Page 4 of Palm South University: Season 3
I’M OFFICIALLY A SOPHOMORE.
It seems impossible that an entire year has gone by since I first stepped foot on the Palm South University campus, and even more impossible that I’m now on the other side of recruitment. If I thought it was hard rushing as a freshman — choosing a sorority to call my home — I clearly had no idea what it was like to stay up late every night for two full weeks practicing and preparing for rush as asister.
Erin wants the best pledge class Kappa Kappa Beta has ever seen, and she’s stopping at nothing to get the most premier girls. Top GPAs, athletes, dancers, pre-med, pre-law, previous class officers, and yearbook editors — she wants them all. We’ve been studying bios for weeks, and with only two days left before the girls make a decision, Erin is pushing us even harder to lock in the new members.
With all the chaos, it’s a miracle I was even able to sneak out. I’m exhausted, I barely have a voice left, and all I want to do is sip a cup of coffee in a quiet coffee shop and kiss my boyfriend whom I haven’t seen all summer.
But apparently, quiet is out of the question.
Pushing through the crowded coffee shop, I keep checking the time on my phone, knowing I won’t have long before Erin will be blowing it up wondering where I went. I’ve never seen Cup O’ Joe’s so packed before. There are girls in every bit of free space, some sitting at tables while others line the walls. None of it makes sense until Grayson comes into view, and when he croons out a smooth note from the Maroon 5 song he’s currently playing, I have a feeling this is going to be the new normal.
The longest sigh leaves my lips as I take him in, noting how his eyes look brighter with the tan still bronzing his skin from the summer. His hair is pulled back, bun messy, beard clean and trimmed, guitar strapped over one shoulder like it’s an actual limb and not an object he can take off.
“Can I help you?” I hear the barista at the counter ask when it’s finally my turn to step up and order, but I can’t tear my gaze from Grayson.
I wait for his blue eyes to connect with mine, but they keep wandering the crowd as he sings to every single girl like they’re the only ones in the room. I can’t deny there’s a sting in my chest every time he winks or gives them that same sexy smile he hooked me with last semester, but I try to remind myself it’s all now part of the show.
As if he senses my discomfort, Grayson furrows his eyebrows, and he searches the crowd until he finds me.
Then, he smiles.
A radiant, too-hot-for-a-coffee-shop, drop-your-panties-now smile.
“Get that girl a caramel latte,” he says, nodding to the barista behind the counter. “And don’t let her leave before I kiss her breathless.”
He keeps that smile on his face and his eyes on me as he finishes the song, but he’s not the only one watching me now. Every girl in the room is staring, eyes flicking from me to Grayson and back again, likely wondering how in the hell I landed him.
I’m still trying to figure it out, too.
When he plays the last note, the whole shop cheers, whistles ringing out, but I barely register them. All I can see is Grayson jumping down from the stage, his stride confident, eyes on my mouth. All I can hear is the beat of my heart in my ears matching each step he takes. All I can smell is his cologne, and I remember sleeping in it, in his sheets, in his arms. And when he finally reaches me, hands framing my face as I taste him for the first time in months, all I can feel is everything.
Longing, excitement, fear, relief, passion — all wrapped into one kiss in a crowded coffee shop where only the two of us exist.
When he pulls back, forehead still pressed against mine and hands on my cheeks, I smile.
“Well, mission accomplished. Officially breathless.”
He smiles, pecking my nose and pulling me into his chest for a hug. “God, I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too, rock star. Speaking of which,” I add, eyeing the girls around us as they throw knives at me with their eyes. “I think you’re going to start a riot in here if you don’t let me go.”
He laughs, shifting to pull me under one arm and leading me through the crowd to a blessedly empty table in the back corner. It’s marked with areservedsign, and Grayson slides it aside when we sit down in the two chairs behind it.
“They’ll live. It’s crazy, though, isn’t it? That video, Cassie… it changed everything.”
“You had the magic formula,” I remind him. “You, shirtless, lights turned down low, acoustic guitar, and an original song better than anything on the radio right now. All it took was that one YouTube fangirl to share it on Facebook and all her groupies attacked.”
He chuckles as the barista from behind the counter sets down two matching coffee cups, smiling at both of us before leaving us alone again.
“I guess. But seven-hundred thousand views in less than two months?” He shakes his head, reaching for his coffee to take a sip. “It’s crazy. I maxed out on Facebook friends, Cassie. Like… I can’t add anymore. It’s insanity.”
My heart skips as I watch him, eyes all glowy and smile wider than I’ve ever seen it. He’s like a puppy in a blanket — too damn adorable not to kiss.
So, I lean in, taking his coffee from his hands to set it back on the table as I thread my hands behind his neck. His lips are sweet, sticky with caramel, and I lick them clean before letting him slide his tongue between my teeth.
Grayson moans into my mouth, arms wrapping around me and sliding down to palm my ass. His knee is right between mine, and when he pulls me closer, I catch just the slightest bit of friction that makes me whimper.
“Come over tonight,” he whispers, slowing our kiss enough to say the words.