Miles From Kara by Melissa West Read Free Book Online

for me when I needed him. Tears collected in my eyes. Fantastic. I’d driven four hours and he wasn’t even home. I started to turn away when the door swung open. Without thinking, I rushed forward, flinging my arms around his neck.
    â€œThank God you’re here.”
    â€œKara?”
    I froze as the voice—the very Australian voice—registered in my mind. It wasn’t Ethan at the door. It was Colt. And I still had my arms very much wrapped around him. I sucked in a breath and stepped away, my hands flying to my mouth.
    â€œOh! I’m sorry. I thought you were Ethan.”
    He cocked his head and crossed his arms as though my words had offended him. He was wearing loose gym shorts and a fitted white T-shirt that showed off his golden tan skin. “Are you all right?” he asked, taking a step toward me.
    I wanted to back away, but I couldn’t bring myself to take the step. I felt so raw and exposed, all the usual composure I wore like my favorite accessory now tossed aside. It was just me. Kara, the mess.
    â€œI . . . I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
    â€œHere, come inside,” he said, stepping back for me to go in before him. I glanced through the doorway.
    â€œIs Ethan here?”
    â€œNo, he went out of town for the night. Didn’t he tell you?” He hesitated and I got the impression he wanted to say more but was restraining himself. Ethan and Colt were roommates, but sometimes I wondered whether they were actually friends.
    My eyes dropped to the concrete walkway where I stood. “Right . . . I guess I forgot.” I had no idea that Ethan was going out of town, and now that I thought about it, I hadn’t talked to him in two or three days. Sure, we had texted, but that wasn’t the same thing as hearing a person’s voice. And when you were dating someone, you should want to hear that person’s voice. Right?
    Colt seemed to sense my unease, so he reached out and guided me toward the door. “Come inside.”
    I eyed his hair, how it curled on the ends, reckless and wild. I wondered how he could look so rough and scary on the outside, but at the same time be so kind on the inside. I thought of all the simple texts that had been sent between us, all the winky faces and sarcasm and LOLs in class. It felt like I barely knew him, yet every part of me ached to be near him. Like craving a warm blanket in the cold. Just thinking his name made me feel better, lighter.
    â€œI’m not sure I should,” I said, hoping he knew what I meant without giving too much of myself away.
    Colt ran a hand through his hair and released a long breath. “I can’t send you away. It’ll be fine. Stay.”
    Stay
. The word sounded like it held a hundred pounds worth of meaning that neither of us wanted to address in that moment. He wasn’t just asking me to stay. He was asking me to take a leap, one that I wasn’t prepared to take.
    But it was nearly ten o’clock. I couldn’t drive back to Charleston now, and I knew no one else at Georgia.
    The next second, a door down the hall from Colt and Ethan’s burst open and a pair of girls dressed in party wear—all skimpy dresses and heels too high to walk in—clumsily emerged, one of them fidgeting to lock their door.
    Colt eyed them and they returned a pair of flirtatious smiles. “Colt,” they purred together. “We’re going to a party down the street. Want to go?”
    I could barely understand them through the slurring.
    â€œNah, I’m good. But is someone else driving you? You shouldn’t drive.”
    My heart turned to mush at the care in his words. Most guys wouldn’t care whether a pair of drunk girls made it safely home or not, but then again, Colt was nothing like most guys.
    The girls giggled like he’d said the funniest thing in the world. A part of me fought the urge to roll my eyes, but another part was