He smiled. “I meant from last night. When I went to bed, you were rolled up so tightly in your blankets that I wasn’t entirely sure you were really in there.”
Hmm… it was kind of weird that men I barely knew could watch me while I slept. But it was also rather interesting that they might want to. “Snuggling under the covers is one of life’s greatest pleasures.”
“Can’t argue with that—except in summer.”
I nodded in agreement. Then I took another glance at the outfit I was wearing. “I must’ve taken a really long time in the bathroom since you’re already ready and you have to share it with two other guys.”
“I took a shower last night.”
Ah, that made sense. I couldn’t figure out how to keep the conversation going, though. My body felt refreshed, but my brain was in need of some caffeine. I’d been a total night-owl over the summer—that was pretty standard when you tended bar. But if I had early classes, I’d need to start getting up earlier. I supposed I’d find out today at the MBA orientation. The actual classes didn’t start until Wednesday, two days from now.
Jude had started strumming the guitar softly again, though his attention was still on me. I wondered if he even knew that he was doing it. And I finally figured out something to ask. “What other instruments do you play?”
He grinned. “Most of them, with varying degrees of proficiency. But piano and guitar are my main ones.”
I thought of something he’d said yesterday. “You give lessons, right?”
“Yes, to undergrads.”
A quick grin rose to my lips. I could just picture a line of female students all clamoring for lessons with him. I wouldn’t mind being seated side by side with him on a piano bench myself.
“Do you play anything?” he asked.
“Video games,” I said, and he chuckled.
“Do you want to go to breakfast?”
My breath caught in my throat before I remembered myself. It wasn’t an invitation for a date or anything like that… it was just a friendly offer from one roommate to another. “Breakfast?”
“Yes, downstairs in the cafeteria. You haven’t seen it yet, have you? I think you’ll be impressed. Plus, once we start classes, our schedules will be all over the place. May as well share a meal as roommates while we can.”
Oh. Roommates. That was a good idea. I needed to get to know everyone better. But I couldn’t help noting that my heart had skipped a beat when I thought he was just asking me. “Sure. Are the others ready?”
“I think so,” Jude said, nodding at Parker, who’d just emerged from the other bathroom as if on cue. “And Mason had to get something from his Jeep so he should be back in a moment. If he hasn’t stopped to flirt.” That last part was muttered under his breath.
Either Mason didn’t stop to flirt or he wasn’t very good at it, because he appeared a minute later. He had on tennis shoes, jeans shorts, and a t-shirt with some kind of engineering joke on it that went right over my head. Only Parker wasn’t wearing shorts. He had on khaki pants and a blue button-down shirt.
“Everybody ready?” Mason asked.
We all headed to the door, but when Mason pulled it open, I hesitated. “Wait a sec.”
“What’s up?” Jude asked as Mason let the door swing shut.
“Well… won’t it look kind of bad if we all leave at once?”
Jude looked amused. “Unless you plan on rappelling down the side of the building, you have to leave at some point.”
“Yeah, but all of us together when I’m not even supposed to be here?”
“Relax,” Mason said. “They’ll just think we had an orgy last night.”
Jude elbowed his buddy hard in the gut. Mason winced, which pleased me. “We talked about this last night. There’s no rule against having guests stay over. If anyone sees you leave with us, they’ll just assume that you’re one of our girlfriends and you stayed the night—not that you’re living here.”
“If it would help sell the girlfriend thing,” Mason chimed in, “I could grab your ass on the way out the door.”
Jude looked like he was going to respond, but I beat him to it. “Good point,” I said, as if considering the idea. “But won’t it ruin the pretense when I turn around and knee you in the balls?”
Mason chuckled. “It might.”
Jude smiled, too. “No one who knows you would blame her, though. Now, are we going to breakfast or what?”
7
Kylie
“Welcome,” a chipper young woman with a clipboard said. “Are you a first-year?” The orientation for new MBA students was being held outdoors on a sunny field between towering buildings that housed, according to the names over the doors, the biology department and mathematics.
The weather was warm and sunny, which gave me an excuse to wear my sunglasses. I loved sunglasses. No one ever stared at my eyes when I wore sunglasses. “Yes.”