A Brush with Love(33)

“Hey,” she said, tilting her head to meet his eyes, “don’t ever tell Thu this, but I’m glad she’s so sneaky.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Otherwise, I might never have known how good I am at Jenga.”

Dan laughed again and reached an arm around her shoulder, giving her a light squeeze that flooded Harper with warmth and want.

He unhooked his arm as they entered the grocery store, and they searched through the carts for two that had all four wheels attached. The store was undeniably grimy, but the food was cheap, and when every dollar in your bank account technically belonged to the government via student loans, there was little room to complain.

“So, what’s first on your list?” Dan asked as they moved through the store.

“I’m a big fan of snacks,” Harper said, gesturing toward the bright boxes of processed foods filling the first aisle they turned down. “I try to let the junk food speak to me, not the other way around.” She tossed a box of crackers into her cart.

“And what does the junk food say?”

She picked up a package of Oreos and held them in front of her mouth. “It says, ‘Pick me, Harper. I’ll make you feel so good. You’ll love the way I taste.’”

Dan’s eyes flew open and Harper cringed. She’d meant for it to sound goofy. It objectively did not.

“Do all of your snacks talk dirty to you?” Amusement danced across his stupid gorgeous face.

Oh God, not the dimple.

“Just the Oreos,” she said, turning away from that lopsided smile before she licked it off him. “They’re the sluts of the cupboard. It’s a well-known fact.”

Dan laughed, and they continued to weave through the aisles. The universal awkward silence of two nervous people swelled between them, and Harper scrambled for a topic.

“So … how was school this week?” Wow. Scintillating.

Dan gave a noncommittal shrug. “This week was better than most, I’d say.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

Dan didn’t say anything. His eyes locked with hers for a long, meaningful pause before sweeping down her body, and back to her face. He raised his eyebrows, the light in his eyes doing strange things to her heart.

Time paused with his look. Her mouth went dry, her limbs heavy with the need to move closer to him. In that space between seconds, she wanted to run her fingers through his hair and press her hands against his chest while dragging her lips along his jaw. She’d never had such a desperate physical reaction to someone in her life. It was terrifying to feel so out of control. But in that moment, Harper kind of loved it.

Before she could give in and bridge the distance between them, a woman pushed a screaming child into the aisle, talking into her cell phone over the wailing. Time began ticking again.

Harper pushed her cart into the next aisle without waiting, working to remove the cotton from her head and regain normal function in her hands and feet. She tried to suck in a few steadying breaths. It didn’t help.

“I heard something about you the other day,” Dan said, rolling his cart next to hers.

She squinted one eye at him. “Uh-oh. What was it?”

“I heard a rumor you’re top of your class.”

Harper let out an internal sigh of relief. Good. Back to school. School was easy. School was a safe topic of conversation that didn’t make Harper want to rip Dan’s shirt from his body.

She gave a mock gasp and slapped a hand to her chest. “How scandalous. People and their gossip these days. I hope you don’t think less of me.”

“No, now it’s just confirmed that you’re a genius,” Dan responded, grabbing a packet of napkins and throwing them into his cart.

Harper turned to him, rolling her eyes. “I’m not a genius, I’m hardworking. There’s a difference,” she said, picking up some cheap paper towels. “And I’m not sure I’m top. I’m kind of battling it out right now.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “Who’s the poor soul?”

“Have you heard of the Giles family? I think there’s one in your class. But the oldest one, Jeffery—never Jeff—and I are pretty neck and neck. He’s gunning for oral surgery too.”

Dan came to a halt and whipped around to face her.

“Harper.” His eyes locked on hers as he gripped her by the shoulders. “I hate those guys,” he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze that traveled down her whole body.

Touch. Touch. Touch.

“Hate isn’t even a strong enough word,” Dan continued. “They’re the worst.”

Harper’s eyes almost rolled back in her head. Was anything hotter and more validating than hating the same people?

A quick glance at his forearms on either side of her pushed mutual hate to a close second. She considered warning him to rein in the sex appeal, because he was one dimple-flash away from Harper pushing him up against the paper towel stacks and climbing him like a tree.

“They suck,” Harper said. “They’re legacies too, which makes them even worse. They flaunt it like some badge of honor—I mean, at least have a little class and pretend to be humble. They act like it’s their right to be a doctor and not a privilege. I could write my entire dissertation on the corruption of that family. The dean even takes them all golfing. Does it get any more patriarchal dick-rubbing than that? All the legacies are privileged pieces of shit.”