Currently Un-Named
an excerpt

Her breath coming in loud gasps, Rachel turned and cut across the lawn in front of the library. She was late for class again. This was the fifth time this quarter and with her new job at the coffee shop in the evenings, she was starting to fall behind.

Her toe caught the edge of the sidewalk and she tripped, spilling the contents of her backpack on the ground. Ignoring the throbbing in her ankle and the small droplets of blood forming on her palm, she bent down to gather the various paraphernalia that made up her busy life and quickly began shoving it into her bag.

“You dropped this,” a smooth, male voice broke her concentration. Rachel looked up and after pushing her long blonde hair out of the way, she laid eyes on one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.

He was wearing worn, black running shoes, the right one tied haphazardly with a knot to fix a broken shoelace. Faded, black jeans, a long-worn hole in one knee hugged his masculine form. The knee that peeked through the stringy, frayed fabric looked as if it had seen many hours of sun and Rachel could see a hint of the muscled thigh above it.

“Here, let me help you up.” A large, strong hand reached out to hers. She grabbed it and was surprised to see that her own long fingers looked small in contrast. The man pulled her up swiftly. Rachel landed squarely against his chest, her nose only a couple of inches from his. She stumbled backward and the man put his equally tanned arm around her waist to steady her.

“Thanks,” she said with a sigh.

“You’re certainly more than welcome. I am quite fond of helping pretty ladies in distress,” the man said in a voice as smooth as coffee with extra cream.

Rachel looked into his face, mesmerized by the mahogany shade of his eyes. The long, silky lashes framing his eyes lightly brushed his cheeks when he blinked. His eyes crinkled a little when he smiled and Rachel noticed that his smile consisted of perfectly straight, white teeth framed by a pair of impossibly plump lips. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek and realized that she was standing up against him, his arm still snugly holding her waist.

“Oh! Excuse me,” she said, pushing his arm away and reaching for her bag. She stuffed a gray sweatshirt back inside and pulled at the zipper. “I’m late for class!” She picked up her biology textbook and brushed off the bits of grass that stuck to the front. Rachel turned and began walking toward her class.

“Wait! What’s your name? Do you want to go for coffee or something?”

“I’m Rachel,” she replied. “I’m meeting some friends at the Dixon Street Pub later. Stop by, we’ll be there around eight.”

“See you at eight then, Rachel. I’m looking forward to it.”