It Was You (5 page)

“
It's the way God made me, honey,” he said over his shoulder again.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Tana. “I knew this place would be filled with Neanderthals.”

The shorter one shot me a dirty look.

“
Uh, okay,” Tana said, still confused. She widened her eyes at me and raised her eyebrows and I knew what she was silently asking:
What the hell is going on?

“
I knew you were one of those,” the tall one said.

“
One of what?” I asked.

He turned around and took a step toward me, hovering over me, a mocking smile spreading across his face. “One of those chicks who thinks she's too good to go to school here. Knew it as soon as you walked up, looking down your nose at everybody in line.”

“I did not,” I said, frowning at him.

“
Sure you did,” he said. His blue eyes locked on to mine and I shivered involuntarily. “You were pissed there was even a line. Like you should get to bypass the line because you're better than this place.” He shook his head. “You may be hot, sweetheart, but you aren't better than this place. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”

He turned back around, shaking his head.

My mouth was open and I looked at Tana.

She mouthed “What the hell?” at me. I just shook my head, incensed. I grabbed Big Boy by the arm and turned him around.

“Hey.” I dug my fingers into his forearm, encountering solid muscle. I felt his arm flex but he didn't pull away. “Jackass. I came here to register for classes because I wanted to. I didn't come here to look down my nose at anybody. I chose to come here. So you can shut the hell up.”

He looked down at my hand on his arm, then back at me, grinning again. “You just wanted to touch me.”

I yanked my hand off his arm like it had suddenly caught fire.

Tana tried to mask a smile.

“You've got nice hands, sweetness,” he said. His eyes roved up and down my body, his eyes lingering on my breasts. “You wanna touch me somewhere else, just ask. As long as I get to do the same.”

Maybe I'd made an entirely wrong decision. Four more years of Annika sounded better than one more minute with this moron.

“You wish, jackass,” I said.

“
Oh, I do,” he said, chuckling. “And my name's West. Not Jack. But I do have a nice...”

“
West?” I snorted. “What the hell kind of name is that?”

He chuckled. “Best name you'll ever know. Guaranteed.”

“Whatever,” I said. I grabbed Tana's arm. “Let's go.”

“
I didn't get your name, honey,” West called as I stormed away, pulling Tana with me. “Maybe next time.”

EIGHT

Tana and I both stared at the flat tire on my car.

I ran a hand through my hair. “Great.”

I'd dragged Tana away from the line, to the other side of the campus. After a couple of laps walking around the track and Tana calming me down, we'd gone back to the registration line. West, aka Mr. Jackass, was nowhere to be found. We'd waited our time in line, finally gotten into the registrar and I signed up for the four classes I wanted.

I was feeling pretty good until we'd walked back down to the parking lot and saw the rear passenger tire flat as a pancake.

“How did that happen?” Tana asked. She crouched down to inspect the tire.

I slumped against the side of my car. “Who knows?”

“Can you change a tire?” she asked, her voice hopeful.

I stared at her like she'd sprouted another head. “No,” I said, enunciating the word. I raised my eyebrows. “Can you?”

Her expression was one of horrified amusement. “No. But I can call AAA.”

I stared at the tire for a moment, thinking. “It can't be that hard, can it?”

“Changing a tire?” Tana sounded like I'd just asked if I could perform brain surgery on her.

“
Yeah,” I said, popping the trunk. “People do it all the time.”

New adventures, I reminded myself. Take some risks. Try some new things. Why couldn't changing a flat tire be one of them?

Tana was still staring at me. “Yeah. People. Not us.”

“
We'll be fine,” I told her.

But we weren't. I found the tools under the mat in the back and, after staring at them and turning them over in my hands, couldn't make heads or tails of them. I tried to unscrew the bolt that held the tire down in the trunk and couldn't get it to move. After twenty minutes of me fumbling around like a bumbling idiot and Tana just staring, her face expressionless, we'd made absolutely zero progress.

I dropped the long tire thing to the ground and the sound of the steel crashing against the pavement echoed across the lot. “Alright,” I said, wiping the sweat beading on my forehead.
“I give up.”

“
Ah, don't give up so easily,” a voice said behind me.

Tana and I both turned around.

West was standing there, his hands shoved in the pockets of his shorts.

I turned back to Tana, ignoring him. “Let's just call AAA.”

She nodded, but kept her eye on West.

“
AAA will take an hour to get here,” he said, pushing the hair off his face. “I can do it in fifteen minutes.”

“
We're good,” I said. I felt the irritation rise up. I didn't want to be anywhere near this chauvinistic pig.

“
Don't be stubborn,” he said, picking up the tire thing I'd dropped on the ground. “Fifteen minutes and you'll be good to go.”

“
I told my mom I'd be back by noon,” Tana said, glancing at her watch. “It's already after eleven.”

I made a face at her. I did not want that arrogant bozo helping us.

He stepped closer to me. His hair had fallen into his eyes again and he pushed it away. His eyes were the most gorgeous blue I'd ever seen, a perfect mirror of the Pacific, all dark blue and sparkly. I looked away.

“
I'm happy to do it,” he said. “Really.”

My heart was beating faster than it needed to. I didn't want him near me and I didn't want his help. I glanced at Tana. She pointed at her watch, her eyes pleading.

I sighed. “So you really know what to do with this tire thingy?” I asked, motioning to the iron stick that I'd dropped.

“
Wow. Such a technical name.” West grinned. “It's called a tire iron.”

“
Iron?” I looked him up and down. I couldn't resist getting in a dig. “Pretty sure an iron hasn't touched your clothes since...ever.”

“
We can discuss what's touched my clothes later.” He paused, a smile twitching on his lips. “Or who.”

I rolled me eyes.

“Look, do you want help or not?”

I glanced at the tire. It wasn't going to be changing itself. And Tana was sweating bullets about getting home on time. I sighed again, louder this time.  “Alright.”

He stared at me for a moment longer, the corner of his mouth turning upward, then nodded. “Alright.”

He stepped past me and rummaged in the trunk for a moment, then lifted out the tire I'd struggled with for so long. I watched, disgusted. He must have noticed my expression because his smile grew bigger.

“You probably loosened it for me,” he said.

I felt an answering smile tug at my lips and I bit down, trying to stem it. “You were watching me?” I asked instead. “What? Like stalking us?”

He chuckled. “Nah. Just saw you as I was coming across the lot.” He set the spare down on the ground next to the car and squatted down next to the flat tire. He grabbed the tire iron and attached it to the flat. “It's really not hard,” he said, nodding his head toward the tire. “If you wanna watch. You'd be able to do it next time. In case I'm not around.”

I shook my head, still fighting the smile. “I'll take notes.”

He nodded.

I glanced over at Tana. She stood off to the side of the car, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes darting from me to West and then back to me.

“So. Hot,” she mouthed.

I rolled my eyes.

But he was. I couldn't deny that. He was absolutely gorgeous. The muscles in his arms flexed and shivered as he turned the tire iron. His shirt stretched tight across his back, the muscles rippling in waves as he lifted the car off the ground with the jack. Expertly, he slid the tire off the car.  I tried not to drool.

“
You get registered?” he asked, laying the flat tire on the ground. “After you threw your hissy fit and took off?”

“
I didn't throw a hissy fit,” I said, feeling anger flare inside me again.

But he smiled at me and I could tell he was saying it just to rile me up.

“I might have been a little rude,” he said, grabbing the spare and sliding it into place. “If I was, I'm sorry.”

“
That might be the worst apology I've ever heard,” I said.

Tana's phone rang and she held it up. “My mom.” She punched the button and said hello before wandering out of earshot.

“You're right,” he said. “That was a pretty weak effort. How about this? You tell me your name and I'll give you a genuine apology.”

He was irritatingly charming and I wasn't sure what to make of him. He wasn't nearly as abrasive as he had been earlier while we stood in line. And he was changing my flat tire.

“Abby,” I said.  I waited for a second and then added, “Abby Sellers.”

He nodded as he fiddled with the tire. He grabbed the oversize bolts he'd removed and reattached them, turning them with the tire thing. He grabbed the handle on the jack and lowered the car back to the ground. Then he turned the bolts again. He picked up the flat tire and the tools and put them all back in the trunk. He closed the trunk and wiped his hands on his shorts, leaving the faint imprint of grease stains.

He smiled down at me and once again pushed the hair away from his face. For one ridiculous minute, I wished it was my hand weaving through those long, black locks.

“
Abby Sellers, I am very sorry if I came off as rude,” West said. “Chalk it up to my having a bad morning. I'll try not to let it happen again.”

His gaze was so focused, so intense, and I felt like I couldn't look away.

“Thanks,” I said and then wished I could kick myself. Where was a witty response when I needed one?

He leaned up against the closed trunk of my car. “But now you owe me.”

“Owe you?”

He pointed his finger toward the pavement. “The tire?”

“You want me to pay you?”

He squinted, then shook his head. “I was thinking of something a little less formal.”

“You didn't mention a fee,” I said. “I could've called AAA for free.”

“
True,” he said. “But you'd still be waiting. And your friend over there would really have some explaining to do to her mom.”

Tana was about ten yards away, gesturing like crazy, clearly not happy.

“And you wouldn't have gotten my awesome apology,” he added.

I smiled and shook my head. He was impossible.

“What did you have in mind?”

He thought for a moment. “I think your phone number will do for now.”

My heart fluttered and I tried to keep my tone light. “Why? So you can call for payment? Take my credit card number over the phone?”

He laughed. “Maybe. But you give me your number, we'll call it even.” He produced a phone from his pocket. “I'll put it right in here for safe keeping.”

He was so arrogant, so sure I'd give him the number. Part of me wanted to rattle off a fake number, just to piss him off. But he had just changed my flat tire and he'd apologized for earlier. And it certainly didn't hurt that he look like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. I didn't think he'd actually call me. And I wasn't entirely sure I wanted him to.

“
And if I don't?” I asked.

He leveled those blue eyes on me and pursed his lips, a slight frown creasing his features. “Then we'll both miss out, won't we?”

“Miss out on what?”

He shifted against my car, hitching his fingers in the pockets of his shorts. His eyes found mine again and he smiled. “I don't know. But I'm pretty sure we'll be missing out on something if we just walk away. Something big, Abby Sellers.”

My stomach fluttered again and I could feel the heat of anticipation rise up inside of me.

He held up his phone. “Number?”

I hesitated for only a second before giving him the number. The right phone number.

He tapped at his screen. “I probably should've made you promise to answer it when I call.”

A little thrill ran through me when he said “when” rather than “if.”

“
Yeah,” I agreed. “You probably should've.”

“
But I think you will,” he said.