The Billionaire’s Burden(27)

Lucy stared at me silently over the rim of her thin metal glasses, one dark eyebrow arched to her hairline as she observed my kitty cat pajama bottoms.

"It's a mystery." She said with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

With a sigh, she stood, straightening her black romper as she swung her bright pink bag over her shoulder, "I'll see you tonight, Jade." She murmured with a wave of her hand, prancing out the door as I speedily jerked to my feet, dumping the terrible coffee into the sink the second she was out of the kitchen.

I refilled the mug with water, drinking it, trying to drown the dirt taste that clung between my teeth.

Outside, the sun had only just begun its trek across the morning sky. Lazy soft pinks and baby blues inched lazily, as though it were too early for even the color to awake.

With a yawn, I rinsed out the mug one more time.

When I looked back up, a tall, blond head loped across my vision, stopping at his bright red jeep. I froze, a deer in headlights, staring as his tan hand dug into his back pocket, pulling out his jingling keys. I swallowed, eyes lazily tracing up his strong body from his sneakers to the way his muscles strained against his denim jeans, soft green t-shirt clinging to his svelte abs.

It should be a crime to be that gorgeous, this early in the morning.

Was Eli an early riser, too? Or did he have to drag himself out of bed? What did his bed look like? Was it all dark, mussed silken sheets?

Did he sleep naked?

When my eyes drifted further upwards, I met the sparkling golden orbs that pierced straight through my aching heart.

Eli blinked, frowning at me as I dreamily gazed into his eyes, only then realizing what a weirdo stalker I must look like, staring at him as though he were an ad in a magazine.

With a yelp, I bent downwards, sliding onto the kitchen floor with my back against the wooden cabinets, mug still held tight in my hands, hiding from his intense stare. Finally, I heard the rumble of his jeep as his engine turned over, leading him out of the complex.

Grabbing the edge of the kitchen sink, I hoisted myself up to peer out of the window one more time, watching as the back of the red vehicle turned the corner.

"It's a mystery." I echoed after Lucy's own words, hiding my face in my hands.

I as an embarrassment to the both of us.

No wonder Eli Hunter never invited us to his parties. He probably thought we might try to kidnap him in his sleep or something.

With a groan, I headed back into my room, trying not to think about how utterly humiliating that had been. With a body like Eli's, I was sure he was used to people ogling him, but at 7 in the morning? That was just outrageous.

I tugged on a pair of blue jeans and a lavender blouse, throwing my books into my shoulder bag as I headed out the door, locking it behind me.

As I slid into my own car, slamming the door shut, I jacked up the radio, trying to drown out the buzzing repetition of my brain telling me how embarrassed I should feel.

The drive to campus was short and quiet. Most sane people chose later classes, but I'd always been an early bird. Though, if I could have later classes and avoid Lucy's miracle coffee, perhaps it would be worth the trade.

After classes, I usually spent my afternoons with my bookstore work shift. It was slow this time of year, so I basically just hid out behind the counter and flipped through any book that piqued my interest. I got paid for it too. Bonus.

Lucy and I had met in that very same bookstore about a year and a half ago during our freshman year. I was restocking the shelves, and she was judging me for my sloppy placement.

It was friendship at first sight.

We bonded later, over a love for Grey's Anatomy and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I'd had difficulty making friends in my first weeks at college, and I was grateful for her companionship. She was a prickly sort of pear, but she was fiercely loyal, and could be shockingly sweet in the strangest sort of times.

Our studies were vastly different. She was an environmental major, I was psychology. Neither of us had any idea what we wanted to do when we grew up.

We had time to figure it out, we liked to believe, but we were sophomores now, already half way through our university years.

"Maybe I'll work in the bookstore forever." I'd teased Lucy the other day as we lay lazily around the apartment, doing a spectacular amount of nothing.

It'd been a typical Saturday evening for us, a bottle of red wine open on the coffee table and an 80's horror flick on in the DVD player.

"Maybe we could open a cafe together." She'd retorted as she delicately applied navy blue polish to her toenails.

I quieted instantly, unsure if she was joking or not. There would be zero market for her type of coffee.

It was only then that I could feel the smirk she teasingly hid.

I abruptly realized that I was giggling to myself at the memory in the middle of my abnormal psychology lecture, the professor casting a worried glance my way as the students around me rolled their eyes simultaneously. It’d be no surprise to anyone if my face were in the upcoming pages.