“James!”
At this point he stretched his chin out to repeat it with more conviction. “No.”
“I’m coming over to tutor Jasper tomorrow. I’ll leave the homework with you. Do it, and we’ll hand it back in. We don’t have to be in the same place to do it,” I explained, putting a finger on his chest.
“You afraid of being alone with me?” He was provoking me, this time getting up on his elbows.
His face came closer to mine, and I could get lost in his dark eyes. There was nothing soft, warm, or beguiling in his electric irises.
“No. Not at all. You’re the one who’s established that you don’t want me in your house.”
“Because you always give advice instead of requests, White.”
“I’m just trying to help, Hunter.”
“But we’re not friends,” he declared, staring at my mouth.
I felt a shiver so strong that it made my head spin.
I looked down, feeling guilty.
“James, look, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but—”
“Exactly, you don’t know,” he said sarcastically, sounding more lucid than I expected.
“Yeah, maybe you don’t understand. If I’m helping Jasper, I’m doing it for him. It has nothing to do with you.”
His glare pierced through me. “But sometimes you look at me like that.”
“How?”
“The same way you were staring at me yesterday at my house.”
“I—” My words got stuck in my throat when his thumb brushed my lower lip “I wasn’t—”
James stared at me in a way that made me feel like I had to shower.
“Like you’re staring at me now.”
My body went weak. I felt like jelly.
Without applying too much pressure, James hooked a lock of hair behind my ear and brushed absentmindedly against my neck with his fingertips, making me shiver again. My eyelids got heavy from all the tension. Then he reached for my hand that held the tequila. He grabbed the bottle, leaving me with my jaw dropped.
“You fell for that? Really?” What an asshole.
“Give me back that bottle, Hunter!”
“No!” he exclaimed, laughing.
I grabbed it again in one fell swoop, but when I tried to get out of that position, he wrapped his arm around my waist, forcefully pushing me against his pelvis.
I almost lost my balance and to avoid being all over him, I pushed him onto the seat with a hand on his chest.
“Are you a dumbass? I spilled everything! Jackson will have a fit!”
I saw him shake his head to break free of the hair covering his eyes. “White! Give it!”
“No!”
