Read So Damn Beautiful (A New Adult Romance) for Free Online

capable of creating.
    For me, it seemed a lot nobler a job than,
say, local politics.
    “What’s your major, Harrison?”
    “Political science,” he replied. I
cringed.
    “Is that a passion of yours? Politics?”
    “No, not really, but that’s what my dad
majored in. He’s kind of my role model.” At that, Harrison laughed,
almost a bit uncomfortably. “I know that’s cheesy, but I feel like
everything I know to be true comes from my dad. So I guess I always
thought I’d follow in his footsteps, you know?”
    Kendra tried to sound casual when she said,
“And what are those footsteps, Harrison?” I guess in between
classes, a pedicure, and Zumba classes, Kendra hadn’t had much time
to snoop into Harrison’s background.
    “Tobacco farming, actually.”
    I was taken aback. “But I thought you were a
New Yorker. That doesn’t seem very . . . New York.”
    “Actually, my mom’s side of the family is
from New York, but my dad’s from Illinois, and the business has
been around for four generations,” Harrison explained. “Go
figure—nobody in our family actually smokes, but I guess irony goes
hand in hand with our line of work.”
    High-pitched girls’ laughter echoed across
the cavernous hall. I looked around. The room had begun to fill up,
and people were now pouring into other pockets of the massive frat
house. At that point, Kendra made it a point to dig into her clutch
for her iPhone. As she glanced at the screen, she said a little too
loudly, “Oh my, excuse me, guys. I really need to take this.” As
she leaned over to faux-kiss my cheek, she whisper-hissed in my
ear, “Tobacco? Ew! He’s all yours. Go get him, tiger!” Then she
sauntered off to some other part of the house. I could already hear
her greeting another group in a distant corner of the foyer as I
was left alone with Harrison.
    I suddenly felt a little sheepish.
Popularity, good looks, and money had never made a terribly big
impression on me—my mom had always taught me to value humility and
hard work, and, as corny as it sounded, I was definitely my
mother’s daughter—but even I had to admit that my palms were
beginning to sweat a little in Harrison Waters’s presence. The fact
that he hadn’t excused himself when Kendra left definitely meant
she knew I was in good hands. Kendra was like a romance psychic
that way.
    It was flattering to think that Harrison at
least considered me cute. I’d had only one fairly serious boyfriend
in the past—Peter Hawkins, whom I’d known since elementary school.
He’d been nice enough, and I guess at one point I’d even believed I
was honest-to-goodness in love with him. He was tall, cute, and
gentlemanly and had an unmistakable talent for basketball . . . and
flirting with other girls. I’d broken up with him toward the end of
our senior year of high school, after I’d caught him sexting
Brittany Logan, one of the girls on the cheerleading squad. At
first I’d been heartbroken; after years of writing our names
together in bubbly cursive on the backs of notebooks, how could I
not have been? And while Peter had tried to explain it away—even
resorting to blaming me for being cold, distant, and overly
occupied with studying for the SATs and touring colleges on
weekends—I knew on some deep level it just wasn’t meant to be.
Peter was smart and likable, but he didn’t think about his future
the way I did about mine.
    “When we’re old and jaded, we’ll regret not
having made out till our faces hurt . . . ’cause, like, this is the
best it’s gonna be, Annie. These are the best days of our lives!”
he’d lectured me one night, when I’d been more interested in
talking about the top five artists and writers who’d influenced us
than in taking advantage of the fact that my mom was working the
night shift and we had my house all to ourselves. When I looked
back on it, I knew that had been the proverbial straw that broke
the camel’s back. Peter was cute and a reasonably good