“I’ll carry it up,” I said.
“Oh, wonderful,” Hannah said.
“It’s just my shampoo and stuff. It’s fine.”
I scooped it up and closed the car door before I turned back to my guys. I waved my hand at them, signaling that I’d be right back. And when I did, their damn catcalling started up. Whistles filled the air and a couple of the guys gave me a thumbs-up. Then the comments began.
“We give you five minutes with that one!”
“I think you got ten in ya!”
“Pics, or it didn’t happen, Max!”
The guys burst into laughter as I snickered, shaking my head at those asshats. But when I felt someone tugging at the bag in my hand, I looked down to see the dark-haired girl fighting me for the damn thing.
“Give it. I’ve got it,” she said.
The bright pink of her face and the worried furrow of her brow told me everything I needed to know. She was embarrassed. And for some reason, that mattered. I held my hand up toward the guys again and made a fist, telling them they needed to shut the fuck up. And they did, too. Almost immediately.
Causing the girl to look up at me with those bright brown eyes of hers again.
“I’ve got it,” I said.
Her eyes darted back across the road, coming back to mine before she slowly turned to her friend in the car. I waited for her hand to drop and those delicate fingers of hers to pull back. All she had to do was let me help. Let me get the rest of her stuff to her room so I knew where to find her if I wanted to see her again.
And I knew I wanted to see her again.
“There’s always the pizza joint that stays open until midnight,” Hannah said.
The girl sighed. “Fine. There are a couple of other things I need to grab really quickly, though.”
“Toss them my way.”
She walked around to the back of her car and opened the trunk. The plastic bags she pulled out looked as if they were filled with nothing but snacks, sweets, and junk. Oh, yeah. They were college girls, all right. I walked over and took the bags from her, giving her the breadth and ability to close the trunk. I heard the guys snickering and laughing to themselves across the street. The warm summer breeze that kicked up carried their sounds as the girl led me to the dorm doors. I heard one last guy whistle at me just before we breached the threshold, and I promised to figure out who it was and put him on janitorial duty for an entire fucking week.
But it still made me chuckle to myself.
I ducked through the entrance and was led to an elevator. Where I had to duck once again just to get in. I stood by the small girl as we rode all the way to the top floor in silence. And since she insisted on standing in front of me, I checked out her assets.
Oh, yeah. I really like her ass.
“It’s just down the hall. At the corner,” she said.
The doors opened and I ducked again. I watched as some of the other college kids peeked their heads out to yell at someone down the hallway. But when they saw me coming, they shut up. People always shut up when I arrived on the scene. Whether it was the smell of cigarettes on my leather jacket or the sheer size of my body, I wasn’t sure. I enjoyed it, though.
They stared at me as the two of us made our way to her dorm room.
“I can take it from here,” she said.
“Open the door,” I said.
“I can take--”
“I said open the door.”
She stared at me for a long time. But finally, she caved. They always caved, too. That was the best part. No matter how strong of a front they put up, eventually they no longer resisted me. I grinned as she unlocked the door. She swung it open and walked inside, then held out her arms. She looked exasperated. Tired of my shit. And as I looked back down the hallway, I saw a few girls standing near their own doors with their eyes sliding up and down my body.
A flash of jealousy ignited within me, too.