EXCERPT: Waiting To Score

CHAPTER ONE

MONTY

I slid my hand into his before I knew what I was doing.

His palm was warm and solid and unexpectedly large.

I dared a glance over my shoulder searching for that mop of dirty blond hair I didn’t want to see coming through the crowd.

“Can I help you?” the guy beside me asked, glancing down at our joined hands, then at me.

I turned to face him, my eyebrows shooting up my forehead.

He was stupidly hot. Straight nose, light brown hair, and striking blue eyes surrounded by dark lashes that would be the envy of any woman. And that jaw. That jaw put sharp-cut diamonds to shame.

“I...um...”

I was suddenly finding it hard to remember why I was holding hands with a guy who looked like he’d stepped off the set of Riverdale.

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” one of Hot Guy’s friends said, his eyes shining with humor. All three of them waited, clearly expecting an explanation for why I’d attached myself to a random guy on the quad. In my defense, I didn’t know he was so damn hot. His hand had been the closest in my time of need, so I’d taken it.

Hot Guy tried to pull away just as the very face I didn’t want to see appeared through the crowd of students gathered on the quad.

“Wait!” I gripped his arm to stop him. “Pretend to be my boyfriend. I’ll pay you.”

He looked at me like I’d just offered to blow him with a mouthful of herpes. Which to be fair, I could kind of understand. Not because I had mouth herpes. But who grabbed a total stranger and begged them to play pretend couple? As far as first impressions went, this one was insane.

“I don’t need your money,” he said, frowning down at me.

Holy shit, he was tall. Had he been this tall ten seconds ago or was it just the irritation starting to cloud his face that made him more imposing?

“Please? Just do me this favor and I’ll give you whatever you want.” I gave him what I hoped was my most pleading and innocent smile.

“Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,” his friend said, both his buddies trying and failing to hold in their laughter.

A glance in my periphery showed that mop of dirty blond hair closing in.

“Are you for real right now?” Hot Guy asked, eyes darting around the quad. “Do we know each other? Did Davis put you up to this?”

He ran his free hand—the one not currently taken hostage by me—through his hair, the muscles of his bicep flexing to show off a seriously toned arm.

My gaze snagged on his clothes, eyes running over him and his two friends. They were all dressed the same—Nike sneakers, navy sweat shorts and a navy Pierson University basketball t-shirt.

Basketball players, damn it. Didn’t this just kept getting better and better?

I’d thoroughly humiliated myself in front of some of the most wanted guys on campus. I’d have to make time to be embarrassed later. Right now, I was desperate. And I was out of time. 

“This isn’t a joke. I swear I’m not crazy, I just need your help.” 

Hot Guy’s eyes roamed my face, taking up seconds I didn’t have, which meant I was about to do something that would solidify me as the most bat-shit girl these guys had ever accidentally encountered.

“I’m so sorry in advance for this.”

A question formed in Hot Guy’s eyes, but he didn’t get a chance to ask it because I gripped his face, tugging his mouth to mine. Kissing him was like kissing a stone wall of surprise, and I screwed my eyes shut, heat flooding my cheeks at my own ridiculousness.

Desperate times and all that... but it still didn’t change the fact I’d jumped a perfect stranger. An incredibly hot stranger.

I slid my fingers through his hair and his mouth relaxed against mine, his surprise morphing into something much friendlier. His hand closed over my hip, making me squeak, his other hand sliding over my ass. My lips parted all on their own, his tongue sweeping into my mouth in lazy, practiced strokes.

God, he was a good kisser. 

Scratch that, he was a phenomenal kisser. And if this kiss went on for the rest of the week, I’d die hot and happy.

“Well, that escalated quickly,” one of his friends said, but I barely heard him, too wrapped up in Hot Guy’s hands on my body and his tongue in my mouth.

That was, until I heard the one voice that was like a bucket of ice water down my back.

“Monty?”

I stiffened, turning my head, lips still attached to Hot Guy and his fingers still curled around my hips. 

Plastering a look of surprise on my face, I reluctantly pulled my mouth away, and I could have sworn Hot Guy frowned in annoyance.

“Alec.”

My dirty-blond ex-boyfriend looked me up and down, blowing out a breath. “I thought it was you. I knew you’d transferred to Pierson. I was hoping to run into you.”

I turned in Hot Guy’s hold so my back was to his chest, pulling his muscular arms around my waist, hoping it looked like he was holding onto me willingly.

“Well, here I am!” I said to Alec a little too brightly.

No need to overcompensate just because I’d found myself in the most awkward situation of my entire life. One of my own ridiculous making.

I hesitated for the briefest moment over the words I was about to utter. But I’d come this far. Time to shoot my shot and pray to everything that was holy Hot Guy would play along.

“I transferred here a few weeks ago to be closer to my boyfriend.” I slapped a hand over Hot Guy’s at my waist and smiled at him over my shoulder.

Those intense blue eyes stared down at me, making my heart pound in my chest.

Please don’t out me. Please don’t out me. Please don’t out me.

His gaze slid to Alec, and he extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, bro. I’m West.”

West. He even had a hot guy name.

Alec stared at West’s offered hand then ignored it completely, his gaze cutting back to me.

“Since when do you have a boyfriend? I spoke to your mom last week, and she didn’t mention it.” 

Shit. He had me there. Anyone who knew me at all knew I told my mom everything. Well, almost everything. I hadn’t told her about the way Alec had been acting this past year.

“No, well...” I said, fumbling for an explanation. “We’ve been keeping this pretty quiet. Just between us, you know?”

Alec’s gaze narrowed. “Why?”

God, his persistence was annoying. Why did he even care?

I worked to think of a lie, my mind offering up a sum total of nothing.

“Oh, um...” I bit the inside of my cheek.

West’s arms tightened around my waist. “Because I’m on the basketball team.” 

He bent over, resting his chin on my shoulder and his cheek against mine as if he’d done it a thousand times before. I sagged against him in relief, the smell of his cologne invading my senses. He smelled incredible, had a face Taylor Swift would write songs about, and he was helping me lie to Alec. I’d really lucked out with my choice of fake boyfriend.

“So?” Alec asked, gaze finally cutting to West to size him up.

West stood tall, hands sliding off my waist to sling an arm around my shoulders and tuck me to his side. I fit perfectly beneath his arm, the two of us at just the right heights.

“The female fans can be a little crazy, man,” West’s buddy offered, and I shot him a grateful smile. 

So grateful I could cry. They had no idea what they were saving me from.

“He’s not kidding,” the other friend added. “I once came home to find a naked basketball bunny in my bed inside my locked dorm room.” He shuddered.

“I mean… you didn’t have to let her blow you, dude. You could have kicked her out,” the first one said, the corners of his mouth twitching.

The second one shrugged, clearly perplexed at the suggestion of turning away a naked girl, even if she wasn’t opposed to a little breaking and entering.

“I didn’t want to subject Monty to all that, at least not right away,” West said as though it were nothing and not some of the sweetest, most considerate words a college guy had probably ever uttered in defense of the random girl he’d met three minutes ago.

I tilted my head up at him with what I hoped was a look of pure adoration. It wasn’t that much of a stretch at this point, given he and his friends were officially my campus knights.

“We wanted to take the time to make sure this was right before we went public and told our families.” West’s intense blue eyes stared down at me, his hand coming up to stroke my cheek, the touch sending a shiver skittering over my skin. “But we know that it’s right. I couldn’t be more into this girl.”

My stomach swooped, my lusty lady parts clearly not getting the memo that we were faking it.

Alec cleared his throat, and I reluctantly pulled my gaze from West’s.

“There are things we need to talk about,” Alec said, back to ignoring my fake boyfriend completely. “Can we have dinner one night this week?”

I opened my mouth to reply, mind scrolling through all the ways I could rebuff that idea without encouraging Alec any further than I somehow already had, when West cut in.

“Oh yeah, man, of course. We’d love to have dinner. Name a time and place and we’ll be there. I recommend Ruby’s. They do one hell of a burger.”

He offered Alec a killer smile, all straight white teeth and shining blue eyes, and I bit my lip to stifle my laugh.

“Sure, whatever,” Alec said tightly, his eyes never leaving me. “I’ll text you, Monty.”

Please don’t, I thought as Alec turned to go.

“Nice to meet you, bro. Looking forward to that catch up,” West called.

Alec slipped through the crowd on the quad, throwing a look over his shoulder.

West smiled broadly, raising a hand to wave, but I grabbed his wrist, pulling it down and swinging out from under him.

He raised an eyebrow at me in question.

“So, about that...” I said, heat creeping into my cheeks. 

“Girl, that was some of the best shit I’ve seen all week!” West’s friend said, throwing his head back with a laugh.

“Did you clock West’s face when she kissed him?” the other asked.

West’s glare shut them both up.

“Friend of yours?” he asked me.

“Ex.”

“I figured. Care to give me a little more info about why you just sucked my face off in front of him?”

I screwed up my face. “Excuse me, that kiss was some of my best work. It’s not my fault kissing you was like making out with one of the marble statues outside the library.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Oh, she didn’t,” West’s teammate said, bending over to press his hands to his knees.

“She did,” the other one said, looking awed. “She just compared the King of Campus to a stone statue.”

West’s jaw clenched. “Don’t you two have somewhere else to be?”

“We don’t, actually.” 

“Find somewhere,” West said.

Shooting me broad grins, they strolled away, not bothering to cover their laughter, which filtered back to us through the busy quad.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “King of Campus, huh? That’s quite a title.”

He shrugged. “It’s the basketball jersey they want.”

“Are you the captain?”

“Hell no.”

“Just the team stud?”

“Yeah. I mean, no.” He looked momentarily flustered, and I tried not to laugh. “This isn’t about me.”

“Maybe it should be,” I said as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to read a text from my friend Stella, speaking absently to West. “Your story sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than mine.”

He crossed his impressive arms over his even more impressive chest, those blue eyes scanning me and making my stomach twist in the best way. “I’d rather hear yours.”

“And it’s a story I’d love to tell you,” I said, shoving my phone back in the pocket of my denim cut-offs. “But I have to go.”

“Are you serious?”

I screwed up my nose and pointed at my pocket. “Emergency SOS text, I’m needed elsewhere.” I backed away, edging around a nearby group of students. “But thank you. You really helped me out of a jam. You’re a prince and a gentleman and all those other great things men hope to be.”

“Monty...”

The sound of my name coming from his mouth was something else.

“I’m sorry!” I called. “I absolutely owe you one!”

He shook his head in disbelief, and I jogged down the path, thanking the college Gods for delivering me such a perfect boy to accost in my time of need.

Maybe this new school was going to be fun after all.

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