Warm.
Too trusting.
I gently moved her head up, resting it on my shoulder, feeling her breath brush my neck. I let out a quiet exhale I didn’t mean to, pressing my head lightly against hers.
Everyone else was too busy talking, too distracted to notice that their captain, the cold, quiet Lockhart, was sitting in the back of the bus with a girl asleep in his lap.
My pulse wouldn’t settle.
I told myself it didn’t mean anything.
That I was just making her comfortable because she’d done the same for me once, with a damn lollipop and a smile.
But my hands didn’t move away. One was on her waist, steadying her. The other, holding her thighs to keep her from falling off me, thumb tracing circles against her jeans.
I glanced down.
Her lashes brushed her cheeks, breathing even now, lips parted just slightly.
Completely gone.
I leaned my head back against the seat, eyes closing for half a second.
She trusted me. She fucking trustedmeenough to let go like this.
God, I didn’t want the ride to end. Ever.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Joshua
The brakes hissed, the whole bus lurching forward as the chatter exploded around us, laughter, bags shifting, the coach yelling for everyone to grab their stuff.
Everyone started coming towards the back, glancing down at me and Aurora for a bit, some smirking, giving me a knowing look before grabbing their bags from beside us and leaving the bus.
Idiots.
Her body jerked at the noise, eyes snapping open.
For a second, she didn’t move, just blinked, slow, disoriented, like a startled kitten. Then her gaze lifted.
Straight into mine.
She froze.
Then I froze.
Then the realisation hit her first.
Her thighs.
My lap.
Her head on my shoulder.
My arm around her waist.
She practically launched herself upright, face turning red as the blood rushed up her neck.
