Page 83 of The Jack*ss in Class

Tempest: It was like your future was right in front of you, and I’m really happy for you.

I swallowed hard. She was right. My future was right in front of me. I just wasn’t sure anymore what shape I wanted it to take.

Football, the League, and Tempest. That’s what I wanted. And it scared the shit out of me.

But there was only one way I knew how to deal with fear and that was to tackle it head on. And I was an excellent tackle.

I texted Tempest one more time.

Me: I’m home on Saturday. Let me take you out on a date. A date date. A real one.

Her message took a few minutes and a lot of me watching the dots appear and disappear. What was she writing me, a novel for an answer?

Tempest: Okay.

I was about to worry over that one word response, until I got the kissy lips emoji one moment later.

The last few days of the combine were bangers, and inthe evenings I planned that date. It had to be fucking perfect.

Saturday night, I caught a flash of movement at an upstairs window, several faces pressed against the glass, quickly disappearing when they realized I’d spotted them. The Donkey Sitters Club was clearly on surveillance duty.

Tempest emerged before I could text that I’d arrived. She wore a deep-green sweater that made her dark eyes seem even more luminous and a pair of jeans that hugged her curves. Her hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders instead of her usual practical but cute AF messy bun.

“Hi,” she said simply, a small smile playing at her lips as she approached the car.

I opened the passenger door for her, catching a hint of her perfume as she slid past me, something floral with a spicy undertone that suited her perfectly.

“So,” she asked once I was back behind the wheel, “where are we going?”

“Oh no, you’re not gonna get it out of me with promises of more sweet kisses.” I gave her wink, but my eyes dipped down to her lips and back up, which was a mistake if I wanted to keep my zipper from creating a permanent imprint in my dick.

Tempest gasped and rolled her eyes at me, but it was matched with an adorable smile, which was exactly what I was going for. “I never promised any such thing.”

I pulled away from her house and headed up Colorado Boulevard. “Hmm. Are you sure? I’m sure that promise was in your eyes when I picked you up.”

“Flynn.” She raised an eyebrow at me. I was going to kiss that look right off her face later. “Are you trying toget me to kiss you? Because I was sort of hoping you would do that when you picked me up.”

I swerved into a parking lot and stopped short. In two point one milliseconds I had her lips on mine and I cursed the fact I had a newer car with a console between us instead of a bench seat in old classic cars.

“We don’t have to go out at all, sweet queen.” I may have put a lot of effort into this date, but I’d forgo it all if she was asking what I fucking prayed to the sex gods she wanted from me right now.

“Mmm.” Her eyes remained closed, and her thumb stroked along the edge of my beard.

Hell yeah, a few more kisses and we’d be headed right back to my place so we could?—

“But don’t think for a second you’re getting out of taking me out on a proper date in the two days we have together before spring break.” Neither of us had talked about our plans for the week.

“As you wish.” Twenty minutes later, I pulled up to the Denver Museum of Natural History. The main entrance was quiet, most of the daytime visitors long gone.

“The museum?” Tempest looked confused. “Isn’t it closed?”

“To the general public, yes.” I came around to open her door. “But not to us. The museum does these special after-hours events, and we’re here for their newest exhibit.”

A security guard was waiting at a side entrance. He nodded at us as we approached. “Mr. Kingman. Right this way.”

We followed him through hushed, dimly lit halls. Themuseum after hours had an almost magical quality—the exhibits cast in soft shadow, the usual crowds replaced by stillness.

The guard stopped in front of a set of double doors. “Dr. Sharma is waiting inside. Enjoy your evening.”

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