Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(30)

Returning her attention to Logan, Paige watched him pause and simply study the lounging students with a wistful sort of smile. Then he glanced down at his pad, and the smile died. Scowling, he ripped the large sheet from the pad and tore it in half before chucking the paper into a nearby trashcan. After glancing at his watch, he stuffed the drawing pad into his book bag, hooked the strap over his shoulder, and pushed to his feet.

As he started off in the opposite direction, Paige’s curiosity got the best of her. She darted forward and headed straight for the trash receptacle. The torn sheets lay right on top, so she pulled them out, ironed them as best as she could with her hands, and held them together to see what he’d created.

It was astounding.

Logan Xander would probably never be an artist, but the stark representation of his subject matter left her breathless, her chest tight with emotion. Using straight blunt lines, he’d sketched a Cubism picture of the two students. But it wasn’t the lack of realism that struck her with awe; it was the passion in the scene. The couple with their heads close together and the guy gently touching his woman was love in its purest form.

Remembering the achy, wistful look on Logan’s face as he’d watched them, Paige pulled in a shaky breath and gently set the picture halves back into the trash. Dazed, she walked away, because deep inside she knew she’d found a completely unacceptable connection with someone who was completely unacceptable.

But he was someone who ached for something more. Just as she did.

She couldn’t concentrate in her next class, and once it let out, she raced back to that trashcan, but someone had already emptied the contents, and the drawing was gone.

She was still wishing she’d kept it the next morning as she sat in World Regional Geography class, waiting for Presni to make an appearance.

“Morning, gorgeous.” Slipping into a chair next to her, Reggie—who had become her Geography buddy in the past couple weeks—grinned as he slumped into a comfortable sprawl in the seat beside hers. “Did you get your assignment finished?”

Pushing troubling thoughts of troubling guys from her mind, Paige gasped. “Assignment?” When Reggie’s eyes flashed open wide and he opened his mouth to explain what she’d forgotten, she relaxed and grinned. “Of course I finished it.”

Strangely enough, she was making better grades in all her classes at Granton than she’d made in high school.

Reggie rolled his eyes. “That’s right. You got the little boy genius doing all your homework for you, don’t you?” Winking, he bumped his elbow into her as if congratulating her. “That’s pretty brilliant actually.”

She gritted her teeth and scowled. “Einstein does not do my homework.” But a second later, her shoulders collapsed. “He does seem to go over everything I do and pre-grade it, though,” she had to admit.

With a chuckle, Reggie stuck out his fist for her to bump. “Hey, I’m not hating, girl. I say, right on. Milk it for all it’s worth.”

Compelled to clash her knuckles against his as she sighed and rolled her eyes, she sucked in a sharp breath when he caught her fingers before she could retract them.

“Ouch,” he murmured on a low whistle while he ran his thumb over the angry red scar on her thumb. “How’d you get this beauty?”

Suddenly uneasy, Paige wanted to pull her hand away. She pictured Logan bending over her as he gently wrapped gauze around her finger, and she didn’t want anyone else filling that memory or touching what he had taken care of.

“I…I cut it at work.”

“Wow, I didn’t know the juice bar was so dangerous.”

And she hadn’t realized he knew where she worked. His touch slid away from the old cut and down the side of her finger, sending prickles of warmth up her arm.

But she wasn’t sure if she appreciated the sensation or not.

Reggie Oates had flawless looks, gorgeous dark skin and eyes, with cheekbones to die for along with the widest, most charming grin on campus. But something about him told her he probably ran wilder than she did. She was actually surprised he hadn’t shown up in her room attached to Mariah yet.

She managed a carefree laugh. “Oh, well, I usually find danger everywhere I go.” Total lie, but it sounded good in the heat of the moment. Okay, it sounded corny, but at least it made him smile that delicious grin of his.

“So I gotta know; if I come visit you sometime at The Squeeze, you going to give me a free smoothie?”

It took everything Paige had to keep her mouth from falling open as his fingers wandered down to the back of her wrist.

He was flirting her with, openly flirting with her.

Thrilled such a hottie thought her flirt-worthy, she swallowed, feeling her entire face flame with jittery excitement.

She quipped back, “Only if you make my tip the price of your drink.”

Reggie chuckled and wrapped his entire hand around her wrist. “Deal.” Before she realized what he was about to do, he brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed her knuckles as if to seal the agreement.

She fluttered her lashes, unable to look away.

“So there’s this costume party I’m going to on Halloween,” he murmured against her knuckles, his breath washing across her skin. “Do you already have plans that night?”

Paige opened her mouth, but she couldn’t even manage a croak. Her first impulse was to decline. Sure, flirting had been exciting, but it didn’t seem fair to go out with one man when she couldn’t stop thinking about another. Then again, she shouldn’t be thinking about the other. In fact, the best thing she could do to get him out of her brain was fill her thoughts with someone else.