Magnetic (New Adult Contemporary Romance) (2 page)

“
Night dad,” she droned into the phone.

“
Night,” he said and then hung up.

Samantha
’s first night in her own apartment had been everything she ever dreamed of. The city lights were bright; the sky never quite dark as it was back home, on the farm. Her hearing tuned in to all of the sounds around her. Sirens blared in the distance. Somewhere a dog barked. She could hear people talking as they walked down the sidewalk. It seemed that the city never slept. All of it excited her.

She woke early, and quickly got ready to
walk the route that would take her to her classes. She planned to finish her morning at the bookstore purchasing her books and supplies. She resisted the urge to wear her first day of school outfit. Her best friend, Kari, had insisted she buy it when they went shopping in Spokane last month. Kari had called it
Jade and Jeans
, and she was dying to put it on again. Never had Samantha owned such sophisticated clothing and could hardly wait to see if she caught anyone’s eye. Since the shopping trip, she had tried on the skinny jeans a few too many times, excited by how they showed off all of her curves. Kari had crooned about how perfect the jeans looked on her in the store and she, for once, agreed.

As hard as it was, she resisted the urge to wear the
outfit and instead embraced her femininity. Samantha stepped into a wispy mini-skirt with matching blouse. Her father had no idea that she owned the skirt. It was another that she had bought when she was with Kari. She adorned her ears, neck, and wrist in a matching set of jewelry, and then slipped her feet, with hot-pink toenails into her strappy sandals.

The fall air in Seattle was still
warm enough to wear the skirt, although she was sure before long the cold would banish it to the back of her tiny closet.

Grabbing her brown leather messenger bag she set off from her apartment with strength and vigo
r. Her bag gently bounced against her hip as she picked up her pace.

The second Samantha
’s foot stepped up the curb and onto campus she took on an air of confidence. There were students everywhere. The concrete walkway that led down the center of campus had paths angling off in all directions creating triangular patches of grass that students were lounging on. Everywhere she looked there were groups of friends or lovers.

The more lovers she passed that were locked in passionate embraces the more she recogni
zed her own loneliness. No friends. No boyfriend. She was utterly alone, in the largest city she had ever been to.

The realization of her loneliness did nothing to alleviate Samantha
’s mood as she walked through the lecture halls that would host her undergraduate general education courses. Each room held upwards of three-hundred students; three-hundred students that she didn’t know. The more she toured her lecture halls the more she understood her insignificance at U-Dub.

With a somber mood, Samantha wal
ked to the University Bookstore located at the edge of campus. She overheard some students refer to the road as
The Ave
, even though it was technically called
University Way
. The college slang was clearly going to take some time to get used to.

Pulling out her
class schedule from the side pocket of her bag she began the hunt for her course books and materials. The bookstore was packed, hundreds of students hovering around the shelves comparing their course lists to the spines of the texts. Samantha looked around her, a distinct impression of being watched raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She didn’t see anyone who looked out of place, or who seemed to be paying any particular attention to her. She went back to collecting her textbooks.

It wasn
’t long before Samantha’s arms were piled high with books. It was difficult to juggle them while she inspected her class list to determine what she was still missing.

Again she felt a pair of eyes watching her.

Scanning the store once again her eyes fell upon a devilishly handsome man standing at the end of the aisle. He wasn’t watching her, but she couldn’t help but let her eyes linger on him. He was sexy, drop dead gorgeous. His black cotton T-shirt was stretched over his bulging biceps. He was slightly tanned but not so much that it looked like he sat around in a tanning bed all day. Samantha considered that he must be the campus God. Her eyes sought out his. He felt her eyes on him and looked up. Their eyes met. His were the color of chocolate and barely visible from underneath his slightly shaggy brown hair.

Samantha barely resisted the urge to
walk up to him; his eyes beckoned her to come. Continuing to resist she backed away from the bookshelves. He watched her intently, even began to take a few steps towards her. Samantha wasn’t sure what to do; she quickly turned to retreat, but caught her sandal on the side of the carpet and began to fall. The man was immediately at her side, catching her. “Whoa there, careful now. Here, I have you.” Powerful hands clasped around Samantha’s waist, but it wasn’t enough to stop the cascade of books. They fell to the floor in a scattered mess.

He steadied her on her feet and then leaned back to look into her eyes. Samantha
’s eyes met his; she couldn’t look away had she wanted to.

“
Are you alright?” he asked, still looking deep into her eyes.

“
Uh, yes … I am fine.” Samantha stood up and ran a hand through her unruly hair. Dropping her eyes to the floor she saw her books all over. Gritting her teeth with frustration she swore under her breath, “Damn.” Squatting down she began to gather her books.

The campus God introduced himself, apparently not caring about the
mess at their feet. “My name’s Darren, nice to meet you.”

The
heat of more than fifty sets of eyes witnessing her act of
grace
humiliated her. Samantha scanned the crowd warily as she continued to gather her dropped books. “Nice to meet you Darren.” She didn’t give her name in return.

Darren scanned her body from head to toe, appreciating every sexy curve of her breasts, waist, and legs. He co
uldn’t help but notice that her flirty skirt barely stayed in place in her current position.

“
It’s customary when a person introduces themself that you return the favor and tell them your name in return,” he said as he squatted next to her, reaching for the last few discarded books. “Do you need some help with your textbooks?” His question was rhetorical since he had already begun to help her, but it kept the conversation flowing, which he was grateful for.

“
Yes thank you. That would be lovely. My name is Samantha.” Darren stopped collecting her books, and instead watched her for a moment. He noticed that she was instinctively stacking the books in order by size and thickness. It was obvious that she was a freshman, and a cute one at that.

Samantha
’s plight was palpable, a crimson blush on her cheeks.

“
Here, try this.” Darren held out a shopping basket, in the trademark U-Dub purple and gray, for her to place her books in.

She reached out with her free hand and accepted it from
him. Their fingers brushed sending an electrifying pulse straight through her body. It settled in that warm spot right between her legs. She could feel her panties damp with desire.

Samantha arranged all of the books in the basket and then stood. “
Thank you for your help, I think I can handle it from here,” she said as she better positioned her messenger bag over her shoulder.

“
Are you sure?” he asked, not convinced that she would be able to carry the weighted basket that was overflowing with required reading.

“
Yes,” then proving her point she bent over to pick it up. As she bent, her pert little ass bumped into him, and her dress hiked up her thighs under the shifting state of her messenger bag.

Darren
’s hands flew to Samantha’s hips. His male instincts screamed that he should make love to her long and hard. He had seen her over the top of the bookshelves, biting her lower lip in concentration as she inspected the spines of each book, comparing them to her course list. He had moved and positioned himself at the end of the aisle so that when she reached it he could create the opportunity to talk to her.

Catching
her fall and coming to the rescue of her books was more than he bargained for. Standing at the bookshelves with her bent over in front of him an aching in his groin pulsed, and he desired to pump against her a few times. It was hard for him to resist the urge, but with their relatively large crowd he instead took a deep breath and willed his hands to let go; although he allowed his eyes to linger. Darren had an excellent view of her white-lace panties that played peek-a-boo with those standing behind her, most importantly, him. He wasn’t disappointed with the view, although it played further turmoil with his ability to restrain his arousal. Something about Samantha was driving him to distraction; more than any girl ever had. He breathed deeply to maintain control of himself in such a public place, glad that he had worn his loose jeans, rather than the tight ones that he usually wore.

Quickly standing up, Samantha
’s eyes were as round as saucers. She whipped around, her hair getting caught in her sticky lip gloss, now drawing his attention to her lips. “I’m … I’m … sorry, I didn’t mean to … um … you know.” She was nervously biting her lower lip with her teeth, the same thing she had been doing when he first noticed her.

Darren stood with is feet rooted looking down into her blue eyes. She was shorter than him, but it wouldn
’t take much to dip his head and kiss her. His desire to kiss a woman had never been as intense as it was now. He took a step closer to her, closing the distance between them.

Samantha too was drawn to him but embarrassed at her
clumsy actions. She began to back away, holding her basket of books in front of her, but she didn’t get far as she backed herself into the bookshelf with nowhere to go. Darren reached out and took the basket from her. “Here, let me help you. At this rate, you will never get these books purchased.”

“
Thanks,” Samantha said. Her fingers brushed his a second time, sending the same burst of energy coursing through her body, and settling in the same area, right between her legs. “I think I am done. I should leave before I create some sort of catastrophe.”

“
I think it’s too late for that,” he teased as he leaned in close to her, his piercing eyes tearing at her soul. Darren breathed in the fresh scent of her heavenly perfume.

“
I’ve been known to be a little klutzy, although it was my intention to leave that behind when I moved here.”

“
Where did you move from?” he asked as he followed her to the check-out counter, the hem of her flirty skirt caught under the edge of her leather messenger bag, exposing the bottom of her adorable butt cheek. His fascination with her strengthened with each word that she spoke, and he walked close behind her trying to block everyone’s view of her ass.

“
Ritzville,” she answered.

They found the emptiest checkout and stood in line, he leaned forward and whispered agai
nst her ear; his breath burning her soul. “Don't panic Samantha, but the hem of your dress is caught on the side of your bag and your ass is showing.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath as her right hand swung around to check. She wiggled a little and pul
led at the fabric. Looking around, Darren could see that a large portion of the male population was watching with rapt attention.

“
Hand me your bag.”

“
What?” Samantha responded.

“
C’mon give it to me. I’ll take it so that you can arrange your …” he cleared his throat and licked his dry lips, “dress thing.”

“
It’s not a dress, it’s a skirt,” she retorted as she threw her bag on top of the basket of books that he held and tugged on the skirt. “I can assure you that it will be banished to the back of my closet, never to see the light of day after this.”

“
Such a shame, for it’s a cute little number.”

She scolded him with he
r eyes, and then glanced at the movement in line ahead of her. The line wasn’t moving fast, but they were able to move up the length of one person. Samantha turned back to Darren and continued talking, “Thank you so much, I owe you big time. First you catch me, and then you rescue me multiple times. Where I come from that’s chivalry, and chivalry must be repaid.”

“
I’ll take my payment in the form of a kiss from the fair maiden.” He puckered his lips and raised his eyebrow, daring her to offer his requested payment. She thought the look was charming and barely resisted the urge to kiss him right then and there.

“
Ah, so you’re a player. You rescue women only so that you may partake of the sweet nectar of their sugary kisses. No, I think your chivalry deserves reward, but a kiss would take a truly heroic act.”

“
Let me take you to dinner then.”

“
I’d like that,” Samantha responded. How could she not agree, he was hot as hell, and had saved her several times. In her book that had potential written all over it. She was dying to kiss him, but was afraid that he would have expected his offer of compensation right then and there, and she had no intention of offering, or receiving the first kiss from this Greek God in the middle of a crowded bookstore no matter how tempted she was.