That caught me off guard. I paused for a second before saying, “I drive you insane, huh?”
Our eyes met, and I smiled smugly as he gulped. “Get to work on those balls,” he said.
Walking over to his desk, heart racing, I pressed him, “Answer me first. Because you’ve barely said more than two words to me in the last few weeks.”
“Wasn’t what we said the last time we were alone enough for you?”
The last time we were together he’d saidI love you. We’d both saidI love you.
Fuuuuuck.
“What was the point of it, though, if we’re just going to treat each other like this?” I dared to ask, feeling the sharp pain of longing but unable to act on it.
“Like what?” he asked, standing up and walking around the table. Now we were close enough to touch.
“You know what I mean…”
“Alone in the same room during free period every day for thenext month?”
“What?” I asked.
“You heard me.”
I blinked with surprise and responded, “You’re not telling me that…”
“Yeah, I am. I couldn’t resist the temptation to have you all to myself for at least half an hour…” He shrugged, and my heart froze for a moment.
“You punished me because you wanted to spend time with me?”
“No,” he replied, standing very still, his eyes roving over every inch of my body. “I did it because I’m fucking furious with you, and I had to do something to calm myself down. Punishing you felt like a gratifying way to do it. Getting to spend a free period with you was the cherry on top.”
“So I’m the cherry?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“And a very sweet one at that,” he said, and by the way he shifted his weight, I could tell he was dying to touch me, hold me, kiss me…
I stepped forward, but he didn’t move. I took another step, averting his gaze, and rested my forehead on his chest. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my impulses, and just as I was preparing to move away, he placed his hand on the back of my head. Then he ran his fingers through my hair and kissed me on the top of my head as he inhaled the scent of my shampoo.
“You’ve got a choice to make,” he whispered, so softly I could hardly hear him.
Something clicked in my head. Was he asking me what I thought he was asking me? Thiago must have sensed what I was thinking, because he let me go suddenly, as if my skin were on fire.
“I’m sorry, forget what I just said.” He returned to his desk.
“We can’t just—” I replied in shock.
“I know,” he interrupted me icily.
Looking at the ground, I imagined Taylor. Taylor, my ideal guy, who adored me and took care of me.
“I can’t hurt him,” I said, hoping Thiago would agree, but instead he gave me a cold stare.
“You already are, Kamila. You think he doesn’t realize what’s going on? And he doesn’t even know the half of it.”
“It’s not like you and I could ever make it work,” I said, waving my hands around. “They offered you a permanent position. You know I’d never endanger that for you.”
“You’ll be going to college in a few months. After that, it won’t be a problem.”
“Yeah, except for the fact that I’ll be hundreds of miles away,” I replied, attempting to convince myself that I was right and there was no future for us. It was impossible.
