It was December now in Minnesota, and Rachel and Elise shrugged off all their winter gear as they took their seats in World Religions. As always, Rachel looked over at Sean, who rarely ever spared her a glance anymore.

The worst part was, she didn’t think he was being coy or playing hard to get. He’d pretty much lost interest in her while her awareness of him had increased tenfold.

He was constantly on her mind. He was in her thoughts, her dreams, and her fantasies when she touched herself. She’d gone from not wanting him to having a full-blown crush.

She tried not to think about him. She’d even gone on a couple of dates. But the guy was not Sean. And she didn’t even know the guy that well.

She was seriously considering therapy at this point.

Thankfully, the fall semester would be over at the end of the month, and she’d no longer have class with him. Of course, that also made her sad.

“Okay, class, for part of your final, we’re going to do a project,” Professor Drumming announced to the class after taking roll call. “I find it breaks up the monotony of taking tests all the time.”

There were a few moans around the class.

“We’ve covered the major religions in class, but there are over four thousand religions in the world. You get to pick any of the religions we haven’t covered here to do your report on. And, just because I’m a nice guy, you get to work on this with a partner.”

The class murmured sounds of relief, and Rachel looked at Elise. She already knew whom her partner would be.

The professor held up his hands to quiet them. “Wait, wait. I’m not that nice of a guy because you’re not going to pick your partners. At least, not the way you think.”

This time, Rachel groaned with the rest of her classmates. It was so hard to share a grade with someone you didn’t know. And finding time to get together always seemed like a challenge because no one wanted to spend their free time with a practical stranger.

“This sucks,” Elise complained.

“Tell me about it.”

“So, class, there are thirty-two of you in here. We’re going to make eight groups of four. And, of those four, you get to pair off.” Professor Drumming grinned. “See, I told you that you’d get to work with a partner.”

“How generous,” Rachel muttered.

“Ass,” Elise said.

The class began counting off from one to eight. After they were finished, Rachel went to find out who else was in group five. She just prayed she’d be paired up with someone who would pull their own weight.

When she got to the spot with the other fives, only two others were there. A guy named Ryan and a girl named Annie. Rachel hadn’t spoken to the other two students at all, but she’d heard them answer questions in class, so with any luck, she’d end up with one or the other.

“Hey,” Rachel said.

“Hey,” Annie said. “I hope you don’t mind, but we’ve already decided to be each other’s partner.”

“Oh. Okay,” she said. Rachel didn’t really know how else to respond.

“We have another class together,” Annie tried to explain, obviously feeling bad for excluding Rachel.

Rachel smiled. “No, it’s no problem. I understand.” She looked around as people were still getting up and moving to their respective groups. “I wonder who I’ll wind up with.”

“Me,” a voice said from behind her.

Rachel turned to see Sean standing there.

She didn’t know if she should be excited or nervous.

There was a knock at Rachel’s dorm door.

“Elise, will you please answer it?” she asked from underneath the blankets pulled over her head.

The only answer she received was another knock on the door.

Pushing down her comforter, Rachel scanned the room. Empty.

Damn it.

She was tired, and she didn’t feel like facing anyone. She’d stayed up late the night before to study for her Biology final on Monday. Instead of going out, partying, or having fun, she’d taken care of her obligations, being a good student. Her reward was supposed to be sleeping in this morning.

She hoped whoever was on the other side of that door was tough because she was cranky and in no mood for bullshit.

Rachel ripped the door open to tell the person who had dared to knock on her door to go away, only to find Sean standing there. “Oh, crap.”

“Good morning,” he said, pushing past her and dropping his bag on the ground.

Rachel swung the door closed and plopped down into one corner of the couch. “No, it’s not. Sorry, I forgot we were supposed to meet,” she said with a yawn.

Sean sat down on the opposite side. “Long night?” he asked.

Despite her tiredness, Rachel studied him. He’d asked the question casually. Almost too casually.

“Yes,” was her only answer. She wanted to see how he reacted.

His lips tightened but only for a moment. “Have fun?”

Happy with her little test, Rachel answered honestly, “No. I was up until two or three, studying for Biology.” She snuggled down into the sofa to get more comfortable. “It was the exact opposite of fun.”

He grimaced. “Sorry. Do you want to reschedule? We’re almost done. I don’t see us needing to meet more than one more time.”

“Nah. I’m already up. Might as well finish this thing.”

Sean raised his brow. “You sure? You look like you’re going to fall back asleep.”

Rachel sighed and stood to grab her stuff. “No, I’m up.”

It was a good thing she was tired though because she just realized that she was with Sean in her flannel pajamas with bedhead and no makeup. However, she could be standing naked in front of him, and he probably wouldn’t care.

Despite his brief appearance of unhappiness upon thinking Rachel was out late, he had made no moves of any sort the last two weeks. Not even any flirting. He’d clearly gotten over whatever he first felt for her.

But, just in case, Rachel grabbed a mint from her desk and popped it into her mouth.

“Now, where’d we leave off?” she asked as she sat next to him.

A couple of hours later, they were putting the finishing touches on their report.

“Ah…it feels good to be done with something,” Rachel said. “We’d better get an A on this thing, or I’m going to egg Drumming’s house.”

“In winter?”

“Hell yeah. Frozen eggs. It’d be a bitch to get off.”

Sean laughed and packed up his stuff. “Do you want to get a late breakfast?”

Rachel’s eyes widened at his question. But she soon realized he only meant as classmates, not like a date or anything. She looked down at her appearance, so he couldn’t see her disappointment. “I think I need to shower and get dressed first. Can you wait fifteen minutes?”

“I can. But, for the record, you don’t need to shower. You always look good.”

Rachel jerked her head up, and her mouth hung open.

“What?” he said with a laugh.

She licked her lips. “I had no idea you felt that way.”

With furrowed brows, he said, “I seem to recall an occurrence in my bedroom that would say otherwise.”

“But…but…” She was at a loss for words. “You haven’t done anything about it since.”

“That’s because I found out you were just trying to get an orgasm out of me.” He shrugged. “Some guys might like being used for sex, but I’m not one of them.”

This time, she was confused. “I didn’t want to use you for sex.”

“Didn’t you?” he asked.

She had to think hard about that night. It was a couple of months ago now, and she’d been drinking that night. “Is this because I told you what my friends had said about you…how you liked getting women off?”

“Yes.”

She snapped her fingers. “I knew something had bothered you that night. Why didn’t you let me apologize?”

He laughed in disbelief. “I don’t want or need your apologies.”

She cocked her head. “Then, what do you want?”

“You.”

“But…”

“I wanted you to come to my room because of me, not because of some rumor.”

Rachel got up on her knees and swung one over his lap. She ran her fingers over his face. His blue eyes looked so serious, as if the next thing out of her mouth would be a tipping point.

“I did come to your room because of you. I already liked you. That rumor just gave me one more reason to approach you. But it had nothing to do with how I already felt.”

Sean grabbed her face and pulled her mouth down to kiss her. He was an even better kisser than she remembered. God, he knew just what to do with his lips and tongue.

He pulled away and grinned at her. With a slap on her ass, he said, “Go. You have fifteen minutes.”