the whining, angling her head as she watched Luka, not expecting the look he gave her—a phantom of the hungry expression she’d seen from him last night, but this time with something that reminded Gia of a kid denied his favorite treat.
When she only blinked, throwing him a stare that she thought was probably curious, Luka’s frown softened, twisting into a relaxed grin. He shrugged once, as if he had no explanations to give her, then returned the full smile she offered him.
The campus was a ghost town. There weren’t many souls haunting the hallways or crowding the union. Gia liked the solitude. She liked the seclusion. It gave her time to think. It gave her time to recall the subtle tease Luka seemed to have perfected.
He’d watched her walk from the field, even made to follow her off of it, but got stopped by Uncle Mike as he rounded up his players for one last meeting. Mike never expected her to stay after practices and she wouldn’t hang around, waiting on Luka. One humiliation a week was plenty, never mind the caveman behavior he’d exhibited with the football and poor clueless Drew Lavigne.
He probably knew nothing about her. He’d have no idea what dorm was hers or where she’d be. But then again, Luka and Kona Hale had been CPU legends the second they’d arrived on campus—the sort of boys good girls like Gia got warned about. If Luka wanted to find her, he would. She had zero doubts about that.
Normally, Gia was a good girl, certainly not the sort to stand naked in a shower letting some boy gawk at her. At least she’d been raised to be. It was nothing to be around beautiful men and be unaffected. She’d grown up those types her entire life in New York. But Luka had done something to her. He’d changed everything with one smile, one friendly “hey,” and the smallest displays of gratitude every time Gia did her job on the field.
And the shower incident? Well. She had no idea what had gotten into her.
He impacted her. It was the only excuse she had for being so bold. Gia had turned, limbs and muscles relaxed from the pulse of the water to find Luka, wearing only a towel gripped at his waist watching her. The look he gave had been raw. It had been primal, and it was that look alone that emboldened Gia. It made her fearless. It made her determined to take what she wanted and in that foggy, hot room, she’d wanted Luka Hale.
You’re young, he’d said to her, his expression going wide, tongue slipping out to wet his bottom lip when she teased with, I’m old enough for you.
Gia fell onto her bed, stuffing her head under her pillows as her face flamed, just remembering how bold she’d been…and how turned on. She couldn’t explain it. Not how she’d acted or why on earth Luka hurled balls at Drew today as though he wanted to get the guy away from her. The optimist in her wanted to believe he regretted turning her down. The realist in her thought maybe Luka was just an asshole. She’d bet money that something in the middle was likely closer to the truth.
Gia would have stayed there all night, staring at the white ceiling, counting the long seams along the decades-old molding, letting her mind go blank. Maybe somewhere in the next few hours she’d get undressed, tug off her jeans and boots, take off the fitted sweater her mother had given her last Christmas, and resign herself to the reality that she’d spend the entire Thanksgiving break alone in her dorm, avoiding phone calls from her guilty-sounding parents about missing their first holiday away from their only daughter. But Italy was beautiful this time of year and they’d only ever have one thirty-year anniversary. Besides, it would be cold in New York. It would never be New York-cold in Louisiana in November.
And, of course, pathetic as it sounded, there were no Luka Hales in New York.
“God…” she groaned, stuffing her pillow over her face because even her thoughts sounded pitiful, because she knew the shower scene wouldn’t stop repeating on that constant loop in her head. But…that smile today. “That damn smirk,” Gia said against the pillow, lowering it when a noise sounded from the hallway. She went still, holding the pillow to her chest as she listened. The campus was empty except for the university police and possibly