Page 24 of Forget

He would walk an extra kilometre to a smaller student hangout to have his dry ham and cheese sandwiches every lunchtime rather than sit in that quadrangle and watch happy people who only accentuated that he wasn’t.

He’d been a brooding, grumpy introvert. Truth be told, still was, though he hid it well for his business. Being the number one go-to guy for IT in Melbourne was a far cry from that dirt-poor kid surviving on scholarships to get ahead.

But he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that a small part of him still looked over his shoulder every goddamn day because he thought the life he’d worked so hard to build could be ripped away in a second.

Stupid, because he’d invested his growing fortune wisely to prevent that very scenario happening, but being back here triggered every fucking insecurity he’d ever had.

‘I’ve never seen this place so quiet,’ Jayda said, her hand warm in his.

‘That’s because it’s the ass-crack of dawn and we’re idiots for being here.’ His dry response garnered an elbow to the ribs.

‘Listen, Loverboy, shelve your inner cynic for five seconds so I can enjoy this, okay?’

‘Loverboy?’

‘And don’t you know it,’ she said, her coy smile sending a jolt straight to his cock.

‘Fine, you win. I’ll make the most of my first time here—’

Damn, why did he have to go and say that? Predictably, she pounced on it.

‘You never ate in the quadrangle?’

She made it sound as if he’d never set foot in the entire university and had got a fake degree online.

‘No.’

Her disbelief didn’t waver as she stared at him in open-mouthed shock. ‘How could you spend four years here and not—?’

‘Because I was a geek, okay? And only cool kids hung out here,’ he said through gritted teeth, hating that she’d dragged it out of him.

Not that it was the entire truth but it would appease her for now. It had to. No way in hell would he ever tell anyone, let alone a short-term fling, what had driven him to stay away from the sickening PDAs on show here every day.

Short-term fling…

Jayda had the potential to be more than that and he knew it, which was exactly why he’d keep the truth from her.

‘Sexiest geek I ever saw,’ she said, bumping him with her hip. ‘I’m glad your first time is with me.’

Trust her to know when to back down, but he saw the speculation in her sideways glance as they strolled towards the pop-up truck situated on the outskirts of the grassed area.

‘Let’s eat,’ he said, not surprised when Merv ofMerv’s Mobile Mealsrecognised Jayda and his eyes lit up.

‘I remember you, girly.’ The beefy sixty-something with bulging biceps leaned out of his window to stare down at them. ‘Egg white omelette, grilled tomato, with a side of spinach, hold the butter.’

Jayda gaped and Merv laughed. ‘I never forget a pretty face.’

‘Or the order of a pretty face, apparently.’

Merv chuckled at Brock’s response. ‘Didn’t you know, big guy, if I wasn’t cooking in a truck for the last forty years I would’ve been studying rocket science in one of those fancy buildings behind you?’

Jayda smiled at his self-deprecation and Brock found himself doing the same.

‘So what’ll it be, folks?’ Merv raised a brow at Jayda. ‘Same for you as the old days?’

Considering Jayda had eaten barely anything since they’d met in the hotel bar last night, Brock wondered if she’d break with the habit of a lifetime and order a decent meal.

He knew why she’d ordered the low-fat breakfast Merv had divulged; the same reason she’d only drunken diet sodas and hidden behind dark clothing. Even if she hadn’t revealed her body issues to him the night they’d hooked up six years ago, he would’ve understood. Curvy girls were bombarded with skinny girl images everywhere. He hated it. Give him a lush handful of woman any day.

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