Free Torch: The Wildwood Series by Karen Erickson Page A

His eyes were hooded, and they glittered in the dim light as he watched her, waiting for her reaction. She knew he said that just to shock her, and it worked. The longer he stared at her, the harder she found it to breathe. She saw everything in those pretty green eyes. Heat. Hunger.
    All of it aimed directly at her.
    “Aren’t you afraid I might find that . . . offensive?” She wrinkled her nose, hoping he’d believe her. He shouldn’t. She didn’t think his dreams sounded offensive at all. More like sexy. More like the type of dream she wanted to try to reenact with him, to see if the real thing was just as good.
    “Everything I say you usually find offensive. So what’s the point in holding back?” He hit the gas, his SUV lurching forward and making her chest jerk against her seat belt. “Do you remember your dream about me?”
    “No.”
    He made a tsking noise. “That’s too bad.”
    She agreed wholeheartedly.
    “If you could live anywhere, where would it be?” He asked the question casually but she could tell he was digging for information. She was fine with it too. She’d already confessed her deepest, darkest secret to Tate, and he promised he’d never tell a soul. She believed him. So why not spill everything?
    “San Francisco,” she answered, nibbling on her lower lip the moment the words slipped out. She’d never admitted that to anyone before. Not her friends, not her family, no one.
    “Why San Francisco?”
    “It’s a beautiful city. When I was a little kid my parents would take us there, and I always dreamed of living there.”
    “It’s expensive.”
    “I know.”
    “And crowded.”
    “I can handle it.” Was he arguing with her on purpose?
    “I grew up in Berkeley.”
    She turned in her seat to look at him, shock coursing through her veins. “You did?”
    He nodded, never taking his gaze off the road. “My parents both work at the university.”
    “Shut up. UC Berkeley?” She hadn’t said those words in a long time, and they felt foreign, almost like they tripped off her tongue and fell into the atmosphere.
    Levi had gone to UC Berkeley. He’d dumped her to have the full college experience, as he’d phrased it to her that night. She’d heard enough rumors to know he’d maxed out the college living too. Joining a frat, partying hard, and nearly flunking out.
    “Yeah. I was their biggest disappointment.” He shook his head. “Couldn’t get in.”
    “Shut. Up.” She started to laugh. “Me either!”
    “You wanted to go to Cal?” He sounded shocked.
    Should she tell him the real reason she tried to get in there? So she could flaunt herself in front of Levi and remind him of what he’d lost? No, she sounded pitiful even in her own head. “I applied all over California but specifically targeted colleges close to the Bay Area.”
    “Did you get into any of them?”
    “No.” This was the painful part. “I got into Fullerton and Fresno State but couldn’t get enough scholarship money to pay for it all.”
    “Not even grant money? Student loans?”
    “I was a dependent on my parents’ tax returns. They made too much money for me to qualify for much of anything, and they really couldn’t afford to pay for my tuition. So I went to the local community college and got my associate’s degree.” Lame. It embarrassed her that she didn’t graduate college. Harper had. Delilah hadn’t, but she owned her own business. Wren may have invested in Delilah’s studio, but she wasn’t a full partner yet.
    She wasn’t much of anything yet, and that stung. More than she cared to admit, especially to herself.
    “What about you? Were your parents really disappointed you couldn’t get in?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.
    “They knew deep down I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t cut out for school. Not college at least. I could hold my own and my grades were decent, but I wasn’t a brainiac like them. I preferred being outdoors, playing sports, working hard. I hated