Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(7)

Keira closed her eyes, trying to tamp back the instant desire to knock Kona across his head, hoping that she could hold her temper in check. Bitch. That was another name she’d earned in her short first semester at CPU. She knew she could be bitchy. She knew that her buttons were easy to push, but she hadn’t meant to make enemies. The girls in her dorm had labeled her a bitch when she refused to join in with them every Monday night to watch “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and again when she claimed no interest in pledging a sorority. Looking at Kona Hale, seeing the way his eyes slipped over her face, dismissing any interest at all, told Keira he was probably going to think the same thing about her. Nerdy Bitch. She was fine with that, but she didn’t need Professor Miller to see it. If college was the afterlife, then the professors were gods and the eternal reward was a high GPA. She wasn’t going to let Kona threaten her 4.0 glory.

“When do you practice?”

“Every damn day.”

“Yes, well me too.” She looked across the classroom, trying to think of the best time to work Kona and this stupid project into her schedule. “I’m through by seven. Can you meet after that?”

“I guess. Except for Wednesday nights. I got shit on Wednesdays.”

“It’s just for a month. You can do your shit another time?”

Kona’s gaze moved over Keira’s face then down, making her lean back against her desk. She didn’t know what he was looking at or why she felt underdressed in her jeans and oversized hoodie, but the way Kona’s gaze took her in had Keira feeling the sudden urge to shower.

“Listen, sweetheart, maybe there’s something we can work out.”

“What do you mean?”

Kona scooted closer to her and pulled on the ties of her hoodie. Keira felt instantly hot, as though the temperature in the classroom had increased by twenty degrees. She didn’t like the way Kona stared at her mouth, or how he kept running the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip.

“I know this project is going to be a pain in the ass, and I’ve been watching you in here. This is your kind of thing.” He pulled on the string again, wrapping it around his large finger. There were ridges on his clean fingernails and so Keira stared at them, trying to avoid the intensity of Kona’s gaze, trying to ignore the deep lull of his voice. “You’re always answering Miller’s questions, always debating him about all this shit.” He wrapped the tie tighter around his finger, pulling Keira toward him. “You get off on this stuff.”

“And?” Keira cleared her throat before she pulled the string from Kona’s hand and tugged on the ends of her hair, trying her best to keep the warm flush on her face out of his view.

“And, Guinevere, I told you. I got practice and other shit I need to take care of. You help me out on this project and, well, I can help you out too.”

When his tongue flicked out again and his eyes went back to Keira’s mouth, she felt her entire neck heat and knew her face had colored close to pink, as always. She wanted to kick him, hard. The insinuation was there, right in the smug grin on his face and the warm blaze of his eyes. He can’t be serious, she thought.

She didn’t mean for her laugh to echo around the classroom. She didn’t mean to draw the attention of Professor Miller, who frowned at her like she was some sort of thug, but Kona Hale was more of an entitled * than she thought if he expected her to take his bait.

“Let me see if I get you. You want me to work on this project, a project that’s worth 40 percent of our grade in exchange for what? You lowering yourself to f*ck me?”

Kona seemed surprised by her crude language. He even looked around the classroom, a small chink in his cool composure fracturing just a bit. “Knew you wouldn’t be down.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Her awkwardness vanished under the weight of her anger - something that tended to happen when Keira’s temper flared. She inched forward to invade Kona’s personal space. He didn’t flinch at all. “It might shock you, but not every girl on campus is impressed by you.” She was unsurprised when Kona lifted his eyebrows. “And not all of us want to f*ck you.”

“Oh… okay. If you say so.”

“I do and I don’t care what you offer. I’m not doing this on my own.” Keira scribbled down a time and date and shoved it at Kona’s chest. “Be at the library tomorrow night at eight.”

He didn’t bother to look at the paper she’d given him. Kona just pulled his headphones back on, acting as though Keira wasn’t there at all. But as she packed her bag and moved her desk back, she felt him watching her.





“That bitch is nasty. Stay away from her.”

Luka’s smile disappeared from his face and Kona knew he’d dashed his twin’s hopes of seeing more of Amber Thomas. Luka sat back in his chair, pushed his plate away and let his gaze move over Kona’s face. He recognized the look. That was Luka sizing him up, trying to guess if Kona was lying. “How do you know? You didn’t hit that.” He looked behind him before he whispered to Kona. “Did you?”

“Brah, please.”

When Kona smiled, shrugging like he wasn’t confirming anything, Luka hit him on the shoulder. “Shut up, man.” His brother tried to deflect his unease, dropping his shoulder once when their teammates Nathan and Brian slammed into the seats across from them. “You think I don’t know what’s up with her?”