October, freshman year

Harper Warden stood at the bottom of the rickety steps. Her eyes watered from the dingy haze hanging over the concrete room. She scratched the tip of her nose as the stench of stale beer, sweaty bodies, and damp basement threatened to knock her over. What was she doing here?

“Harper!”

She turned and her breath hitched. Oh, yeah. That was reason enough to come.

She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted with the hem of her top as Declan Cooper maneuvered his way through the crowd toward her. He wore a dark gray, long-sleeved shirt with a darker t-shirt layered over it. The layers did little to hide the well-defined muscles of his chest and biceps. He moved with grace despite being a good half a foot taller than most of the people pressed together in the windowless room. And where she slid along the edge of the basement, unwilling to attempt pushing her way through the throng, the crowd seemed to part for him, opening up as he took each step.

A few people called to him and Declan responded with no more than a tip of his chin. His eyes remained firmly locked on hers.

He didn’t stop until he stood directly in front of her, so close one deep breath would cause her breasts to brush against his hard body. She tilted her head back to hold the eye contact, and his mouth tilted into a slow, lazy smile.

A trembling started inside her and she swallowed against her suddenly dry throat.

His smile widened.

Did he know the effect he had on her? She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course he knew. He had this effect on the majority of the female population. The only real surprise was that he’d invited her to the party. And that he’d asked her to come to parties a few times over the last few weeks since she’d moved into her dorm, even after she turned him down the first few times.

Thank God he kept asking. It had taken her the entire two weeks and lots of convincing from her roommate, Jamie, to work up the courage to say yes.

She inhaled deeply and finally managed to offer him a smile. “Hi.”

He leaned down close to her ear to be heard over the music blaring from a speaker rigged in one corner. “When did you get here?”

She shivered as his warm breath floated over her ear. He smelled so good. Even in the dank fraternity house basement, his scent made him almost edible.

She stood on tiptoe to get her mouth closer to his ear, and had to hang onto his arm to steady herself as she teetered on her heels. “I just got here.”

He leaned back to smile down at her. “Good. Then none of these other goons had a chance to put the moves on you yet.”

She smiled shyly, shaking her head.

“You want a drink? I can get you a beer. Or I think someone made some punch over there.” He gestured to a makeshift bar where a couple of guys were ladling punch into red cups from a green storage container.

She wrinkled her nose and shuddered. She could only imagine what was in the punch and none of it was appealing.

“I think I’ll go with a beer.”

“Coming right up.” He leaned in close again. “Don’t go anywhere.”

She hugged her arms around herself as he walked towards the keg in the corner. She wanted to pinch herself. Everything about this was so…normal. Hot guy, college party. It was everything she’d dreamed about throughout the hell of high school.

Was it possible she could leave it all behind just by saying yes to Declan? She closed her eyes and bit her lip to hide the grin that wanted to take over her face. Her heart picked up its pace and tingles of excitement tickled under her skin as she imagined erasing all four years of high school. Could she live like none of it happened—no rumors, no snide comments, no feeling invisible as she walked down a hall?

Her eyes popped open and she allowed the smile to bloom.

She scanned the room, content to just watch the party. She recognized a few people from her classes and another girl from her dorm. Some of them even smiled or nodded in her direction. On the makeshift dance floor, a bunch of girls danced together while a couple of the fraternity brothers stood on the sidelines watching over the rims of their cups.

As her gaze circled back to where Declan had gone, it clashed with a pair of familiar blue eyes. Harper’s hand reached to the side to grip the back of an empty folding chair and a hard knot formed in the pit of her stomach.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away and soon her look was being returned. Caitlyn Capshaw’s blue eyes narrowed and her face scrunched in displeasure. In an instant, Harper hurtled back to high school, faced with the one person who had always made the safety of anonymity disappear.

She stood rooted to her spot as Caitlyn snatched the arm of one of the guys standing next to her. She kept her eyes firmly on Harper as she whispered something in the guy’s ear, gesturing to Harper with a jerk of her chin. The guy turned to look at Harper and then pointed out Declan.

Harper couldn’t look away. She knew what was coming, but the small seed of hope that had just broken through the surface inside her wanted to see these guys shrug off Caitlyn’s bad-mouthing.

Caitlyn’s lips twisted into the smug smile that had left Harper in a cold sweat all through high school. What was she even doing here?

Caitlyn leaned up and spoke furiously into the ear of the guy whose arm she had yet to release from her talons. The guy looked back at Harper and raised an eyebrow before turning his attention back to Caitlyn.

When the other girl finished, she stood back and folded her arms, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips. Over Caitlyn’s shoulder, Declan moved closer, a red plastic cup in each hand, his eyes on Harper.

She gave him a tentative smile, but before she could do more, his buddy went over and said something to Declan. Declan sipped his beer, his warm brown eyes still focused on her. She leaned slightly forward in her heels, her hands curling together as she waited to see the effect of Caitlyn’s twisted game of telephone.

It didn’t take long for her to have her answer. Both men looked at her, but now all the warmth had leached from Declan’s eyes. If the cool gaze didn’t tell her all she needed to know, the sardonic smile he offered her before turning away and handing the second cup to Caitlyn said it all.

Harper took a step back. She dropped both hands to her middle as a black lead ball settled in her stomach.

She stood, stunned, as her world snapped right back to the way it always was and the party continued around her. She looked around, but with Declan’s obvious rejection it seemed she became invisible to everyone.

Hot tears pricked at the back of her eyes, but she clenched her jaw and refused to let them fall. Letting them see her cry, to know they were getting to her, had been her biggest mistake before. She refused to allow anyone here the same satisfaction.

Her gaze roamed the party one last time. She smoothed the clingy red material of her shirt, holding her chin up and her jaw firm. She’d be damned if she’d let anyone think she cared about being part of them. She pulled in a shuddering breath and let go of her perfect picture of college before she turned and picked her way back up the rickety basement steps.