Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
“Are you ready?” It was more of a demand than a question—as if I was used to him catering to my whims and needs. I wasn’t, but it sure as hell was a nice fantasy. I’d never really played the femme fatale. It was too bad I’d put my hair back in a ponytail after it had been so unruly before. That was pretty much the only feature I felt confident about.
Kyle extracted his arm or tried to. Jasmine went up on her toes and angled toward his firm lips. Was she actually going in for a kiss? Right in front of his fake girlfriend?
It sure looked like she was, but Kyle swung his arm over her head, bringing it down between them so that she had to move her head back. Then he stepped away, shouldering his pack. “I’ll see you in class, Jas. Sorry to run, but I have plans.” The look he gave me made me glad that his plans involved me… even if they were just a ride home, not dinner.
He strode to my side and slid his arm around my waist. I didn’t look back at Jasmine, but it wasn’t subtle as we walked away. He was claiming me the same way she’d tried to claim him. And I knew it was just for show, but it still made me feel good.
Just as being nestled at Kyle’s side made me feel good.
When we were halfway to the parking lot, he nudged me with his hip. “Sushi?”
I laughed at his tone of voice. “Not a fan?”
“Never had it. It’s not like we’re close to the coast.”
That was true, but there were some decent sushi places in Atlanta. I’d been there once or twice on special occasions. “Are there any sushi places in Haverford?”
“Not that I know of,” he said. I liked how he still had his arm around me even though we were well away from Jasmine. “So we’ll go to a place I know. There’s enough food for a meal—usually. If not, there’s always cereal. And sometimes, there are cute little taco muffins for movie nights.”
“Mini taco cups,” I corrected, my blood heating at the thought of other things that had happened at movie night.
“They were really good.”
“Thanks.” We’d reached his truck, and he led me over to the passenger side, opening the door for me. I held my breath, hoping he’d do something he’d only done a couple of times before—and then he did. He put his hands on my waist and lifted me up as if I were weightless.
I surveyed him from the new height. He was still taller than me, but our heads were closer to the same level. His sculpted torso brushed against my knees. What would it feel like to part them and let him step in between, so close to me? But that fantasy was expelled when he gently pushed my legs into the cab of the truck, facing me forward.
Then, something new. He pulled out the seatbelt, and instead of handing it to me like he had before, he reached across my hips and buckled it himself.
God, he was close. The warmth from his body filled mine with longing. And for the first time, I caught a hint of his shampoo. It smelled woodsy, and maybe a little like leather. I liked it.
He straightened up, a crooked smile on his face, probably because my eyes had glazed over with longing. He reached up, and fisted the column of my ponytail, tugging lightly. “I was always more of a fan of brunettes than redheads.”
I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as we exited the parking lot and headed home. Who wanted to worry about her mother’s bad choices when she got to take a ride with a hot baseball player instead?
Definitely not me.
“Did Dr. Winters say when he’d return your paper?” I asked once we were on our way. I tried not to sound too eager, but I was curious how Kyle had done. We’d worked our butts off, and his final draft had been in fairly good shape.
“I think so, but I was distracted when he mentioned it. I had to change my bet at the last minute.”
What? “Your bet?”
“Yeah. My horse scratched, and I only had about sixty seconds to pick a new one. There wasn’t any time to look any of them up, so I chose the one with the coolest-sounding name.”
My jaw dropped. “You were betting on horse racing in the middle of class?”
He looked over as if I was the strange one. “I don’t control when the races start, Victoria.”
“Y-you…” I couldn’t even gather my thoughts. Forget betting on horses, he was betting on both my grade and his. My scholarship and his. “You really do that in class?”
He shot me an arrogant look, his lips clamped shut—but then I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.