It was about Jordan, and all of the girls talked about him like he was a god. It didn’t matter if she was listening to guys or girls. They all had awe in their voices. These girls were excited to go to the games to watch his “glorious piece of art” body in motion and were strategizing on how to get his attention.
Amazingly, the guys she heard liked to talk about Jordan’s sex life as much as the girls. There was as much admiration for his sex life as for his game. They talked about his “mad ball-handling skills” and athleticism on the court. They were also amazed that he hadn’t left school last year to be drafted.
As the week went by, Tessa found herself gradually going back to the self-imposed bubble she had lived in before her encounter with the campus star. She didn’t hold her breath and brace herself every time she turned a corner at the library or keep her ears on alert for his name. And she definitely didn’t go to any more parties.
Tessa was at the college library studying when her phone screen flashed with a new text message. Her curiosity made her break away from reading about what to expect during her upcoming student teaching.
Unknown: I got your name from the English Department list of tutors. Could we set up some time to meet? I need help with Composition.
Composition made her think of her encounter with Jordan. Could it be him? Tessa scoffed when she remembered he already had someone helping him. Tutoring gave her a little extra money and something else to put on her resume. After a few back and forth texts, they agreed to meet at seven-thirty at a coffee shop. It was off campus but still close enough to walk.
Tessa walked briskly to counteract the chill in the air, stopping once she reached the coffee shop door. The guy she was meeting said he had on jeans and a red t-shirt and would be sitting in the back. When she was ensnared by blue eyes, she sucked in a startled breath.
Jordan Davis stood up from a booth. Tessa dragged her gaze down, and when she saw his red t-shirt, she flipped her narrowed eyes back up to his. He was looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.
She didn’t have time for whatever game he was playing and marched over to give him a piece of her mind. At the last moment she swallowed her desire to scream at him, but she made sure her voice was firm.
“You might think you are a god on campus, but I am not one of your worshippers. Some of us have to work for a living, and I don’t appreciate you manipulating me into a fake meeting.”
Tessa swung around to leave. Jordan caught her trailing hand, and embers sparked under her skin. When she paused, he stepped closer, and an enticing smell of spices assaulted her.
In a low, rumbling voice, he said, “Sit down so you don’t cause more of a scene and let me talk.”
As soon as the words registered, Tessa craned her neck to look behind her. Sure enough, the back half of the coffee shop was staring at them with undisguised interest. She quickly slid into the high-back booth and went on the offensive.
“What are you doing, wasting my time?” she hissed out in a whisper.
Jordan looked at her steadily. “What makes you think I’m wasting your time?”
Her blood started heating back up, but she forced herself not to yell. “Seriously? Today I went to classes, worked, and then hiked across campus to be here only to find out that this isn’t for tutoring. It’s just for . . .” Tessa threw her hands up. “I don’t know! Was it so you could prove a point? That you found out who I was? Congratulations—you win!”
She put her hands on the table, intending to scoot out of the booth. Before she could budge, Jordan captured her wrist. She sucked in a breath and looked up at his somber eyes.
“This isn’t some lark, Tessa. I need a tutor. My last tutor didn’t work out.”
Tessa couldn’t help it—she scoffed. It didn’t look like they were working very hard when she saw them.
Jordan shrugged and released her wrist. “We got off track. I get off track with a lot of my tutors.”
Her only response at the understatement of the year was an eye roll.
He seemed sincere, but she was still skeptical. When she didn’t respond, Jordan tried again.
“Look, Tessa, I practice twenty hours a week. I do workouts before and after practice, I still have a full credit schedule, and soon I’ll be playing two games a week. I’m trying to work ahead, but I don’t like writing. I procrastinate. I’m keeping up with the work now, but I’ll need help when we start traveling.”
“Why me?”
There was no delay in Jordan’s response. “You won’t let me get off track. And I know you’ll be there for the right reasons.”
Tessa ignored the kick in her stomach at his honest answer. Apparently, she wasn’t attractive enough to distract him. She pushed her hurt feelings away and tried to think about his plea objectively.
He was a computer science major, and she had heard it was a challenging major. If Composition was the class he was having problems with, he shouldn’t be hard to tutor. It would be easy money.
“I charge fifty dollars per hour. The days I work at the library, I won’t be able to start until nine p.m.”
Jordan relaxed his body back into the booth. “That works for me. I’ll text you when I need you.”
Tessa nodded and started to slide out of the booth. He caught her wrist again. She asked with an edge, “Why do you keep doing that?”
Jordan ran his thumb across the inside of her wrist. Tessa’s breath hitched, and her pulse sped up. She looked down and was hypnotized by the back and forth motion of his thumb.
“If I don’t, you’ll run away.” His low response made the butterflies start flitting around her body again.
She drew in a silent breath to hide the effect he was having on her and pulled her wrist away.
“I’m not running. We’re done here.”
Jordan met her emotionless statement with a challenge. “Then stay and eat something.”
She knew he was goading her, and dammit, she still couldn’t make her feet move to leave. Tessa did not want Jordan thinking she was running away scared. If she was feeling anything, it was apprehension, not fear.
She had never had this kind of physical attraction to a guy, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it, especially since it was to a cocky basketball player who was the campus star. Tessa had a feeling he viewed her as not just a tutor but a challenge.
“Is it really that hard of a decision, Tessa?”
There it was again, an underlying challenge.
Coolly she replied, “I was thinking through my schedule to make sure I have the time.”
A small smile tilted up one side of Jordan’s mouth, and his twinkling eyes said he could see through her lie.
“Fine,” she snapped and plopped back down into the booth.
To distract herself from slapping the self-congratulatory smirk off his face, Tessa reached for the menu to hide behind. She could still feel his amusement as he calmly waited for her to lower it. Tessa knew this wasn’t her best moment, but she was disconcerted by this awareness between them. She needed a few extra moments to compose herself.
“First time here?” Jordan drawled, which made her grind her teeth.
Tessa acknowledged she was acting ridiculous, but he didn’t need to enjoy it so much.
“No, I just don’t eat here much.” She congratulated herself for using a calm and believable voice.
“Did you decide on the burger or chicken sandwich?” Jordan mockingly asked her, knowing there was a limited menu.
It gave her great satisfaction to inform him of her choice. “Neither. I’ll have a salad.”
He stopped staring at her and looked over her shoulder. The next thing she knew, a fluttery-eyed waitress was at their table.
“Are you ready to order, Jordan?”
Her annoying cooing voice made Tessa tense like she had just heard nails scraping over a chalkboard.
The blonde waitress continued to gape at Jordan, never acknowledging Tessa was also at the table. She wore a Coffee Café t-
shirt with jeans, and Tessa was impressed with how she worked the mundane outfit. If she stuck out her well-endowed chest any farther, she would fall over. Good thing she balanced herself by showcasing her bottom in what had to be glued-on blue jean jeggings.
“We’ll both have the garden greens with grilled chicken on top,” Jordan said briskly.
The waitress blatantly ran her eyes all over him. Tessa was irritated, both at Jordan for ordering for her and at the waitress who still hadn’t looked at her. If this was a date, she would think it was sweet that he ordered for her. This was not a date. The waitress got the brunt of Tessa’s frustration.
“I’ll have the ranch dressing, a glass of water, and an iced caramel latte. Thanks for asking.”
Jordan barked out a laugh, and Tessa rolled her eyes. Because even after her snarky comment, the waitress still didn’t acknowledge her.
In the same irritating voice, she simpered, “What kind of dressing would you like, Jordan? What else can I get you?”
Through her bubbling irritation, Tessa had to grudgingly admit that Jordan didn’t flirt back, although he was clearly entertained.
“I’ll have the raspberry vinaigrette and a water.”
Instead of leaving, the waitress twirled her hair while continuing to ogle Jordan out.
“I’m Sarah. Sarah Feller.”
Tessa had had enough and didn’t bother to hide it. “Thank you, Sarah, Sarah Feller. If we need anything else, we will let you know.”
Jordan laughed, and Sarah finally inched away from the table. As Tessa turned back, she noticed people at the tables around them looking their way. Some were staring, and others were casually looking up toward their table.
Suddenly self-conscious, Tessa was thankful her back was to the room. Making sure her voice wouldn’t carry beyond their booth, she whispered, “Why is everyone looking at us?”
Jordan leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, copying her posture. With a playful glint in his eye and a smile, he whispered back, “They’re curious and looking for gossip.”
“Why? It’s not like they could see the waitress ogling you or hear us.”
Jordan leaned back and studied her. After several moments, Tessa almost started squirming under his regard.
When she was just about ready to snap at him, he finally spoke in an awed voice.
“You really don’t get it.”
Tessa was getting frustrated for feeling like an idiot at what she was missing.
“Get what?” she barked.
“Do you follow basketball?”
The question didn’t ease her discomfort, especially since he looked at her like an anomaly. “I know you’re the team's star player and expected to go in the first round of the draft.”
Jordan twisted his lips and spread his arms across the distance of the booth, drawing her attention to them.
Tessa snapped her focus back to him when he said, “That’s not what I asked, Tessa.”
She threw up her hands. “No. Okay? I don’t follow basketball. I grew up with all women and watching basketball, or any sport, was not something we did.”
There. Tessa had spilled the deep dark secret to him. Now maybe they could move on and have a less uncomfortable conversation.
“What do you mean you grew up with all women?”
Tessa sighed. They were off one uncomfortable topic and on to another. “My dad has never been in the picture. It has always been just my mom and me.”
Jordan studied her for a heartbeat and then probed, “You said all women, which implies more than just your mom.”
He wasn’t a dumb jock. Jordan was perceptive, and apparently he wasn’t going to let this go.
“Lindy’s mom and my mom went to the same high school. They got pregnant about the same time.” Tessa paused when Jordan’s eyebrows came together at Lindy’s name.
“Is she a Latina? Long black hair?”
It wasn’t a surprise that he knew Lindy. “Yes.”
“I’ve seen her around at a few parties.” Jordan motioned for her to continue.
“Both my father and Lindy’s father wanted nothing to do with us. Our grandmothers told our moms they were done raising kids and that they were on their own.” Tessa had never met her grandmother and wasn’t even sure if she was alive. According to her mom, she had probably overdosed on drugs by now.
She shrugged. “So they figured it out together.”
Sarah came with their food. Tessa hoped that meant the end of their current conversation. She dug into her salad while Jordan assured their waitress several times that they wouldn’t need anything else. It was apparent Sarah didn’t want to leave, but Jordan finally turned to his salad and dismissed her without words.
“Nicely done, Jordan. I thought it was going to take a bulldozer to get her away.”
He started eating. “After a while, you learn to deal with it.”
“Does dealing with over-the-top flirting girls happen a lot?”
“It does seem to be a problem I have to deal with quite often.”
Tessa was sure her eyeballs were going to roll right out of her head. “Funny, you seemed to be enjoying the attention of the girl at the party.” She tapped her lips and continued, “Hmm, you didn’t seem to be upset with the extra tutoring you were getting either.”
Jordan stopped eating and he looked up at her with a shit-eating grin. “Tessa, are you keeping tabs on me?”
Shit! Everything from her neck up was pulsing from the rush of blood flooding to her face. She tried valiantly to get the foot out of her mouth.
“I’m not keeping tabs on you. It’s not my fault girls throw themselves at you no matter where you are and I just happen to be there. If you don’t want people watching, then don’t do stuff in public.”
Jordan had a full-on smile at her rambled answer. He leaned forward in the booth and trapped her skittish gaze. “It’s interesting that you seemed to be the only one staring.”
His voice had deepened, and the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention.
A picture of the girl from the party holding onto Jordan’s waist under his t-shirt as he cleared a path up the stairs popped into her head. Her hands had itched to be under his shirt and feel his tight abs.
Jordan flicked his eyes to her lips, and Tessa realized she had licked them. Now they were tingling and slightly parted as she tried to draw in more air.
“Can I get you any dessert?”
Tessa jerked back at Sarah’s perky, well-timed interruption. She needed to get out of here. Reaching for her backpack, she scrambled to find some money while Jordan spoke in a hardened tone.
“All I need is for you to leave the check.”
Tessa put a twenty on the table and scooted out. Her departure caused Sarah to move over to Jordan’s side of the booth, trapping him in as she rushed out of the coffee shop.
It wasn’t long before she heard him calling out, “Tessa, wait.”
Yeah, right, like she was going to stick around and further embarrass herself. What the hell had that been anyway? How did Jordan draw her in and make her lose all of her common sense? There was no denying he was good-looking, but tons of other guys caught her interest in the looks department. It was annoying how easily she was drawn to him.
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Chapter 5
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Once she reached campus, Tessa looked around and was relieved that Jordan was not dogging her footsteps. She slowed her speed-walking down to a stroll and headed to the humanities building to meet Lindy.
Tessa heard the music blaring as she approached the room Lindy worked in. She pushed open the door and grinned at the sight before her. Lindy was in her element. Two mannequins with dresses were in front of her. She bobbed her head and sang as she pinned one of her creations.
Tessa found Lindy’s phone and turned down the music. “Lindy, forget apparel merchandising. You should be a fashion design major. These are gorgeous.”
He
r face glowed. “I am excited about these. I wish I had somewhere to wear them!”
“Someday, Lindy. Someday you will.” There wasn’t a doubt in Tessa’s mind that Lindy was destined for greatness. She attacked everything with zest, determination, and grace.
Lindy gave her a hug. “You’re good for my ego, Tessa. Love you!”
Tessa returned the hug. “Only telling the truth, Lindy. If you aren’t done, I can do some homework and wait.”
“No, I want to go home and see the moms.”
Lindy cleaned up, and they walked to their car. As they were headed home, Tessa’s phone buzzed with a text.
She opened it, pretending there wasn’t fluttering going on in her stomach when she saw it was from Jordan.
J: Tomorrow night at 7:00. I’ll meet you at your library.
“Tessa!”
She jerked her head over to Lindy. “What?”
Lindy nodded toward Tessa’s phone. “Who’s the text from?”
“Jordan Davis,” she reluctantly admitted.
Lindy widened her eyes as she glanced over to Tessa. “Jordan Davis, the basketball player?”
She nodded.
“How do you know him?” Lindy demanded.
“I met him at the party last weekend,” Tessa mumbled, bracing herself for the tongue lashing she knew was coming.
“What?!” screeched Lindy.
“I don’t know if met him is the right way to say it,” she clarified.
Tessa hadn’t told Lindy about Jordan. She just wasn’t sure how to put her unusual, conflicting feelings into words. They told each other everything, so Lindy’s surprise was understandable. What Tessa didn’t expect was Lindy swerving into the nearest parking lot and slamming on the brakes.
She turned to her and demanded, “Talk.”
Tessa talked. She started at the party and went through each and every embarrassing encounter. Lindy’s eyes got wider and wider with each episode Tessa described. When she was done, there was a stunned silence. The hurt in Lindy’s voice made Tessa hang her head.
Breaking Tessa: A College Sport Romance Page 3
