Fate (Steel Brothers Saga #13) - Helen Hardt Page 0,6
Sean grabbed the last slice. “That work for you, Steel?”
Brad smiled at me, and his eyes seemed darker than before. “That works great.”
“Pat and I have orientation starting tomorrow.”
“The evening stuff is crap,” Sean said. “All social stuff. You can skip it and have pizza with us.”
“I don’t know…” I said.
Brad touched my forearm.
Sparks shot through me. His hand was so big, and he wore a gold ring with a strange symbol on it. It was intricate, and I didn’t recognize it. I loved the tan of his skin against my fairer flesh.
“Please,” he said. “I really want to see you again.”
I wanted to see him again too, but no way would I say that. I’d be too embarrassed. I settled for, “Okay. I guess we can miss the evening stuff. Is that okay with you, Pat?”
“Absolutely! If you know pizza that’s better than this, I want to try it.”
I smiled, meeting the dark gaze of Brad Steel, and something dawned on me.
I’d smiled a lot in his company, more than usual, and that made me feel good.
I liked that feeling.
Chapter Four
Brad
Murph seemed to accept the fact that he was with Patty, because he asked her to go on a walk around campus when we got back from dinner. She’d quickly agreed, which left me alone with Daphne.
She was so quiet, but silence with her didn’t seem odd. In fact, it seemed perfectly normal. So she wasn’t a big talker. I wasn’t either, really. The quiet between us was comfortable. In fact, I hadn’t felt this comfortable with a girl in a long time.
Wendy and I had been together for so long that there was a certain level of comfort with her, but it didn’t feel like this. More often than not, I was treading on eggshells with Wendy because she seemed to snap at the slightest provocation. She could snap at something that hadn’t bothered her days ago. She blamed it on her hormones.
But I was beginning to think a twenty-year-old woman couldn’t possibly be so hormonal. She seemed to snap more often every time we saw each other.
Something else was going on—something I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a part of anymore.
If things worked out the way I hoped they would with the beautiful young woman whose hand I was holding, I’d end things with Wendy once and for all.
I’d grabbed her hand impulsively after Murph and Patty had left us. Daphne was tall, and her hands were larger than most women’s, but her hand felt perfect in mine, as if they were meant to entwine together.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said shyly as we stood together outside her building.
“You’re welcome.”
I wasn’t usually at a loss for words, especially with women. Why this one, who’d so clearly captivated me?
Again, the desire to tread softly with her rose within me. I wasn’t sure why. What was so different about her? Was she truly hiding something, or was that just my own head playing tricks on me because she was so quiet?
And because I was so attracted to her?
“I’ll walk you to your room,” I said.
“Oh. Thanks.” She sounded slightly disappointed.
“Unless you want to do something else? The night is young.” I smiled.
She smiled back, her full pink lips bowing into the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. Her whole face shone brightly under the lights outside her building.
“If you do,” she said.
“Come to think of it”—I squeezed her hand—“I’m not quite ready to say good night yet. I hate to copy Murph, but we could take a walk around campus. It’s big and it’ll take you a while to find everything on your own.”
“Or we could find a bench and sit under the stars,” she said.
I stopped my jaw from dropping onto the ground. This girl was an angel. An angel who’d dropped into my life just when I needed her most.
“I know the perfect place,” I said, still holding her hand. “Come on.”
We walked, mostly in silence, to the manmade lake at the far end of campus. It wasn’t actually part of campus. It was a public park, but the lake was kept stocked. During the day, kids sometimes brought their fishing poles, and walkers and runners did laps around the water.
At night, though, it was peaceful and serene. I led Daphne to a bench overlooking the moonbeams shining on the water.
“Wow.” She sat down. “It looks like stars fell onto the water. It’s beautiful.”