Touch of Love by E. L. Todd Read Free Book Online

1

    Scarlet
    I can’t tell you how happy I am to be
here. No, really. It was everything I imagined and hoped it would
be. I hadn’t been to the campus once, but I knew I wanted to be at
that university nonetheless. I didn’t need to see the brick walls
of the historic buildings or the elegantly designed campus that
conveyed decades of legacy and achievement. Anything was better
than where I was before.
    I was a freshman at
Harvard, and I still couldn’t believe I was there. I knew I was
smart, but I didn’t think I was that smart. I asked my brother to
read the acceptance letter just to make sure.
    “Scar, it says you got in.”
    “Are you sure?”
    He rolled his eyes. “Maybe we should
reconsider this Harvard thing. You’re pretty dumb.”
    “Ryan?” My voice contained my serious
tone. My heart was racing in my chest. My brother wouldn’t lie to
me. I needed to hear him say it. If he did, it would make it
real.
    He handed the letter back. “You got
in.”
    I almost fainted.
    He helped me move into my dorm room,
carrying everything I owned—which wasn’t a lot. It was a tearful
goodbye. I hated being on the other side of country, away from the
only family I had left.
    “I love you so much,” I said as I
hugged him.
    “I love you too, Scar.” He returned my
embrace and held me tight. My brother was my best friend—everything
to me. I knew he felt the same way.
    “I don’t know if I belong here,” I
whispered.
    He pulled away. “Look at
me.”
    I wiped my tears away and stared him
in the eye.
    “You’re right. You don’t belong here.
You’re meant to be
here. You’ll do great. I know you will.”
    “Are you sure? You’re always telling
me how stupid I am.”
    “Because you are.”
    “Now you’re just confusing
me.”
    He kissed me on the forehead. “Just do
it. I have my faith in you. You were accepted to this university
because they believe you will succeed. You wouldn’t be here, beat
out thousands of applicants, if you weren’t capable of
it.”
    “Okay,” I said with a nod, feeling
more assured.
    He walked toward the door.
“You can call me for anything— anything .”
    “I know.”
    “I’ll see you for
Thanksgiving?”
    “Yeah, of course.”
    “Now get settled.”
    The door opened and Theresa walked in.
She stopped and looked my brother up and down. “Hello,
handsome.”
    His cheeks blushed. “Hey. I’m
Scarlet’s brother.”
    “And it’s nice to meet
you.”
    He nodded. “You too. Be nice to my
little sister. She’s really annoying and bratty, but when you look
past all that, she’s really not that bad.”
    “Thanks,” I said
sarcastically.
    “I had to warn her,” he said with a
smile. “See you later.”
    “Bye,” Theresa said with a wave of her
hand.
    Ryan left and shut the
door.
    “So, what’s his story?” Theresa asked
immediately, twirling her hair and batting her
eyelashes.
    “He lives in Seattle,” I said
quickly.
    “Oh. So no story?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Oh well.” She walked to the mirror
and fixed her hair and makeup. She was already beautiful so I
didn’t know what she needed to check. I guess knowing you were
beautiful all the time was a confidence booster. She just liked to
look at herself. “You ready for school tomorrow?”
    “Absolutely not.”
    “Why are you nervous?”
    “I’m always nervous.”
    I looked at myself in the mirror and
compared myself to Theresa. We were the same size, but my breasts
were bigger than hers. I was always a little self-conscious of
their size. I tried to make them looker smaller whenever possible.
They weren’t huge, but they were noticeable. I had more curves than
her, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.
    “Let’s go down to the hall,” she
said.
    “Sure.”
    “We’ll meet some other English
majors.”
    “I could use some friends.” Theresa
and I just met, but she and I got along pretty well. She was very
blunt and direct, saying exactly what she wanted and when she
wanted it. She was