Page 13 of Love to Hate You

As painful as it is to admit, his muscular arms and wide chest are distracting.

“Is it my imagination,” Olivia says, interrupting my thoughts, “or did Carter manage to get even hotter while I was away?”

Feeling like I’ve been caught ogling, I jerk my gaze from him and shoot Olivia a sour look. “It’s definitely your imagination.”

She’s right. Carter is hotter than ever, as evidenced by all the female attention he’s garnering this afternoon. His body is even more finely chiseled than it was before. It looks like he spent the entire summer pumping iron.

Olivia’s eyes are still focused on him. “I know you two rub each other the wrong way—”

“That’s an understatement of epic proportions,” I mutter crossly. My anger is directed more at myself than him. It pisses me off to feel anything for this guy when he’s such a cocky tool.

I must be a glutton for punishment. Maybe my parents’ divorce was more psychologically scarring than I want to admit. Otherwise, why would I put myself through so much self-torture by secretly admiring him?

Her voice drops to a loud whisper. “There’s an awful lot of sexual tension between you two.” She slides her sunglasses down her nose and peers at me over the rims. “Are you sure there’s nothing going on now that you’re living together?”

I puff out my cheeks and press my fingers to my lips, making a few vomiting noises. “Ewww. I just threw up in my mouth.” I scowl. “How can you even say that to me?”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” Humor simmers in her voice.

I make a pfft noise and roll my eyes even though she can’t see me do it behind my tinted lenses.

“Hello, ladies.” A deep male voice interrupts.

Both of our heads swivel. I shade my eyes to see who has dared to break away from the pack. Everyone on the BU football team knows that I’m Noah’s cousin and therefore off-limits. Most of the guys treat me like a little sister. Which is fine by me. The last thing I want to do is cause problems between Noah and his friends.

I rack my brain but don’t recognize this guy, which means he’s probably a freshman or transfer student. Behind my glasses, my eyes are free to wander over his body. And he certainly has a nice one.

He thrusts out his hand toward me. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet. I’m Tanner.”

I smile and do the same. His fingers close around mine and squeeze. The handshake is firm but not bone crushing. It’s the perfect amount of pressure. That makes me wonder what else he can do with his hands.

“I’m Daisy.” I nod toward my trusty sidekick. “And this is Olivia.”

I press my lips together to mask my amusement when Olivia perks up and thrusts out her chest. Since it’s fairly non-existent, it doesn’t make much of a difference, but she gets points for trying.

“It’s nice to meet both of you.” Tanner smiles, revealing gorgeous white teeth. He’s handsome in a surfer-boy way.

“Same here,” Olivia says, beating me to the punch.

I extract my hand from Tanner’s grasp. His eyes are covered by a pair of aviators much like Olivia’s, but I can tell that he’s checking her out.

How perfect would it be to get these two together?

Olivia needs to get over Noah since I don’t think he’s planning on dumping Ashley anytime soon. I’ve told her a ton of times that it’s not healthy to pine after someone who doesn’t see you in the same light. I’m not trying to be harsh, just honest. After all, this is our senior year, and I’d hate to see her waste it on my clueless cousin.

And Tanner, with his long blond hair, buff bod, and sunny good looks, would be the perfect distraction.

Heck, I’m a little enamored by him myself. He’s got that cute-boy vibe going on which I’m a sucker for.

I clear my throat. “So, Tanner, I haven’t seen you around. Are you new to BU?”

“Yup.” He shifts his body, and his muscles flex in the afternoon sun. “I just transferred in.”

Did I mention that he’s not wearing a shirt?

I need to do a better job of focusing if I’m going to hook these two up.

“Are you a junior?” I ask. Most people don’t transfer in their senior year of college. If he’s in his third year, then the age difference is negligible. Anything less is questionable.

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