Chapter One
Sophia
“Really?” I groaned. “That’sthe guy I have to interview?” I gestured to the half-naked idiot jumping out a second story window in the Student Village. The hockey player landed on the ground carefully and stood in his boxers, not even bothering to cover himself. He just waited for his clothes to fly down after him. He caught them against his impressive chest and started walking toward us without putting them on.
“Leo Harrison?” my roommate Alyssa asked, her mouth agape at the gorgeous man who still seemed unfazed at being mostly naked.
Why isn’t he at least pulling on his sweatpants? It’s fifty fucking degrees.
“You’re interviewing Leo Harrison for the paper?” She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him, but, then again, thiswasan interesting spectacle. Despite the situation, it was hard to ignore those abs. The man was the star forward on the Boston University hockey team, and he’dclearly been training all his life for his position. There were few other explanations for a body that well-defined.
I took a deep breath through my nose. “That’s right. I get to sit down with him over coffee and find out what the beautiful fuckboy plans to do when he graduates. It’s riveting news, apparently.”
Alyssa chuckled. “Well, I suspect a lot of people will be interested in this article if there’ll be a photo. Particularly one where he poses like a Calvin Klein underwear model.”
I rolled my eyes as the topic of our conversation waved at us. “Morning, ladies,” he said with a cocky smirk as he passed. I didn’t know what was more infuriating: the fact that he was as gorgeous as he and everyone else on this campus seemed to think, or that I couldn’t help myself from checking out his ass as he passed.
Damn,it’s as well-defined as the rest of his body.
“Come on, Soph. That man is fine. And those dimples?” Alyssa sighed, still craning her neck to watch him as he swiped his ID card to let himself into another dorm building.
“You’re gay,” I reminded her.
“Yep. And I still know a good-looking guy when I see one,” she said, shaking her head appreciatively.
“He is currently half-naked and scurrying away from an obvious hookup, Lys. His dick has probably been in so many different women that he can’t even tell who he’s putting it in most nights.”
Alyssa laughed and turned to face me, her dark red hair shining in the sun as she gestured to a bench for us to sit on. She’d gotten me an iced vanilla latte from my favorite local spot, Ackerson’s Coffee and Wine Bar, since she knew I was dreading a hockey-focused assignment. It would be hard for her not to know how I felt since I’d been complaining for days. I was an English major, intending to write romance novels professionallyafter graduation in the spring. I’d only signed up to write for the school newspaper this year because I thought it would be a good experience to strengthen my writing skills. And I’d been rewarded by being asked to interview a hockey player.
How is interviewing this guy ever going to help me write better?
I took a long sip of my latte and pulled my coat tighter around me. Blame it on the fact that I was born and raised in Hawaii, but I still couldn’t get over Leo running across campus in his boxer briefs. I was in jeans, a long-sleeve top, and a full winter peacoat and I was still freezing.
No, it is not the iced latte’s fault.
Alyssa and our other roommate, Jia, were always giving me a hard time for basically living in winter clothes. I would have been a lot more comfortable if school in Boston ran through the summer instead of winter.
“Maybe you’ll be one of Leo’s next hookups after this interview,” Alyssa said with a smile. “You could use the action. Do you have any idea how hockey players move between the sheets?”
“No, I do not,” I said proudly. “Do you?”
“No, but Jia speaks highly of the experience,” Alyssa said with a chuckle.
“Well, even if she’s right, I have no intention of learning from him.”
My love life was certainly not one to brag about. I’d dated a guy named Connor my junior and senior year of high school. We’d tried to stay together our freshman year of college, but since he was at school in Seattle, the distance had been too much. Honestly, we were good friends who thought we were in love once but there was never a huge spark of attraction like I saw in the relationships around me at home. Seeing how much my mom and dad loved their respective partners had given me apretty good idea of what lovecouldbe like. My relationship with Connor was never the real thing.
I’d had a few short-term flings on campus but nothing that had led to much in the bedroom worth discussing. Connor and I’d had such a lackluster sex life that I was pretty sure I sucked at all things in the bedroom. Given Leo Harrison’s reputation for having slept with a significant portion of the female student body, I knew we were opposites in experience and prowess. One night with him and I’d look like I had a neon sign around my neck that said:No, I don’t know how to give a good blow job.It would be humiliating and further drive my confidence into the gutter when he inevitably pretended to be into it like Connor had done.
“You know, he could be just what you need,” Alyssa said, resting an arm on the back of the bench and around my shoulders before lifting her coffee to her lips with the other. “I’ve heard nothing but good things from girls who have hooked up with him. Apparently, he’s veryattentive.”
I scoffed. “I’m sure he is. And I bet he calls them allbabyandsweetiethe whole time to make them feel special and to cover up the fact that he can’t remember their name. Then when the sun comes up, he jumps out their window and sprints across campus.”
“He was casually strolling, Soph.”
I took another long sip of my latte, goose bumps rising on my skin. “Even better. He has zero shame for his actions.”
Alyssa shook her head, looking smug. “Well, they all know what they’re getting into. He might have a reputation for being a fuckboy, Soph, but from the sounds of it, he’s kind of a sweet fuckboy. The hockey star apparently always sets clear boundaries up front.”
