Romancing the R.A. (Campus Crush series)

Romancing The R.A.

Copyright (c) Kelly Hashway 2013

No part of this novel may be reproduced, copied, recorded, or used by any means without written permission from the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. Any names, places, characters, and incidents are a product of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. They are not to be misconstrued as real. Any resemblances to any persons, either living or dead, or locales and events, are completely coincidental.

Cover Design: Heather DeRobertis

S.B. ADDISON BOOKS

ISBN- 9780983868101

Trademarks: Van Halen, Speedo, Mountain Dew, Transformers, Megan Fox

Author Dedication

To everyone who has ever opened their heart to the possibility of love.

Chapter One

A little romance is good for the soul. At least that
’s what my best friend Julia is always telling me. For once, I’m going to listen to her, take her advice. Sure college is supposed to be about learning, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun, too—especially the kind of fun that involves a gorgeous guy. No more immature high school boys who only care about who’s having the next party or how short my skirt is. Staring up at the brown stone buildings that make up Timberland College, I get chills and my heart flutters. In just a few months, I’ll be a college freshman. My whole life is about to change. I can just feel it. Something is waiting for me here, maybe some
one
.

“Can you believe this place?” Julia grabs my arm, squeezing it tight. We visited the school back in the fall, but somehow it looks different now. More official and full of possibilities.

“Where do we go first?” I ask, consulting the orientation schedule.

“Noelle.” Julia lets go of me and gives me the look. The one that shows every ounce of disappointment she can muster. “We’re on a college campus, with no parents and a ton of hot guys, and all you can say is ‘Where do we go first?’”

I see her point, but I don’t want to look like the lost little high school senior, either. In my mind I’m already done with high school. I certainly don’t want anyone here viewing me as anything other than a college student. “I promise no matter where we go, there’ll be guys. Look at the size of this place.”

“Then let’s find us a sexy college guy and ask him for directions.” She wags her eyebrows at me, and I can’t help laughing. A hot college guy beats a map any day.

Julia scans the area, and I can judge her reaction by the way her face scrunches or her eyes widen, but she gives me a running commentary anyway. “Too short.” Julia’s five nine, which makes a lot of guys too short for her liking. She’s always telling me that I have a wider selection to choose from since I’m only five six. “Too skinny!” That’s laughable. Julia’s as thin as they come. The one thing she’s always envied about me is my curves.

“What about him?” I point to an attractive dark haired guy leaning against the building with the huge “Welcome future freshman” sign on it. “Well, there goes that idea. It’s pretty clear that’s where we’re supposed to go.”

“Damn it!” Julia shakes her head. “Stupid higher education with their informative signs.”

“We’ll still get to walk by the hot guy,” I say, trying to bring back her smile.

She shrugs. “I guess you’re right. It’s not the same, though.”

“I know.” We walk over to the building and up the stone steps. I let Julia take the lead since this guy is more her type than mine. I have a thing for blonds.

“Hey,” Julia says to Mr. I’m-just-going-to-stand-here-looking-adorable.

He nods at us and goes back to reading his book.

I tug Julia inside the building, resisting the urge to laugh. It figures the first guy she’d try to hit on would be a bookworm.

“Do you believe that? Two gorgeous girls walk by him and he keeps reading?” She scoffs. “If this is what guys are like at Timberland, I’m transferring.”

“Relax. I don’t think you can judge an entire college by one guy.” I certainly hope not anyway.

In the lobby, we get in a long line of incoming freshman signing into orientation. My eyes scan the building. It’s definitely new. Everything is shiny and state of the art, from the archways to the curved windows. Excitement courses through me. I can already tell things will be different here—better. When we finally reach the table, I sign in and hand the pen to Julia. My eye catches a blond guy standing in the corner. His shaggy hair keeps falling into his eyes no matter how many times he shakes his head. He’s tall but not too tall—I’d guess five eleven—and muscular, but not overbearingly so. He looks my way, and I turn quickly toward Julia before I’m caught staring.

“You okay?” she asks, making me wonder just how red my cheeks are.

“Fine.” Julia stares at me like she knows I have a secret. “Let’s go inside,” I say. Of course going inside means walking past
him
. I keep my eyes lowered, but as we approach the door, he opens it for us.

“Good morning, ladies,” he says with a smile, his eyes focused on me. My cheeks warm, and I’m sure he knows I was staring at him. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind.

“It is now,” Julia whispers to me.

I push her through the door before she can embarrass me. I return his “good morning,” locking eyes with him and smiling.

“Have fun,” he says, closing the door behind us.

A smile spreads across Julia’s face. “Now, more guys like him, I approve of.”

That makes two of us.

We find some empty seats near the back and listen to a boring introduction by the dean. The guy would be attractive if he was twenty years younger, but he’s about as interesting as a hangnail. He keeps going on about test scores and enrollment numbers. I scan the room again, looking for
him
, my mystery doorman. Okay, he’s not really a doorman, just a guy who thinks to open doors for girls. I can’t remember the last time any guy at my high school held a door for me. College guys are already beating high school boys hands down.

I spot him by the door again, but this time he’s inside the room with us. He either wants to make a quick exit once Dean Boring is finished or he has a thing for doors. He turns in my direction and smiles. Not just a friendly “welcome to Timberland” smile. A full out “you know you want to kiss these lips” smile. I swallow the lump in my throat and force a quick smile in return before lowering my eyes to my lap. I wish I had something to hold, something to stop my hands from fidgeting. Couldn’t they hand out pamphlets with this boring information instead of spewing it all at us in a lecture that showed no signs of ending?

Julia elbows me in the ribs. “Check out the hottie looking at you.” I look up to see he’s still staring in my direction. It’s not that guys haven’t looked at me like this before; it’s that none of them have made my insides knot to the point where I’m debating interrupting this lecture to see what his lips taste like. “Figures you’d find a guy first.” Julia’s voice jolts me out of my daydream. “You aren’t even looking for one.”

Julia is used to me ignoring guys at school. Most are totally immature. But this is college. It’s…different. I shrug, trying to pretend I don’t give a damn that this guy is looking at me, but all I can think about is that smile. That sexy, meant-for-me smile. “We don’t even know how old he is.”              

“Only incoming freshman and transfer students show up for orientation. He has to be one of the two. It’s not like he’s a teacher.”

“He’s standing there looking all official instead of sitting with the rest of us. And check out the logo on his shirt.” It was on the guy’s chest—his chiseled chest by the looks of it in that tight polo.

“Holy shit, that’s a nice body!” Julia’s practically drooling. “I was focused on his face. How stupid of me?”

She’s not wrong. Every inch of this guy is sizzling hot. “He must work here, right?”

“I bet they sell those shirts in the University Store, but you’re right. He does look sort of official.”

“He can’t be a teacher, can he?”
Please, don’t let him be a teacher.
That would be just my luck. I find a guy who’s thoughtful enough to open doors and looks like he could model, and he’ll be my teacher.

“If he is, sign me up!”

“What if he teaches Econ or something equally boring?” My mind won’t stop creating worse and worse scenarios, derailing my hopes for any sort of relationship with this guy. Not that I even know his name.

“I don’t care, as long as I can stare at him for the semester. Hell, I’ll change my major for him.” She looks at me briefly, but then does a double take. “Oh, crap. You
do
like him. I can see it in your eyes.” As boy-crazed as Julia is, she’d never go for a guy she knew I liked.

I open my mouth to deny it, but I can’t. She knows me too well.

“Okay, fine. You can have him, but we need to find someone equally hot for me. And soon.”

She makes it sound so easy, as if my thinking this guy is gorgeous is enough to make him mine. My life doesn’t work that way.
Hers
does.

“Noelle?” Julia elbows me again, and I realize I’m staring at him. More importantly, he’s staring back. “You’ve certainly got his attention.”

I do. He won’t take his eyes off me, and not in a creepy stalker way. His eyes are full of warmth, and his lips are curved in a smile. I’m not imagining the connection between us.

“You should talk to him if the dean ever ends his droning.” She rolls her eyes in the direction of the dean, who is pointing to a pie chart, as if anyone in the room gives a shit.

“What would I say? I don’t know anything about him.” That old Van Halen song “Hot for Teacher” pops into my head, and I cringe.
Please, don’t be a teacher.
God, I wouldn’t be able to handle it if he were.