Slowly, he extended one hand and pushed back a swath of hair that’d fallen into her face. “Didn’t Grant fail you in writing your freshman year?”
Her cheeks burned hot, and she swung her feet down to the floor, standing. “Does everyone know about that?” She rooted a bottle of water out of her bag and angrily unscrewed the cap.
“No, koshka, not everyone. I know because Sharon told me. She told me a lot about you.”
“Sounds like Sharon, that traitor.”
She’d drained half the lukewarm bottle before running her forearm across her lips and replying, “I wasn’t bad at writing. I missed some assignments.”
“You would’ve have had to miss a lot, huh? Isn’t Composition II fairly elementary for a natural-born writer?”
She screwed the cap back on and set the bottle down. “Three out of six major papers.”
“Why?”
“Because it was college and one of the things people do in college is goof off and fuck up.” Her voice caught a bit of an edge toward the end that made his smile draw in.
She sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing them with her palms. “I’m sorry. Look, I probably wouldn’t have been sensitive about it otherwise, but, that was the semester I met Spike, or as he was known back then, Terrence. I was infatuated and irresponsible…and Grant was a hard-ass. Every other instructor I had let me make up the work.”
“He’s an honorable guy that way.”
“Yeah, I know that now. If he were less upright, I wouldn’t be so thrilled about him taking my best friend overseas for four years. Hey, did you never skip a class? Miss turning in some assignments?”
His eyes narrowed and he stared off at the beach, seeming to really consider it.
“Seriously, Seth?”
“School was important to me. It was all I had.”
She gaped. “Seriously?”
“Well, of course, there was also alcohol, but I managed to make it to class and attend my other academic commitments as scheduled.”
“Geek.”
“Precisely.”
“But of all the places you could have gone in the world to study, why North Carolina? And a liberal arts school, at that?”
His spine straightened and brow furrowed as he chewed his bottom lip. Finally, he said, “For one thing, I wanted to be somewhat well-rounded and be around students interested in things other than the sciences. As far as North Carolina, I…don’t really remember why there as opposed to any other place. Perhaps they were the first to accept me, I don’t know. I was doing what you Americans call…uh, is it couch surfing?”
She nodded.
“Yes, until I turned eighteen and finished my secondary schooling. As soon as I got my paperwork in order, I was on the first plane out.”
“Wow.”
Really, that was all she could say. She couldn’t imagine being so brave. Yeah, she’d been an out-of-state student, but at any time she could have hopped in her car and driven north. And she often did. Sometimes, she felt like the umbilical cord hadn’t been completely severed because she was still too close to home. But to have an entire ocean and half a continent between you and your motherland…that was an intimidating prospect.
She swallowed and leaned over, plucking up one shrimp and dragging it through the accompanying butter. “Hey, by the way, we need to figure out what’s going to happen when we leave this resort.” She cut her gaze over to him slowly, just in time to watch him fisting the hem of his T-shirt and pulling it over his head.
Her breath seized as her stare settled on his chest. Thoughts of her hands being pressed against it and her belly flat against his flitted through her thoughts, the memory of that one extraordinary orgasm making her eyes roll upward.
“Okay, we can talk about it,” he said, backing through the cabana entrance. “Maybe at dinner?” He raised one eyebrow, waiting her response.
“Sure. Dinner.”
Bobbing his head in agreement, he turned on his heel and jogged the short distance to the water. He waded in to his waist, waved at a couple of brazen photographers, then dove into the waves.
“Right. Dinner.” She sucked melted butter from the shrimp, and chewed, thinking about how bad it would burn Spike’s biscuits if a new man moved into his old home.
She laughed. “He’d probably have a stroke.”
Chapter 6
When Seth had returned to the cabana from his long swim, he’d found it empty. His platter had been cleared away, and Meg—along with her bag—was gone. She’d left her book, though. He fished his cell phone out of his paperback and read the display. Four. Bit early for dinner, but they had an early flight out and would want to get to bed early.