Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“Ezra.” I whispered.
He looked up, sleeves shoved to his forearms, Nike cap low over his glasses. Arms corded, veins taut—God, I hated myself for noticing. The obsession with how he looked all could have really been avoided if he wouldn’t have touched me, kissed me, made me wonder even more what it would be like if it was just me and him. If an us was even possible.
“Surprise?” Ezra shrugged, his massive grin used to make me roll my eyes or laugh—never had it made my entire body feel like it had been lit on fire the way it did now, like I was seconds away from barreling towards him, knocking him into the bean bag and smashing my face against his while trying to rip off the glasses and hat. The body wants what it wants—and the heart, well the heart had always been half way in love anyway—the brain just new better by telling the heart to stop thumping so hard and get over it.
Not anymore. Nope. The brain noise was gone and all I had was my heart telling me he was perfect and my body saying let’s hydrate and climb that man!
Tears blurred my eyes. He reached for me, caught me, pulled me in, then snapped a selfie of us mid-hug. “To being done before even starting.” He kissed my cheek as the sound of him snapping the picture filled the room, it wasn’t loud but I felt it—physically, like he’d just pressed “go” on something he couldn’t stop. Incredible, how one small movement could define or mean so many different things, could make you breathe a bit different, create goosebumps that won’t go away and feelings that linger in the air.
My breath hitched. Maybe he hadn’t meant to do that. No cameras. No one watching. Just us.
“Ezra…” My lips trembled. I’d be protecting myself if I said nothing. I’d be regretful if I stayed silent.
His gaze lingered on my mouth before he tossed his hat onto the desk followed by his glasses, he was in front of me again, this time determination in his eyes as he jerked me against him, slamming his mouth against mine.
My best friend was kissing me. Ezra was kissing me.
Strong hands lifted me onto one of the small desks, mouth hot and urgent, he growled against my lower lip, bit down gently, pulled back only long enough to rasp, “I know what I’m doing. I’m kissing you.”
That cleared that up. Not.
“Are there cameras?” My voice cracked. Please say “no”. Please God say “no”.
He stilled, was it hesitation or catching his breath? “No cameras. Just us. Only us.”
I believed him. God help me, I believed him.
I kissed him back. Lied to myself that I wasn’t in love with him. Let myself fall apart in his hands because it was too good not to. His fingers slid under my shirt. I moaned.
“God, your boobs are perfect,” he whispered hoarsely.
I laughed, breathless, as he reached for my shirt fisting it in his hands like he was seconds away from ripping it off my body.
And then—
The classroom door banged open.
“Ms. Hayes?” Mrs. Dayton poked her head in, clutching her planner to her chest. Behind her, the janitor hovered with his cart. “Sorry to interrupt, but I needed to check on the Inservice schedule. And Carl here says he’s supposed to replace some of your lights, if that’s okay?”
My cheeks burned. My shirt was at least on, thank God.
Mrs. Dayton’s eyes darted anywhere but at me. “We’ll just—uh—come back in a few minutes, give you time for…breathing.”
“No, it’s fine,” I croaked, pretending like my entire world hadn’t just tilted. “The lights…sure. Whatever works.”
“Great.” She gave a brisk nod, retreating. The janitor mumbled something about ballasts and beat a hasty retreat after her, cart squeaking down the hall.
The silence they left behind was deafening and then Ezra’s phone went off. With a curse he grabbed it. “Yeah, yeah, okay I’ll be right there. Yeah.” He grabbed his hat and glasses and stared me down, voice low. “Later.” It was a promise. “We should talk. I have something to tell you anyways.”
“Yes. Good. Later.” The word slipped out before I could stop it, shaky and desperate. “Later tonight?”
Someone started yelling on the other line again.
He bit out a curse. “It’s fine, stop panicking.” Ezra walked by me, his scent lingered and for one dizzy, insane moment, I let myself believe in happy endings. I let myself believe that was just a moment for us, that later everything would change, that what started off as fake—had turned into our reality.
I had no way of knowing how wrong I would be.
Or how right, depending on how you looked at it.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
HARPER
It’s not like I wanted to hide the fact that I live with my parents from you I just figured you were too self-absorbed to notice, plus grandma rarely sleepwalks—she’d clearly been hitting the whiskey again. Call me, or not. Whatever.