Wet (Elemental 1) Read Free Page B

his gaze settled on
Brooke.
    With a shrug, she replied, “Maybe because you don’t come in
often enough? If it’s any consolation, I’ve only seen those two once before
today.”
    Jumping into the conversation, Dean said, “And really, the
more important question here is: how do you two know each other?”
    Raising an eyebrow at his sibling, Blake explained, “We
have a class together.”
    Nate almost looked disappointed. “That’s so … ordinary.”
    Brooke laughed softly at their exchange. “Yep, just about
as ordinary as you come. Now then, not that I don’t love your company, but I’m
afraid I need to know what to feed you.”
    She completely missed the shared smirks the brothers
exchanged before Blake obligingly ordered his lunch.
    Brooke had walked off, headed to the back to put their
order in, when Dean smirked and declared, “Please tell me you haven’t called
dibs yet.”
    The other three turned raised eyebrows to him, and Blake
slowly asked, “What?”
    “Oh, come on,” Dean said pointedly. “Don’t tell me you
haven’t noticed. She looks like she’d be fun.”
    Nate’s head hit his hands and Logan released a deep sigh,
closing his eyes and shaking his head.
    Blake narrowed his eyes on his brother and said firmly,
“No.”
    It was Dean’s turn to cock an eyebrow. “So you have called dibs?”
    “I haven’t called anything,” Blake said. “But she’s my
partner for the semester, so I’m telling you to leave her alone.”
    Attempting to lighten the mood, Nate looked back to Dean
and said, “Yeah, besides, she’s blonde. Didn’t you just say last night that you
prefer brunettes?”
    Dean grinned. “That was last night, Nate. It’s a new day.”
    “He’s got a point, Blake,” Logan declared with a mocking
smirk. When Blake silently raised an eyebrow, Logan said, “He’ll have forgotten
all about your classmate by tomorrow.”
    Dean rolled his eyes as his brothers laughed
good-naturedly.
    ****
    Brooke watched the Hawke brothers leave a short while
later, pursing her lips in thought. When they were walking side-by-side like
they were, it was easy to see both the similarities and the differences between
them. They were exactly the same height—tall, over six feet at least—and they
had the same dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.
    But while Blake’s features were a little more angular,
Logan’s were strong and broad. And Nate and Dean’s were somewhere in between—not as angular as Blake’s, but not as broad as
Logan’s. While Logan was the definition of broad-shouldered and probably a
dream come true for any football coach in America, both Blake and Nate were
more towards lean and narrow-shouldered. Like swimmers. Dean was more
broad-shouldered than the two of them, but even he wasn’t in the same league as
Logan.
    And if she’d thought Blake’s hair was slightly shaggy
(probably just in need of a haircut), then Nate’s was definitely shaggy. Blake’s
was long enough to blow in a breeze, just a little, as it danced over his
forehead and covered the tops of his ears, even teasing the line of his jacket
collar where it met his neck. Nate’s hair, however, nearly covered his ears,
and definitely overlapped his jacket collar. Dean’s hair was more like what she
imagined Blake’s would be like if he got that haircut and spiked it just a
little. And Logan’s was the shortest out of all of them—just long enough to
assure the world that it was there, and show off what color it was.
    Despite the fact that they were all sexy, Brooke found
herself focusing mostly on Blake. Comparing his own brothers to him.
    They didn’t stack up.
    When the brothers reached the doorway, Blake held it open
until the others had slipped through, and then he turned, meeting her gaze one
last time and smiling.
    Brooke’s face heated instantly, and she lifted one hand in
an awkward wave as he stepped through the door. She couldn’t believe he’d
caught her staring.
    ****
    “Brooke!”