Page 52 of When Hearts Collide

Tay snorts. “Everything is rainbows and roses to you right now, you love drunk fool. Steven will need to work harder to get back into my good graces.”

“Hey! He had a very valid reason for leaving me.”

“I can understand his reasoning, but that doesn’t mean I forgive him for making you cry. He’s lucky I got a few more family members out of this ordeal.” Tay tosses back her sake in one gulp.

She and Grace recently found out they were related to the infamous Andersons, but before the revelation, Grace thought she was actually related to her boyfriend, Steven Kingsley. It nearly tore the lovebirds apart. It was a mess.

“It’s all water under the bridge. We’re together and happy now and I also got a bonus family out of it.” Grace has hearts in her eyes as she no doubt thinks about her boyfriend.

The two of them are living their happily-ever-after after weathering their dramatic whirlwind of a romance, and I’m thrilled for them.

Whirlwind.

Dark eyes. Leashed power. Aching soul.

My heart clenches as I shove away thoughts of Ryland Anderson. I bite my tongue to avoid asking Grace and Taylor about him. I’m not ready to let them know yet. They see him regularly now at family dinners since he’s their half-brother. After graduation, when I’m no longer a college student, I’ll find him. We’ll be on a more equal playing field then.

“I guess Grace won’t be moving into our large house with fifty cats and ten dogs later on,” Belle comments, humor in her voice. “Tay and Millie, it’ll just be us three. Well…maybe…if I’m lucky.”

She clears her throat and picks at a piece of lint on her cream-colored couture sheath dress, her modelesque posture hunching over briefly. Her dark eyes shutter before she forces out a fake smile.

“Never mind. Good luck on your first day tomorrow, Millie!” She raises her cup for a toast and I down the sake in one gulp, hoping the alcohol will settle my frayed nerves.

Wesley Hall is buzzing with commotion when I walk past groups of students chattering excitedly amongst themselves, hands gesturing wildly in the air. It’s a small room with large windows on the top floor of the building and will be my home away from home in the honors program for my senior year. Frowning, I adjust my French braid over my shoulder and make my way over to Chloe, who’s sitting in front of the room.

Strong arms swing me around in a brief circle. “Hey, Millie.”

“Shit, you scared me!” I laugh, greeting my friend Fred Carias, who gives me a wink as he saunters to his seat.

We met last year in sociology when we were assigned to a group research project together. Shaking my head, I sit down next to my friend, Chloe Lee, who is Belle’s cousin, in the front row of the room.

“I tell you, girl, that guy has a thing for you,” Chloe murmurs, her thumb pointing discreetly toward Fred, who’s chatting with his friends.

I snort. “No way. Fred and I are completely platonic. He’s like a brother to me.” If my brother were a harmless blond teddy bear and a ray of sunshine.

“I’m never wrong,” she singsongs and grins gleefully, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

I glance at Fred, finding him smiling at me once more. I give him a tentative wave. It seems friendly. Too bad I don’t feel anything for him, my heart long snagged by a certain tall, brooding man it can’t seem to forget.

The excitement in the classroom rises an octave. Classmates are huddled over their phones and giggling at something on the screens.

“What on earth’s going on, Chloe?”

Chloe waggles her brows and beckons me closer with her curled fingers. “Psst. Hot off the press. Marissa works at the back office, and she told Ally, who told Sandra the news. Apparently, the faculty adviser for the new Joint Ethics Advisory Program is the professor for this class. And guess who the professor is?”

“Who?” My heart suddenly kicks up a rapid beat. I can feel the hairs standing up on the back of my neck, a harbinger of something monumental. A sixth sense.

“Eek! We’re so lucky. The professor is—”

The door is thrown open and the world as I know it ceases to exist.

Because in steps someone I haven’t seen in over a year and yet has haunted my dreams at night. The man I’ve compared all the interested guys to since him. The reason I’m still single, having only gone on two first dates in the last year and a half.

My breath catches in my throat as I’m rooted in my chair, a gasp tearing out of my lips.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Good morning, class, and welcome to Advanced Ethical Leadership, which will be combined with JEAP this year. I’m Professor Anderson and I—”

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