Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(33)

With a nod, he pulled open the door, and let her precede him into the hall. As he stepped from the room, he glanced back, tipping his hat again to Paige, Bailey, and Tess.

“Ladies.”

The three waved as if in a trance, watching him shut the door. Slowly turning toward Tess and Paige, Bailey gulped down an audible swallow. “I cannot believe what I just saw.”

“I know, right?” Paige shook her head, a little flabbergasted herself. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her with the same guy more than once.”

With a gasp, Bailey clasped her arm, hanging on tight. “He’s been here before? Do you know him? What’s his name? Is he single?”

“Hello.” Tess waved a hand in front of Bailey’s face. “You just saw him with the hooker!” She snorted. “And you ask if he’s single?”

“You’re right.” Bailey slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. “Of course he’s single.”

Tess turned to Paige. “Is she for real?”

Paige had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

“I wonder if he’s a real cowboy or if he was just wearing those clothes to look like one.” Bailey stared longingly toward Paige’s door as if she wanted another look at his…spurs. “Oh, what does it matter? He filled out those Wranglers like oh…my…gawd!”

Paige arched her eyebrows Tess’s way. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Bailey’s got a thing for cowboys.”

Tess sighed. “How’d you guess?”

As if she heard neither girl, Bailey glanced at Paige. “So do you think you can introduce us?”

“You are so pathetic.” Groaning, Tess put her back to her roommate, dismissing her as she faced Paige. “Let’s try on the red one first.”

It fit. A little too well. Her suitemates cheered and wolf-whistled as she spun in a circle before them.

Paige winced. “You don’t think it’s too—”

“You are wearing that dress and that’s final.” Bailey pulled out a chair from Mariah’s desk and dragged it to the sink. “Now sit. We’ll do your hair and makeup too.”

While Bailey curled her hair into ringlets and pulled it up, Tess applied her new face.

“Now remember.” Bailey nudged Tess’s elbow. “It’s Halloween so it’s perfectly fine for her to look like Hooker. Don’t be afraid to put it on thick and slutty.”

Tess paused to send Bailey a dry frown. “I was gonna.”

“Oh. Well…continue then.”

The two worked in quiet efficiency for a few minutes, and Paige found herself wishing they’d say something. When her hands began to fidget in her lap, Tess patted them in a motherly manner.

“When’s he going to pick you up?”

Paige drew in a breath. “He’s not. I’m supposed to meet him there.”

Both girls paused to stare at her. Then Bailey folded her arms over her chest. “You mean, you’re supposed to prance all the way across campus alone on Halloween dressed in that? Oh, hell no.”

Siding with her roommate, Tess nodded. “It really would be safer if he picked you up.” Her bottom lip suddenly pouted. “Plus I want to see his face when he gets his first look at you.”

Paige glanced between them. She hadn’t been looking forward to the trip there and home by herself, but Reggie had told her he needed to help organize the party so he wouldn’t have a chance to get away and come pick her up.

“You know,” she said, thinking up the perfect plan. “Why don’t you two just come with me? I don’t think the party’s invitation only or anything, and I’d certainly feel better with you there.”





Wearing his regularly issued bright red t-shirt with Designated Driver branded across his front and back in huge white letters, Logan crossed his arms over his chest and watched a bunch of costumed drunks party around him.

“Hey, Designated Dave,” someone called. “Have a beer.”

He ducked as some idiot lobbed an empty, crumpled can at his head. He offered the guy a tight smile. “Thanks.”

Deciding to loiter in another room and wait for someone to require his services, he waded through a pathetic attempt at a mosh pit and pushed into the main living room of the fraternity house only to stop dead in his tracks. Arriving in the entrance opposite from him, a trio of lovely ladies dominated the scene.

Fifty people had to be mingling between them, but all he saw was one girl. He couldn’t look away from the tall, slender one in the middle with the gorgeous mass of dark hair piled on top of her head and stray coils corkscrewing around her face. A crooked pair of bunny ears had been stuck on top, making her look as sexy as it did innocent and adorable.

Nothing south of her neck was innocent, though. Especially his thoughts.

Her dress was small, tight, glittery red—

His brain short-circuited at her legs, too long and shapely to be anything shy of amazing.

He actually recognized the redhead on her left before he realized whom he was ogling. The muscles in his stomach clenched hard and heat spread though his center. A ribbon of awareness curled up his spine, consuming him, until he had to remind himself to breathe.

She was the most—