Foolish girl.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit tired.” She buried her face in his chest. God, he smelled good. Like sugar and sandalwood. Even sweaty, he was delicious.
“Tired?” Wolfe asked, studying her intently from behind black-rimmed glasses. He was seemingly unaffected by the heat of the day and the fact that they’d just played a fast game of basketball. How was he not even a little bit sweaty? “When did you last eat? Do you feel ill? What about water? You need to keep hydrated.”
Her mouth parted and she stared at him in shock. She’d never heard Wolfe like this. At least not when it came to her. Mostly he either ignored her or scowled and growled at her.
“I’m fine.” Her stom
ach grumbled. Awesome timing. “Well, maybe a bit hungry.”
Wolfe frowned. “You shouldn’t be doing physical activity on an empty stomach. What if you fainted? Hit your head? Then you might get a concussion. A brain bleed. End up in a coma and die. Is that what you want?”
She blinked at him. “Umm, no?”
Wolfe just grunted as though completely vindicated. He turned and headed towards Caleb’s car.
“What just happened?” she whispered.
Caleb grinned. “You’ve just been wolfed.”
“Wolfed?”
Aleki laughed. “You’re going to get fussed at constantly. He’ll likely be worse with you because you’re a delicate girl.”
“Delicate, my ass.” She playfully punched his arm. Ow. Shit. Was he made of concrete? She had to work hard to hide how much that hurt.
“It’s his way of showing he cares.” Caleb took pity on her and reached for her throbbing hand, massaging it. She stiffened, worried Aleki would be mad at him touching her but he didn’t say a word.
“Are you trying to say he now likes me?” It had only taken close to a year of dating Aleki.
Aleki wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Yep. Last time Caleb had a fever, he nearly lost his mind. I swear he researched every possible illness it could be. He almost had him at the emergency room, demanding that they take out his spleen.”
She giggled. “And what was wrong?”
“Just a cold,” Caleb said dryly. “Come on, we better go before he starts beeping the horn.”
“Are we headed back to your place?” she asked. The three of them lived together.
Caleb shook his head. “No. We’re going to get food. If we don’t get you something to eat, Wolfe will have a coronary.”
* * *
“We all got accepted?” Aleki asked in shock.
“Course we did.” Caleb whacked him on the back. “Why wouldn’t they accept us?”
Easy for Caleb to say. The only child of a wealthy, older couple, Caleb had never wanted for anything. Never hungered for something he couldn’t have.
By rights, Caleb should have been a self-centered, stuck-up prick. Instead, he was one of the best people Aleki knew.
The rich, smart kid and the part-Samoan boy with a huge family and a tiny bank balance.
They shouldn’t be friends. But Caleb was his brother in all the ways it counted.
And then there was Wolfe.
Aleki glanced over at his other best friend. Wolfe didn’t show much reaction to the news. Cool as a cucumber as always. Hmm, he needed a bit of messing up.