Page 36 of Wildest Dreams

Goddamn it. I have to avert my eyes for a couple of seconds, staring blankly over toward her fireplace as I try to alleviate the acidic sensation currently burning up my sternum.

But she puts me out of my misery when she looks up at me and quietly says, “The coffee’s for Connell. Connell and his guys are coming for the summer.”

I almost sigh with relief.It’s not for Tristan. It’s for her brother.

I nod my head, exhaling deeply, and I hold out the breakfast bag containing her muffin.

She frowns up at me, clutching her coffees tighter against her chest.

“What is it?” she asks, dropping her gaze to the bag suspiciously.

“Nothing. Just breakfast.” For the sake of her pride I say, “I grabbed some stuff in town for everyone. This one’s for you.”

She purses her lips, unaware of how distracting that is.

When she doesn’t take it I decide to take matters into my own hands. Her little rucksack is on the counter behind her so I close the gap between us, flick the zip, and shove the muffin inside.

“Look, just take it. You don’t even have to eat it. Or if you want, you can eat it and then get back to pretending that you don’t like me after.”

Something like a smile tugs at her lips. “Who’s pretending?” she teases.

My eyes flash down to hers and I can’t help but smirk, my chest swelling to twice its size at her fiery little quip.

And in the next second she’s smiling up at me, as if she can’t hold it in any longer. She bites shyly into her bottom lip and tries to suppress the raspy laughter in her throat.

I duck my head, grinning just as hard as she is, well aware that this is the first real smile that she’s given me in four years.

Chest heaving in erratic pumps, I grip at the back of my neck with one hand and carefully lift the other just in front of her collarbone, capturing her eyes with mine as I tuck two fingers into her dungaree strap. Slowly I tug it back into place, careful not to brush her bare skin with mine but knowing that she can feel my heat regardless.

She stands totally still and silent, watching me with sparkly wide eyes, her hands gripped tight around the coffee holder.

I give her a little smirk. “Clothes just do not want to stay on you.”

She wheezes out a tiny laugh. “Tell that to the pyjamas I left behind in Carter Ridge. Some clothes don’t even want to be in the same county as me.”

I breathe fast and deep, thinking about Aisling secretly wearing the shirt that I gave her for bed. About Aisling standing on her balcony each morning, watching me in wide-eyed silence as I work out across the lake while she wearsmy clothes.

Now’s your chance, man. Ask her to hike with you. Tell her that you want to carry her bags and take her to the top of that mountain.

I swallow hard, reluctantly prizing my fingers from her denim strap.

“Aisling, I–”

In the next second I’m cut off by the sound of wheels crunching over the dirt outside, a door slamming open and the deep bellow of, “Yo, Ash! You in there?”

I curse and glance over my shoulder, pressing slightly closer up to Aisling as we both watch her brother stepping around the hood of a giant Ford, sunlight streaming endlessly through the large lake house windows.

“Fuck,” I grunt, pissed off at having this moment interrupted. I turn back to look down at Aisling, all but pinned to the counter, and I grudgingly force myself to pull away from her, already knowing that today can no longer go as I’d planned it.

With her brother, his best friend Logan, and half of his football team arriving there’s no way that I’ll be able to spend the hike with Aisling because without a doubt he’s going to be joining. He’s going to be the one guiding her over the steep patches, carrying her bag and keeping her steady.

There’s not a chance in hell that he’ll be okay with me – the biggest player on campus, let alone out of the Carter Ridge Rangers – swooping in on the little sister duties.

I curse again, heart clenching taut when I see how Ash has neatly stacked my logs beside her fireplace.

My eyes flick back to hers and she glances desperately back and forth, looking between me and the guys outside of the open front door.

“I have to… I’ve gotta go,” she rasps and I nod my head, grateful at least that we’re on some non-argumentative talking terms.

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