With a snort, I pat his cheek. “Okay, I have to hit the library.”
“I’ll come with.”
“No need. I’m meeting Callan. Talk shit about the coach with these idiots. I’ll see you later, okay?”
He begrudgingly agrees, his bottom lip popping out. I can’t help myself. That needs to be kissed.
“Holy fuck, it’s true!” A braying laugh echoes around the suddenly silent diner. “Addison, I thought you were joking about them being an item. Bradley, man, are you desperate or something?”
TWENTY-FIVE
BULLY 0, ZACH 3
When Zach freezes,mid-kiss, my heart sinks.
Especially as Dyers’s laughter is so inordinately loud that I know we have the whole diner’s eyes on us.
I can already feel mortification building up inside me, hovering at the back of my throat, making me choke in the desperate hope that Zach won’t aband?—
Zach presses a final, gentle,lovingkiss to my lips.
My relief is instantaneous, as is the guilt I feel for losing faith in him.
I sag into him with a silent apology, every muscle, sinew, and bone in my body reacting to that tender caress.
He can’t help that men like him… they’re not supposed to fall for girls like me.
He’s different though. I know he’ll keep on showing me that he wants me until my mind catches up with the program.
He slides his hand onto my shoulder, then his fingers tighten as he pins me in place.
His movements are slow and steady. Nothing rushed. Like I’m a kitten he doesn’t want to frighten off with abrupt gestures. Which would be a hilarious comparison normally, but thisisn’tnormal.
Our gazes lock as he turns the sweetest smile my way. It lights up his eyes. Making them gleam like sea glass—transparent pockets that enable me to see straight through to his soul.
I’m not alone.
He’s with me.
That’s what that smile says.
I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you.
I want you.
I read it all in that one brief but warm curve of his lips.
“Are you okay, gorgeous?” He whispers the words, low enough for me to hear them but for it to be private. Our secret snatched conversation amid this madness.
His nickname for me seals the cracks where Dyers’s shitty comments busted through my tough exterior.
To Zach, I’m gorgeous.
No matter what the Dereks and Addisons of this world have to say or whatever they think, to him, I’m not a joke.
“Been better,” I confide.
And as he breaks eye contact with me, the conversation we shared shattering, quick as lightning, he blows from hot to cold.
