Kissing the Shy Guy - Stephanie Street Page 0,31

adaptations as well. What if we changed it? A vision began to take shape in my head.

Still, I had to talk him into it.

"I know it's a time commitment. We could work around your band practices." Asher made time to play hockey. Surely, they didn't spend all their time practicing?

Adam simply raised his brow. all right. Time wasn't the problem. He didn't want to do it, which made sense, but sometimes we did things we didn't want to do, right?

I supposed I could just ask. "What would it take to get you to do it?"

He lifted both brows, surprised, but then his face settled into a sort of restrained amusement. "What's on the table?"

I stared at him, my mind racing with possibilities. The longer I stared at him, his expression slowly changed from amusement to speculation until his lips quirked.

Oh. My— "Not that!" I shouted, planting my hands against his chest.

Adam held my gaze for one excruciating moment longer, then burst out laughing. "You should see the look on your face!" He laughed until tears streamed from his eyes. "Oh, that was awesome," he said once he'd calmed down a little. He wiped his face with the palms of his hands, still chuckling under his breath.

"You jerk," I said without heat as my heart began to find its normal rhythm again.

Adam pointed a menacing finger at me while his eyes danced with unrestrained humor. "You're the one propositioning me!" He tilted his head, fluttering his lashes in a perfect female impersonation. "What would it take to get you to do it?" he repeated my words back to me falsetto.

"I didn't mean it that way, and you know it!" What had ever made me think Adam was shy?

Adam rolled his eyes and shook his head, disgusted. "Girls are so stupid. What do you think a guy is going to think when you say something like that?"

I sputtered. "N-not that! I can't believe you thought," I waved my hand between us.

Adam caught it in both of his, once again sober. "I didn't. I was just messing with you." His blue eyes were clear and honest. "You gotta be aware, though. Some guys are jerks and will take advantage of you."

His tone held a hint of hidden knowledge that made me sit back and consider him. I imagined Adam sitting down with one of his blonde-haired sisters, giving them the same lecture. "Some girls will, too." We lived in an age of equality, after all.

One side of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. "So true." He didn't say anything for a moment, but I felt the way he watched me down to my toes.

"Adam, please," I whispered, desperately wanting to lean forward and press my lips to his, but holding myself back. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was trying to manipulate him. I wanted to kiss him again, but not because I wanted his help. "You'd get half of the scholarship."

He sat completely still as if something had occurred to him.

"When's the competition?" he asked.

"April." My tongue darted out, moistening my lips.

His eyes caught the movement and darkened. "And I'd get half the scholarship?"

I nodded, shocked that the scholarship itself might be the tipping point for him. "That was the arrangement I had with Josh."

Adam's eyes darkened again but for a different reason this time. "Let's not talk about him."

"Okay," I agreed, my voice shaky from the intensity of his gaze. "You want the scholarship?"

"No." He shook his head, emphatically. "Not at all."

"I don't understand."

Adam sighed and raked his hands through his hair again. He suddenly looked tired, like he'd been working long hours with little sleep. Maybe he had been for all I knew, but the change was instant.

"It's my mom," he explained. "She wants me to go to college."

"And you don't want to?" I asked.

Adam shook his head. "Are you kidding? Do I look like I want to go to college?"

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. "How am I supposed to answer that? What do people who want to go to college look like?"

Adam's mouth relaxed into an easy grin. "Right. Well, they don't look like me, that's for sure." He bit his lip, debating.

I watched his internal struggle while dealing with one of my own. Why would Adam ask about the scholarship if he didn't want it?

"So, I don't get it? Why did you ask about the scholarship."

He glanced down at our hands, entwined together between us. "It's my mom. She