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‘You’re doing it again,’ he says.
My eyes flit to his. ‘What?’
‘Staring at me like I’m Jesus or something.’
‘The resemblance is uncanny,’ I say, proud of myself for forming a coherent response instead of dissolving into gloop.
He grins, and I love it. His eyes light up when he smiles. ‘May I?’ He holds out his hand.
I give him a bughouse and set down the other against a trunk.
‘Where are you thinking?’
I crane my neck, looking for a spot up high but just out of sight. I point. ‘There. I would do it myself, but I… I’m too small.’
His eyes rake me. I don’t think he means to do it, because he clears his throat and looks away quickly. A muscle ticks in his jaw. I swear he avoids looking at me for a moment, but maybe I’m just being paranoid.
When he sees me, he probably sees Archer against me, his finger inside of me.
When he speaks, his voice is rough. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to reach that, either.’ He turns to stare at me.
‘What?’
‘I can lift you up so you can reach.’
My immediate reaction is to sputter, because of course I want him to touch me, because of course Idon’twant him to touch me. I’ve fantasised so much about the feel of his arms, but I know if I allow him to wrap them around me, I’ll fuck up. My heart will burst and he’ll know I have a crush on him, and I don’t care what I said to Kai last night—I will literallydie.
‘I don’t…think that’s a good… idea?’
He cocks a brow.
‘What if you drop me?’
‘I won’t.’
‘But what if you do?’
‘Then I guess you’ll hit the ground?’
‘You won’t catch me?’
‘I mean, I’ll try, but it’ll be funnier if you fall.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Fine.’
But we don’t move.
‘How am I gonna—?’ I begin.
Chase slings off his backpack and crouches down. ‘Sit on my shoulders.’
I don’t know where to put my hands. On his head?
‘If you don’t get on in the next thirty seconds,’ he says, ‘I’m leaving.’
I hop on, which was probably the wrong thing to do, but his hands clutch my knees. I’m breathless from his touch and the feel of his strong shoulders beneath me.
‘Ready?’ he asks.
