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Liam.
Shit!
He stiffened under me, and I felt his swallow against my shoulder.
The doorknob rattled for a second that speared into my heart and yanked my stomach under me.
Please, don’t.
“Wait, wasn’t it at the—”
“Café!” both voices exclaimed at the same time.
Chuckles brushed the locked door, and the doorknob moved no more. A moment later, heavy footsteps trailed away, allowing our lungs to draw breath again.
When silence cocooned us once more, he tipped his head up a fraction, and so did I, until our gazes met. A startled huff pooled out of me, mingling with his, before blooming into full-fledged laughs.
“That was… too close for comfort.” His hands squeezed my waist before he leaned back a touch, still panting from laughter.
“No more classrooms,” I said with a headshake and a stupid grin.
“Oh?” he hummed in that same patronising tone, though his voice was a little hoarse. “I thought we were done?”
His mouth curled into the smirk that turned my blood molten.
I scrunched up my nose at him, before muttering a “shut up” against his lips and smothering whatever cocky conclusion had been on the tip of his tongue.
Chapter thirty-five
Josh
The walls of my room pressed in, smothering me.
Donald had called—a much less pleasant one than last time—to tell me in no uncertain terms I’d better set up another date, or else.
To which I’d replied—in a calm tone that made me proud—I would do no such thing and that if he had any sense, he’d keep the incident with my “classmate” to himself.
I cut the call on a hint that I wasn’t above ruining his precious little daughter until nobody in our circle would go near her.
Only time would tell if the threat had been effective.
I should’ve been more worried, but as my feet led me to the dining hall for the Valentine’s party, all I could think about was the line we’d crossed and how the hell I was going to get the sound of her breaking out of my head.
The fact I’d come in my pants like a virgin was bad enough—something no soul would ever find out—but my mind replayed the way she’d trembled in my arms over and over at the most inappropriate of times: in queue at the florist’s, at dinner, where I’d been trying to keep a poker face on as Pri as good as interrogated me, eyes narrowed, brows tight, as if she finally suspected me.
She’ll know soon enough.
Pink, red, and white roses were everywhere as I cut through the crowd, candlelight glinting off my charcoal pinstripe suit, black shirt open at the collar, just to tempt Mia a little. My smirk was on, hiding the nerves buzzing under my skin, ones only she could kick up.
The dining hall looked like those two fat Cupids had had an orgy—nauseatingly pink cake, heart-shaped balloons, garlands of sparkling hearts hanging from the ceiling.
I smothered a laugh as I made my way to Pri, who was giggling by the sweets table, clutching the arm of an idiot I knew too well.
Before I reached them, my thoughts skidded like tires on asphalt—Mia was dancing with some forgettable type, a Jake or a Paul.
My jaw tightened, my legs burned, and maybe it would’ve been a night for caution, except I couldn’t let her go, not in that red dress, with her hair pulled to the side and her nape exposed for all the world to see, pale skin I longed to mar with my mouth.
My molars ached and my blood pounded a rapid metronome in my ears, swallowing whatever slow, romantic song had been playing. My vision tunnelled on them as I approached, snagging on hands on her waist that weren’t my own.
