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“Thanks, but I’d really rather just have my folder.”

“Trust me, you’re going to want these too.”

When I just kept staring instead of reaching for them, she set them down on the couch and rolled her eyes. “Have some wine.”

The glass in my hand was still full, but again, I hadn’t come here for a drink. “I really should get going.”

“I know, but you’re making me nervous, and if I’m nervous, I’ll never find it. So just drink.”

I sighed and took a tiny sip, grimacing at the battery-acid taste that hit my tongue. “Fuck, what even is this?”

“It’s wine.”

“No, it’s really not.”

Tasha laughed. “You know, our study group kind of reminds me of the people on this dating show I watch.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” She reached for a backpack lying on the counter but didn’t make any moves to open it. “They’re all on this island and the personalities of their group matches ours almost exactly.”

An island? Why the fuck would they be on an island?

“I don’t even want to know where you’re going with this.”

She grinned. “See? That’s exactly what I mean. You’re the mysterious one who refuses to participate but signed up anyway.”

“Except, I didn’t sign up. You begged me.”

She scoffed. “I did not beg you. I gave you a golden opportunity and you were smart enough to take it, but anyway, Justin is like the finance guy who definitely wants to hook up with Cassandra, who’s like the consultant girl.”

“I have no idea who any of those people are.”

She groaned. “You just spent two hours with the group. Surely, you know their names by now.”

“That’s not a requirement for passing the class, so no.”

“God, you really are in an emotional bunker,” she muttered, then finally unzipped the backpack and started lifting books, more piles of paper, and a few other folders in there. “Maybe I never even took it out.”

Just as I was about to give up and tell her I’d get it from her tomorrow, the front door opened and I turned, practically swallowing my tongue when I recognized the girl who’d just walked in. No. It can’t be. What?

That was the woman who’d nearly been mowed off her bicycle the other night. I would know those eyes anywhere. They were the ones I’d nearly had to scrape off the damn street.

Only tonight, she was wearing a cocktail dress that forced me to fix my face and keep my eyes elsewhere. But yeah, I definitely know her.

Tasha finally stopped digging through her bag, her face lighting up when she saw the girl frozen just inside the door. “Alicia! You’re just in time.”

Alicia. So that’s her name. Unless I was very much mistaken, that had also been the name of the roommate who’d been nervous about having dinner with a Thayer. What in the actual fuck is happening right now?

She finally broke eye contact with me, moving slowly as she blinked and turned toward Tasha. “Just in time for what?”

“Holden is going to stay and watch the show with us,” she said, waving me toward the couch. “Sit down, would you?”

Before I could ask why I would possibly stay to watch TV with them when all I’d wanted since I’d gotten here was to leave, Alicia finally moved.

“What show?” she asked, her voice a little breathy, but I couldn’t fault her for that. I was pretty fucking taken aback by this turn of events myself.

Tasha sighed. “Stranded for Love.”