After months of therapy, Garrett Delko is still struggling to cope with his brother's suicide. The only time he finds peace is on the pitching mound and with a mysterious girl he's been obsessed with since the first week of college. One night, he se...
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Garrett had put up a fight, but after an hour of arguing, she'd worn him down. She shoved his phone in his hands and nudged him into a chair. Hovering over his shoulder, she watched as he typed a refusal to his roommate. He glared at her as he pressed the send button. "Happy now?"
She fluttered her lashes and gave a wide smile. "Thrilled." She watched in fascination as he huffed and threw his phone on his desk. "Is he always this grumpy when he doesn't get his way?"
Marcus and Stephan, who were sitting on Garrett's bed with their backs to the wall, nodded. Stephan added, "You should see him when he hasn't had food."
Garrett wadded a piece of paper and hurled it at him. "That's you, asshole."
Stephan caught it with one hand and immediately tossed it back. "Which is why we should eat. My stomach's starting to growl."
"Oh, that's you?" Arianne asked. "I thought it was Garrett's mood."
Laughing, Stephan jumped on the bed, looking a million pounds lighter since Garrett sent the text. "You like Indian? Our treat."
Shaking his head, Garrett insisted, "We should stay here and discuss how we're going to find the email leaker instead. We can get food later."
"Or we can multi-task. No one has good ideas on an empty stomach," Stephan shot back. He nudged Arianne toward the door. "Let's go."
Indian food had a lot of spices. She glanced at Garrett, then down to his stomach. "Can you eat...?"
He covered it with his arm. "I'll be fine," he assured her, but something in his tone put her on alert.
"What if we went to the bistro on the opposite side of campus? They'd have a better selection of stuff you could eat. I read they have this amazing sweet potato dish which is supposed to be good for ulcers..." She blushed as she realized what she'd revealed. "I mean, sweet potatoes are healthy in general, not just for..." She petered out, wishing she could rewind the last minute and start over. She never wanted Garrett to know how much research she'd done on ulcers or the fact that she'd looked up restaurants in the area and analyzed their menus, dissecting which would have the most options for him.
Marcus came to her rescue. "I love sweet potatoes. Let's go. We always eat where Stephan wants, anyway. About time we go somewhere different."
She sent him a grateful smile, and proceeded to the door, avoiding eye contact with Garrett. As they bustled out of the building and onto the sidewalk, Garrett positioned himself next to her, giving his friends a hard glare when they moved to walk beside her. Grinning like fools, they hurried in front. She went to follow, but Garrett touched her arm, the feeling searing through her.
"Ari," he murmured, the low timbre of his voice sending a shiver across her skin. "Won't you look at me?"
Pressing her lips together, she peeked up at him through her black lashes. Her heart pounding so hard, she swore she could feel it down to her fingertips. "It's weird, I know."
