Boarded by Love
Page 38

“So, what are you doing next Saturday night? I hope you don’t have to work.”
“Why, what’s going on?”
“We have our annual Latin night at the frat house. Cesar’s mom makes rice, beans, and tacos, and we drink margaritas. It’s a blast,” he says then he smacks himself in the head. “What am I doing? Of course you’ll be there. We hire you guys to come and do a cute little Latin dance.”
“What? We dance for y’all?”
“Yeah, for the whole party. It’s fun. You’ll have a blast.”
Okay, first, I need to make sure I have that off. Ms. Prissy will probably murder me, but oh well. And second, there is no way in hell I’m doing one of those 1999 videos for the Bellevue hockey team party. No fucking way. “I’m not dancing. I’ll come, but I’m not dancing if we’re doing those crappy-ass dances. I bet they’ll do the Macarena. No way in hell.”
He laughs. “They did that last year.”
“Of course they did. Fucking hell, no way. I’m saying something.”
“Good, get it done, baby. Do something supersexy. Shake that ass for me.”
He winks and I laugh as he wraps his arms around my shoulders, pulling me in close. He then asks, “So you’ll be my date, right?”
“Date? Hmm, let’s see if my schedule is clear.”
He stops, glaring at me, and I can’t hold in my laughter, especially when he starts tickling me relentlessly. When I fall to the ground, he falls on top of me, tickling and kissing me as I shriek and giggle. Settling between my thighs, his eyes meet mine and something inside me shifts.
I superlike this guy.
“Be my date,” he demands, moving his hand up my cheek and into my hair.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” I say back and he smiles.
“Please be my date?”
As I wrap my leg around his hip, his eyes fall shut from how close I allowed him to get. Moving my thumb along his bottom lip, I whisper, “You know by then our fourteen days will be up.”
He nips at my thumb as his eyes lock with mine. “So you’ll be my girlfriend?”
My heart completely comes out of my chest at that point, and it takes everything out of me to hold in my smile as I shrug. “If you ask nicely, maybe.”
He nods, and then hops up, and I miss his warmth immediately as he reaches down to help me up. “Good, then you’ll have to go since boyfriends and girlfriends do everything together.”
I don’t move when he starts to walk. Mulling his words over, I ask, “So what you’re saying is that you’re not going to be all romantic and ask me sweetly to be your date to Latin night?”
He flashes me a grin and says, “Of course I am, when I’m good and ready. Don’t rush me, woman.”
He wraps his arm across my shoulder, and we continue toward the rink. When we’re almost there, I look up at him and ask, “So you think at the end of our fourteen days, you’ll want to be my boyfriend?”
He glances at me and says, “If I could ask you now to be my girlfriend and know you’d say yes without question, I would.”
His eyes are so tender and full of admiration for me. I’ve never felt so gorgeous in my life than I do now under his gaze in a ratty pair of sweats and a tank. My hair looks like a bird’s nest, but it doesn’t matter with his eyes on me. As much as I want to enjoy what he just said, something bothers me about his statement.
“What makes you think I wouldn’t say yes?”
His mouth pulls up at the side as he shrugs. “I think you need the reassurance that I don’t only want you for sex, that I’m in this for the long haul, so I’m gonna wait it out. Make sure you’re happy with us before I ask to make you mine.”
My eyes are locked with his because he hit that nail right on the head. “You’re completely right.”
“I know. I usually am,” he says with a goofy grin, his seriousness long gone and replaced with a grin. He then leans toward me, pressing his lips to my cheek before hugging me tight to his side, and I know right then that it’s gonna be completely easy to fall for this guy.
When we reach the rink, he kisses me long and sweetly before making me promise to text him once I’m done. As I watch him walk away, my heart feels like it’s coming out of my chest, and everything inside me is so warm and fuzzy. I don’t want to go anywhere; I want to stay here and watch him walk away. Knowing that can’t happen, I turn and head inside. Once inside the gym, I drop my bag against the wall and throw off my sweats and tank, watching as some girls stretch and others talk. When Rachael sees me, she gives me a look – not a welcoming one – before turning back to talk with her minions.
Rolling my eyes, I head to where Skylar is stretching and grin as I drop down. “Saw you had a visitor this afternoon. In your bed. With no clothes on.”
I smile as I nod. “Yeah, we took a nap. We had underwear on.”
She waggles her eyebrows at me, and I giggle as she asks, “Did ya get some action?”
Shaking my head, I smack her thigh as I stand to stretch my quads. “No, I told you we’re waiting two weeks before doing that again.”
“And I told you, you are completely insane. If I had Jude Sinclair naked and willing in my bed, I’d be on that like a fat kid on cake.”
“You’re nuts,” I say, laughing as I pull my leg up by my head. She rolls her eyes and continues to stretch until Rachael comes to the middle of the group.
“All right, so glad to see everyone. We’re gonna go over the video some more for our main dances and then learn a new dance that we’ll be doing for the Bullies’ Latin night that’s next Saturday. Old team, it’s the same from last year. New girls, it’s not hard, so you’ll catch on easily.”
“’Cause a five-year-old could do it,” I say under my breath, and Skylar smacks my arm.
“Shh,” she mouths and I roll my eyes.
“Everyone good?” Rachael asks.
Her eyes settle on me, almost challenging me, and I decide that I can’t do this anymore.
“Nope, not at all,” I say, and I hear Skylar groan beside me.
Everyone turns to look at me and Rachael’s hand comes on her hip, her eyes sharp as razors. “Problem, Claire?”
“Just a small one,” I say, holding my finger and thumb a tad bit apart.