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“Dylan? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I am. Thanks. I’ll wait for you.”
“Great. Be there in ten.”
She disconnects, and I stare out into the gathering darkness. Yeah, I’ll wait for as long as it takes.
***
“You always work late?” I lean back on the leather seat of Tessa’s jeep and try not to shiver too hard. It’s warm inside the car. Compared to the icy wind blowing outside, it’s like sitting inside a furnace. And I’m still cold.
“No. I wanted to finish writing a funding request letter, so I could send it.”
“Funding request letter… What do you do there exactly?”
Her eyes brighten as she starts talking about her new job—the significance of the archaeological site, the social aspects, her part in it.
“You’re amazing,” I say when she stops to take a breath. A smile tugs at my lips. “I mean it.”
Her cheeks flush. “Thanks. I adore this job. I don’t think I’ve ever been this interested in my college classes.”
“So you’re dropping out of college?”
“For now. Maybe for a year, to decide what to do and get my life back on track.” She tucks a strand of hair behind an ear. “So much has changed. So much to do.”
Something is different about her. I try to figure it out. Her sweater is falling off one shoulder, baring her smooth flesh. She’s wearing skin-tight, ripped jeans and tall boots. Her hair is caught in a messy ponytail. All this is new, and still…
Her face. It’s so fresh and beautiful. Her skin is bare of any powders and creams, letting faint freckles show on her cheeks. She has a dark smudge—of maybe ink?—on the tip of her nose. Her lips part, and I can’t look away, dying to kiss them, aware my jogging pants are growing tighter by the second.
“I do need to go back to my apartment,” she says, and I force my mind out of the gutter.
“Thinking of moving back in?”
“No, I… No, I’m not going back. I can’t stay in a place that Sean has access to. I just need to grab my things. I have my papers, my laptop, my books, my clothes …” She glances down at herself and makes a face.
“I love how you look now,” I say truthfully.
She pulls a loose strand of hair into her mouth and chews on it. It’s oddly charming. And madly sexy. “No, I’m a mess. I’m not even wearing lipstick. The printer broke down, and I had to change the cartridges. My hands were black. Took ten washes to get the ink off them.”
Well, that explains the ink smudge. “You look fine.”
“No make-up, my hair hanging like this… My parents would go into hysterics if they saw me.”
“Well, I’m not your parents.”
“Yeah. I noticed that.” A snort escapes her. “But I look terrible.”
“God, you have no idea…” I lick my lips, and allow myself to stare openly. “You’re so beautiful like that.”
“Like this? All dirty and disheveled?”
“Yeah, like this. With your hair down and no make-up, so I can see the color of your lips and the shape of your eyes. There’s nothing to distract me, no glitter and no fancy brands. I can see you.”
She ducks her head, but she looks pleased. A bit disbelieving, but glad.
The most beautiful girl in the world, and she can’t seem to realize just how pretty she is. That she’d be pretty in a trash bag or in my old ratty T-shirts or… or completely naked.
“So…” She shifts gear and steals a sideways glance at me. “You went looking for me? In case Sean decided to show up?”
