His smile fell a little. “But I mean it. I didn’t intend to make you uncomfortable. My issue with the bikini is my issue, and I shouldn’t have made it yours.”
Confused, I furrowed my brow. “What issue is that exactly?”
His eyes swung to me and flickered down my body, lingering on my bare legs, before returning to the road ahead.
After a few seconds, I realized he had no intention of replying. He didn’t need to. A thick, hot tension I’d never felt before had fallen between us. It pressed on my chest, and my skin felt too tight, too hot.
Lorna, who had lost her virginity to Xavier Highland last year, had told me that sometimes she just needed to be touched. I didn’t understand what she meant—until now. I needed Jamie to touch me. To soothe this feeling. Somehow, I knew only his touch could.
It was a long car ride after that, and when we finally pulled up to my apartment complex, I didn’t know what to say to break the loaded moment between us.
Realizing Jamie wasn’t going to say anything either, I pushed open the door.
“I’ll, uh—”
At the sound of his voice, I looked over my shoulder at him.
“Why don’t you come over to the house after school on Monday? Lorna has track practice then, right?”
“Right.” I barely got the word out. Lorna had joined the track-and-field team sophomore year. I didn’t know if it was because she liked it or because she thought it would give her something in common with Jamie. I voted the latter.
“I’ll see you then?” He stared at me with an intensity I’d never seen in his eyes before. It matched the vibe that had sizzled between us the entire car ride. Excitement fluttered its rapid little wings near my heart.
“See you then. And thanks for the ride. I appreciate it.”
“I know you do.”
I moved to leave again and he stopped me with another “hey.”
I laughed under my breath and turned back to him. “Yeah?”
But he wasn’t laughing. “Do you have my number?”
I shook my head.
“Give me your phone. Anytime you need a ride again, you call me.”
“Jamie—”
“No arguments. I don’t like the idea of you being stranded somewhere.”
Fumbling for my phone, I quickly handed it over. He typed in his number and then called his cell, shifting in his seat to pull it out of his pocket. After a few seconds of fiddling around with it, he handed mine back to me. As I took it, our fingers brushed, and a shock of electricity rippled up my hand.
My eyes flew to his face to find him staring at me, wide-eyed.
Like he’d felt it too.
“I’ll, uh …” His gaze dropped. “See you Monday.”
Trembling with my reaction to him, I nodded and hopped out of the car. He waited until I walked through the gate into the complex. One look over my shoulder told me he was still waiting.
Jamie waited until I got all the way to my door before I heard the sound of his Mustang purr.
I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
4
JAMIE
Eighteen years old (almost nineteen)
I was in a hurry to get home. It was the one day of the week we didn’t have practice, and while the guys were all getting ready for some party at a frat house that night, I was heading back to Glendale.
They called me on it, but I didn’t care.
There was someone waiting for me at home. Someone who excited me. Someone I couldn’t stop thinking about. Over the last few months, I’d become closer to this person than I’d ever imagined I was capable of.
Jane.
She’d asked for the latest chapters of the novel I was writing to distract her from a crazy start to senior year. A friend of Lorna’s had died in a drunk-driving accident. Greta. She was a girl Jane had practically grown up with. They hadn’t been friends. In fact, it was kind of the opposite, but Lorna and Greta had hung out a lot. I knew the past few weeks had been tough on them both for different reasons, and that there was some tension between them. Lorna had a ton of friends to turn to, but Jane didn’t. And I didn’t want her to be alone.
I liked our secret get-togethers because I loved being around Jane, but I also liked being able to keep my finger on the pulse of what was going on with her.
We grabbed secret time together whenever we could. That afternoon she was going to tell me