Tade strolled in the café with an attitude.

“What crawled up your ass?” I asked.

He grumbled a response around a bite of food.

“That chick really got to you,” I said.

He glared at me and I had to laugh.

“Speaking of, I ran into her friend before I got here,” he said. “She was laying out by the water.” Damn, I should have been there. I easily imagined what she looked like in a bikini; today was warm enough for it. “She wanted me to put in a good word for her.”

I leaned back and felt the smirk growing on my face. “Did she, now?”

Our conversation was cut short when a few other guys showed up to our table. The topic switched to football and I hardly paid attention. I considered dumping my food and finding an excuse to go across the road by the boathouse. That was where the small sandy beach area was.

The guys got to talking about the upcoming Super Bowl and it wasn’t until after that Tade and I left the café. I hadn’t yet talked to him about the night before.

“So, what happened with the blonde?”

The tick in his jaw made me more curious.

“Nothing, and where are we going? Are you heading back to the beach?”

I let the topic of the blonde go. Tade wasn’t exactly a talker. He kept things close to his chest.

“Yeah.” I had a hankering to see Megan in a bikini. He’d brought up the subject and now I couldn’t get her out of my head. Only she wasn’t there.

“I’m going back to the room for a nap,” he said.

He’d already been out on the water that morning, but I hadn’t trained yet today.

“Later,” I said and headed for the weight room.

I needed to get the sexy brunette out of my head. I was halfway to accomplishing that as I did squats with the barbell behind my head when the girl in question came out of the locker room wearing those stretchy, tight pants—I think they’re called yoga something—and a bra thingy.

My concentration went into the shitter and I lost my balance. The barbell slipped from my grip and tumbled to the matted floor with a loud clang. The very wall of windows that had given me an unobstructed view of her gave her the same. Her eyes went wide as I fell back on my ass. The guys around me barked with laughter at my expense.

Someone spoke to her and that asshole stole her attention. Then they walked away together. The dude looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I gathered my pride and got the bar back in place, ignoring the razing by the other guys.

Megan had a body on her, and I wanted every part of her.

It wasn’t until the next day when I saw her again.

She was facing her friend and didn’t see me come up behind her. I tugged some on a few strands of her hair to gain her attention. It was cute the way she swung her head around already with slight irritation. But her mouth curved up when she saw it was me.

“Gavin,” she said with a genuine smile.

“I’ll be back,” Tade interrupted.

I’d forgotten he was there.

“Yeah,” I muttered and turned my attention back to Megan.

She wore a bashful expression. “Sorry about the other night. I don’t normally get that drunk.”

“Nothing wrong with getting loose every now and again.”

Her shrug only brought my attention to her impressive rack. “I promise you I’m not that girl.”

“You were having fun. That’s all that matters.”

A voice over the loudspeaker announcing the race took her attention away from me. I had to wait until the guy finished speaking to talk to her again.

“So, what brings you here?”

Her head whipped around in amusement and I knew I had her. “Is that the best line you’ve got? Kind of cheesy even for you.”

“It worked, didn't it? I got you to smile, didn’t I?”

Her face flushed as she shyly shook her head with that damn sexy smile of hers that made my balls tighten. She licked her lips, drawing more of my attention to her lush mouth.

“Why are you here?” she asked. “Doesn’t seem like your scene.”

I tossed my hands, palm up, in the air. “Some of my classmates are here. I thought I’d check it out.”

She hooked a thumb toward the water. “You’re in this class?”

“No, but I have other classes with some of these guys.”

Her brows furrowed. She’d pegged me differently. “What’s your major?”

I wasn’t surprised by her question and smirked. “Mechanical engineering.”

Her eyes grew to the size of ball bearings. “You build stuff like engines?”

A lot of people assumed by my major I was into mechanics and fixed stuff. “That comes into play, but mostly we design and build.”

“Wow. So you’re like an inventor?”

I’d never thought of it that way, but I liked how she thought. “At times. What about you?”

She flushed and looked down. “Nothing like you. Just a business major.”

I didn’t like that she felt ashamed. I tipped up her chin. “Nothing wrong with that.”

She shrugged again. “It’s not engineering.”

“Yeah, well, you could be CEO of my company one day.” I winked, drawing that sexy grin back.

“My mom would love that. Only I see myself on the marketing end. I want to design campaigns to market people and products. Maybe own my own firm one day, so the business degree helps with that.”

I let my hand fall away even though I wanted to touch her longer. “I can see it.”

From the little I’d observed, she seemed to have an upbeat personality, always happy—at least when I saw her.

“Yeah, if only my mom could.”

I nodded. “Parents have a way of dictating your future.”

Going to college was my one shot at freedom, and that was coming to an end. The only reason I enrolled in the first place was not for the education, but because I had a job to do. Though I’d taken advantage of the opportunity.