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“Are you jealous?” He lifted a brow and stopped walking just at the base of the stands.
“No.” I narrowed my gaze, giving him a sideways glance.
He threw his head back laughing. “You are totally jealous.”
“I shouldn’t have to be, though!” I snapped, and he immediately stopped chuckling.
“That’s fair,” he quietly muttered, sighing. That was a bit harsh, I knew that. I was trying to accept his past for what it was and trust that he wasn’t the same man he’d once been, but seeing things in action definitely didn’t help his case. Though, he had blatantly admitted he thought I was beautiful to those two girls and reinforced that he had asked me not the other way around.
“You promise you didn’t respond in any way to make them think they had a chance with you?” I asked.
“Pinky swear,” he quickly answered and raised his gaze back to mine. Lifting a hand, he offered me his finger, and I wrapped mine around it. “Hold on,” he added as we shook on the pledge.
“Hold on, what?” I slipped my finger from his. He snatched my wrist and tugged me toward him, both of his arms wrapped around my waist, planting me firmly against his chest. A soft mewl left my lips, startled by the abrupt movement. But I didn’t fight it. His touch, his breath, his warmth this close to me caged me in with an inability to have any strength to break free. Strength I didn’t fight for.
He was holding me in front of anyone who happened to look our way. His scent of bergamot wafted into my nose, and I involuntarily leaned a little closer to him.
“Are you staking a claim on me?” He tipped his head.
I stared at his eyes, heat rising quickly to my cheeks. “N-N-No,” I stuttered.
“You have feelings for me.”
“No, I do not.” And with that, I shoved against his hold, immediately finding the power I’d been lacking. “Now, let me go before someone else gets the wrong idea.” He sighed as I squirmed and wiggled against his embrace.
“Alright, fine,” he grumbled and let go of me.
Shooting him a playful grin, my hand shot out and found his hat, snatching it right off his head.
And placed it on my own.
His eyes widened, popping out of the sockets as I spun around and skipped toward the bleacher stairs, oblivious to what my actions meant. The thing was, I had no idea where the impulse came from, but flirting with him in a sort of argumentative way seemed to be our thing.
Calloused fingers suddenly wrapped around my wrist, jerking me to a halt just as I reached the base of the steps.
And the reality of what I’d just done rammed into me like a wrecking ball against a brick wall.
Neither of us moved.
I fixed my eyes on the horizon, shock zapping through my veins.
My heart raced like a horse running wild over the plains in my chest. Every ounce of my skin flushed with adrenaline pricking beneath the base of my skin. I’d grown up in this world; I knew what taking his hat and wearing it had just implied. I also knew that Cassidy knew.
Take it off of me, I silently begged. If he did that, then we could just ignore what this meant. If neither of us said anything about it, then everything could go back to how it was before. To me telling him no every time he asked if I had feelings for him. This action went way beyond feelings, way beyond an impulsive kiss or two. It zoomed past every rational step between the beginning, middle, and then adventure of a relationship.
“Goldie,” his voice was low, barely audible as something brushed against my back. Heat filled my body, the anticipation and unknown swirling so thick, nausea cramped in my stomach.
“I don’t know what to think,” he whispered directly next to my ear.
Me neither, I wanted to scream. But I said nothing, because at the same time, I knew what to think. It was an unpremeditated choice to wear his hat, but now that I was…
“You know what you just did, right?” he asked.
My breath shallowed, pressure deepening against my chest.
I nodded once.
“But you told me no to my simple question of whether you had feelings for me or not.” His breath washed warm over my ear, and I could feel his chest rising and falling against my back.
