unimaginable pleasure. That’s not true. I’ve imagined it plenty. Hell, that’s all I’ve fuckin’ done is imagine it. Any pleasure those lips have brought me so far has been in words only.
She pops on her sunglasses and my stomach plummets. Those blue eyes, so expressive when they light with the fire of her anger, shine with tears, or dance with humor are entertaining as hell to watch.
She stops a couple feet in front of me and props a hand on one slender hip. “You don’t have to wait for me every day, Killian.”
That’s true, but you know what they say about old habits. The last three semesters our classrooms were close, and I made a habit of walking her to her car every day after school.
We’ve only been back in school for a week after Christmas break, and though the spring semester brought more distance between our last classes, that doesn’t mean I’m giving up my after-school ritual.
I shrug one shoulder and swing my gaze around the commons, taking in groups of co-eds. “Who says I was waiting for you?”
Her smile slams me in the chest, but I’ve worked for years to school my response to her, tamping down my physical reactions to appear unfazed. Friendly. Because that’s what I’ve always been—friend zoned.
“Your last class is all the way across campus.” One sculpted dark eyebrow pops up over her shades. “You’re telling me you come here to sit outside my classroom for thirty minutes for someone other than your best friend?”
Friend. There’s that fucking word again.
“Maybe I’m waiting for my girl.” Truth. She just doesn’t know it.
“Oh, your girl.” She taps her chin. “Hmmm…and who is this imaginary girl, huh?” She points to a huddle of women. “Oh, is it Charlene? She’s a book-nerd like you. I could see you two getting along.” She flashes a teasing smile then searches the common area and points to what I’m assuming is another girl. I don’t know. I only have eyes for her. “Tarryn maybe? She’s smokin’ hot and dates jocks.”
“Jock? I thought I was a book-nerd?”
“You’re both.” Her smile suddenly crunches up, and she curls in on herself, hissing through her teeth. “Ugh!”
My pulse kicks in worry. “What’s wrong?” I stand and move toward her, but she holds a hand up.
“No, I’m okay.” She takes a few steps to the picnic bench and sits.
“You sure?” I sit back down next to her, her pained expression not doing shit to relieve my worry.
“Yeah, just cramps.” She crosses her legs and lays a hand on her lower abdomen. “Worst. Period. Ever.”
Being an only child and having a terrible relationship with my mother, I put talk of girl issues high up on my don’t-go-there list of convos, but this is different. This is Axelle, so I swallow my discomfort.
“Right.” I reach into my backpack and pull out a bottle of Advil. I shake a couple out and hand them to her. “Here.”
She flashes a grateful, but strained, smile. “Thanks, but I don’t have—”
I push my water bottle into her hand.
She sighs and thanks me again before tossing the pills back. Her lips wrap around the bottle’s mouthpiece, and I have to look away. A sick part of me revels in the fact that I’ll be able to have her mouth on mine, even if only through the connection of the water bottle. Yeah, I’m fucking pathetic. Four years of this shit and I still haven’t grown a pair big enough to confess my feelings for her.
“How do you always seem to know what I need before I need it?”
“I pay attention.” Because I’m in love with you.
She hands me the bottle back. “You’re too good to me.”
Aw, baby, I could be so much better if you’d let me.
Again, my chest cramps. If she only knew how much I hold back to keep our friendship from being awkward… I’d give her everything she ever wanted, satisfy her every whim, work my ass off to make enough money to provide for her, and die trying to give her the beautiful life she deserves.
Ever since Axelle came into my life back in high school, I knew she’d own me. She claimed my heart the day I found her in the parking lot: the new kid, kicking and screaming every profanity in the book at her Bronco. As much as I tried to hint to something more than a friendship back then, nothing beyond it ever developed. I knew it was because she was way too good for