“You’re being obvious.”
“I know.”
She turned her head slightly, and the curve of her mouth brushed dangerously close to my jaw. “You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Yeah.”
Her breath caught.
I lowered my mouth near her ear. “He doesn’t get to make you shrink because he is smaller than you.”
Her fingers tightened around the cooler lid.
“He’s not—”
“Don’t.” My voice stayed quiet. “Not with me.”
She swallowed.
The yard noise went on around us, but for one second, it felt like we stood inside something separate. Her back against my chest. My arm around her. Luke’s eyes burning across the street. Her family laughing nearby, completely unaware of the war that had started beneath all the smoke and sunshine.
“I don’t know what you think you saw,” she whispered.
“I saw enough.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then tell me I’m wrong.”
She didn’t.
My jaw tightened, but I kept my hand gentle against her waist. Not soft. Not hesitant. Just controlled, because the anger inside me had nowhere clean to go yet.
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
She turned slightly in my hold, and for a second I thought she might snap at me. Instead, her gaze flicked to Luke and back.
Fear again, small but real. My grip tightened once and her eyes jumped to mine.
I bent closer. “Look at me.”
She did.
“Fuck that guy,” I said again, lower this time. “You’re untouchable with me.”
Her lips parted.
The words hit her. I saw it. Felt it in the way her body stopped fighting the support of mine.
Then Daniel yelled from the street, “Penalty over. Stop flirting with my daughter and get back out here.”
The whole neighborhood started cheering obnoxiously.
Pip laughed softly, cheeks burning as she stepped away from me, but her fingers brushed mine before she moved. Tiny. Quick. Intentional. That one touch told me more than any confession she wasn’t ready to give.
Luke saw it.
Good.
