“Peanut butter on a spoon, now that’s just cute as hell, Sunshine.”
Brax’s warm breath brushed my neck as he leaned over and whispered to me, and I jumped and looked at him. His eyes were clear and snapped with mischief. The purple around his eye had faded to pale lavender. “You’re in this class?” I asked, surprised.
Brax’s white ghost grin dominated his unusual face, and his hand gripped my elbow. He smelled good, freshly showered, hair still damp. Wearing a plain black tee shirt and jeans, he left me breathless. Which concerned me. “Weird, huh?” he said, and eyed my feet. “No boots?”
I narrowed my gaze. “You knew.” A smile tugged at those lips I had a hard time not staring at. I cleared my throat. “Boots aren’t functional for me here, Brax.”
“You were wearing them the first day I met you,” he said.
I shrugged. “They’d been functional earlier that day. When I’d shoveled horse poop.”
His mouth parted even wider, his teeth straight and white He guided me down the last row of seats, and slipped my back pack from my shoulder. “Let’s go sit back there,” he dropped his head close, his mouth near my ear, “E.T.” The whisper made my breath hitch. My gaze slipped over a blonde girl as we passed, and her eyes were glued to Brax. They grew wide and glassy as she stared, and I could in no way blame her.
His presence behind me made my nerves crackle. The place on my elbow where his fingers gripped turned warm, and that heat tumbled and shot all the way through my body. Awareness of his close proximity, and how he seemed to be hogging all the air around me, made my skin flush. Godalmighty, what was wrong with me? We took our seats beside each other and he draped my backpack over the back of my chair. He did the same to his, then leaned toward me, those perfect lips twitching.
“So what are you, some kind of a peanut butter eating Sci-Fi nerd?”
His voice was low, teasing, and raspy, and I liked it. I shrugged, smiled, gave him a quick glance, and turned my attention to the class curriculum on my desk. I licked my spoon. “The truth is out there.”
Brax’s laugh came straight from his gut, and I could tell it was real, one of those infectious sounds that inspired others to stop and join in. I peered at him, and his eyes were directly on me and he shook his head. He stopped laughing, but his eyes still danced. Grew serious. “You are so damn different.”
I wasn’t exactly sure how to take that remark, really, and it left me unsure how to even answer. So, I didn’t. I just finished my spoon. I knew I was different. Always had been, and had always been comfortable with myself. Walking across a packed campus eating a spoon of peanut butter didn’t seem all that strange to me at all. Different? Different than what, I wondered.
“All right, guys, find your seats.” Professor Sentinel stood behind his desk, shuffling papers. He was late thirties, early forties maybe, with long brown hair. He wore glasses and a white button-up long sleeved shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Suddenly, my chin was gently grabbed and Brax pulled my attention to him.
His eyes narrowed in a mock frown. “Okay, Gracie, I don’t wanna catch you cheating off me, you hear?” He glanced down at the syllabus on his desk. “Especially while we’re studying Homer. Got it?” his lips turned up in the corners.
“I’ll do my very best to restrain myself,” I answered. Then, I casually moved my gaze around Brax’s head. The room started filling up fast, but it was one body in particular that I noticed when I scanned the room. He’d just slid into a desk three rows over, and was now deadpan staring at me. My breath lodged in my throat. It was an expression that made my skin turn cold. I felt the blood drain from my face as Kelsy Evans looked first at Brax, then finally toward the front of the room. I eased back in my seat, facing forward, and breathed. God, how could this be? Kelsy in the same class as me? And Brax? Was I being punished for something?
“Hey.”
I turned to Brax and tried not to look as faint as I felt. He rubbed his chin and kept his eyes on mine, the goin inked into his knuckles glaring at me. I could tell in Brax’s expression that I wasn’t fooling him. Not for a second. And before I could even say a single word, his head turned and studied the students in the room. I didn’t think he’d be able to single Kelsy out so fast; he’d only seen him from across the parking lot. Once. But he did. I knew it from the angle of Brax’s head, and from the way his broad shoulders stiffened. Slowly, he turned back to me, shifting his weight, angling his chest, his body toward mine. Almost shielding me from Kelsy.