Page 56 of Scoring the Player
She shifts slightly off me but doesn’t look away. “Are you going to kiss me again?”
“I hadn’t quite decided,” I admit. I know I shouldn’t. It complicates things and that’s the last thing either of us needs.
“But you want to.” Her brows pull together, like she’s questioning her own assessment of the situation.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time I met you.”
She sits up now and adjusts her ponytail by pulling on the loose strands with both hands. “That can absolutely not be true.”
“It absolutely is. And you couldn’t get away from me fast enough.” I smile as I think back on it. I couldn’t decide if she was repulsed or intimidated by me. Sometimes I’m still not sure her feelings don’t toe the line between the two.
“I was dumbstruck. I’ve never been able to talk to guys, but it’s worse with you.”
“You don’t seem that nervous around me now.”
“That’s because I’ve already done all the most embarrassing things I can imagine in front of you.”
I laugh lightly and tug on the end of her hair. I like it up and out of her face, where she can’t hide behind it.
“I’m still nervous around you, though,” she says. “Just not quite as bad. Like I don’t feel like I want to throw up.”
She no longer wants to vomit when she’s around me, as in, there was a time she did feel that way? It’s weird progress, but I guess I’ll take it.
20
DAHLIA
On Wednesday night,I have an early dinner with the girls and then head up to my room. We leave tomorrow morning for Gold Canyon, even though the tournament doesn’t start until Friday. We’ll get to the host course Thursday afternoon, hit the driving range, maybe play a few holes, then go to sleep early so we can be up in case we’re in the first group to tee off.
I finalize and submit some homework, triple-check I have everything I need for the next two to three days, and I’m in bed by nine, bag packed and by the door so I can grab it and go in the morning.
My internal clock isn’t ready to go to sleep yet, though, so I pull out my laptop and find something to watch. I pick the first thing I see, some unsolved mysteries-type show. All the lights are off in my room and the house is quiet downstairs. Daisy and Jordan were going out, Violet headed over to Gavin’s, and Jane went to the library to study.
I’m not sure how much time passes. Enough that I’m deeply engrossed in the suspicious and alarming way a young girl went missing without a trace when a scraping noise outside gets my attention. I hit pause and train an ear toward the window. Living next door to The White House, I’ve gotten pretty used to random noises at all hours of the day and night. Whatever it is, stops, so I go back to my show.
But a few minutes later, the noise is back, and this time, it’s louder. Closer.
I set my laptop aside and get up. I’m sure it’s nothing, but I still pad slowly over to the window. A foot away from it, I look out to the street. I don’t see anyone, and everything looks like it always does. I guess this is what I get for watching a creepy true crime show before bed.
My shoulders relax and I take a step closer to admire the clear, quiet night. Suddenly, a dark head pops up out of nowhere. Glowing eyes stare through the glass pane and the knock that comes a millisecond later sends me jumping backward and screaming.
The floating head on the other side screams back, then laughs. “Shit, you scared me. Little help here, hot stuff.”
I hurry to open the window, and Felix pulls himself inside.
“I scared you?! What are you doing?”
“Nobody was answering downstairs.”
“So you climbed up to my window? Why? And how?”
“It was easy, actually. I climbed onto the fence around your yard, and then from there, I was able to pull myself onto the porch roof.” He smiles proudly. “I brought you something. I brought you two somethings, in fact.”
“Is one of them a new heart because mine feels like it’s going to explode at any second. Holy crap. What if you’d fallen?”
“Worried about me? Aww. That’s sweet. I was perfectly safe the whole time. Promise.” He makes an X over his heart.
Pulse still racing, I shut my laptop to cut off the ominous music from the show and then flip on the overhead light in my room.
