Page 54 of Unforgettable Player

Before I can bask in that compliment, or drag him under the sheets for a repeat, Elliot slips out of bed and starts putting a pair of shorts on.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m putting my clothes on.”

I lean up on my elbow. “I can see that, but why?”

“So I can take a shower and get ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“The library.”

I flop back onto the bed with a groan of complaint. “The library? Seriously, Eli? Do you have to study right now? I don’t have to be at the rink for like an hour.”

When I turn my head to look at him, he’s grinning.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just sound exactly like Scout right now.” The smile slips from his face.

“Hey,” I say, sitting up. “Don’t feel guilty.”

He chews his bottom lip.

“Seriously. I’ll take the blame. This was all me.”

“It takes two to tango, Connor.”

I can’t help but smile at the stupid saying. What is he, eighty? “Sounds like something my grandma would say.”

He snorts, but he’s still looking guilty.

“Scout doesn’t have to find out, okay?”

Elliot takes a seat on the edge of the bed. The skin on his back looks so smooth I want to touch it.

“Not telling her doesn’t make it right,” he mumbles.

“No. But what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her.”

“Urgh, gross. Sounds like we’re having an affair.”

I can’t help it any longer, I reach out and stroke his back. He stiffens before relaxing into my touch.

“How would you word it?”

He turns to look at me. “How would I word lying to my best friend and your sister?”

“Um, yeah.”

He swallows. I track the way his throat moves, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and forget what we were talking about.

“I like you, Eli. I like you a lot, and last night was….” I sigh, trailing off. I run my hand through my hair, searching for the words. Before I can find them, he gets there first.

“Let’s just keep things casual,” he says. Why does my stomach drop when he says that?

“Casual?”