I turned to see a pretty brunette catching up to me with a sly grin, and the cameras still following me. Shit. What the hell was her name? Sandy? Sarah? It came to me with the memory of having her in my cabin one of the first nights on board.
“Hey, Sabrina, how’s it going?” I asked, more than aware that we were being filmed. Shit, I was going to have to talk to Bobby about the image he wanted me to play.
She looped her arm through mine, and I felt an odd twinge of unease. She wasn’t doing anything she hadn’t done before, but now it felt wrong. “I was wondering if you were going out tonight? I haven’t seen you at the club in forever.”
Because I hadn’t been there. Since Rachel had come on board, I hadn’t gone in search of a woman, which meant I hadn’t gone to the club, much to the chagrin of Bobby, who was dying for more footage.
“Yeah, it’s been a while. I spent break in Nepal. How about you?” I asked as we approached the door to Civ, which was propped open. Just a few more feet and I could slam the door in the camera crew’s face.
“I did the Mumbai excursion,” she answered. “So I was wondering if you’d be at the club tonight.”
“Actually, I will.” Mostly for work stuff. I’d promised Bobby a couple shots. I’d give him what he wanted one last time, but we were going to have to come to a new agreement.
“Then I’ll see you later,” she said with a bright smile, then headed down the hall to her next class.
“My God. Do you even realize the effect you had on that poor girl?” Rachel asked, leaning against the wall near the door to our class.
“Well, good afternoon. What are you doing out here?” I asked as she pushed off the wall. She had part of her hair pulled up today, but there were strands that framed her face, drawing all of my attention to those warm brown eyes that were currently narrowed at me.
“I was waiting for you, but I see you were otherwise occupied.”
Wait. Had I been flirting and not even realized it? Huh. If I didn’t know better I’d think she was…
“Jealous?” I asked as I followed her into class.
“Hardly,” she shot over her shoulder as she sought her seat.
Oh, this was too good. I couldn’t remember the last time Rachel had been worked into a tizzy over me.
I slid into the one next to hers and turned my baseball hat backward. “Really? Not even a little?” My tone was joking, but damn if I wasn’t curious. I was jealous of anyone who had the right to breathe in her general direction.
She shook her head as she opened her book. “Not one bit. Jealousy implies that I’d have a reason to be.”
She trusts me!
“And since I have no claim on you, or vice versa, and we’re not together, then there’s really no reason for me to give a hot damn who’s snuggled up on you. Right?” She gave me a smile that I couldn’t read.
Well. Shit. That backfired.
“So you—”
“Welcome back from fall break. I hope you all had fantastic trips and chose to spend your time to its best advantage,” Dr. Messina said, cutting me off as she took the podium. “Anyone want to tell me how you spent your break? Diving into Indian culture? Hopping a flight to the Maldives? What about you, Mr. Rhodes?”
I gave her a smile. “Took a little trip to the Taj Mahal with Miss Dawson, and then hit up Nepal, where I climbed to twenty-one thousand feet and had my ass handed to me by an avalanche.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Well. Not quite what I was expecting.”
“I can say exactly the same. What about you, Dr. Messina?”
She smiled with a look of appreciation. I’d learned early that women didn’t just like to be heard, they needed to know you were listening. “Well, I was actually ship’s faculty during this break, so I mostly saw the port. Thank you for asking.”
As she launched into our lecture today, this time focusing on the seven indigenous Indonesian tribes, I took careful notes, knowing we’d have a paper assigned after our shore excursion next week.
“I’ve arranged for us to visit an isolated tribe, so make sure that your schedules are clear for the second day in port. This will count as class credit and you are expected to attend. This is quite an honor,” Dr. Messina told us. “Also, don’t forget that your outlines for your term research papers are due to me by the Sydney port, which is only ten days away. If your outline is approved, then you can begin your rough drafts. If not, it’s back to the drawing board.”
“How is yours coming?” I whispered at Rachel.
She shrugged. “I’ll let you know if I can open that line of communication with my mother without her sobbing hysterically that she’s not enough for me.”
I cringed, remembering just how protective her mom was. “She loves you.”
“She does,” she agreed.
“That’s all I have for you today. Make sure you’re caught up on your reading, and I posted an interesting article on eCampus that I’d like you to read before class on Wednesday. You’re dismissed.”
Rachel gathered her books, and I did the same, getting to the door before she did and waiting for her.
“Does it ever feel like we have two lives?” I asked as we walked down the hall. Thank God there were no cameras.
“What do you mean?”
“Like in one life we’re college students, going to class, doing our homework, writing papers, and the other is out there on a limb somewhere snowboarding the Himalayas?”
She glanced up at me briefly. “Yeah. I get that. At least for you. It’s like you’re two different people.”
I hit the elevator button, and we waited with a group of students. “Like student Landon and extreme Landon?” I asked, side nudging her.
She kept her eyes on the elevator doors. “Like Landon and Nova,” she said quietly.
“Nova!” another girl called my name from the left.
“Hey, Mandy,” I answered with a wave and polite smile to my physics partner.
“Did you want to work on that project later?” she asked with a smile that said studying wasn’t all she had in mind.
The elevator dinged, and Rachel got on, shooting me a look that said she’d heard Mandy’s implication, too.
“You know, I have plans later, but maybe tomorrow?” I told the redhead as the crowd passed me to pile into the elevator.
She twirled her hair as her gaze darted between me and Rachel. “Right, but it’s due in two days and we’re barely drafted. Not sure about you, but I can’t afford a bad grade on this.”
Neither could I if I wanted to find some sliver of time to get back to Nepal.
I sighed and looked into the elevator where Rachel stood, a single eyebrow arched.
“Rachel…”
“See you later, Nova.”
Alarms blared in my head. Fuck. She called me Nova.
The door closed.
Never thought I’d wish to be back in that Himalayan blizzard, but she’d been warmer at eighteen thousand feet than she was at sea level.