Page 68 of The Midseason Fakeout

“Probably because you leaped onto it like a ninja.”

“You have to admit. That jump was pretty badass.”

I turn, scooting onto his lap. “You, sir, have a big head.”

“Don’t I know it.”

He peers down my body and back up, taking me in. “I suppose we should get off this thing.”

Shrugging, I cuddle closer. “We can go down together.”

“You won’t kick me off the door like Rose did to Jack?”

“Never.”

“Fake dating you might have been the best thing I ever did.”

“You’re welcome.”

He tickles my sides until I stare up at his rueful smile. His hips lift out of the water briefly, but it’s enough for me to feel his hard length, and my body immediately responds.

“I feel like I want to tell people how happy I am.”

“Except we were already happy.”

The look he gives me tells me everything. He kisses me, taking his time, delving his tongue into my mouth, showing me his true feelings. He brings me so high, it feels like a dream.

Until water starts to fill the float.

“We’re going down,” he says, lips moving over mine with his words.

“I don’t want it to end.”

“It won’t.”

Like the gentleman he is, he rolls off the raft. Taking his weight out of the equation helps buoy me. He stands, towing me to the side. With a grunt, he pulls himself out of the pool and then helps me onto the edge, water shedding off him until there’s a puddle at his feet.

“What a mess,” he says.

“I guess you’re not good at everything. Noted.”

“Keep talking, Angel, and I’ve got something else to occupy that mouth.”

I wrap my hands around his waist, not caring about how drenched he is. “Why don’t you take me home?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

19

AIDAN

Nerves settlearound me like tiny pinpricks nipping at my skin. Bailey walks down the hallway, and I’m right behind her like a lost puppy. Luckily, Darrin is with the girl he’s been hanging out with, and he’d already texted Bailey that he wouldn’t be coming home tonight.

…Because he definitely needs to not come home tonight.

She enters her room and looks over her shoulder. It’s almost like she’s making sure I’m still there, and I can’t believe I ever turned her down. I can’t believe I was kidding myself that what we had was anything other than real. From our first kiss, I felt it. The connection was undeniable.

Those thoughts jumble in my head, making my hands shake. The weight of every game is on my shoulders, and I feel that now, too. The need to perform. The need to make everything perfect. Bailey’s first time. It should be special.

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