Luke came to a stop and grabbed my elbow to steady me. “Sorry, am I going too fast?”
I laughed. “No, I don’t mean slow down your pace, I meant with the questions.”
He grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “I admire your enthusiasm, but you don’t need to learn all there is to know about coding in one day.”
He grinned down at me. “Fair enough. But I don’t want to be a slacker on this, I want—”
“I know.” I rested my free hand on his bicep without thinking and then tugged it back quickly. Being this close to Luke was dangerous to my mental health. And touching? That added a whole other level of confusion.
He studied my face and something relaxed in him. That was when I realized…he’d been worried. Oh, the shift in him wasn’t major or anything but at some point in these past six weeks I guess I’d started to get to know the guy because while not super obvious, I noticed.
He was relieved that I believed him. He didn’t want me to think he was a slacker.
The tightness in my chest was totally unwarranted. As was this mushy sensation, like my chest cavity was melting.
Ugh. Luke Warner was officially a menace to my sanity.
“New topic then,” Luke said, turning to keep walking, but his hand now hovered over my elbow, not exactly guiding me but ready to help me at a moment’s notice. The move reminded me of one of those couples in a British period piece, like some gentlemanly act from another era. Definitely not in keeping with the smartass I’d grown to know and love.
Not love-love. You know what I mean. It was just a figure of speech.
“How’d you get into gaming?” he asked.
This was not what I’d meant when I’d asked him to ease up on the coding Q & A period of the day. Memories came flooding back but I shrugged and mumbled, “I don’t know.”
“Okay,” he said with a funny little drawl. “New question. Do you know where you’re heading to college?”
I took a deep breath of relief. This was something I could answer. I gave him the pat answer I’d been giving my well-intentioned family members for the past six months, rattling off my top choices followed by my safety schools.
“Something tells me you’re not going to need to worry about safety schools,” he said with an affectionate smile that made me turn my head to hide my blush. Confusion rattled inside me because what the heck was that?
Was I reading too much into that smile? Would he smile at any girl like that if they just so happened to be here walking alone in nature with him?
Probably.
“What about you?” My voice came out a little too loud and bubbly as I tried not to show how affected I was by his smiles and his attention. “Any plans for college?”
He made a sound that was part sigh, part groan, and all exasperation.
“Sorry,” I said. “Annoying question?”
“More like I hate the answer.”
“Which is?”
He looked down at me and behind the normal smile was a hint of sadness. “The answer is I have no plan.”
I blinked. I had no idea what to say to that. I mean, we were seniors. As far as I knew, we all had a plan. We sort of had to. Enforced sessions with the guidance counselor demanded it. Even if it wasn’t college, everyone I talked to in our class had some sort of plan. Traveling, a trade school, or going straight to work…something.
But not Luke, apparently.
He looked straight ahead and kept walking. “I know, right? Everyone has a plan. Just…not me.” He added the last part with a shrug.
I still struggled with what to say, but he filled the silence for me. “It’s like we were all just going along doing our high school thing and then one day everyone around me started thinking about the future.” He shrugged. “Everyone figured it all out while I was napping, apparently.”
I let out a little huff of amusement at his self-deprecating humor, but I was honestly blown away by his honesty. I experienced a surge of sympathy for the guy who suddenly looked not so cocky and more than a little lost.
Still, I had a feeling he wouldn’t want my pity so I lightened my tone and nudged his arm. “Not while you were napping,” I teased. “While you were partying.”
He turned to me with a laugh as I continued with a wave of my hand. “While you were playing basketball, and hooking up with every girl in our class, and—”
“Okay, okay,” he interrupted. “I get your point. I’ve been a slacker.”
I was glad to hear laughter in his voice.
“That wasn’t my point,” I informed him primly. Just because I wanted to hear him laugh again, I murmured quickly before taking another sip of hot chocolate, “And word has it you’re a player, not necessarily a slacker.”
He let out a short laugh and came to a stop with a hand over his heart. “Suzie Q, are you mocking my pain?”
His grin made it impossible not to smile in return. “Not mocking,” I said. “Just teasing you a little.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “I guess I deserved that.”
Damn straight he did. “My point wasn’t that you were slacking,” I said. “I just meant that while you were busy enjoying high school the rest of us have been planning our great escape.”
He laughed. “Great escape, huh? Is Grover High really all that bad?”
I gaped up at him. “You do recall the first day of school, right? You know, when I was totally humiliated in front of the whole student body and then mocked mercilessly for the next month or so?”
He had the good grace to cringe at the memory. “Yeah. About that…” He looked down at me. “I’m really sorry that happened to you. I never actually said it, and I should have.”
I stopped breathing. I stopped moving. Was this actually happening? “Oh, um…” I swallowed. “Thanks.”
Yup. Eloquent and cool, that was me.
After the tense silence stretched on just a little too long, I cleared my throat. "Maybe we should be heading back to the car." I looked around me pointedly. "I think I have a good grasp of what you’re envisioning for the game."
He arched his brows. "And?”
I knew what he was asking. "And…I think it's a really great idea," I admitted.
From the way he grinned at me you'd think I'd just gifted the guy a million dollars. His reaction made me feel slightly guilty and I kicked at the dirt at my feet. "This was a really great idea," I repeated.
Luke shrugged and feigned modesty. "Yeah well, I have my moments."
I laughed, glad to be back on normal footing. If Luke was acting cocky, then all was right in the world.
But something was still nagging at me. I didn't know how to address it or what to say, but as we reached the parking lot and were heading to my car I came up with something that wasn't quite good enough but would have to do. "You don't have to have it all figured out now, you know," I said.
He looked over at me, his brows arched in surprise. Yet he didn't say anything.
I felt blood rushing to my cheeks as I stared at the ground at our feet as if the right words might be there somewhere as we shuffled along toward the car.
"What I mean is, we're still young. You still have a lot of time. You don't have to have your whole future figured out now." I glanced over and saw him staring at me, his gaze intense.
He softened it with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yeah well, try telling my dad that."
I bit the inside of my lip, unsure of what to say to that. I mean, it wasn't like Luke and I were the best of friends… Or even friends at all.
But he kept talking and I found myself anxious to hear what he had to say.
"I'm kind of the failure of my family."
I glanced over in surprise, not just at the words but at his tone. He sounded so blasé, so very nonchalant. As if he was just stating the facts. Honestly, it made me hurt on his behalf.
"Luke, if you are a failure then I'd be terrified to meet the rest of your family."
He looked over in surprise and I gave him a small smile in return. "I mean, look at you." I gestured vaguely in his direction. "You're a freaking basketball star–"
"Former basketball player,” he corrected. “And never a star.”
I ignored that. "Not to mention the fact that everyone loves you," I said.
"Popularity doesn't do much for your transcripts," he said, his tone wry and his expression rueful.
I shrugged. "Maybe. But in my experience charisma gets you further in life then all the A's on the planet."
I felt his eyes on me and cursed the heat in my cheeks. “Seriously,” I said. “I mean teachers and our parents make it sound like the key to success is learning facts and figures but in all reality, if you and I were to interview for the same job today, you’d get it.”
He gave a snort of amusement.
“It’s true,” I said. “Life’s inherently unfair like that.”
“Wow.” We both stopped in front of my car and he gave me a mischievous look. “While I’m actually kind of loving your cynicism, I’ve got to point out that you’re really selling yourself short.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh please. What I lack in likeability I make up for in self-awareness. I don’t believe in pretending I’m something that I’m not.”
“Like a badass gamer?” he shot back. “An honest, straight shooter with an understated but wicked sense of humor and the wildest hair I’ve ever seen?”
I narrowed my eyes at him equally exasperated and amused by his apparent determination to make me sound cooler than I was. At least he hadn’t tried to convince me I was pretty. “Look, I won’t feel sorry for you and your issues with your dad and the future, and all that. But in return, I don’t want your pity either. Deal?”
His lips twitched upward in grudging amusement. “Deal.” He threw his hands up in surrender. “You win,” he said, his tone a little too casual. “I won’t try to convince you that you’re likeable.”
I shot him a wary look because there was definitely a but coming.
He leaned over slightly. “But you can’t convince me that I don’t like you.”
My mouth fell open and I waited for him to laugh, to smirk, to do something callous and rude to say that he was making fun of me. Granted, being so pointedly rude wasn’t really his style. Still, I watched and waited and…nothing. No laughter, not even that familiar teasing glint in his eyes.
If anything, his gaze grew darker, more serious. He didn’t pull back so he was still leaning over ever so slightly, almost like he might…almost like maybe he was going to—
“We should go.” I spun on my heel and dove for the driver’s side door.
Clearly I was misreading everything. This guy had screwed with my head in a major way. In no known reality would the big, bad player of Grover High be hitting on little Suzie Bryers. And he certainly wouldn’t be kissing her. Not unless there was some sort of bet involved.
I shook off the thought and shoved the key into the ignition as Luke climbed into the passenger seat beside me. I refused to look over at him as I turned the key and…
Nothing.
I tried again and…nothing again.
Panic had my heart jumping into my throat.
“Battery died?” Luke said, his voice low, warm, and calm.
Clearly he was not freaking out—about potential kisses or the fact that we were now stranded on a mountain because…why? I did a quick scan and muttered a curse under my breath.
Yup, there it was. It had been foggy and overcast on the drive up so I’d turned on my lights. And apparently I’d never turned them off. “I drained the battery.”
To his credit he didn’t laugh at me. But when I turned to face him he was definitely amused.
“This isn’t funny,” I said.
“I know.” But he still had a small smile on his lips.
“We’re stranded.”
“We’re not stranded,” he said, a laugh escaping with his words. He gestured to the other cars in the parking lot. “There are plenty of other people around. I’m sure someone will let us use their car to jump the battery.”
Oh. Right. When he said it like that maybe I was overreacting just a tad. Still, a flush had crept into my cheeks as I remembered what I’d said when I’d insisted that I be the one to drive.
“Sorry,” I said.
He looked surprised. “I’m not.”
I sighed. “You’re being too nice to me today.”
He outright laughed at that as he shifted in his seat to face me. “Too nice? Is that even a thing?”
“With you it is.”
He flinched and I realized just how rude that sounded. “Not that you’re not nice,” I said quickly. “You seem like a perfectly nice guy.”
“Uh huh.” He gave me a bland look. “Anytime you want to stop using the word nice to define me, that would be just fine by me. It’s not doing wonders for my ego.”
“I just mean—”
“I know what you mean,” he said. “You’re used to me teasing you.”
“Mocking me, more like,” I said.
“I beg to differ,” he said. “But…if I ever made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”
And there he went. Apologizing again. Being nice again.
It was disconcerting, and I was already frazzled by the almost-but-probably-not-near-kiss a minute ago, not to mention the very real evidence of my distractedness—this dead car.
“However,” he continued, his voice lightening with the jokey tone I knew so well. “All that being said, when I told you I wasn’t sorry we were stuck here together, I was definitely not being nice.”
As he spoke he shifted toward me, slowly but surely until he was in the middle of the bench seat and inches away from me. Too close for me to think properly. “Um…you weren’t?”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t. In fact, I was being kind of selfish.”
“You were?”
He nodded. “I was.”
I drew my brows together in an attempt to concentrate on what he was saying, or what he was trying to say. “How were you being selfish?”
One side of his mouth tugged upward in a lopsided smile—the one that never failed to take my breath away. “Because this means I get more time alone with you.” He leaned in closer and I jerked away.
“What are you doing?”
He paused, his dark eyes flashing with laughter. “I’m trying to kiss you.”
“Oh.”
His eyes met mine. “Is that okay?”
“Okay?” I licked my lips which were suddenly dry, as if they just knew they were being talked about. I couldn’t process this, I couldn’t think. So maybe…
Maybe it was time to stop thinking. My heart was racing and everything in me wanted to lean forward and close the distance between us. “Um, yeah. Okay.”
He didn’t hesitate, he didn’t give me a chance to change my mind. He leaned in and claimed my lips in a kiss that made the earth’s rotation come to an immediate and cataclysmic halt.
Oh sweet mercy. A sizzling sensation flooded through me as his firm, warm lips moved over mine with an assuredness that did away with any hesitations on my part. He took the lead and I let him, my lips clinging to his as he parted them, deepening the kiss. His tongue was hot and teasing, his arms tight around me, keeping me grounded. Gently but firmly he pulled me closer to him, shifting us both so we were intertwined.
Somehow my arms came to be around his neck and that moaning sound…was that me? I didn’t know and I didn’t care. My brain had checked out and all that was left was bliss. Sweet heat and this overwhelming feeling of being cherished. Adored.
This incredible sensation that I was seen, and what he saw was beautiful.
Maybe it wasn’t the car that died, maybe it had been me. That was the only way to explain the fact that I was suddenly in heaven.
Chapter Seven
Luke
I could have kissed Suzie for hours. For an eternity. I could have happ
ily sat in that incapacitated vehicle and just kissed her.
I’d done my fair share of kissing before, but nothing compared to this. There was a connection there that I’d never felt before, something that made the act of kissing so much more than lips on lips. It was a silent communication, a level of bonding that went beyond words. With that kiss I tried to tell her everything I’d been feeling ever since I’d discovered that she was Prince Z. I tried to show her what she’d come to mean to me and how I saw her.
Clearly I’d been failing these past six weeks—I’d gotten her attention but hadn’t been able to get her to see that I liked what I saw. That I wanted to know more.
I tried to say all that with the kiss, but in the end I just kissed her with everything I was feeling and hoped she felt it too.
When I finally pulled back she had her eyes closed and her lips were pink and swollen. Her cheeks were flushed and her long pale lashes fell against her freckled cheeks.
She was stunning.
I reached a hand up to cup her jaw and stroke her cheek because I needed to feel her skin. When her eyes flickered open her gaze was glassy and dazed. I grinned at the sight of it.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, her voice breathy and sweet.
I bit back a groan. Did she seriously not get it yet? I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to hers, willing her to see what I was feeling. “Because I wanted to.”
There. That was the simple truth. Any more and I’d have to explain to her just how I fell for her in the first place. Now just didn’t seem like the time to admit that I knew she was Prince Z, or to let her in on the fact that I was DataG.
I had to tell her eventually, of course. I knew that. But I was sort of hoping that maybe I could get her to like me first, or at the very least not distrust me so much.
And yes, I did see the irony in the fact that I was keeping a secret until I earned her trust. But if I told her too soon, I could lose her in real life and as my online friend. I wasn’t sure I could risk that.
See? I hadn’t lied about being selfish.
“I thought you said this wasn't a date.” Her expression was still adorably confused.
My Virtual Prince Charming: Geeks Gone Wild #2 Page 8
