Page 25 of Broken Romeo

But that was going to change real soon here. She was too gorgeous to not get noticed by the upperclassmen sooner or later.

She was like a walking contradiction.

Blonde, but clearly a smart girl—opening that door aside.

Innocent, but with a daredevil streak.

Sweet, but a little mischievous.

Even her outfit—if I hadn’t already met and talked to her, I would have guessed that her tight t-shirt with My Little Pony on it was ironic. And the way it landed just above the curve of her hip was an intentional way to show the sliver of taut skin just above the waistband of her tight shorts. And those legs… fuck me, her legs.

I let my eyes drift up the tight curve of her calf, over the bony knot of her knee to the muscled thigh that was crossed over the other.

She had ‘fuck me’ legs.

But she didn’t know it.

That pony on her shirt was probably her favorite character in the whole wide world… and she probably still watched that cartoon every Saturday morning.

“I’m Kate,” she said when I didn’t immediately answer her question.

Kate. Even her name reeked of child-like innocence. “Short for…?”

“Katherine,” she clarified. “But no one calls me that. What’s your name?”

She offered me her hand like the well-brought-up good girl she was.

I would know, since I was a well-raised boy once. And I preyed upon girls just like her.

I eyed her hand before taking it in mine. “Holden.”

“Holden,” she repeated, and my name coming from those glossy, rose-scented lips caused a shiver to tumble down my spine.

Her face screwed into a frown.

“Holden,” she said again. “Is that what people call you?”

“Do people call me by my name?” I gaped at her. She was beautiful, but maybe she was an idiot. “Yeah.”

“No… I mean, it’s so formal. Is there a nickname for Holden? Like Denny or Hol or Oldy?”

My brows lifted. “You think people call me Oldy?”

She puckered her lips and shook her head. “You’re right. Denny is cute though. Do they call you Denny?”

“No,” I said. I don’t know why she’d gotten under my skin so much. Maybe I resented how attracted to her I was. In only the few minutes I’d known her, she’d floated through life, taking it on the chin that some older student had fucked with her and went through with the prank anyway. I mean, who did that? “It’s just Holden. Some people go by their full names, you know... Katherine.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you don’t have to be a dick about it.”

I groaned and closed my eyes. Just the word ‘dick’ coming from that innocent mouth had my dick twitching.

I leaned my head back on the seat, keeping my eyes closed. Maybe we’d get lucky, and our professor would be sick today. One class down, only forty-four left to go.

“Uh-oh,” she whispered.

“What?” I asked without opening my eyes.

Her bony elbow nudged against my arm.

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