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“You don’t want to be seen with me? Maybe a little bit of competition will light a fire under Carter’s arse.” My hand fell to her waist, and I leant closer to her. She leant closer to me, too.
“Firstly, any guy who only wants me when there’s competition isn’t worth my time. Secondly, I don’t care if we’re seen together. I assumed you did.”
There was a lot to unpack there, and I wasn’t brave enough to touch the majority of it. So, I did what I always do, and acted like an arse.
“And, what if I only want you because there’s competition?” I asked.
Her snort suggested she didn’t believe me for a second. “You, jealous of Mason? No, I don’t think so.”
Except… “And, if I was?”
She looked me over, but I didn’t know what she was thinking. “Last term or this term?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course, it does. Last term, your motivation is highly suspect. This term, you being jealous would actually be kind of cute.”
Cute was not a word I enjoyed being associated with. That being said, I couldn’t rightly say I hated her thinking it of me. I also couldn’t say whether my jealousy had started last term or this term. I was pretty sure I knew, but I wouldn’t say.
“Cute?”
She nodded, her face a gorgeous mix of sass and sweet. “Like you and Maddy.”
That, I couldn’t take, though not for the reasons I would have expected.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. She leant into my shoulder to try to hide a laugh, but it was a piss poor effort.
“If you bite me again, Barlow, I may try to persuade you to ditch next lesson.”
She looked up at me and there was no denying the warm smile in her eyes. “Well, we couldn’t have that.” She pressed a quick kiss to my lips before sliding out of my arms. “I have to go. I’ll see you later.”
“So, I can see you around?”
“Lombardi, you can do whatever you want,” she laughed as she walked away from me.
That was a fucking dangerous thing to say to me. It gave a fella all kinds of courage and cheek. “Kiss you on the oval?”
She grinned widely. “If you wanted to ruin your reputation, yes. But, somehow, I don’t think you will.”
Didn’t she now? I was very close to planning to prove her wrong. I knew I wouldn’t, but I felt like it. “Oh, you think you know me so well, Barlow? How’s that?”
“Takes one to know one, Lombardi.”
“That it does,” I agreed.
She spared me one more smile, then ducked out of the library.
I followed fast enough that there was the least chance of me being spotted in the library, but not so fast that I was tempted to keep following her into a classroom.
She had my head and my heart in fucking knots. I wanted to kiss her on the oval and tell anyone who had an opinion about it to fuck off. I wanted to wrap my arms around her wherever and whenever the fuck I wanted, without feeling – like a knife to the gut – the truth that it would all end in ruin.
So, normal it was.
Whatever the fuck that meant.
