Page 146 of Chasing Headlines
“Seems only fair.”
“What?” She gaped at me. “Are you saying I irritate you?”
“You’re the most irritating girl, woman, I’ve ever met. I've used sandpaper that’s less grating.”
“Kissing you was a bit like kissing sandpaper.”
“Never had complaints before.”
“Well, allow me to make up for it, Breslin.” My name dripped like syrup from her lips. I wanted to taste them again.
I tipped her chin and leaned down. “SeemsIhave something to make up for.”
“What? How do you—” I brought my mouth down over hers. Warm and tingly and more than a bit dizzying—or I was still slightly concussed. She kissed me back—her lips moving, nibbling, nipping at mine. Her hand cradled the back of my neck as she pressed into me, spurring on that other part of me with its baser needs. Greedy and searching, it collided with her hip. She gasped, and I swept my tongue between her lips. She tasted like that cinnamon tea, sweetened with honey, and syrupy soft.
She broke the kiss, ducking her head to rest on my sternum. I'm sure she could feel the pounding pace of my heart. Between that and the erection in my scrubs, I was an open fuckin book.
“I should . . . get a warning. Before you pretend things like kisses.” She extracted herself from my embrace.
“Pretend.”
“Like today at school.” She toyed with the end of her ponytail.
“Eberhardt was?—”
“Yeah, but I didn't know. You just tucked hair behind my ear like you actually cared and?—”
“You're confusing things. I'm not—”Pretending. When have I ever been good at pretending anything?“I've not had a serious relationship before,” I said. Coach Jay would say I’m as 'dumb-brained' as ever.
“Just your own group of 'special fans'. I get it.” She huffed. “Let’s just leave it as we irritate each other and go back to life as usual.”
“Life as usual where a handful of people believe we're dating.”
“As long as it's only a few, it's manageable. And we can figure out a good time, the right time, to oh-so-unfortunately 'break up'.”
Uh, no, hell no, fuck no, all of the above no.I wasn't sure where that voice was coming from, but something inside me said this was wrong. And would be a terrible mistake. But the parking lot lights blared in my peripheral vision, and my skull pulsed against the squishy parts of my brain.
She said words I couldn't make out, and then she was in her car . . . driving away.
I watched her go—head aching and empty. That same voice spoke again, the words echoing through the heavy silence.There's only you, Liv.
Chapter Forty-One
Olivia POV
This was bad. Like epically bad. I should not, could not, would not let this guy, man, man-shaped frog have an effect on me. Yes, Coop was, had been, maybe would still prove to be a trulygreatbaseball player. Yes, I had crushed on him in the past. That was before I knew him, in my defense. Because to know him is to hate him.
You don't hate him. You've never hated him.
Ah, but it was safer to pretend like I could. Because, well, shouldn't I? There were at least a million reasons to dislike, detest, despise . . . I'm sure there were plenty of other words in the thesaurus for how Ishouldfeel.
Instead of the fluttery, practically electric—Nope. Not going there.I do not get pathetically wanton around that man. Even if he does have the most amazing dark blue eyes, and his kiss—Stop it. No brain, that's a no no, brain. Ugh!
My Instagram notification pinged on my phone. I unlocked it and instead of it being a comment on one of my baseball reels, the notification said I’d been tagged in a reel from Girl-Boss Power. I groaned out loud.
“Repeat after me: Cinnamon rolls over Alpha-holes. Because really, who needs this?” A ridiculous, curated slide show of grumpy, dark, feral things swept by at a dizzying pace.
“When you can have this?”