Amanda’s heart is palpitating, and she can’t tell if it is fluttering for Hudson or if her anxiety is starting to flare up. It is almost a protective instinct when she narrows her eyes at him, trying to keep her guard up and hide that his stare still intimidates her. She doesn’t understand this new game that Hudson is playing, but she doesn’t want anything to do with it.
At least that’s what she keeps telling herself as she tries to keep her attention at the front of the room. Something inside her keeps taunting her to look at him. But her stubborn head, which she is thankful for, is refusing to listen to that foreign voice inside her. She can’t make any reasonable excuses as to why her body is being so treacherous. If she is being honest with herself she doesn’t need to turn to look at him. No, she has him burned into her memory, every little detail down to his burning blue eyes and his luscious lips.
She knows it all.
Closing her eyes, his image comes into her thoughts quickly. But this image of him is different than the one she constantly sees in her nightmare–no, in this one, he has kind eyes and is staring at her with nee, not hatred.
Amanda shakes her head.
Before she knows it, class is over. Amanda quickly collects her things and heads out of the classroom.
“Oh, thank god you’re okay,” Amanda hears before she is wrapped into a hug.
Amanda turns her head and realizes it’s Kimmy. Still uncertain about what’s going on, she pulls herself away from Kimmy and gives her a confused look.
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Amanda asks her.
“No, it’s not that,” Kimmy starts to explain. “It’s just there was an attack on campus last night, and I tried to text you to see if you were okay, and I never heard back from you.”
Amanda pulls her phone out from her back pocket and notices the missed texts that she received from Kimmy.
“Oh, sorry. I was in class. I didn’t realize you had texted me,” she tells her.
Kimmy waves her hand in the air. “No worries. I figured I would just come and find you. I remembered you had a class around here from the other day.”
Amanda nods and asks, “What kind of attack?”
“They’re claiming it’s an animal attack. Weird, right?”
“Yeah, really weird.”
“Amanda?”
Amanda turns in the direction of the voice but is not happy to see who it is.
Narrowing her eyes once again, she sucks in a breath and says, “What, Hudson?”
Hudson looks at her for a moment, but he isn’t saying anything. Looking into his eyes, she can see the neediness just like the image in her head.
Why would he look at her like that?
Her eyes soften and her shoulders drop as she feels her wall start to crumble a little.
Kimmy throws her hair behind her shoulder before saying, “Do you mind? We’re talking.”
Amanda can see Hudson’s hand clench into a fist and release it. On no, Kimmy pissed him off. Amanda won’t allow Hudson to take his anger out on her new friend. No, if he is going to unleash his anger, then she will deal with his wrath. Amanda takes a step to put herself in front of Kimmy, but before anything else happens, Hudson reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone that is blinking.
He raises the phone to his ear and says, “I was just about to call you.”
Hudson turns and starts to head in the opposite direction.
Amanda sighs in relief and turns back to Kimmy.
“Why can’t that guy take a hint that you’re not interested?”
Kimmy huffs.
Amanda smiles but is shaking her head. Kimmy has no clue how wrong she is. Hudson has no interest in her. He hates her. At least, that is what he told her every time she ran into him. No, she is certain that this new game he is playing is only a way to trick her and embarrass her.
Amanda shrugs. “I’m sure it’s not that. I have no idea why he would need to talk to me.”
“Do you have another class?” Kimmy asks.
Amanda shakes her head. “Actually, I don’t have anything right now until my shift at the cafe.”
“Perfect. You can walk me to class,” Kimmy tells her as she hooks her arm into Amanda’s and pulls her along.
As they head off to Kimmy’s class, Amanda feels the awkward chill and starts to look around but doesn’t see anything that could cause the chill until she sees the hot guy that she has been literally running into the past two days. So far, she hadn’t run into him today. But the day was not over yet. He is wearing sunglasses as he leans up against a wall while talking with the guys around him. Amanda swears that it looks like he is staring right at her.
Amanda stops and pulls Kimmy back to her side.
“Whoa, hey, walking in heels here,” Kimmy complains as she tries to regain her balance.
“Kimmy, do you know who that guy is over there with the shades on?”
Kimmy looks over in the direction that Amanda is talking about and smiles. “I see you’ve found Deak. Yeah, all the girls would like to get a piece of him.”
Amanda starts to blush but shakes her head.
“No, it’s just I ran into him literally twice now and was just curious who he was.”
Kimmy looks at her with bewilderment.
“You’ve run into Deak? How is that possible? The man is a giant.”
Amanda laughs. “I have no idea. I guess I’m just clumsy.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“Nothing much. His accent is amazing though.”
Kimmy nods. “He’s Hungarian. There’s just something about him that makes all the girls thirst for him. Now, come on and stop drooling over the hot Hungarian. I need to get to class.”
Amanda giggles but starts to walk again, making sure that she doesn’t turn to look back at the hot Hungarian whose name she now knows is Deak.