Free Score (Skin in the Game Book 1) by Christine Bell

the music.
    Despite the snow, I jogged down the porch stairs without incident. When I reached the sidewalk, I paused to suck in big breaths of frigid air as I thought of what could have happened.
    I hated myself for the way he’d made me feel. Cal was a pro, but I was not. In fact, I was far from it. Strong? Confident? Ha. As tough of a façade as I put on, I was so not equipped to deflect the level of charm he was capable of throwing my way.
    The snow was coming down even harder now. I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my hands, dug my chin into my chest, and started down the sidewalk.
    “Come on, Bee, don’t fly away already.”
    Embarrassingly, my head jerked up like I was a puppet on a string at the sound of his voice.
    I whirled on the snow-covered sidewalk and saw Cal walking toward me at the same moment I felt my boots start to lose traction. Before my feet could fly out from under me, he lunged forward and grabbed my arm. “Whoa. Steady there.”
    I could feel the heat of his hand on my arm, even through my sweater. Part of me wanted to push him away, but instead I just stood there, staring at it as snowflakes accumulated in the tiny hairs on his muscular forearm.
    “What are you doing out here?” he finally asked.
    The cold air had completely dissolved my buzz leaving behind only a strange hyperawareness. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze.
    “What does it look like I’m doing? Going home.”
    “Shit, it’s cold.” He took his hand off my arm and dug them both into his back pockets, then rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Why?”
    “I’m tired.”
    “Bah,” he waved the idea away. “It’s Saturday night. Sleep when you’re dead.”
    “Try telling my body that. It’s actually half-asleep right now.”
    He cupped his hands over his mouth and blew into them. “Shit, it’s Arctic. Come back inside where it’s warm.”
    “Well, I’m going to have to come out eventually. I can’t exactly sleep at the frat house. Duh.”
    He squinted at me. “Well, technically, you could. They have a couple spare rooms.”
    The very idea that he and I could stay warm in one of them made my whole body tingle, but I shut it down with the ruthlessness of a medieval executioner.
    “Yeah. As appetizing as sleeping on sheets that probably haven’t been washed since my freshman year sounds, I think I’ll just sleep in my own bed tonight.”
    “Fair enough,” he said, a crooked grin tugging at his lips. “But this weather blows.”
    “Then go inside. I gotta Stolpa.” I turned around and started down the sidewalk again. The snow was already so deep I could feel it trickling under the tops of my boots.
    He followed. “Stolpa?”
    “Kappa talk. You know, for the Lifetime movie? The Stolpas? Forget it.”
    He laughed. “I’m shocked that you talk Kappa. You seem different than all of them.”
    “I thought I was. And yet somehow I ended up at a frat party tonight.”
    “Oh, but you had fun.”
    “Maybe.” I couldn’t tell him that it was more than fun. That he’d pretty much blown to oblivion every previous sexual experience I’d ever had with one kiss. “What are you doing?”
    He shrugged. “You shouldn’t be out alone at night. I’ll walk you.”
    Trying to hide my surprise, I nodded and moved aside. We walked in silence for a little bit.
    When we were almost on Sorority Row, the tension became too much. “I can take it from here,” I said with a forced smile. “Go back. You might hurt your knee worse if you slip or something.”
    Plus, there was so much snow everywhere that even demented rapists probably didn’t want to be out in it. I’d be fine for the next hundred yards.
    “Nope,” he said, shivering. His voice was hollow, and his words were clipped. “My doctor said not to baby it, anyway. Walking keeps me from getting stiff. Nothing less than door-to-door service. I’m a gentleman.”
    “A gentleman who’s about three seconds from turning into an icicle,”