If possible, he looks even more disgusted than he did three seconds ago. But he nods in agreement anyway.
“I figured as much, unfortunately. You’ll need to send me your schedule and the syllabus for your philosophy class. I’ll carve out some time to help you with the school work a few days each week, and pick some games to attend. Just so things look realistic on the dating front.”
“Uh, yeah. Okay.” My tongue pokes the inside of my cheek as another topic comes to mind. “Where do we stand on physical stuff?”
His gaze snaps to mine, and gone is the nauseated look from moments ago. In its place is nothing but contempt and horror.
“Just because you can’t hook up with other people doesn’t meanI’mhaving sex with you. You have two working hands. Use ’em.”
My lips twitch, fighting a smile, when I amend, “I was actually talking about PDA, not us fucking. Glad to know where you stand on that, though. I’ve always wanted a boyfriend who was disgusted by the idea of having sex with me.”
“Oh” is all he says.
Yeah.Oh.
At least he has the decency to look a little bit embarrassed by the assumption—as he should be. But also, whywouldn’the want to have sex with me? I happen to be a fantastic lover.
Whatever. His loss.
“I mean, PDA is fine, I guess,” he finally says, cutting through the silence. Unfortunately, his statement doesn’t match his actions from earlier tonight.
“Okay, then you wanna explain why you completely denied me when I went to kiss you?”
His gaze lowers to the floor. “I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
“Understandable,” I offer in concession. It was a little bit of a sneak attack, but real couples kiss goodbye all the time; it wasn’t that outta pocket. “But you do realize there will probably be plenty of other times that happens, right? So are you going to be okay with me catching you by surprise and still be able to play along? Whether it’s a kiss, holding your hand, putting my arm around you? If you pull away or flinch when I do, this whole idea is kinda doomed. No one will believe it if I can’t touch you without you…recoiling.”
From the way he purses his lips, he’s aware my point is valid—even if he won’t admit it aloud. Which he doesn’t, of course. But he does concede ever so slightly.
“Maybe just let me be the one to initiate it, then. Or give me a heads-up before you do?”
Because we’re going to be in situations where me sayingokay, I’m gonna kiss you nowis a remote possibility? But there’s no use fighting him on it, even if it’s not the best plan of attack. After all, relationships are all about compromise. Supposedly.
“Okay, we’ll do that your way,” I concede while tapping my fingers on my denim-clad thigh. “How long are you thinking we keep this up?”
“I dunno. The tutoring part would be until the end of the term for your classwork. As for the whole dating thing…” He trails off in thought, gaze shifting around the room. “I don’t know. I guess we can reevaluate as needed.”
“Uh, yeah. Okay. That works.”
We hash out a few more details—which includes all the things he told the girls at dinner—to get on the same page, and once we’re done, Logan is quick to bring the conversation to a close.
“We’ll get started on your assignments the day after tomorrow. I’ll book a study room in the library, and we can meet there after you’re done with practice.”
With that, he’s off the bed and heading for the door, leaving me stumbling through my thoughts and feelings as he goes.
“Wait, Lit— Logan?” I stutter, correcting myself with a wince when he turns back to me. “Just…thank you.”
All he does is nod, silently accepting my gratitude, before continuing out the door.
Five
Logan
My jaw tightens when I hear the door of the private study room I booked in the library open, alerting me of Camden’s arrival for our first “tutoring” session. Of course, he’s over thirty minutes late,so I don’t really know how much progress we’re going to make. Especially with how annoyed I am with his tardiness.
“What happened to being here at seven?” I ask, attempting to keep my tone even.
Camden drops into the chair across from me and immediately pulls notebooks from his bag, not even looking up when he mutters, “Sorry. Practice ran long.”
