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night, Max.”
    We shook. His skin felt warm and alive,
and his fingers pressed into mine just like we were exchanging a real handshake.
A slick illusion, making him seem completely real. Like he wasn’t a ghost at
all.
    “Night, Fred.” I smiled at him and he
vanished.
    I stretched out on my back and stared up
at the ceiling. He was right, of course. Caroline had feelings, too, even if
she looked like every girl who’d ever snubbed me, every girl who’d ever been
too good for a juvenile delinquent like me, and I’d be a jerk to use her just
to get at Trent. But that wouldn’t stop me.

 
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    Caroline
    I had a girl date with my best friend,
Paige, and I was going to be late again. I’d never hear the end of it if I kept
her waiting, so I grabbed my bag and ran out the door of my dorm room. In my
head I could hear her telling me that if I’d moved into the sorority house with
her, like she’d wanted me to, then I wouldn’t be late at all. We’d be walking
over to the cafe together.
    Lateness was a chronic problem with me.
In that way, I took after Aunt Jo. She’d always been late, too, but she used to
say it was better to stop and notice the small and beautiful details of life
than to be in such a rush that you’re always on time.
    I charged down the ugly tan and brown
hallway, passing knots of staring freshman girls on the way. No time to talk. I
didn’t know any of them yet anyway.
    Luckily, the student union was only
about a block away from my dorm and I made it in record time. I ran up the
steps and into the building, then up the broad, sweeping marble stairs that led
to the second floor and the huge lounge that always reminded me of a castle’s
great hall. The cafe was right across from the lounge.
    “Caroline.” The male voice greeting me
echoed slightly in the hard, cold stairwell.
    I skidded to a stop and turned. Oh, no.
Max. He wore a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt so tight it showed every
muscle in his torso. There were a lot of muscles. My mouth went dry.
    Why had he called my name? He knew Trent
wanted him to stay away from us.
    I watched him stalk up the stairs toward
me, something vaguely predatory in the graceful motion of his body. The beaded
necklace still hung around his neck, and I still couldn’t see what the pendant
on it looked like because it was hidden beneath his t-shirt.
    “Um...hi, Max,” I said lamely.
    “It’s nice to see someone I recognize
around here.” He smiled with a hint of bashfulness.
    “Is it?” God, I sounded like an idiot.
    “Yeah. I don’t know anyone on campus,
really.”
    “I thought you knew Talbot,” I said.
    “Not well.”
    He didn’t know me well, either.
    “Um, well, it was nice seeing you.” I
edged up one stair step.
    “Where are you headed?”
    “I’m on my way to meet a friend for
coffee.”
    He rubbed the back of his neck, looking
even more sheepish. “Is it all right if I join you?”
    “Uh...” How did I get out of this one?
There was no polite way to say no to him. “Sure.”
    He smiled. “Thanks. That’s really nice
of you.”
    Yeah, sure it was. I hadn’t been able to
think of a way to get out of it, and he knew it.
    “Well, we’re right up here.” I pointed
up the stairs.
    “Are you a junior like Trent?” he said
as we started climbing again.
    “Yes.”
    He leaned closer to me. His proximity
made my heart race and my palms start to sweat. I could almost feel his body
heat, he was so near.
    “He probably told you to stay away from
me,” Max said in a low voice.
    My face heated and I knew I was turning
pink. “Yeah, he did.”
    “I’m surprised you’re talking to me.”
    I glanced sidelong at him. “I like to
make up my own mind about a person.” Also, I was too polite for my own good.
    He aimed one of those lazy smiles at me.
“I’m glad to hear it.” His smile broadened into a grin, which brought out
dimples in his cheeks. Damn it. He had to have dimples, too? “Everything