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“Not even for him.”
Colin gaped at her. “What kind of lit student are you?”
“The kind that knows the real rules for Scrabble.” One by one, Allison lined her thumb and index finger up behind the last three letters and flicked them at him. “Try. It. Again.” It was satisfying to bombard him with something, the same way he’d inadvertently overwhelmed her with feelings.
The first two tiles landed in his lap, perfectly aimed. TheA,however, flew wild and bounced off the corner of his chin.
He yelped in surprise, his hand cupping his face.
“Shit.” Believe it or not, Allison hadn’t meant to do that.
He grimaced. “Next time we play this game, I’m wearing armor.”
“I guess I’m still a little competitive.”
“Try a lot,” he mumbled.
Allison couldn’t deny it. She didn’t even try. “I’m sorry. That seemsto be my default setting for dealing with you.” Reaching across the board, she brushed her fingers across his jaw. It wasn’t bleeding or anything (not that she could have done much if it was); she just… wanted to touch him. And didn’t think to stop herself. The tickle of his stubble against the pad of her index finger sent a thrill up her spine.
He held incredibly still, like Allison’s hand was a butterfly that might flee if he moved. Neither of them breathed for a full minute.
When Allison pulled her hand back to her lap, the air around them was thick and charged, like those heady seconds before a lightning storm.
“I’ll try again.” This time, he gathered three tiles, cradling them in his palm as if they were precious. With a deliberateness that belied his always fiddling fingers, Colin ordered them along the board.
Each plastic piece clicked sharply, sending a jolt through Allison’s heart.
K
I
S
S
Chapter 22
Not everyone would look at Colin Benjamin and swoon.
He was tall and lanky and full of sharp angles like an isosceles triangle, and he wore nerdy shirts and ill-fitting cardigan sweaters and spent an awful lot of time coifing his hair so that it lay perfectly. But from the moment Allison had (mortifyingly) pressed her ass into him at that party she’d been mesmerized by his long, trim muscles and the sharpness to his face that made him resemble some kind of Fae prince.
She stared at that face now as her heart slammed against her chest. In her hand, she rolled aYtile and anStile round and round.
They’d already kissed tonight, but using those letters to spell outyesfelt much more definitive. A choice rather than a whim. Allison’s pulse sang in her ears, and her skin had gone clammy, but none of that stopped her from putting the pieces down.
With each movement, she mirrored Colin’s careful precision from earlier, as she laid down her own tiles now.
Y
E
S
She meant every letter of it.
The tiles flew across the carpet as Colin scattered the board. He moved toward her on his knees, stopping just shy of physical contact. Then he hovered over her, his hands braced to the floor so close Allison could practically feel them on her skin. Though he said nothing, the look on his face was as expressive as any poetry.
He wanted this. He wantedher.
