With This Heart(25)

Ahhh .

“ Seriously?! Seriously. Who just walks around like that?” I commented, dropping the slice back into the box and clapping my hands over my eyes.

He laughed and my fingers parted so that I could peek through them. I wasn’t being subtle. There was just so much to look at it. His shoulders were impossibly broad and I could smell his body wash, clean and woodsy, from across the room.

“ Some of us are trying to eat, you know…”

He laughed and shook his head. “What are you doing, Abby?” he asked, reaching into his bag for clothes and holding his towel together with the other hand. Oh god, please let it fall open. Please let it fall open. Wait, no. I’m not watching. I’m enjoying my pizza.

“ Abby?” Beck prodded, peering over his shoulder at me.

Realizing I’d been caught peeking through my fingers, I scrunched them back together quickly. “I’m protecting my womanly sensibilities,” I answered. “What are you doing?”

He shook his head, “Trying to break you out of your shell.”

“ Consider my shell cracked,” I answered, dropping my hands and reaching for my pizza slice. Keeping my eyes focused on that savory pizza was training in will power.

Clothes successfully in hand, Beck made his way back to the bathroom. I thought I was in the clear, but at the last second, I glanced up and he dropped his towel. It fell with a thump right at the edge of my bed.

“ BECK!” I yelled just as I was greeted by his tremendously-shaped backside. It was definitely the best butt I had ever seen, which is saying something because I saw Brad Pitt’s in Troy.



When we were beyond full and the movie credits were rolling, I turned toward Beck.

“ Did you work while you were in school?” I asked, wondering how he was able to splurge on our trip.

He scrunched his brows and turned toward me. “No, I took hard course loads and was an undergrad TA. Why?”

I shrugged and shifted my gaze to his worn-in t-shirt. “I was just wondering how you have money to splurge on a road trip if you’re still in college.”

“ Ah,” he nodded, and turned toward me. His brown hair fell over his forehead in a boyish mess and I thought for a moment to reach over and tuck it back into place. I gripped my shirt instead.

“ I had a trust fund that became active when I turned twenty-one.”

“ So you’re really rich?” I asked, probably breaking every social code.

“ Stinking rich,” he said with a silly grin.

“ Like that movie where the kid gets a blank check?”

He laughed and then met my eyes with a fierce-intensity. “My grandfather started a publishing house. That business card I wrote my number on was his.”

My mouth dropped and then I quickly shuffled off the bed and retrieved my purse. His grandfather’s card was still tucked away in my wallet behind my buy one get one free frozen yogurt coupon.

“ Do you want it back?” I asked. The card looked old and worn and I felt bad that I hadn’t taken better care of it.

He scrunched his brows together and shook his head. “No. I like knowing you have it.”

For a second I thought about arguing that he should keep it, but then I thought better of it. “Okay, it’ll be in my wallet in case you want it back,” I conceded.

“ Thanks.”

“ So why don’t you just go work for your grandfather’s company?” I asked, crawling back onto the bed and pulling my long night shirt down.

“ He sold it a few years before he passed away.”

“ Oh. Was it a family business?”

His features hardened at the mention of his family. In the few days I’d known Beck, I thought his entire personality was lighthearted and carefree, but in that brief break of character, I saw a deeper layer hidden beneath.

“ It could have been, but my father’s an engineer. He went to MIT as well.” Another piece of the Beck puzzle fell into place.

“ Let me guess…was he a petroleum engineer?” I was trying to lighten the mood, but I was doing a poor job of it. His gaze was focused on the never-ending abyss that filled the space between our two bodies.

“ Ding, ding, ding,” Beck mocked sarcastically, and I knew he was tired of discussing his father.

“ Well my dad is a computer programmer and my mom quit her job when I was born,” I answered, diverting the topic.

“ Because of your illness?” he asked.

“ I’ll never be sure. She said she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and never minded the fact that she had to focus most of her attention on me.” I rolled onto my back and stared up at the popcorn ceiling. “I give her a lot of crap, but every day I lived past my life-expectancy mark was because of her. Because she never took no for an answer and demanded the best medical treatment and holistic care.”

“ Is that why you’re a vegetarian?” he asked. I was surprised he’d picked up on that fact.

I nodded. “Tons of studies have proven that meat, especially red meat, is linked to heart disease and cancer, so obviously my mom nixed that from my diet when I was really young.”

“ Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian with you,” he declared with a half smile.

I glared over at him. “Good luck, Mr. Supreme Pizza.”