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Her hands fly up and I shake my head in disbelief at her excitement. I’ve never seen someone so giddy about school in my life. “Tell me something, Freckles. When did you realize you wanted to go to law school?”
Biting the inside of her cheek, she taps her chin. “Hmm. I can’t really pinpoint a time, but I do remember when I was in eighth grade and I did a debate in front of the class on why homework should not be abolished and that was the first time I really thought about my future.”
Uncontrollable laughter erupts from my chest “You fucking would.” My head falls back and I clutch my stomach. “I bet every student in that class wanted to kill you.”
“Hey. Don’t poke fun.” She swats my arm. “I got an A on that debate.”
“I’m sorry.” I try to control my outburst, but it’s too damn funny. She’s the most predictable girl I’ve ever met, but in the best way. “I wish I could have met eighth grade Elodie.”
“No, you don’t.” She shakes her head. “You would’ve hated me more than you do now.”
I stop laughing and get serious for a second. Grabbing her chin, I turn her face to meet mine. “I don’t hate you, Freckles.”
“Okay.” She nods carefully. “Hate’s a strong word. Let’s go with ‘loathe.’”
“I don’t loathe you either.” My thumb strokes over her lips. “Believe me, I wanted to. But no matter how hard I tried, I realized I never could.”
I watch as she swallows hard and I get lost in her inviting eyes. “Does that mean the war between us is over?”
I nod. “I don’t wanna hurt you anymore.”
“I don’t want you to hurt me, either.”
We sit there, staring at each other in an unspoken battle as I dare her to make a move, and she dares me to do the same.I wanna kiss her so fucking bad, but I don’t wanna fuck this up with her by going too fast.
What the hell am I thinking? We hit the ground running. I’ve already buried myself between her legs, touched her, kissed her, fallen for her. This girl is killing me. Since when am I such a damn pussy?
Fuck it. I’m going for it.
Just when I’m about to make my move, Elodie clears her throat and sits back, breaking our connection. “We really should go.”
“Yeah,” I quip, feeling the loss of her heat on my fingers instantly. “We should.” I push myself off the ground then reach my hand out to her. She grabs hold of me and I pull her to her feet. The tension between us is so thick it’s damn near insufferable.
“Thanks for this, Rome.” I grab the blanket and lace our fingers together again. “It means a lot that you brought me to your special spot.”
I sweep the air with my hand as we walk to my car. “Don’t mention it.”
After spending the entire ride home debating with Elodie why homework should be abolished, I’m already making notes to hire her when I need a good lawyer in the future. I’ve also promised to spend every evening the rest of this week studying with her so I can pass my history test this Friday.
Once we’re parked, with the car off and the garage door closed, I get out and she does the same.
Caged between my car and my dad’s truck, I look at her one last time before we walk in. I let the peace I found on that mountain flow between us so that hopefully she can feel just how much I mean it when I say I don’t hate her.
“Well…” She smacks her palms to her thighs. “Thanks for the ride home.”
“No problem. I’d give you a ride tomorrow, but Coach will kill me if I miss practice again.”
I’m still not sure if Luke, or any of the guys, told Coach about me punching him in the face, but I haven’t got a call, so I’m guessing he kept his mouth shut like I told him to. At some point, Luke and I will make up. This isn’t the first time we’ve fought like this. He’s stubborn and so am I. It's just the first time it was over a girl. Luke has to know this one is different. He’s my best friend. How can he not?
I look at Elodie again, noticing the way she nibbles on her bottom lip. My cock twitches in reaction because she looks so fucking sexy.
Once again, we’re stuck in that challenging gaze. And just like last time, Elodie breaks it.
“Hey, Rome. Remember how you said you fucked up after our first time together? Well, you did fuck up. But so did I.”
I tip my head to the side. “You did?”
“Yeah, I did. I let you walk out of that room when I should have just done this.” She puts a hand on my cheek and leans over, guiding my mouth to hers.
