: Chapter 10

TEN YEARS AGO

“What comes easy won’t last.”

That was the last thing my father had said to me after dropping me off for my first semester at Harvard. At the time, I’d thought he was referring to school.

The blonde currently twirling her hair and smiling from the other side of the bar? She wasn’t exactly giving off hard-to-get vibes. I’d noticed her an hour ago. She was impossible to miss—mile-long legs, tiny waist, and red lipstick that I couldn’t stop imagining leaving ring marks around certain parts of my body. And I wasn’t the only guy who’d noticed, that was for damn sure. I’d watched a half-dozen guys amble up to her, only to be turned away with their tails between their legs. Our eyes had met a few times, so I thought I might have better luck. But that side of the bar wasn’t our territory. Final clubs—or what other schools usually called fraternities—split this place in half.

There was no line on the floor or written rules, but I stayed on our side with my buddies all the same. It was something we all knew and accepted—just like the fact that this seat was mine this year. As far as I knew, it had belonged to the captain of the rugby team since the place opened. The one next to me was for the captain of the football team, though he wasn’t around tonight. When we weren’t here, our seats remained empty—except when people who didn’t know the rules wandered in. And they were quickly educated.

I should’ve been home studying for a test tomorrow, but my teammates had dragged me out to celebrate after our 24–17 win this afternoon. I finished my beer and held it up to the bartender, signaling for another, then made my way to the men’s room to get rid of the four I’d already downed. Upon my return, I stopped short, finding my seat filled. Then I saw the legs attached to the offender. I reached around her and scooped my fresh beer from the bar. Legs turned to face me.

“I hope you don’t mind me keeping your seat warm.” She tilted her head with a smile.

“Not at all. But I’m a little chilly, if you’re warming things up.”

She plucked my beer from my hand and drank some. “You going to buy me my own, or do I need to drink yours?”

“I’ve watched half a dozen guys try to buy you a drink tonight. You didn’t seem to be thirsty.”

She licked beer foam from her top lip. “I don’t let guys in bars buy me drinks. It gives them a false expectation that I’m going to do something for them in return.”

I raised a brow. “Yet you just told me to buy you one?”

She smiled. “Your expectation might not be false.”

I wasn’t complaining, but I was curious. “Why is that?”

“You’re gorgeous.” She squeezed my bicep. “And I saw you play at the game earlier. I was dying to feel your arm.”

I already had a big ego, but a good stroking never hurt anyone. Especially from a woman who looked like her.

“I haven’t seen you around,” I said. “You go to school here?”

“I did. But I had to take the semester off. My parents had problems with the loans, and my dad’s sick. I’m waitressing to save up and go back. But it might take a while.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Not your fault.”

“What’s your name?”

“Whitney. What’s yours?”

“You went to the game today, but you don’t know my name?”

She smiled. “Wilder Hayes.”

“Why’d you ask if you already knew?”

Her hand was still on my bicep. She rubbed up and down my arm. “Are you going to buy me that drink or what?”

“What are you having?” I lifted a hand to call the bartender.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a hard seltzer? Something portable, not in a glass.”

“You going somewhere?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I hope so.”

I ordered her a hard seltzer and added another beer for me. While we waited, I stared at her lips. “I like your lipstick.”

“Thank you. I like your eyes.”

I looked down. “I like your legs.”

She squeezed my arm again. “I like your muscles.”

I was standing, so I could see right down her shirt. A healthy amount of cleavage popped out of her top. I lifted my eyes and met hers with a smile. “Fuck the drinks. You want to get out of here?”

Her sexy-as-shit lips curved to a grin. “It’s about time.”

My dorm room was five minutes away, but it took us twenty because of all the times we stopped to make out. We had half our clothes off in the hall before I even got the door open. It might’ve been the easiest encounter I’d ever had with a woman.

So my father’s words should’ve set off an alarm.

“What comes easy won’t last.”

But all the thoughts I had went out the window with the sound of my pants coming undone.