All In (Cedar Mountain University #2) by Ann Garner Read Free Book Online Page A

could take the
question back. I wish I could ask him the dozen or so other questions that are
now forming in my head. Instead I give him just a few more seconds before I
say, “Blueberry pancakes?”
    “Stuffed French toast,” He counters, his voice marginally lighter
than it was just a second ago.
    “Well, I can’t promise to be thrilling company.”
    “I’ll suffer through.” He pulls into the mostly empty parking lot,
parking close to the door. After turning off the ignition he looks over at me.
“Somebody else is going to come along and do something more exciting, and
they’ll stop talking about you.”
    “So basically I need to start hoping somebody else’s life sucks
worse than mine?”
    With a chuckle he says, “Exactly.”
    The inside of the diner is just as empty as the parking lot, and
the overweight waitress looks bored as she shows us to a booth in the back. She
drops two menus down on the table, rolls through her spiel on the daily
specials which unfortunately doesn’t include pancakes or French toast, and then
walks away with our drink orders.
    “Here’s my problem, Jacob.” I grab the salt shaker, passing it from
one hand to the other in a show of nervous energy that I typically don’t
display. “They aren’t just talking about Grant dumping me anymore. They’re
talking about me sleeping with you. And I guarantee you by the time we leave
this diner that little scene from this morning is going to have morphed into an
all-out brawl between you and Grant.”
    Leaning back he throws his arms wide, letting them rest along the
back of the booth. “It really bothers you what people think of you, doesn’t
it?”
    “I’m weak, what can I say.”
    It obviously doesn’t bother him. Not that I had studied him in
depth last year, because hello I had Grant then, but I’d seen Jacob around
campus, read articles in the school newspaper, seen clips on ESPN and local
news channels. He hadn’t looked fazed at all. Not by the questions, the taunts,
the pissed off fans. Not any of it.
    It was like suddenly he’d never played football in his life.
    I’m not sure whether I should be impressed by his ability to shut
part of himself off like that or not. I can see where it would come in handy.
I’d love to check out for a few more weeks until all this blows over, but I
like feeling , even if it’s pain. At
least it means I’m living, even when I’m screwing it up.
    “What were his reasons?”
      Shaking my head I bring my
eyes back to his. “What?”
    “His reasons. You said he had them. What were they?”
    I slide the salt shaker back across the table next to the pepper,
and drop my hands down in my lap so he can’t see them twisting together. I can
feel the heat from his frost colored eyes as he waits patiently for me to
answer his question.
    “I wasn’t enough.” I finally mumble without looking at him.
    I barely have the words out of my mouth before he softly responds. “Bullshit.”
    My eyes shoot up to his again at that. “He told me he wanted to
explore other options. That can only mean the option he had right in front of
him wasn’t good enough.”
    “Then he’s more of a dumbass than I thought.” He says right before
the waitress returns with our drinks. I quickly take a long drink from my Diet
Coke, studying him as she stands there to take our orders. He orders me the
blueberry pancakes without asking. He’s shaking his head when she walks away.
“You don’t believe me. Why? You’re a gorgeous girl, Grace.”
    “I doubt you’re so shallow that you’d date a girl just because you
find her pretty.”
    That dimple flashes again with his smile and I grab up the salt
shaker once more to keep from reaching out and touching the small indent of
skin.
    His voice is soft, sending goose bumps dancing over my skin when he
says, “Oh, I can be shallow like everybody else.” He grins wickedly. “And I
said gorgeous. Not pretty.”
    Shit, that’s a good line. I might just melt into a