College was so not what I expected. At all. After tolerating high-school boys who thought shooting spitballs into my hair during Trig counted as flirting, I’d been so excited to finally arrive. Hello, all those hot older guys I’d been waiting for, who would be able to talk about books and music, and really connect with me.

How was that working out? Not great. One month in, and my tour of the campus frat parties was making me nostalgic for the days when all I had to worry about was a few scraps of damp paper in my hair, and not puke splashing all over my shoes. The frat house was crowded and loud and the whole place smelled like sweat socks, beer, and bongs. It made me want to gag, but my roommate Sarah seemed to be having a good time.

“This is so cool,” she said, her eyes wide. “I’m out past my curfew, and my parents will never know!”

We headed deeper into the party. Suddenly, a jock guy stopped in front of us. “Hey! Aren’t you Luke’s sister?” He came towards us, arms out as if he was going to hug me. Or grope me.

I growled at him, and he stopped abruptly.

“Jeez,” he said. “Just asking.” He stumbled away.

Sarah looked at me with a frown. “He was cute!” she said. “Why did you have to act like such a bitch?”

I didn’t want to explain. I thought that when I graduated high school, I would be able to finally step out of my big brother’s shadow. That even though we were going to the same college, it was big enough for both of us.

I had been wrong.

I sighed. “I’m going back to the room,” I said, but she had already disappeared back into the crowd.

I was tired and smelled like beer and smoke and just wanted to take a shower and climb into my too-small, lumpy dormitory bed. Suddenly I felt terribly homesick.

As I stepped out of the frat house, I filled my lungs with the fresh, night air. It was cold out, so I wrapped my coat tightly around me and headed down the steps towards the street.

“Hey!” a slurred voice said from behind me.

I turned and found the same guy who I had growled at. Apparently, baring my teeth at him hadn’t been enough to dissuade him. He stumbled down the steps towards me.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

I lengthened my steps and looked straight ahead, not acknowledging him.

“Come on,” he whined. “You’re not even going to talk to me? I just want to know your name.”

“I thought you knew my name,” I said through my gritted teeth. “Luke’s sister.”

He laughed, an obnoxious snort.

“You’re funny,” he said. “Come on, let me walk you home.”

“No thanks,” I told him, but he didn’t seem to listen, continuing to follow me.

An annoying drunk guy was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now, so I spun around to face him, almost knocking him off his feet by my abrupt movement. He reached out and grabbed my arm to keep from falling.

“Let go of me,” I told him, trying to shake him off, but his grip was tight.

“Come on,” he complained. “I’m just trying to be nice.”

“Dude, really?” a low voice asked from behind us.

I turned to find a tall, handsome guy stepping out of the shadows. A guy that I recognized all too well. Austin James. I was always happy to see him, but right now, he was like a knight in a beat-up leather jacket as he approached us. “I thought they covered consent in freshman orientation,” he said to the guy, coming to a stop beside us.

“Come on, man,” the drunk guy said. “We were having fun.”

Austin crossed his arms over his broad chest. In the glow of the streetlight, his dark hair was unruly, and he had a two-day shadow on his jaw, but that just made him impossibly hot.

“She told you to let go of her,” Austin said, his voice low and steady.

“I was just trying to walk her home,” the drunk guy whined.

“Well, I’ve got that covered now,” Austin said. “So you can leave.”

The guy didn’t need a second warning. He turned and stumbled away. Austin turned to me.

“Mia, are you OK?”

Half the girls in my class would have died for Austin to know their name. I only wished that he knew mine for a more exciting reason. He was a friend of my brother’s—a good friend. And ever since Luke had come home for Thanksgiving his first year in college with Austin in tow, he’d been almost an honorary part of our family. Christmas and spring break, and sometimes summer vacations, too. Most of the time, they hung out with Luke’s high-school buddies, or kept to themselves working on their band, but I’d seen lots of Austin.

I just never thought that he had really seen me.

“Sure, I’m fine.”

“You’re shivering. Here.” He stripped off his jacket and slung it over my shoulders, still warm from the heat of his body.

I blushed, pulling it tighter around me. The cute mini-dress I’d picked out suddenly seemed way shorter and tighter than I remembered. “Thanks,” I said. “And thanks for, well, that guy. I could have handled it,” I added, in case he thought I was some helpless damsel in distress.

But Austin chuckled. “I know you could have. Luke told me all about your adventures in self-defense.”

I groaned. “He didn’t!”

“Yup.” Austin grinned. “How is your sparring partner doing? All healed yet?”

“It was only a fracture!” I tried not to die from embarrassment. “He didn’t duck fast enough.”

“Hey, I think it’s cool.” Austin smiled at me. “I like a woman who can take care of herself.”

His eyes were smoldering in the streetlight. They slowly drifted over my body, and back up to my face again.

I stopped. Was he . . . flirting with me?

Suddenly, my heart was racing.

“Let me walk you back to your dorm,” he said, his voice all sexy and low.

“I don’t want to keep you from the party,” I said, regretting the words the minute they left my mouth. What was wrong with me? Of course I wanted to keep him from the party. Of course I wanted him to walk me back to my dorm.

Thankfully, he shook his head. “I’m kind of over parties like that,” he said. “Besides, I was planning on making a detour to the food cart for a late-night snack.”

Even though there was no innuendo in his voice, I couldn’t help imagining a different kind of late-night snack. An Austin-sized late-night snack.

I was lucky it was too dark for him to see me blush.

“OK,” I said. “I am a little hungry.”

The words sounded silly and childish when I said them. Why couldn’t I be better at flirting, like my roommate Sarah was? She would have said something like, “I am hungry. Hungry for you.”

It was the reason she was having sex all the time and I wasn’t. I had been sex-iled from our room more times than I liked to recall, and it was getting a little embarrassing on my part.

But if Austin noticed how dumb my answer was, he didn’t say anything, instead gesturing for us to head in the direction of the late-night food trucks that were often lined up in front of the quad during the weekends.

“You’re a freshman, right?” he asked as we walked. “Studying journalism?”

I glanced over at him, surprised that he knew that much.

“Luke mentioned it,” he told me, as if I had said my thoughts out loud.

“Oh,” I said, a little disappointed. It was stupid to feel that way, though. Had I really expected that Austin would have remembered the few, brief conversations we’d had over the holidays? Most of the time, I had just been unable to keep my mouth shut in the face of someone so unbearably attractive. And he had been nice enough, listening and nodding when I wouldn’t stop talking about my high-school journalism assignments, or a cool article that I’d read. But chatting in my kitchen was totally different to walking alone in the dark, close enough to touch. I felt tongue-tied and lost for words. “How’s the band?” I asked, reaching for safer topics. “Did you find a replacement for Luke? I’m sorry he quit on you.”

He chuckled. “It was a blessing in disguise. Don’t tell your brother, but this new guy is an improvement.”

I laughed. “You’re not the one who had to listen to Luke practice.”

“Ouch, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Luke liked playing, but he was never going to take it seriously, not like you. He said you’d talked to a record label? That’s amazing,” I added.

“It’s nothing.”

I couldn’t tell if Austin was being modest, or just nonchalant. “Well, from what I’ve heard, they would be lucky to sign you.”

“And how much have you heard?” Austin quirked an eyebrow at me.

I flushed. “Just a couple of tracks,” I fibbed. “From Luke.”

“Uh huh.”

I wasn’t about to tell him that I’d maybe been to every show they’d played on campus so far, even the acoustic open-mic night down at the pub. We walked a little in silence, and I did my best to stare at him without him noticing. He really was insanely hot. His dark hair was overgrown and shaggy—it looked as if he had just rolled out of bed. His or someone else’s. His eyelashes were ridiculously long and framed extremely green eyes. There was a badass scar bisecting his jawline, cutting a line through his five o’clock shadow. And under that leather jacket I was now wearing, he was attired in a tight gray t-shirt and jeans, both of which were old and perfectly molded to his body.

And what a body it was.

He was broad shouldered and muscular. I could see the outlines of his chest muscles and even the smooth ridge of his six pack through the thin cotton of his shirt. I wanted to rub my hands over every inch of his hard body.

Because according to rumors, Austin wasn’t just gifted with a guitar and a microphone. He was gifted off-stage as well.

I licked my lips. I couldn’t help it.

He noticed.

“Hungry?” he asked as we approached the food trucks.

“Starving,” I told him.

The look he gave me—that little flicker of heat in his eyes, the way his gaze dropped to my mouth, the way he swallowed—made me wonder if he knew that I wasn’t just talking about food. My pulse sped up, even though I knew it was useless. I was the kid sister, and he was just being a good friend to Luke, seeing me safely home.

“What do you want?” he asked. “My treat.”

“Tacos, thanks.” We ordered and quickly claimed our food, although the girl at the window took as long as humanly possible to accept his money.

“She was totally flirting with you,” I told him when we sat down with our food.

“Who?” he asked, sitting down next to me.

I rolled my eyes. “The food truck girl,” I said. “You must have noticed. She practically threw herself out the window to get to you.”

He shrugged. “Guess I’m just used to it.”

Somehow, he managed to sound slightly bashful about the whole thing, instead of like a total jerk. It might have been the way his face got a little red, like he actually was embarrassed by the attention. Still, I couldn’t help but give him a hard time.

“Tough life you lead,” I teased. “Beautiful women throwing themselves at you.”

“Not all women throw themselves at me,” he said, not even giving the girl in the truck a second glance, turning to me instead. “Besides, I find that the ones that don’t are the ones I’m more interested in.”

He held my gaze and heat rushed downward.

Austin James was totally flirting. With me. Holy. Shit. I took a massive bite of my food to distract myself—and then promptly choked. It felt like I had a mouthful of jalapenos: tasers set to stun.

“Hot!” I gasped, my eyes streaming. “Water!”

Austin leapt up and ran back to the truck. By the time he returned and handed me the bottle, I was coughing and hacking all over the place.

Really attractive.

I gulped the water, and slowly I got my breathing under control. “Let’s just pretend like that never happened,” I said, totally embarrassed.

He laughed. “Like what happened?”His hair had fallen down over his forehead, somehow making him look even more attractive. “So how are you finding college?” he asked.

I gave a shrug. “It’s OK. I really like my classes, but the social scene . . .”

“Frat parties not your style?”

“Not so much.” I stopped, wondering if I sounded like an anti-social dork. “I thought about signing up for the student newspaper, but I went to one meeting, and everyone seemed super cut-throat and competitive.”

“Don’t let them scare you off,” Austin said, taking a swig of water. “Get in there and fight dirty. You already know how.”

“Maybe . . .”

“Come on, it’s not like you to back off from a fight.” Austin frowned. “What about that piece you wrote, the one on unionizing the TAs?”

“You read that?” I blinked.

Austin looked away. “Luke was bragging about it,” he said casually, but inside, I was turning cartwheels. “Anyway, you’ll only regret it if you don’t try.”

“Does that mean you’re pursuing music full-time after graduation?” I changed the subject, uncomfortable.

“Yes . . .” He paused.

“It’s sounds like there’s a ‘but,’ ” I said.

“There’s always a but,” Austin joked before getting serious again. “But, I don’t know if it’s enough.”

“What do you mean?” I wanted to know, taking another bite of my taco.

Austin was quiet for a moment. “I guess, I’m not sure if I’m enough. If my music is good enough, or if I’m just kidding myself even thinking I can make it.”

“Wow,” I said, letting out a breath. “Deep thoughts.”

He laughed. “Too deep for a Saturday night, probably.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. What do you want, to talk about the big game instead, bro?”

He laughed. “OK, maybe not.”

“So, let’s look at this logically,” I decided. “What’s holding you back?”

“Well, for starters it’s not a real job,” he told me, though the way he said it, made me think that it was something that someone else had told him, not something he believed.

“Bullshit,” I told him.

He blinked at me, clearly surprised.

“If you love music, you should pursue it,” I told him. “Period.”

“You make it sound so easy,” he said, his voice bemused. Almost wistful.

“It is easy,” I argued. “Especially if you have talent. Which you do. And didn’t you just tell me I would regret it if I didn’t try with my writing? You know you would always wonder if you had what it took and gave up on your dream too soon.”

Austin seemed to think about this for a while. I finished up my own food, watching as his expression changed. It was almost as if I was witnessing the moment he decided not to give up on music. I couldn’t help the swell of pride that flowed through me.

Neither of us said anything else about it, though. Without a word, we both got up and started walking towards my dorm. I could feel tension crackling between us, but it was a good, sexy tension. Still, I didn’t get my hopes up. I was a college freshman, and he was a hot senior with a band, who already had a reputation for being the guy that all the girls wanted. Sure, we’d bonded over tacos and music, but for all I knew, it just made him think of me more as Luke’s younger sister. Or worse, like his own younger sister.

Then, as we got close to my dorm, we both forgot to pay attention to where we were walking, and I bumped into him, our hands making contact.

Immediately there was a rush of heat, my skin prickling from where we had touched. Austin stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face me. I could see the heat in his eyes, but I could also see him fighting it. And I didn’t want him to.

So I licked my lips. Slowly.

With a groan, Austin grabbed my arm and pulled me off of the path and around the side of the nearest building. Before I knew what was happening, my back was against the brick wall and Austin’s hard body was pressed against me.

Then he kissed me.

Now this was a real man’s kiss. His mouth was hot and firm against mine. Electricity crackled through me as he slid his tongue into my mouth. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck, arching my body against his. It was cold outside, but we were hot. Hot, hot, hot. He slid his hands beneath my jacket, his hands closing around my waist.

I had been kissed before, but this was something different. This was need like I’d never felt before. I wanted to tear off of his clothes and do all kinds of bad, naughty things to him, right there in the middle of the quad.

Austin nipped at my lower lip, before his talented mouth captured mine again, plunging his tongue deep. I slid my hands upward, fingers diving into his thick hair. His own hands tightened on my hips, pulling me closer. I arched forward and he groaned against my mouth, the sound vibrating through me. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever experienced and I never wanted it to end.

But it did.

Suddenly.

Without warning, Austin pulled away from me. We were both breathing heavily, his hair sticking up in all different directions, my clothes rumpled. Anyone walking by would have known exactly what we were getting up to.

“You should go inside,” Austin finally said, his voice hoarse.

My heart sank.

He was looking anywhere but me, like the best kiss of my life was his biggest mistake.

I swallowed back my disappointment. “Sure. You’re right, it’s late, and I have a study session first thing. French. I don’t know why I took a language course,” I babbled, my skin still flushed. “But it seemed way more glamorous than ‘je voudrais un café s’il vous plait.’ ”

He just grunted and nodded. “See you around,” he said.

It was clearly my cue to go inside.

“Thanks for walking me,” I told him. “This was . . . fun.”

But Austin didn’t say a word, he just turned on his heel and walked away, leaving me alone.

Flushed, and breathless, and horny, and alone.

---

I didn’t sleep at all. All I could think about was Austin. I knew he was a player—that’s what everyone said—but last night he had seemed like a good guy. Like there was something real between us.

I replayed the kiss over in my mind, fantasizing about everything I wished had happened next. His mouth, his hands, all over my body. The hardness pressed against my thigh. The way he had pinned me against the wall in the sexiest way possible.

God, I wanted more.

I wanted everything.

Maybe the kiss had taken him by surprise, I told myself. If he’d spent the night in half as much of a tangle as me, then perhaps he was regretting walking away. If I just happened to run into him again, accidentally . . .

It was early, so when I headed to my brother’s apartment the next day, I made sure to bring coffee. Luke would be pissed to be woken up at any point before two on a weekend, but I didn’t want to wait that long. Besides, it was better for me if he was slightly out of it so he wouldn’t ask too many questions about why I was showing up to make eyes at his roommate. I loved my brother, but he was a nosy bastard sometimes. And I really didn’t want him to know anything about this.

When I got to Luke’s building, I headed upstairs, but before I could reach his floor, I heard male voices from the floor above.

“Dude, what have I told you about touching my guitar?”

I froze. It was Austin!

I stood in the stairwell, straining to hear the conversation on the floor above.

“You should have been at the party last night,” one of the guys said. His voice was rough, as if he was massively hung over. “It was full of hot freshman girls. And you know how easy they are.”

I bristled, waiting for Austin to tell that guy that he was being a dick. Instead, another unfamiliar voice responded.

“Like Austin needs any help getting women,” he joked. “All he has to do is stand outside with his zipper open and he’ll get laid.”

Then I heard a familiar laugh.

“There’s a little more to it than just that,” Austin said.

“Whatever, dude,” the first guy said. “You know that no one at this school has gotten laid more than you.”

Austin didn’t respond.

“I thought I saw you at the party,” the second guy said.

“I was there for a second,” Austin confirmed. “But it was boring, so I left.”

“Yeah, you left with a hot brunette,” someone else added. “Looked familiar too.”

“What’s the deal, James?” the first guy teased. “Not enough new girls so you’re double dipping now?”

“Shut up,” Austin said.

I leaned closer to the entry, hoping that Austin would tell them all that they were being pigs. That the girl he had been with last night had been special. That it had been something different than his usual hookups.

“Come on,” the second guy said. “You’re not even going to give us the details? Not even a name?”

“She’s totally been here before,” the third guy said. “She knows Luke, or something.”

“Oh shit, dude,” the first guy said. “Are you hooking up with one of his leftovers? Are you guys Eskimo brothers now?”

“What the fuck is an Eskimo brother?” the third guy asked.

“It’s when you and your best friend fuck the same girl,” the first guy responded.

Ugh. Guys were gross, I thought. For a moment, I considered interrupting them, but then I heard Austin speak.

“Don’t be fucking pigs,” he told them. “I ran into Luke’s sister outside the party and walked her home.”

“Sure, dude,” the third guy said.

“She’s just a kid,” Austin said, his tone bored. “I didn’t want some douchebag taking advantage, so I made sure she got back to her dorm. Trust me, the last thing I want is to get involved with Luke’s annoying little sister.”

“He’d fucking knock your face in,” one of the other guys said, and they all laughed.

“See? It’s not even an issue. She’s a good girl, total nerd. You know I don’t go for that.”

I couldn’t listen to any more. I turned and hurried downstairs again, dumping my coffees in the trash on the way out.

I bit back my tears. I should have known better. Austin was just a manwhore player, and I was still just his best friend’s little sister.

Last night had meant nothing to him.

Straightening, I flipped my middle finger up at his floor. “Fuck you,” I whispered, and then said it again, louder. Then, I turned on my heels and left. I never wanted to see or hear about Austin James ever again.