Breathe Into Me by Amanda Stone Read Free Book Online Page A

I would have never pegged you as a business major … actually now that I’m thinking about it—I don’t know what I really pegged you as.” I finished with a laugh and prayed I didn’t offend him in some way. I mean, just from his outwardly appearance, you wouldn’t even really expect him to go to college—let alone already know what he is majoring in and what he plans to do with that major. I know it was just my first day of actual classes, but the fact that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in was driving me crazy. All my life my one goal was just to make it to college. There wasn’t much thought beyond that point. I just knew I needed to get here and now that I was here I wasn’t sure what was next.
    Although, child services had always been in the back of my mind. Not living in the best environment growing up may have played a big part in that. I wanted children that were growing up in an environment like I had, to get help sooner. Memories of my past came rushing back and chilled me to the bone. No one should ever go through what I did. If I could keep just one child’s life from becoming what mine had been, that would give me a sense of accomplishment. The horrors of my past were not something I liked to focus on these days though. No matter how hard I wished for it, what had been done could not be undone.
    “So who is your professor?” Kane asked, pulling me from my painful trip down memory lane.
    “Um, Hanson. I hear she’s a real hard ass. I’m actually a little nervous, to be honest.” We had finally made it to the door of the class and I took a quick peek inside to see if the notorious teacher was inside. I didn’t see her, but I did see a few people already taking their seats.
    “Ah, she’s not all that hard. I’ll let you in on a little secret, but you are sworn to secrecy”—He leaned in so close to my ear that his hot breath tickled the small hairs on the side of my neck—“it’s all an act.”
    He pulled back and my eyes flew open—funny how I never even noticed they had closed in the first place. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door facing the class. “She likes to be all tough and give hard lectures the first few days making people think they are in for one hell of a hard class. Then she lets up after all the ones panic and drop her class because they think it’ll be too rough. Her class was actually one of my favorites.”
    Well, at least that calmed my nerves a little bit. I had heard some horror stories about this woman and her obscene amount of work she gave out. Now that I knew it was all a ruse—all I could think was, well played madam … well played.
    Feeling better about how this class was going to go, I held my hand out for my bag that Kane was still holding. “Thanks for walking me to class, and carrying my bag.” I mean, really, what else can I say? This is moving into first date—kiss or don’t kiss on the doorstep—territory.
    Before things could get any more awkward, Kane handed over my bag and I turned to head into class. I had made it all of two steps in before I felt a light baseball-type slap right on my ass. Whipping around, I caught sight of Kane walking backwards out of the class, holding up both hands with a smile on his face so huge both dimples were clearly visible.
    “Go get ‘em tiger. Give that class hell!” He winked before turning and disappeared from the doorway.
    I could feel the biggest smile on my face as I shook my head; I might not have known him long, but he was sure growing on me. I couldn’t remember smiling this much in such a long time. There was just something about him that pulled you in and made you comfortable around him. And it was refreshing to finally meet new people and have them get to know Kelsey … not ‘that girl Kelsey with the fucked up past’.
     

 

    After deciding on a seat, I slid in and began pulling my laptop from my bag, when my ink pen fell out and rolled across the floor. I stretched as