4th & Girl

“Explain to me again why you’re even busying yourself with school right now?” I asked with a grin. “I mean, isn’t football your career? Not to mention, it appears you’ve done pretty damn well for yourself in that department.”

Leo just shrugged. “My career in football isn’t guaranteed. One ill-fated injury and it can all be over.”

“I guess that makes sense. I mean, it’s a little doomsday-ish of a mind-set, but I can understand why you’d want to make sure you have some sort of stable future no matter how it plays out.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Plus, I’ve always admired the fact that my dad was a college professor. I mean, his English specialty is a far cry from architecture, but for a long time, I pictured myself following in his footsteps.”

“Your dad is a college professor?”

“Was,” he corrected. “He retired from his position at NYU about five years ago. My parents are sunning in Florida with the blue hairs now.”

I started to respond, and even had a whole bunch of awesome words lined up on the tip of my tongue, but when he reached into his messenger bag and slipped on a pair of reading glasses, I turned stupid.

There was something so incredibly sexy about Leo’s baby-blue eyes behind a pair of glasses that it took all of my willpower not to lean forward and do something weird like lick the side of his face.

The view turned me into a dog in heat.

Panting. Drooling. Cartoon eyes. The whole nine fucking yards.

“Gem?” he asked, and I blinked out of my stupor.

“Yeah?”

He grinned. “Am I boring you?”

Boring me? No.

Horny-ing me up with your big muscles and hot nerd glasses? Yes.

“Of course not,” I said. “I guess I just zoned out for a minute.”

He eyed me knowingly, and I rolled my eyes.

“Fine,” I admitted. “Your hot nerd glasses distracted me.”

He barked out a laugh. “Hot nerd glasses?”

“Yeah.” I nodded toward his face. “Those fucking things should be illegal.”

“You got some kind of fantasy with a devastatingly handsome man in glasses, Gem?” he asked and playfully nudged my shoulder with his. “Because I have no issues obliging.”

I wished I could have called bullshit on his devastatingly handsome man comment, but let’s face it, cocky or not, Leo Landry was exactly that.

“How about we focus on your homework and leave the fantasies for another time?”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

I playfully rolled my eyes and concentrated on the task at hand—Leo’s current grad assignment, a practice quiz and a twenty-page thesis on the importance of ethics in architecture and original design.

“What are you writing for the thesis?”

He shrugged. “Fuck, if I know.”

“Why don’t you focus on the ever-growing tension within our world’s political climate and how it should be morally and ethically just for governments to be transparent with each other when it comes to infrastructure advancement?”

“Why do you think governments should be transparent with each other?”

“Because no one government owns more than what is within their country’s borders,” I said. “And whatever is discovered or created could greatly affect more than one country, especially those with high-poverty populations.”

Leo searched my eyes for a brief moment, and I felt a bit exposed underneath his gaze.

“What?” I asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I knew you were intelligent,” he said, “but you’re really fucking smart, Gem. You do realize that, right?”

“I mean, I know I’m not stupid,” I said through a laugh. “I just don’t really have my shit together when it comes to knowing what I want to do with my life.”

“How long have you been doing temp work?”

“Over a year,” I explained. “I started when I dropped out of college my senior year.”

“What were you majoring in?”

“I was in the engineering program at NYU.”

“That’s not an easy program to get into.”

“I know.” I laughed. “Trust me, I know. But I just couldn’t do it. Engineering is my grandfather’s and dad’s passion, but it’s definitely not mine. They’re both still pissed at me for dropping out.”

“Do you think you’ll go back?”

“To college or the engineering program?”

“Either one.”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, it’s a hard no when it comes to finishing my engineering degree. I just can’t fathom a life where I would be that bored and miserable with my career. But going back to college? The jury is still out on that one.”

“What interests you?” he asked. “Deep down, what’s your passion?”

Music.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

He glanced across the room at my desk and took in the messy notebooks scrawled with lyrics and the guitar resting against the wall. My pride and joy, work like a dog, save and scrimp for months, love of my life guitar. He looked at it like I did, and my stomach turned over on itself. “Are you sure about that?”

“Obviously, I love music,” I said. “But I just don’t see it being an actual career for me.”