Read Online One & Only (Canton) by Viv Daniels - Free Book Online Page B

to myself for a split second before I banished the notion from my brain for all time. Nothing here was Dylan’s.
    “It’s good to see the proportion of women in this department increasing,” Elaine said. Her dark hair was twisted into a messy bun, and strands of magenta reached back from each temple. “Even one makes a huge difference around here.”
    “Well,” I said with a sheepish shrug, “I’m glad to help in any way I can.”
    “What are your plans for the symposium?” she asked abruptly.
    I blinked. “I’m—not quite sure yet. I think Dylan Kingsley—”
    “Dylan Kingsley?” she sneered. “Figures. You’ve been here for a day, and he’s already got his claws in the fresh meat.”
    “Pardon me?” I asked.
    “There aren’t enough girls here as is,” she said. “We should really stick together.”
    I wanted to hear more of what she was saying about Dylan. He’d sounded genuine enough in his email. But I hadn’t seen the guy in two years, while Elaine had presumably been in several classes with him. Who knew what he was like these days better than she? And what did she mean by “fresh meat”?
    “Nothing’s set in stone yet,” I tried. “I just told him I’d be happy to talk about potential—”
    “And I’ll tell you one thing,” she said. “You won’t win unless you do biomed. Not at Canton.”
    “I’m not doing biomed,” I said. “With or without Dylan. I’ve got an environmental concentration.”
    She snorted now, so hard I was surprised snot didn’t spatter my textbook. “Well then, aren’t you two a perfect match.”
    “A perfect match for what?” Dylan’s voice hovered above us. He was standing there, his stance casual, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. “Poaching my partner, Elaine?”
    She rolled her eyes, swiped her things off the table, and stalked away. Dylan slid smoothly into the spot she’d vacated.
    Nothing here is Dylan’s , I repeated to myself.
    “What was that all about?” I asked him.
    He shrugged. “Elaine’s a sore loser. I beat her in the freshman year final project, and she’s never forgiven me.”
    I pressed my lips together. Maybe I’d rushed into things last night, letting my anger at my dad fuel my response to Dylan. I shouldn’t commit to partnering with him. Not until I heard more about his ideas or got to know some of the other people in the class.
    Not until I could be sure I was capable of working alongside him.
    “She said you always preyed on fresh meat.” I eyed him carefully. “What does she mean by that?”
    He looked amused. “She did? I have no idea what she means by ‘always,’ but she’s smart. She probably figures that if I snatched you up this quickly, I have secret info about how good you are.” He leaned in and dropped his voice to a whisper. “And of course, she’s right. I do have secret info about how good you are.”
    I swallowed. Why did he have to say it like that?
    “Because we worked together before, Tess. Geez, what did you think I meant?” He grinned, and I prayed my face wasn’t as flushed as it felt. He nudged me with his elbow. “Come on, lighten up. Either we’re going to joke about this or we’re going to be awkward and horrible.”
    My body told me awkward and horrible would rule the day, no matter how many jokes might come out of my mouth. But I wanted to get over it, the way Dylan so obviously had. I wanted to work with him, because he was right, we had worked so well. I wanted to be all grown-up and professional.
    “Besides,” Dylan coaxed. “You don’t want to work with Elaine. She’s biomed all the way. She won’t touch algae with a ten-foot pole.”
    “I told her I was enviro.”
    “See?” Dylan said with a flourish of his hands. “Elaine was right about one thing. We are a perfect match.”
    Stop saying it like that. Just stop.
    “Like I told you last night,” he went on, “you can ask around if you want. I’m certainly not going to pressure you into anything.