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Now I was smiling for real. “It’s nice to meet you, Daisy. Is this seat free?” I pointed towards the space her huge backpack was currently occupying, and she nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’d be honoured, really.”
As I lowered myself into the freed-up space, a thought hit me so hard that it left me reeling. This girl was obviously into me, if the blushes and shy glances were any indication—and believe me, Iknewwhen girls were interested. I could read all the signs. As we’d already established, she was gorgeous, so there was nothing stopping me from making a move.
Except…I didn’t want to.
It wasn’t about attraction, because yes, I did find her attractive. But for once, I wasn’t interested in taking it any further. And that had nothing to do with my recent revelation that I might be interested in experimenting with men. I was still very much an equal-opportunity player.
So what was stopping me?
“Ander.”
The very person consuming my thoughts appeared in my field of vision, my name slipping from his lips on a breath, as if he hadn’t meant to say it. The way he slammed his mouth shut straight away, his posture stiffening, was also a good indication.
“Elliot.” For some reason, my mouth was dry, and fucking hell, had his eyes always been that blue? “Want to join—” Just in time, I remembered that Daisy was sitting next to me “—uh, us?”
He ran his hand through his wavy hair, his lashes lowering as his gaze flicked from me to Daisy. His hair looked so fucking soft. Maybe I should borrow his shampoo.
“Uh.” A frown pulled his brows together as he eyed Daisy. There was something in his expression that I couldn’t read. “Thanks for the offer. There’s not much room, though. I’ll see you back at the house later.”
“Oh. I could sit on you?” Daisy shot me another smile, and then her entire face flushed as she realised what she’d just said. “I’m so sorry! That was completely inappropriate. Um, your friend could sit on the arm of the chair?”
A tiny, reluctant smile tugged at Elliot’s lips, and it warmed me all over.
“Okay. I’ll sit down if you insist.” He went for the arm of the chair, but I lunged forwards and threw my arm around his waist, and suddenly, I had a lapful of my best friend.
His shocked intake of breath made me laugh as I tugged him into place, keeping my arm around him so he didn’t get any ideas about moving.
“Daisy, meet my best friend in the world, Elliot. E, meet Daisy. Her brother’s on the LSU second team, but we might end up playing together on the first team from the sound of it.”
Elliot was kind of frozen above me, so I dug my fingers into his stomach. He jumped a mile, his head swinging around to shoot me a savage glare, which only made me laugh again.
“It’s nice to meet you, Elliot,” Daisy said sweetly. “What are you guys studying? Ander and I didn’t get that far.”
We fell into an easy conversation, and bit by bit, Elliot relaxed against me. After a while, I noticed that I’d been absentmindedly stroking my thumb across his stomach, but he hadn’t said anything, so he probably hadn’t noticed.
Was his skin as warm as it seemed to be through the fabric of his thick jumper? Was hetoowarm? Did he need to cool down? It was suddenly imperative that I found out the answer.
As slowly as I could, I moved my hand lower and dipped my fingers under his jumper. He had a T-shirt on underneath, so I carefully eased it up. And then I was touching his skin.
He jerked against me, and my heart fucking stopped for a second, my breath catching in my throat. Hewasso warm. But was hetoowarm?
I needed to feel more.
Carefully, I spread my fingers, flattening my hand against his stomach. I felt his abs tense beneath my touch, so I moved my thumb in the same stroking movement I’d been doing earlier, hoping it would reassure him. My own stomach had a weird feeling, like I’d get from the drop of a roller coaster, but I ignored it in favour of making sure that he knew that this was okay, that I was here and looking out for him.
There was a muffled noise from his throat, and then he rubbed his hand across his face shakily, shifting on my lap. “Uh. Sorry. Tiredness catching up with me,” he said hoarsely, focusing on Daisy, and she gave him a sympathetic smile.
“There’s a lot more work in the second year of uni, isn’t there? Or so I’ve heard.”
My free hand had somehow made its way to Elliot’s arm—no, wait, to his hand. Hishand? What the actual fuck? Why was my hand covering his, lightly pressing it into the leather cushion of the sofa?
“So much work,” I agreed, taking the opportunity to lift my hand from Elliot’s and raising my arm into the air in a stretching movement, hopefully before anyone noticed. I added a deliberate yawn, just to make sure. But I kept my other hand exactly where it was, splayed across his abs. It was probably safe to leave it there because Elliot’s arm was in the way of Daisy’s view. “But not as much as next year.”
Daisy groaned. “Don’t tell me that. I’m already having nightmares about my dissertation.”
“At least you’ve got far enough in the thought process to have nightmares about it. I haven’t even thought about what I’m doing yet,” I joked, shuffling in my seat and hooking my chin over Elliot’s shoulder. My free hand was now popping the PopSocket on the back of my phone up and down, over and over, the movement calming me.
