Page 1 of Chasing Xander
Chapter One
Kylie Quinn stood at the back of the pickup truck and frowned at the tower of boxes. Sadly, only a handful of them belonged to her. “Um, your mom does know we’re sharing a room not a full apartment, right?” She glanced over at her best friend, Celeste, who had the same overwhelmed expression on her face.
“She knows. She chooses not to listen.” She dragged a box labeled “bedding” toward her, lifted it out of the truck, and then headed inside the residence hall.
The campus was a bustle of excited energy. There were people everywhere carting boxes and trunks and suitcases. A woman with a bouquet of multicolored balloons and a large box wrapped in shiny pink paper walked across the parking lot. It looked like she was preparing for a birthday party, not college move-in day. Conflicting emotions warred inside Kylie—relief that she wasn’t the one who was going to be embarrassed and sadness that she didn’t have either of her parents here to do embarrassing things like bring her balloons.
Sighing, she reached for the box labeled “Kylie bathroom” and hefted it into her arms. She grunted with the effort. Why had she stuffed it so full? She set the box on the tailgate and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. Maybe she should leave that one for Celeste’s dad.
Stop being a wimp.
“I could so kick your ass, and you know it!” a guy yelled.
“Bullshit! I just gave you the chance, and you blew it!” another guy shouted. Raucous laughter followed their words, and Kylie turned to see what the commotion was about.
Four shirtless guys walked down the sidewalk. One of them had a basketball tucked under his arm. They were all tall and handsome, but the one on the far left snagged her attention. He had to be well over six feet, with dark hair and eyes to match. Broad shoulders gave way to muscular arms. And that chest? Her eyes widened as she took her fill—full pecs, chiseled six-pack abs, gym shorts hung low on his hips. Good Lord, everything about him was sinfully fabulous. A sheen of sweat glistened on his body. He removed the college baseball cap he wore, swiped his arm across his forehead, and then put on the hat again, backward. His tongue peeked out to graze across his bottom lip.
She suppressed a groan as a tingle worked through her body. If that’s what the college guys around here looked like, she was going to end up doing a lot more dating and a lot less studying. She laughed to herself.Yeah, right.With all the experience she had? She’d be lucky to have a guy like that even talk to her, much less ask her out.
Forcing herself to stop staring, she pulled the box into her arms and headed toward the res hall. She’d made it a few steps when one of the guys whistled a catcall. The tips of her ears burned, and her face felt like it was on fire.Are they whistling at me?She wanted to twist around and look, but fear and adrenaline kept her moving forward. Her heart thumped wildly.Just keep walking.
“Dude, you don’t stand a fucking chance with her.”
There was no way in hell they were talking about her. Were they? No. They couldn’t be. Just then, a tall, thin, leggy blonde crossed Kylie’s path. She had a flirtatious smirk plastered across her flawless face. Yup, those guys were most definitely not talking about Kylie. The blonde waved with her fingers and blew a kiss. Ugh. Could she be any more obvious? If those guys bought that, they were certainly not Kylie’s type. She didn’t do sexy, dumb jocks.
Kylie picked up her pace, but she missed the curb, and her foot slipped, sending her sprawling forward.Oh no.Dropping the box, she put her hands out in front of her to stop from face-planting on the pavement. The unforgiving sidewalk bit into her palms at the same time the box crashed to the ground, its contents spilling out around her. “Ouch.” Kneeling, she inspected her hands. No blood, but they were red.That’s going to feel awesome tomorrow.
“Oh shit. Are you okay?”
She looked up to find the guy she’d been ogling a moment earlier crouched in front of her. His eyes were like dark pools of chocolate. She loved chocolate. And swimming. Yeah, she could totally drown in those eyes.
“Are you hurt?” He tilted his head and studied her. That voice…it was deep and rich, and it settled around her like a cool, silk blanket.
“Uh, no, thank you.”Did I really just say thank you?She wanted to smack herself. “I mean, no, I’m not hurt. Thanks for asking.”Yeah, that’s better.She refrained from rolling her eyes at her stupidity.
“Well, good.” He smiled, showing off twin dimples.
She nearly fell back onto her ass at the sight. Holy hell, his smile was A-list movie-star quality. A flash of yellow caught her eye, and reflexively she turned to look. All the color drained from her face, and her heart stopped. Her tampons were rolling down the sidewalk, and all of her personal items—bras and underwear included—were littered across the grass, on display for everyone to see.
Kylie scrambled to her feet, righted the box, and began frantically shoving her stuff back inside.Oh my God. Kill me now.She chased after a stray tampon and scooped it up before the guy saw it. Her shampoo and conditioner had rolled halfway across the parking lot. Looked like she’d have to buy new ones because she was not going to be the lunatic student chasing her shit across campus.
Please let him be gone, please let him be gone.But when she turned back to collect her unmentionables, she found the guy gathering her cosmetics and gently setting them in the box. She plucked her underwear from the ground as quickly as possible, praying she could get them all before the guy offered to help with those, too.
“Kittens?” he said, amusement coloring his tone. He held up a pair of her panties—gray ones with white kittens on them. “That’s…different.”
Kylie’s eyes widened. “My grandmother gave me those.” She grabbed the underwear from his hand and shoved them into the box. A stab of sadness hit her at the thought of her grandmother, but it was quickly replaced by utter mortification. She did not just tell that super-hot guy that her grandmother had bought her kitty underwear. Lightning couldn’t strike her down fast enough.
“They’re cute.” His lips twitched into an almost smile. Actually, it was more of a smirk.
She’d never met a guy who could pull off a smirk without looking like a jackass, but damn if he didn’t wear it well. Really fucking well. Refusing to respond to his teasing, she silently picked up more of her items.
“Now these”—he held up a pair of black, bikini-cut panties with brightly colored polka dots—“are sexy. In a nerdy sort of way.”
“There’s nothing nerdy about those,” she said and tore the panties from his hand. They made her ass look fantastic. Her heart was out of control, and adrenaline spiked through her system, making her arms and legs shaky.
Mouth open, he paused for a beat, then laughed. “Y’know, this is the fastest I’ve ever gotten into a girl’s panties.” He twirled her red thong, grinning.
She narrowed her eyes and snatched the thong from him, shoving it into the box. “Next time, I’ll expect dinner first.”
