed this one,” the asshole said, his eyes raking over my body.
“Keep your eyes on me, Rogers,” Collin said calmly as his hand lingered on my back.
It was all my brain could focus on, the fact that my body was on fire, that this was the first time he'd ever touched me. It felt intimate. It felt good to be protected. I looked up at him, his side profile tense as his jaw jumped, his eyes glaring down at the guy.
“Easy there, Stevens,” he chuckled. “We were just having some fun.”
Collin’s face broke into a smile—one that sent chills across my body. He slipped his hand from behind me and braced both on the table as he got into the asshole’s face, the bat hanging down, nearly touching the floor. “You touch her again, I’ll show you the meaning of fun,” he threatened, his voice low.
“Col,” I said, reaching for his shirt as my boss came around the corner. My fingers pulled on the end of his shirt, and even though they wanted to touch his skin, I didn’t push it. He rose up and pointed to the door.
“Fuck outta here.”
I guess his threat worked, because the three men scrambled and headed for the door. “They didn’t pay,” I said to his back.
“What did you call me?” he demanded, ignoring my statement. His voice was somewhat normal now, but it still had an edge.
“I said they didn’t—”
He whirled, those eyes meeting mine, robbing me of any air I had in my lungs. He was so beautiful. Painfully so.
“What did you call me, Karina?” he demanded, his eyes remained on my face.
Always just my face.
“Col,” I whispered. His brow furrowed in confusion, and in the moment, the cocky, tough baseball player was vulnerable.
“Why?” he pressed, his voice thick with confusion.
“Because I…”
I am helplessly in love with you, but I can’t tell you that because you are in love with Gwen Davenport. Not me. Never me.
He stepped closer to me, causing me to step back, my ass hitting the table.
“Because what, Karina?”
“You're my friend. I give everyone nicknames. Gwen is G, Haley is Hals, Kevin is Kev,” I explained.
He leaned in closer to me, tilting his head as his eyes bounced back and forth between mine. “And I’m Col?”
I nodded as my eyes dropped to his full lips. This man was beautiful. Surely, he was aware of that, right?
Two years of knowing him, and he never brought another girl around us. He was always pining after Gwen, as fruitless as that pursuit would be.
Those lips broke into a smile.
He never smiled like that.
“I like that, Karina,” he noted, his voice soft. I shuddered at the warmth of his breath caressing my cheek, my heart pounding in my chest. I wanted to kiss him, to tell him everything.
