“We’re getting to know each other, right? Anyway, it wasn’t a big dramatic scene or anything. My mom and I were close enough that she kind of assumed without me ever having to make a thing of it. As far as school went—I joined the cheerleading squad.”
The image of Fen with pom-poms in a tiny pleated skirt flashes through my head, even though I know male cheerleaders have different uniforms.
“That’s—” I clear my throat. “Wow, okay.”
“I was the only boy on the team, but those girls fucking loved me, and with that kind of high school royalty at my back, no one dared start shit. I got to shake my ass in public and ride the bus to all the games with hunky jocks, so it was a win-win all around.”
Hunky jocks?Is that what he’s into?
“I played basketball in high school,” I blurt. “And ran track. But I was never good enough at either to be called a jock.” The last comes out ona sigh, and he bursts out laughing, his head rolling back to reawaken my delusional dick.
“Stop that.” But a rueful smile tugs at my lips.
“You were really cutting into your hot-nerd cred for a second there,” he teases.
He thinks I’m hot?
We grin at each other like idiots—or like one idiot and one incredibly sexy man-child—until a roll of thunder snaps us out of our mutual admiration. A gust of wind lifts my hair, cool along the sheen of sweat on my neck, and Sadie claps her hands.
“The storm’s almost here,” she says, peering out across the yard. “You two willing to get a little wet?”
Fen betrays me by sitting up to follow her gaze, and I hike a knee up to hide my arousal, using their distraction to adjust myself as subtly as possible.
“Wet T-shirt contest?” The challenge is tossed over his shoulder with a knowing smirk.
“White pants,” I counter, cocking a brow and jerking my chin toward his attire.
“Even better.” He leans in and puts his mouth to my ear. “I know you’re dying to see what’s under them.”
Sparks race along my skin, and I turn my head to whisper a confession into the heated space between our lips. “I want to kiss you.”
His breath hitches, and my heart soars, before he shakes his head and backs away.
“Save it for the rain,” he says. “Hasn’t Hollywood taught you anything?”
CHAPTER 04: FEN
Despite the sky’s ominous rumblings, the darkening clouds don’t immediately dump their load, and Sadie has Ollie and me lie down on the lawn, head-to-head, to snap a few shots during the reprieve. The grass prickles my bare arms and midriff, its scent vibrant under my cheek as I stare into Ollie’s cobalt eyes and replay his words in my head.
“I want to kiss you.”
It’s not that I have anything against kissing—not really—it’s that I’m more of a face-down-on-the-mattress-with-my-ass-in-the-air kind of guy. Or my mouth is busy doing other things. Even when I’m rocking my epic cowgirl, it’s less about eye contact and more about showing off. Kissing is extraneous. Kissing is…intimate.
And thewayhe said it—like it was the sum total of his wildest wet dream. Like kissing me would be enough. What would it be like to be kissed like that? Not as a rushed precursor to a rough fuck, but as an end in and of itself?
If it ever starts raining, I might find out, and I am way too fucking giddy about it.
What are the rules of this game we’re playing? Is it even a game at all?I’m used to guys wanting to peel me out of my clothes—and there’s some of that from Ollie—but there’s also something inexplicably likeawein the way he devours me with his gaze.
And the things that come out of his stupid, perfect mouth, all earnest and interested and unguarded. Like he wants to knowme, and not just what I look like naked.
Danger, Robert Pattinson, or however the saying goes.
While I reevaluate my entire emotional ethos, Ollie tells me about his studies. He’s double majoring in anthropology and art history and plans to apply to the master’s program next year. He wants to do his thesis on Akkadian cylinder seals, whatever those are, confirming that he’s basically a genius and way, way out of my league.
But even as his voice grows animated and his hands paint lofty patterns against the sky, his eyes keep drifting to my mouth.
“So, you’re planning a lucrative future in academia?” I tease when he winds down.
