Romancing the R.A - By Ashelyn Drake Page 0,1

ladies,” he says with a smile, his eyes focused on me. My cheeks warm, and I’m sure he knows I was staring at him. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind.

“It is now,” Julia whispers to me.

I push her through the door before she can embarrass me. I return his “good morning,” locking eyes with him and smiling.

“Have fun,” he says, closing the door behind us.

A smile spreads across Julia’s face. “Now, more guys like him, I approve of.”

That makes two of us.

We find some empty seats near the back and listen to a boring introduction by the dean. The guy would be attractive if he was twenty years younger, but he’s about as interesting as a hangnail. He keeps going on about test scores and enrollment numbers. I scan the room again, looking for him, my mystery doorman. Okay, he’s not really a doorman, just a guy who thinks to open doors for girls. I can’t remember the last time any guy at my high school held a door for me. College guys are already beating high school boys hands down.

I spot him by the door again, but this time he’s inside the room with us. He either wants to make a quick exit once Dean Boring is finished or he has a thing for doors. He turns in my direction and smiles. Not just a friendly “welcome to Timberland” smile. A full out “you know you want to kiss these lips” smile. I swallow the lump in my throat and force a quick smile in return before lowering my eyes to my lap. I wish I had something to hold, something to stop my hands from fidgeting. Couldn’t they hand out pamphlets with this boring information instead of spewing it all at us in a lecture that showed no signs of ending?

Julia elbows me in the ribs. “Check out the hottie looking at you.” I look up to see he’s still staring in my direction. It’s not that guys haven’t looked at me like this before; it’s that none of them have made my insides knot to the point where I’m debating interrupting this lecture to see what his lips taste like. “Figures you’d find a guy first.” Julia’s voice jolts me out of my daydream. “You aren’t even looking for one.”

Julia is used to me ignoring guys at school. Most are totally immature. But this is college. It’s…different. I shrug, trying to pretend I don’t give a damn that this guy is looking at me, but all I can think about is that smile. That sexy, meant-for-me smile. “We don’t even know how old he is.”

“Only incoming freshman and transfer students show up for orientation. He has to be one of the two. It’s not like he’s a teacher.”

“He’s standing there looking all official instead of sitting with the rest of us. And check out the logo on his shirt.” It was on the guy’s chest—his chiseled chest by the looks of it in that tight polo.

“Holy shit, that’s a nice body!” Julia’s practically drooling. “I was focused on his face. How stupid of me?”

She’s not wrong. Every inch of this guy is sizzling hot. “He must work here, right?”

“I bet they sell those shirts in the University Store, but you’re right. He does look sort of official.”

“He can’t be a teacher, can he?” Please, don’t let him be a teacher. That would be just my luck. I find a guy who’s thoughtful enough to open doors and looks like he could model, and he’ll be my teacher.

“If he is, sign me up!”

“What if he teaches Econ or something equally boring?” My mind won’t stop creating worse and worse scenarios, derailing my hopes for any sort of relationship with this guy. Not that I even know his name.

“I don’t care, as long as I can stare at him for the semester. Hell, I’ll change my major for him.” She looks at me briefly, but then does a double take. “Oh, crap. You do like him. I can see it in your eyes.” As boy-crazed as Julia is, she’d never go for a guy she knew I liked.

I open my mouth to deny it, but I can’t. She knows me too well.

“Okay, fine. You can have him, but we need to find someone equally hot for me. And soon.”

She makes it sound so easy, as if my thinking this guy is gorgeous is enough to make him mine. My life doesn’t work that way. Hers does.

“Noelle?” Julia elbows me