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her room and she started to feel nervous.   She was alone with Eric.   And he was coming to her room.   And he smelled good.   So good.   She had to stop this.   She knew it.   He was her roommate and that would be weird.   Trying to get her mind off him and onto
something, anything else, Amelia broke the silence.   “I feel like I missed something back
there.   What’s with Angelle and
Luke?   Are they a couple or something?”
    Eric chucked.   “No, they’re not a couple.   He’s with Lola.   Angelle doesn’t like us kids hearing the
adults fight.”
    “Us kids?” Amelia questioned.   She was
the youngest for sure, but the rest of them looked about the same age.   Early twenties.
    “So you have a boyfriend back home?” he
asked casually, changing the subject, which she barely noticed.   The question made her heart flutter.
    “Ah, nope,” Amelia answered lamely, not
knowing what else to say.   She wished she
was one of those flirty girls.   Angelle
would have known what to do.   She would
have said something cute and funny.   Amelia thought of the way she had shut the boys up over dinner.   She had them wrapped around her little finger
and they probably didn’t even know it.
    “I find that hard to believe,” he said,
stopping in front of her bedroom door and running his fingers through his
hair.   “You’re really cute.   You probably have guys chasing you like
crazy.”
    He
thinks I’m cute, she thought in wonder.   A real
boy, a very hot real boy thinks I’m cute.   She had spent the last five years focusing all her energy on school and
her imaginary boyfriend that the thought of a real boy thinking she was cute
thrilled her in a way she didn’t know was possible.   She felt… alive.   Her whole body was… alive, vibrating, hot .
    Amelia smiled at him, in a way she hoped
was sweet and coy.   “Thanks,” she said,
again lamely and she felt the blush creep up her neck.
    Eric looked at her for a moment, serious,
and then a sexy lopsided grin spread across his face.   “Goodnight, Millie,” he said and then he gave
her a peck on the cheek and walked away.
    Amelia watched him go, stunned.   He
called me Millie, a nickname, which was good, right?   When he was out of sight, she turned back
towards her room, rushed in and closed the door, leaning up against it.   She rested her hand against her cheek and
with a happy sigh, wiggled out of her clothes, dropping them wherever they fell,
leaving a trail to her bed.   She pulled
on a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt from the pile Angelle had left and slid
under the covers.   She hadn’t thought she
would be able to sleep with all the excitement.   But as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.

CHAPTER 4

 
 
    Mitchell paced his office waiting for word
of Amelia’s safe arrival. Could she have missed it?   Her bus was due to arrive early in the
afternoon, but now the sun was starting to set, bathing Mitchell in a fiery
glow as he glanced out the window.   Someone
should have called by now.    He checked
his watch again, 7:00.   It was still
early, maybe they were just having a good time.   Yes, that had to be it.   But what
if something happened to her?   The idea
squeezed at his heart.   He couldn’t lose
her.   Not again.  
    “She’s fine,” he told himself, stalking
over to his desk.   Surely, he would have
heard by now if things had gone… wrong.   Mitchell sighed.   He needed a
distraction, anything to keep his mind off her and to stop the relentless
tugging around his heart that begged him to close the distance between
them.  
    He folded his long legs under the large oak
desk and surveyed the stack of files that awaited his attention.   Mitchell opened a folder and tried to focus
on the report, but the figures blurred before him in an incomprehensible
mess.   So much for distractions, he thought, as he rubbed his forehead,
before checking his watch for the umpteenth