Page 36 of Wrong For Me

Rose

Ishoot a quick glance at my watch as I hurry towards Dr. Hernandez’s office, wondering how it’s possible that my day turned so epically bad so fast. It isn’t even ten am yet and I’m already fighting the urge to go home and hide under my covers.

The morning started off pretty good, actually. My parents called first thing to wish me luck at orientation. Then, one by one, the rest of my aunts and uncles had done the same. By the time Lennon and Haylee called, River was pounding on the wall between our bedrooms, annoyed to be woken up by the constant ringing.

I climbed out of bed with a bounce to my step, feeling more optimistic about the school year than I had all summer. There’s something about the first day of school that always gets to me—it just seems so promising, the new year stretching out ahead without any mistakes or disasters yet. I showered and got dressed quickly, then took my time packing up my things. Loading my bag with all those fresh, untouched notebooks and brand-new pens had me feeling all giddy.

Yes, I’m aware that I’m a giant dork. And if I wasn’t aware, my brother’s constant reminders would do the job.

But my promising morning went downhill, and fast. First, Will startled me when he came up behind me in the kitchen, just as I was filling my thermos with coffee. Coffee that I then spilled all over my favorite sundress, leaving me scrambling to find clean clothes at the last minute.

Even worse, I didn’t have time to make a fresh pot, meaning I was starting the most important day of my educational career thus far without caffeine—we’re talking disaster level bad. Plus, I couldn’t find a parking spot close to the building, which made me feel rushed and flustered as I hurried across campus.

In spite of all that, I managed to make it to the psych building on time. Not that it did me any good. The second I reached my advisor’s door, I realized just how much worse the morning could get.

Dr. Cooper wasn’t waiting for me. Instead I found the imposing figure of the head of the psych department standing there, ready to turn my crappy day into an epically bad one.

A new advisor. I’m being assigned a new advisor on the first day of the program. Never mind that Dr. Cooper has been my favorite professor, my mentor, since the first week of classes my freshman year. She’s the one that got me my job at Haven House, the woman’s shelter where I spend three afternoons a week. The one who recommended me for the concurrent master’s/doctorate program. The one who’s supposed to take me to Denver for the National Behavioral Sciences conference in just a few weeks.

Apparently, none of that matters to the universe, because I’m being assigned to a new advisor on the first day of school. And not just any new advisor—Dr. Gwen Hernandez. If the university had wanted to assign me the scariest prof possible, they picked the right one. I’d been a walking ball of anxiety the only semester I’d ever had a class with her during my undergrad years. And now I’m expected to work closely with her for at least the next semester. Fantastic.

But when I finally manage to find her office, flustered and out of breath from the mad dash upstairs, it’s not the imposing hard glare of Gwen Hernandez that has the air seized from my lungs. No, it’s the person sitting in the chair beside her desk.

“Rose?”

Leo sounds about as shocked as I feel. He’s staring at me, mouth slightly agape, green eyes wide and surprised.

Leo Malone. My hot vacation hook-up. The guy who apparently hadn’t thought I was worthy of even a phone call. Sitting here, hundreds of miles away from Lake Tahoe, in my new advisor’s office.

“What areyoudoing here?” I blurt, too shocked and off-balance to consider that Dr. Hernandez is sitting right there, probably taking note of how unprofessional I sound.

Leo’s eyes narrow. “I was going to ask you the same question.”

“I go to school here.”

He sucks in a breath, and if the look on his face is any indication, he’s even more surprised by my words than my appearance.

He opens his mouth to respond, probably with something snarky, by the looks of him, but Hernandez clears her throat behind us, reminding me that we’re having this very awkward conversation in her office.

“I take it the two of you know each other?”

“No,” Leo says, voice cold. “We’ve met, but only briefly. I don’t know Rose well at all.”

“Right,” I agree, clenching my hands into fists at my side. “We don’t know each other well.” He just knows what I look like without my clothes on. No biggie.

She’s still looking between the two of us. Is that amusement sparkling in her eyes? I wasn’t aware that Dr. Hernandez was capable of amusement. She certainly never struck me as someone with a well-developed sense of humor.

“Well, that’s going to change,” she says, gesturing at the chair next to Leo. “Miss Ransome, please take a seat.”

I do as instructed, trying hard not to think about the fact that Leo is mere inches away. But it’s no use—my body is highly aware of his. His breathing, his heat, the tense set of his shoulders. The scent of him. It shouldn’t be so familiar, not after one night, but the slightly citrusy scent radiating from him crashes into my senses, my mind suddenly assailed with a thousand images from that night.

That amazing night, the best I’d had in ages. The strange draw I’d felt to him at the concert. The surprise of seeing him at the club later. Sneaking away from my family to eat our pizza together under the night sky, the waves crashing in the distance. The way my whole body seemed to light up and come alive the first time he kissed me.

Laying in his arms when we finally fell into bed together, his eyes intense with desire, never leaving my face the entire time he moved inside me.

Did I say amazing? I meant perfect, in every way.

But apparently Leo disagreed. Apparently, the night hadn’t meant a thing to him. And I need to remember that.