Now Matt wanted to take her “somewhere warmer.” She could guess what that meant. His arms around her, the smell of his spicy cologne—different from what she remembered—and the taste of him still on her tongue made her forget what her objections were to spending time with him. She knew she shouldn’t, but for the life of her she couldn’t think why.
“I need to tell Elena I’m leaving. Let her know I’ll see her at home.”
His lips curved in a smile. “You still hang out with Elena?”
“Of course. She’s been my best friend since elementary school.”
He nodded. “Of course. So whose idea was it to come to Marycliff instead of UW?”
Shrugging, she looked away. “We decided together. We always said we were going to room together in college. We just switched our plan a little after looking more at Marycliff.” It had been her idea, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. How desperate would that make her look—changing schools after spending a summer with a random guy who didn’t even stay in touch? The fact that she’d decided to apply to Marycliff before he’d ghosted didn’t matter. Neither did the fact that she got a fantastic scholarship, or that the program here was as good if not better than UW, because the classes were smaller and she got more focused attention from her professors. Plus, the internship opportunities couldn’t be beat.
None of that mattered, though. Any explanation would sound defensive. There was no way of making it look less like the actions of a pathetic, lovesick teenager. And the truth was, she wouldn’t have ever looked at Marycliff if not for Matt.
A knowing smile pulled at his lips. She narrowed her eyes at him. “What? Marycliff is a good school. And the professor to student ratio is a lot better than at UW.”
“Mmhmm.” He nodded again. “I know it’s a good school. I graduated from there, after all. You don’t need to justify your decisions to me.”
Hannah stood up straighter. “You’re right. I don’t.”
When she started to pull away from him, he tightened his grip on her. “Hey. Where do you think you’re going?”
“Inside.” She tilted her head toward the door. “It’s freezing out here, and while you’re doing okay at keeping my upper body warm, I’m afraid my toes might get frostbite soon.” She actually hadn’t paid much attention to the temperature, but now that she brought it up, her bare legs were freezing and her shoes did nothing to protect her feet from the cold.
With a sigh, he dropped his arms from around her. “Right. Of course.” But instead of just letting her walk beside him like she expected, he laced his fingers through hers and tugged her toward the door. “I believe you mentioned needing to let Elena know that you’re leaving. So let’s do that. I need to let my roommates know too so they can take a cab. Then we can warm you up.”
The suggestive note to his voice on the last sentence made his meaning unmistakable, and an involuntary shiver passed through her in response. He smiled at her, but didn’t say anything. Stopping inside the door, he pulled her close. “Go find Elena. I’ll wait for you here. Don’t take too long.” He pressed a kiss to her stunned lips, breaking it off before she could gather her wits and kiss him back. As she moved away, she glanced back at him and saw him pull out his phone. That must be how he planned to communicate with his roommates.
Making a circuit around the edge of the dance floor and past the bar, she searched for Elena. She found her dancing in the midst of a group of guys, including a few of football players Matt had come with. As she got closer, she noticed Evan standing behind Elena, grinding against her. For acting as irritated as he’d been earlier, he sure got over it quickly.
He raised his head, locked eyes with her, and stopped moving, the expression on his face morphing to irritation. Okaay. Maybe not.
Elena glanced over her shoulder at him to see why he’d stopped dancing and followed his gaze to see Hannah on the edge of the dance floor. She nudged one or two of the guys out of her way and came over to give Hannah a hug.
“Hola, chica!” She shouted to make herself heard over the music. “You’ve been resting for a long time. Come dance!” She pulled on Hannah’s hand, trying to lead her over to the guys she’d been dancing with, who were all watching them, some with avid expressions, though Evan looked sullen.
Resisting Elena’s pull, Hannah shook her head. “I stopped resting a while ago. I bumped into someone.”
Elena dropped Hannah’s hand and clapped. “Oooh! A guy! Please tell me it was a hot guy and not a professor or some chick from one of your classes.”
Hannah laughed. “Yes, it was a hot guy. I’m, um, going to hang out with him somewhere quieter.”
Sidling closer, Elena nudged Hannah with an elbow. “Really? Details. What’s his name, where are you going, what are you going to be doing?”
“Just talking probably, I’m not sure, and his name is …” Hannah trailed off, not sure how Elena would
