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Closing the door behind her, Liv Moore leaned back against it with a blissful sigh. If she shut her eyes, she could still see his face, his mouth, his eyes. She was smiling an absolutely besotted smile, she was sure, and she didn't care in the least.

"So much for 'I'll be right back.' And where's my milkshake?"

Liv opened her eyes to see her roommate Peyton frowning at her. Books were strewn across Peyton's bed, piles of papers and pens and highlighters, proving that one of them, at least, had spent her night studying the way she ought to.

She flushed guiltily. "Sorry. I completely forgot what I went out for."

"I can see that." Peyton narrowed her eyes and looked Liv over. "Let me guess, you met a guy."

"A guy? I met a god. Words fail me, Peyton. He's so beautiful."

"Oh, no." Peyton groaned. "Not one of those skinny pretty-boys who hang out in the rec center. Let me guess, he has a guitar and sings soulful, meaningful folk songs."

"Au contraire. He's muscular, not skinny, and instead of a guitar he has a football."

"You, and a football player? Come on."

Liv grinned. It was a bit of an odd combo, she had to admit. "You'll just have to meet him."

"Will I? Is there a plan, a date, a schedule? Don't let me keep you from entering him in the binder," Peyton teased affectionately.

"Caught." Liv had just been planning to find a way to put this guy in her binder of the future. But … for some reason she didn't want to. Not yet. She was afraid if she did, he might disappear. "I can't really describe what it was like. You know how it is when you're with someone you've known all your life, who can follow all your references and toss them right back at you?"

"You mean, like your brother?"

"No. Not at all like my brother. I like Evan, but he's a little young for the repartee. Besides, this guy did not make me feel sisterly in the least."

"This paragon have a name?"

Liv hesitated, knowing what the reaction would be. "His name is Major. Major Lilywhite."

As expected, Peyton hooted with laughter, knocking a textbook off her bed in the process. "Come on. Where were you really? And to think I almost fell for this 'I met a god' thing."

"No, I did, cross my heart!"

Before Liv could say anything else, a shower of pebbles spattered against the side of the building.

"It's those girls on the fifth floor. They've always got guys coming by trying to climb into the windows." Peyton knelt on the window seat, looking out. "Huh. Their taste has really improved. This guy's quite the step up."

"He'd have to be." Liv knelt next to her, and when she recognized the smiling face turned up toward her window, her breath caught in her throat. She reached immediately for the window sash, pulling it up so she could stick her head out. "Hey, you. Long time no see."

"You forgot your milkshakes."

She laughed. "I did. Glad someone remembered." Next to her, she was aware of Peyton pulling back to where she couldn't be seen from the window. "Hang on," she said to Major.

"To what?"

"Whatever's handy." Turning from the window, she whispered to Peyton, "What's up?"

"You said he was a god, not that he was Adonis himself. That's the guy?"

"That's the guy." Liv felt a glow of pride. Probably too soon, but he had come to her, so maybe it was justified.

"You go, girl." Peyton crossed the room and sat down among the books and papers on her bed. "This time, will one of you please remember to bring me my milkshake?"

"I'll try."

"Right. I bet you will." Rolling her eyes, but with a fond smile, Peyton picked up a highlighter and was soon lost in the pages of her statistics textbook.

Liv poked her head back out the window. "Sorry. Roommate emergency."

"Did she spontaneously become an alien? I've lost more roommates that way."

"Sadly, yes. But she's one of the cute fuzzy aliens, not the slimy ones, so I think I'll keep her."

From behind her, she heard Peyton mutter, "Lucky me. Also, get a room."

"You're in my room," she said over her shoulder. Then, to Major, "Shall I come down?"

"I'd probably break your rosebushes if I came up."

"Good point. Wait there, I'll get my sweater." Pausing in the act of shutting the window, Liv pushed it up again. "Don't go anywhere. Don't get abducted by aliens."

"It would be hard to say no. You'd better hurry."

"Like my feet have wings," she assured him. That goofy smile was back on her face, but … he was here for her, less than an hour after they'd said good-bye. A goofy smile seemed more than called for under the circumstances.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Peyton called after her just before Liv closed the door.

Outside, Major had been buttonholed by Ashley Carstairs, a spoiled brat who lived on the floor above Liv's, and who had a reputation for trying to steal other girls' boyfriends. Liv had to admit that she was beautiful, and knew just what a guy liked to hear, and her heart thudded into her shoes when she saw Ashley reach out and playfully squeeze the bicep Major was obediently flexing for her.

But her heart lifted again, flying so far above her head she hoped it had strings to keep it attached, when Major lost interest in Ashley the moment Liv appeared, his beautiful smile flashing in her direction.

"Olivia, tell Major you're too busy studying to go out tonight. This girl, nothing but studying." Ashley shook her head in mock sadness. "She'll go far, I'm sure." Alone, was the implication.

"I like it when a person's serious about their future," he said to Liv, for all the world as if Ashley wasn't there. "Medicine, right?"

"Right. Surgery, I hope." If he could ignore Ashley, so could she.

He reached out a hand for Liv's. "Let's go. I hear the milkshakes calling."

"They're talented, to do that without mouths." Liv only just barely resisted the urge to turn her head and stick out her tongue at Ashley, but looking at Major was a far more pleasant view than the other girl's sour face, anyway.

"Surgery, huh? That's a lot of work."

"I know. I'm a bit of a workaholic," Liv confessed.

"Me, too."

"I can see that." She cast an admiring glance at his physique.

He grinned. "Oh, this old thing? I just threw it on. No, I meant classes. I want to be a social worker."

Brawn and brains? She must be dreaming. That's it, she'd fallen asleep while studying and was drooling into her anatomy textbook right now. "No pro football for you?"

Major made a face and shook his head. "I'm good, but not that good." He glanced at her, almost shyly, and said, "You should come to the game on Friday."

Liv had been to one or two football games, collegiate rite of passage and all that, and found them cold and loud and hard to follow. "I wouldn't miss it."

"You hate football," Major said, reading her mind.

"Well … let's say I don't understand football."

"We can fix that."

Up till today, Liv had never considered a lack of knowledge of football a drawback … but for this guy? She'd learn. Oh, how she'd learn. "I look forward to it."

They took a long walk, sometimes chattering away like they'd known each other all their lives, sometimes just walking in silence, occasionally glancing in each other's direction and smiling. It was the most comfortable Liv had ever been with a guy. Something inside her recognized something inside him, and it seemed the same for him, as if they had always been meant to be together and had only been waiting for the right moment to meet. Liv wasn't sure if this was the right moment, really—she was deep in classes, trying to keep up her grades so she'd have her pick of med schools, and hardly had time to be swept away by … well, she wouldn't use the big word, not today, but it was there, hovering on the back of her tongue. On the other hand, anytime would have to be the right time to meet a guy like this. The more they talked, the better she liked him.

They got milkshakes, remembering the one for Peyton this time, and he walked her back to the sorority house.

At the door, they both hesitated. Liv wanted to kiss him, more than she had ever wanted to kiss anyone before.

"You should probably go in before that melts. I don't want your roommate to start off mad at me."

"Peyton's bark is worse than her bite," Liv assured him, lifting her face hopefully.

Major stepped in, their faces very close. "I'm not going to kiss you tonight."

"Don't make any hasty decisions."

He laughed. "I'm not. I'm looking for the future, playing the long game. I think you are, too."

Liv nodded. That was her all over, looking for the future. And she agreed, anyway—it would almost be too much to add a kiss to a day that had already been magical. "True enough."

"Then … we have time. Lots of it. For hours of kissing, and everything that comes after it."

The way his voice dropped, Liv could feel it all through her body, her mind's eye filling in the details of he was suggesting.

"Definitely," she said breathlessly.

"Good." Major smiled at her. "Good-night, Liv."

"Good-night."

She carried the rapidly melting milkshake upstairs to the room.

"Uh-oh." Peyton took the milkshake and a long pull from the straw. "Have you named the children yet?"

"Don't be silly. We'll have to wait to see their faces."

"So, this is a thing, then?"

Liv nodded. "Big thing."

"How's he kiss?"

"Don't know. He hasn't kissed me yet."

Peyton's eyebrows flew up. "Really?"

"We wanted to wait, so it wouldn't have to be rushed. Peyton?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to marry him."

"That's fast."

Liv shrugged. "When it's right, you know."

Peyton smiled at her affectionately. "You let me know when you need me to try on hideous bridesmaid dresses."

"You'll be the first," Liv promised. Peyton went back to her textbooks, and Liv dug hers out as well, settling down to try to study—and failing utterly, as visions of the future kept intruding themselves on the page.