“Stay where you are,” I told him.
His brows shot up. “You giving me orders now?”
“Yes.”
His mouth twitched again.
“Careful, Texas. You keep talking like that, I might fall in love.”
The words hit too close.
Too hard.
Too soon.
So I gave him the coldest smile I had left.
“Then stop following the rules.”
Something flickered across his face.
There and gone.
I turned before I could study it.
Stella fell into step beside me as we moved away from the fire, away from the boys, away from the entire circle of stunned athletes pretending they had not just witnessed a campus event.
For several steps, neither of us spoke.
The sand was cooler closer to the water. The music dulled behind us. Waves rushed up the shore and slid back, dragging silver under the moonlight. I could feel Stella beside me—tall, composed, quietly lethal.
I hated that she was graceful even walking in sand.
Finally, she said, “You know half of them think we’re about to fight.”
“I know.”
“Are we?”
I glanced at her.
She looked back, mouth faintly curved.
“No,” I said. “My leg’s injured.”
Her smile widened by half an inch. “Convenient.”
“Also I’m wearing Drew’s jersey and I refuse to get blood on it.”
“Yours or mine?”
“That depends how annoying you are.”
A laugh escaped her.
Small.
Surprised.
