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“Who?” I asked, glancing up in surprise. “You meanParker?” When she nodded, I blinked, totally confused by the question. “No, of course, I like him. He’s one of my best friends.”
“Oh…” She furrowed her brow as if also bewildered.
“What made you think I didn’t like him?” I had to ask.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You cursed under your breath when he first called you over. Then you seemed reluctant to say hi and super eager to get away again.”
“Oh.” Damn, she was more perceptive than I thought.
My brain stalled for an explanation.
But before I could come up with an answer that wasn’t as embarrassing as hell, Oaklynn straightened as if offended. “So… I just don’t rate high enough yet to meet one of your closest friends?” she guessed.
“What?” I gaped in disbelief and lifted my hands. “No! That’s not the case at all.”
“Then…?” She lifted one eyebrow, awaiting an explanation.
I felt my face heat. “Okay,” I yielded, lifting my hands to stop her thought process right there. “I guess there were two reasons why I didn’t really want to introduce you. But neither of them had anything to do with me being ashamed of you. Not at all.”
“Okay,” she said, sounding relieved but also intrigued. “I’m very curious to hear what both reasons were, then.”
I gnashed my teeth, not wanting to actually share them. But she was staring and waiting.
“You’re really going to make me admit this, aren’t you?” I tried, hoping she’d have mercy and drop it.
But she lifted her eyebrows, letting me know her answer.
“Okay, fine,” I reluctantly mumbled. “I was being selfish, I guess, and I didn’t want to share your time and attention with anyone else. I…wanted it all to myself,” I concluded, glancing away miserably.
Oaklynn was quiet for a few seconds before she rasped, “And the other reason?”
I huffed out a breath and slid my gaze to her. “I didn’t want you to compare me to him and find me…lacking.”
Lifting an eyebrow as if she didn’t buy it, she said, “For real? You think I’d preferhim?”
I let out a strangled laugh and glanced around us before returning my gaze to her to admit, “I’m not sure why anyone would make upthatkind of admission.”
“True.” After a brief shrug, she stared into my eyes for the longest moment before she murmured, “Huh.” She took another bite of her taco before she chewed and swallowed, lifting a finger. “Do you remember last week?” she asked. “When you were at my apartment…”
I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion because I was pretty sure I’d never forget that very memorable encounter. “Which part are you referring to?”
“The kiss,” she said bluntly. “Or actually…your offer afterward.”
I took my own bite and watched her squirm in her seat uncomfortably. Then I wiped my mouth and sat back in my booth. “I kind of thought that’s why we were here right now.”
“It is,” she assured readily, only to wave her hands. “I mean, I have no time for dating or any of that right now.”
“Right…” I said slowly, getting confused. “So you said before, and that hasn’t changed? Has it?”
“Well…” She swallowed audibly as she dropped a nervous gaze to the tabletop where our two plates of half-eaten tacos sat ignored.
“I worked really hard to get into Haverick,” she went on with another one of her explanations that didn’t make me feel any less rejected than the first time she’d told me all this. “It took me two years of community college before I was even accepted here as a transfer. Now I have student loans out the wazoo, and I can’t do anything to ruin this hard-earned opportunity. And I certainly don’t need the kind of distraction that you’re causing for me.”
“Okay,” I started slowly, not sure what I was supposed to say to that accusation.Sorry?
“But you’re distracting me, anyway,” she went on. “Even after five days of keeping my distance, I wake up thinking about that kiss, and I go to sleep with the same exact ache in my blood. I can’t get you out of my head. And it just…blowsmy mind that you can eventhinksome other guy stands a chance in hell of possibly competing with you.”
Well, fuck. I blew out a long, heavy breath, beyond turned on. “So?” I asked quietly. “Where does that leave us?”
