Page 7 of Stalked By the Linebacker

Standing by the water cooler, Crank filled his water bottle, his biceps flexing and relaxing.

Not staring at me. Me and my stupid imagination!I was crazy. Seriously certifiable.

Crank Dominguez staring at me? Who did I think I was? The Queen of England?

Our paths hadn’t crossed once my first year here. When I spoke to Blanca and her mom, they always asked if I had seen him, but I never did. That didn’t mean I didn’t hear everything about him. Not just from his family but from people in my classes. Especially during the football season. Crank had a reputation. He liked to work hard on and off the field. And from what I had overheard from a group of sorority girls, he liked to play just as hard.

Six weeks ago, he’d stopped by Stacked looking for me, and I’d felt like maybe he’d seen something in me. Something he liked. But it was wishful thinking. I was pretty sure Blanca or her mom had put him up to it, but he never confirmed it. We’d talked, or rather stared at one another in a weird silence I still wasn’t sure had been good or bad, and then I’d had to go back to work.

I’d been positive I wouldn’t see him again.

I’d felt like I had stepped into theTwilight Zonewhen I walked out of the diner at five in the morning only to find him standing by his car with a bag in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He’d hurried right over to me with an easy smile and handed me said coffee and a bagel breakfast sandwich so loaded up I was pretty sure it could have fed me and my two roommates. He’d insisted on giving me a ride since he was going back to campus.

And after working a double, a ride didn’t sound so bad.

When I’d gone into work two days later, there he’d been. Wearing the same uniform polo as I did. I had no idea why Crank was working there. He didn’t need the money. Or at least I didn’t think he did. The guy was pre-med now, though, according to his sister. Maybe he was trying to save up for medical school?

But with his grades, I was almost positive he’d get a scholarship. Maybe that’s what he was doing? I glanced up at him through my lashes and licked my lips. He looked like the kind of man who would always have a plan. And another ready to go in case that didn’t work out. I heard him move around the small break room and blinked. I was working every night shift with Crank.

Again.

“You get the new schedule?” His deep voice cut through my thoughts. I blinked and felt my face start to warm up under his gaze. He had caught me staring at him.

Hector ‘Crank’ Dominguez had always been a good-looking guy.

He was so much more now.

He was everything.

Rugged and handsome. Intelligent and quick witted. Strong and brave. As nervous as I got about working our shifts together, he was the only one I ever felt safe doing the overnight ones with. Crank was larger than life, like Batman or Superman, so much so, it felt like nothing could ever go wrong around him. Even during an overnight shift in a part of the city that left some to be desired.

We didn’t work in the middle of the downtown area, where tourists and the more than well-off students liked to frequent. Not that it was super dangerous or anything; it wasn’t. But working those shifts with Crank after working them with Greg let my mind be a little more at ease.

Especially since no matter what, Crank always insisted on driving me home and walking me to my dorm, even though he lived across campus in the athletic dorms.

“Libby?”

“What? I’m sorry.” I shook my head and laughed at myself. I was nineteen and a virgin, but it didn’t mean I had to act like a blushing schoolgirl around him! “I got distracted.”

“That chem class kicking your butt?” he asked with genuine concern in his dark gaze.

“No. I mean, a little, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. So, umm, what were you saying?”

“You got your schedule.” He pointed at the folded paper in my hands.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“I noticed you have tomorrow off,” he said off the cuff, and I frowned.

“I do?” I never had a Friday night off, not since I started working here a week after classes started last fall.

I quickly unfolded the sheet and looked at it again. I had been so focused on who was working that I didn’t pay attention to the days I’d be on. I was just so used to having the ones no one ever wanted. Which included the weekend. I chewed on my bottom lip as I studied the dates.I am off the entire weekend!

“Looks like I don’t,” I murmured. “I have the weekend off.” I glanced back up, and this time, Hector’s complete attention was on me. Whenever I caught him staring like this, it was jarring. The intensity in his gaze, the way it felt like he didn’t miss a thing. And today was no different.

“Wanna hang out tomorrow?” he asked, and I blinked.

This was another thing I couldn’t believe was happening. Not only did we work each and every shift together, he kept asking me to hang out. I had no idea why. Maybe his mom or Blanca kept bugging him? I knew they worried I wasn’t having any fun, but I didn’t mind focusing on my classes and two jobs.

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