While I'd shocked myself when I kissed Logan on the cheek, by his wide-eyed and gaped mouth expression, I think I'd surprised him more. That initial reaction quickly dissolved, since he wore the biggest, smuggest grin by the time he climbed into his truck.

"That was just my appreciation for shutting down Angel," I assured him with an index finger pointed at his face. "Don't get all cocky on me."

I was about fifty-percent honest in my justification. Angel Benson was the most obvious, shameless flirt with the guys on the team. I'd seen her many, many times among the clusters of groupies that hung outside the football team's locker room while I'd waited for Charlie after practices or games. Every time I'd seen her, with her tits on display like some football heatseekers and how whatever guy she wanted drooled into putty annoyed me.

Her hands on Logan though... that felt personal.

"Too late." His grin actually spread wider. "Besides, you like when I get all... cocky."

And there he goes again. At the rate he's going, next week he'll just walk around the apartment naked.

Since my cheeks warmed at that idea, I just shook my head then turned my head in the direction outside my window and watched the streets until Logan arrived back at the apartment. While I was a sweaty mess from our grocery carry upstairs, even with three times as many bags, Logan looked as cool as a cucumber while he walked right into the apartment and set his bags on the kitchen floor.

"Just toss stuff wherever." I pointed to the fridge. "I'll reorganize everything tomorrow."

Logan shot me a look like he wasn't happy about that again, but just silently put stuff away. The counters were completely covered by the time we were done, but I just waved an absent hand at the kitchen. Since the time read after eight o'clock, we both stood in the kitchen while we ate a quick dinner of leftovers, then I showered while he cleaned up.

I could get used to that part.

The long day caught up with me once I sat down with a loud groan under my butt on the air mattress. Once I checked my alarm reminder, an hour later because Tuesday's class wasn't until nine, my eyes fluttered shut before Logan even stepped out of the shower. I assumed he was tired since I hadn't heard a peep before sleep quickly took me under.

The next morning, Logan's room was still quiet while I dressed and ate breakfast. So I dragged him out of bed, slapped a reheated breakfast burrito in each of his palms while I carried a smoothie for him, and we arrived fifteen minutes prior to class in Hitchcock Hall. The older, red brick building looked as tired as I felt and the stiffness in my neck reminded me of the less than ideal air mattress sleep setup.

"Ellie." Logan's elbow nudged my shoulder while we glanced around the near empty amphitheater-style lecture room. Light gray padded walls surrounded the space with dim lighting from overhead recessed lights. Rows and rows of medium-gray seats, at least five hundred lecture chairs total, with light-wood armrests and trays lined each side of a central set of steps that led down to the instructors' platform. A laptop was set up on a table near the podium on the stage and 'BIOL 310 - Survey of Human Anatomy' flashed across a large screen.

Logan held out one hand for me to find our seats, so I went two-thirds of the way down the carpeted stairs and side-stepped into the middle of a row. Even for my small frame, these snap-up desks were horribly cramped. I also cringed at whatever sticky lump one of my fingers pressed into as I lifted mine and prayed it was just gum. After I set up my pencil and writing notebook on the top, there wasn't much room left for my elbows.

Before Logan got settled, a strangely familiar male voice spoke to me and a large figure leaned over our row on my right. "My morning just got a lot better. Hey there, Ellie."

I looked up into a pair of twinkling brown eyes, messy dark brown hair that looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, and a lopsided smirk that was just big enough it revealed a dimple in his left cheek that I'm sure he found charming.

"Emmitt?" I cocked my head sideways and shifted a little away from his close proximity, not that I had space to move in my tight seat. His near overpowering cologne, a mix of musk and coffee, hit me as he climbed over the row and took the seat directly on my right.

"Whew, Verns," Logan scoffed from his stance over my left side. "Did you dump extra cologne on instead of showering again?"

"Don't answer that question," I interjected. If I was uncomfortable wedged in the tiny chair next to Emmitt's cologne fog, Emmitt and Logan looked like one of those blooper toys after the snakes popped out of the cans. Once Logan sat in the seat on my immediate left, shoulders, elbows, and knees trapped me in on both sides inside a cage of muscles and testosterone.

At least I went to the bathroom ahead of time.

While Logan and Emmitt traded comments across me about some setup plays for the upcoming game opener against Oregon, I zoned them out. A frown tensed my forehead when I looked on either side of them and saw plenty of open seats on both sides of them.

We look ridiculous, there's at least fifteen seats in this row.

Why me? Why do they always gravitate towards me?

Suddenly I felt very claustrophobic, which only increased when our little threesome certainly drew some attention from, well everyone. Mostly everyone who walked down the stairs past us identified them and weren't even subtle as they pointed, smiled, or whispered. I lost count of the number of murderous looks that some of the girls threw at me.

"Good morning, all." One minute before the lecture started, the doors opened and Professor Groves entered from the back of the room. He drew everyone's swiveled attention backwards when he called out, "I like the exercise."

Dr. Groves was a short, fit man in early-thirties with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes that pierced the attention of more than one girl near me. The peanut gallery I was surrounded in was less than impressed, as Emmitt grumbled, "Heard he was a pretty boy," which Logan snorted at in response like some kind of inside joke.

Right behind him, a girl with pale skin and long, glossy black hair slid into the seat on the end of the row closest to Logan. Her brown eyes gave him a strange lookover, then she grabbed her class materials and ignored us.

Once she was settled, she paused and turned towards him. "Hey... You're Hightower, right? The football player?"

"Logan." He held out his hand and shook hers politely.

"Amy," she replied with an odd gaze on her face, then wet her lower lip with her tongue. "I... saw your billboard."

I definitely heard the smirk in Emmitt's voice when he leaned over and butted in with, "Oh, so you saw me too." Warmth radiated off his muscular body when his shoulder pushed into mine and I frowned at the intrusion of his giant head into my personal space.

"Billboard?" I turned and poked Logan in the ribs, which really just involved my raised up elbow. "I really need to go see this thing."

"Was hoping you wouldn't find out about that," he muttered in a low voice. As Professor Groves cleared his throat and took the podium, I gave Logan one more curious glance. He didn't return it but I made a mental note that my new personal goal was that I sought out this billboard.

"I'll be happy to drive you there," Emmitt whispered into my right ear. The closeness of his lips to my ear and the waves of warm coffee breath he blew over my face sent a tiny shudder down my shoulders, but not in a good way. The silent, intense death glare Logan shot across me sent a blush into my cheeks.

The next ninety minutes flew by, at least they did for me since Dr. Groves went straight into his first lecture and I jotted down every word as he said it. Multiple times my notes drew Logan's attention but he sat silently. At one point, soft snores erupted from Emmitt but I thought the class sounded really interesting. For an elective class, I was excited about this one right up until Dr. Groves went over the grading.

"So we'll have two exams, midterm is twenty-percent of your grade, final is fifty percent, you'll be delighted to know that with four hundred of you, there's no homework but the remaining thirty percent of your grade will come from a group-related project that will produce a paper, presentation, and will take you at least half the duration of this class."

The room collectively groaned at this point, since we all knew group projects were more common in high school. I personally hated them since I ended up doing most of the work.

I can't not do that though, if that part of my grade is in my control.

"Now, I realize the easiest split up is by alphabetical order -" At that Logan bumped his elbow into my shoulder. "- but instead let's just make whoever you share a row with your group. You already have some of the same academic approaches in sitting within the same vicinity, so you're welcome for making finding your groups easier."

With that, Dr. Groves clasped his hands together then spoke into his microphone, "That's it for day one, everyone read through Chapters One and Two in the text and come ready to discuss on Thursday."

"Lovely," I grumbled right when a warm, muscular arm slipped over my shoulders. The smell that came with it indicated someone had woken up from his nap.

"What'd I miss?" Emmitt yawned and stretched even further, until his side pressed into mine over my tray table.

"Other than half the lecture, we have a group project." I leaned forwards, pushed my table down, and stuffed my notes into my backpack. "Our row is our group."

"Cool," he voiced casual sentiments that I definitely didn't share. Logan I was fine with, Emmitt I contribution was that he just stood up with his good looks for his presentation contribution, and all I knew about Amy was she'd shown up as literally the last person in class.

"Hey," Amy's voice called out, which drew my head up from my bag. She'd walked down the row ahead of us, then extended her hand to me. "I'm Amy."

"Ellie." I shook her hand.

Her lips twitched into a smile as her hand dropped and her eyes passed between us. "I'd say we should exchange contact info but looks like you three already know each other."

"Unfortunately for me, and now you for the group project, yes," I teased, grabbed my bag, and stood up. In a move I regretted because now Emmitt had my phone number, we all exchanged our contact info.

While we walked up the stairs together, Logan asked, "Any lunch plans?"

"Hungry already?" My eyebrows lifted since the time on the lecture hall clock said ten-forty five.

"No, but we still need to go over our schedules though, so we know who's where," Logan had a good point. Charlie was an amazing organizer, the girl had future soccer mom written all over her. Buried somewhere within my boxes that still remained unopened was a calendar.

That reminds me, she wanted to get together on Thursday afternoon.

In her own special way, Charlie had checked in on me every day. Some of her messages were cute, others a bit too much.

Charlie: Hope you and hubby are getting along! 🔥😊🔥

me: 😒 Not you too.

Charlie: Just thinking about your needs, girl. 🍆🍑

Charlie: But seriously, if I need to send Wes' knuckles down there, lemme know. 👊

me: We're cool, for now. Thanks.

Charlie: Save Thurs @6pm for me, wear comfy yoga clothes and be ready to get sweaty!

"I'm going back to the apartment," I answered Logan and threw him a smile. "Work on my notes, eat lunch there, then I have a small family to cook for."

What I hadn't shared with Logan was how I'd also contacted Dr. Sterns. I'd actually had left her a message when I first arrived and Dad had blown up, but once she replied, I asked if she was available for this afternoon. I owed Logan an apology but every time I'd thought about it, uncomfortable feelings related to why he deserved it also resurfaced. Logan's flirting, which felt weirdly familiar to how he'd first beaten down my self-preservation walls in high school, hadn't helped with my confusion.

He doesn't know me that well, how can he just... be so sure?

Once we reached the other side of the lecture hall's doors, Logan's mouth parted but before he answered, an arm slipped over my shoulders. Emmitt's voice filled my ears when he murmured, "Have lunch with me today Ellie."

I paused for a moment, not at the intrusive physical contact but the irritated look on Logan's face. To anyone else he probably looked impassive but I saw his teeth were gritted tightly shut. A small smile flinched my lips because really he had nothing to be pissed off about.

"I'm okay." I slipped Emmitt's arm off, to his disappointment and a slight smirk from Logan. "I need to study too."

"Human Anatomy." His dark eyebrows wiggled up and down suggestively. "You can study mine all day, any day Ellie."

"And I told you," I gently poked one finger into his hard chest. "If I'm going to study male anatomy then I'd like it not to be extra-small."

Logan's snort hit my left ear, which creased a smile across my lips. Before Emmitt responded to my usual response to his offers, Amy slid up next to Logan and offered, "Well, I'm free if you are."

"I..." Logan paused, blinked at her close contact, then just shook his head. "Think I'll eat in too, then take a nap before practice. But you two go ahead."

"Cool with me." Emmitt shrugged and skimmed his eyes over Amy with interest.

Amy wore a pensive look like she wasn't as impressed with Emmitt as he was with himself, pursed her lips, then just shrugged. "Why the hell not."

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I'd held in and the smile Logan gave me showed he felt just as relieved. While our walk back was filled with casual conversation topics, an uneasiness filled my stomach at the talk I knew couldn't be avoided much longer.

Definitely still have a lot of unpacking left and not just the kitchen.