Always and Forever (26 page)

He took over, soothing me with his voice while he cut open the nauseating, formaldehyde-drenched
insects and frog. Gawd, it'd been disgusting, but disgusting took on a whole new level
when we got to the earthworm.

A long, filthy worm.
I shudder in remembrance. Apparently I turned a bit greener than I had with any of
the other "victims." Kyle just rubbed my back and told me it'd be all right. I'm
not usually such a sissy. I mean, when I used to go fishing with my parents, I put
my own worm on the hook, so I don't know what prompted that reaction.

Maybe it was because I had to inspect the guts of this worm. Maybe it was the smell.
Jesus, did that thing smell—like smelly feet combined with ass. I don't know. All
I do know is I'm glad that Kyle Cooper had been my partner because not every guy would've
let me get by without doing some of the cutting.

Then one day he produced a small jar of Vicks, opened it, put a little on his finger,
and rubbed it underneath my nose.

"That should help with the smell," he said as he closed the jar and returned it to
his backpack.

That's when my heart started beating for him. He wasn't like the rest of them—the
rich, preppy jocks. He was kind, caring and sweet.

"I switched a class, so you get me for the rest of the semester." He gives Ms. Pritchard
his best smile and I swear I hear every female in the class sigh. I’m not immune,
I feel it as much as the next girl. I just don't want him to know. What would be the
point?

My heart kicks up. I look at Lisa and she looks at me and wiggles her eyebrows and
mouths, "Eye candy."

I don't smile and I'm glad I don't because when I look back at Kyle he's looking right
at me. Crap! I look down at my paper and start drawing random shapes again.

"Well, lucky us!" Ms. Pritchard says enthusiastically. Yeah, on top of being hot,
popular, the star quarterback, point guard of the basketball team, and prom king,
Kyle was also a straight-A student. Teachers loved him extra for that.

"You can take the desk behind Ms. Wilks."

He turns and smiles in my direction.

"Myah," he says as he winks at me from the front of the classroom. In front of everyone.

Oh God.

Naturally, I blush, my heart races, and the butterflies start doing some funky dance
in my stomach. When I notice the entire class staring I wish I could crawl under my
desk and hide. Lisa snickers next to me.

Oh God.

No.

No. No. No. No. No.

It's not as if I'm not used to having him in my classes. I can handle the fact that
whatever God is out there has it in for me and put him in every single one of my classes
the last three semesters—even Home Ec. The only saving grace for me is his last name
starts with "C" and mine with "W". That means, unless there's an unusual pairing up
as had been done in Biology, we're always on opposite sides of the room—because even
if we aren't seated in alphabetical order, I keep my distance.

I need that distance. From him. I can admit that out loud. He overloads my senses.
Not just because he's gorgeous, but because he smells delicious and more than once
I've had the urge to lick his skin to see if he tastes as good as he smells. On top
of all that, he's got an amazing personality. He's not your typical jock. He is—as
I said before—sweet and kind and I really, really wish he was mine.

My head is down and I'm still doodling as he walks by and sits in the desk behind
me, his scent floating over me. I close my eyes briefly and enjoy the woodsy smell
of him.

I hear and feel him lean forward in his desk. He's close, so close I swear I feel
his hands on my hair. I'm grateful I wore it down today because having it up, my neck
exposed, would leave me feeling naked and push me over the edge.

I take a deep, steadying breath when Ms. Pritchard finishes her blather about adverbs.
I can do this. I can.

"We're going to start the semester off with something a little different," Ms. Pritchard
says, going from row to row passing out packets of paper.

I sit waiting for Aaron in front of me to pass back my packet and then… then I have
to turn and give one to Coop. The butterflies have come alive again.

I turn and hand the packet to Coop who winks at me and grins that too-sexy grin that
makes me melt. I can feel my face flame red and he chuckles as I quickly turn to face
forward. I glance at Lisa who is grinning. The traitor. Where's the sympathy for her
BFF? I send her a glare and give her the finger in return and she laughs under her
breath.

I tune in just in time to hear Ms. Pritchard tell us that we're going to be working
on a fictional story, we can choose the genre. This totally rocks! I will, of course,
be writing a romance or romantic suspense.

"You'll be working in groups of two. Now let's see," she says as she starts going
around the room pairing people up. It would be amazing if I'd get Lisa as my partner
but from the way she's pairing people up it looks like I'm going to be paired with—"

"Mr. Cooper and Ms. Wilks."

My face must reflect my horror and Lisa reaches over and nudges my arm. OhGod,ohGod,ohGod.
This can't be happening. A semester-long project with Kyle Cooper. Fuck my life.

I drop my head to the desk, my forehead hitting it with a thud.

I glance to Lisa who gives me a reassuring smile just as I feel a tug on my hair.
I sit up and slowly turn to look at Coop.

"Hey," he says smiling brightly, "—partner."

"Hey," is all I can manage to say.

"From your reaction there, a person would think you don't like me or want to work
with me," he says, his grin doesn't quite meet his eyes. Oh crap. He totally read
that wrong.

"No, no. Oh my God, Kyle, that's not it at all," I tell him, absent-mindedly reaching
out to touch his forearm.

His hand covers mine. "Yeah? You sure?" He sounds so un-Kyle-like… almost insecure.

"Positive. I'm happy to work with you," I tell him smiling, hoping he can't feel the
erratic pulse in my hand or wrist as he squeezes my hand.

"Happy… that's more like it. I like enthusiasm. You should shout that from the rooftops.
It's a pretty big deal, being able to work with me

"So you're gonna wanna do the chick thing, huh?"

I get lost in his eyes. "Chick thing?"

He smiles that smile again and my heart flutters. I'm barely able to hold back my
sigh. He is so completely gorgeous. I just want to lick his lips. Maybe gently tug
on the bottom one with my teeth.

"Yeah, romance. The chick thing."

"Oh," I reply tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "That was my plan—well, until
she said we were partnering," I say with a wry grin.

"It's cool. We can do a romantic suspense or something."

"Really?" I thought for sure he was going to go all macho and insist on writing horror
or straight suspense or thriller.

He shrugs. "Sure. So long as there's murder and mayhem, why not?"

"Um, okay."

"Do you have any plot ideas?"

"No, not just yet." Truthfully I'd like to write a fictional story of my dream version
of me and Coop. We'd be in a relationship, in love and no one would ever be able to
come between us. I sigh and he chuckles.

"Already 'romancing' I see."

I blush and shrug.

"We've got a lot to plot out. Age, race, characters, the suspense part, the romance,
location…" he trails off and I nod.

"It's going to be a big project."

He nods. "We'll have to hook up outside of school to work on this, probably two or
three times a week."

OhMyGod. I had planned on doing a lot of the work on my own and letting him come in
and give his thoughts and changes. I hadn't planned on him participating. At all.

He must notice the surprise on my face because he tilts his head and asked, "What?"

"Uh, well. I guess I didn't figure you'd want to put that much effort into it and
that's fine. I don't mind doing my share of the work."

His brows furrow and he frowns. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "I guess I didn't think you'd have time with all the stuff
you've got going on." You know, I think, basketball and Macyn. Only if what Lisa said
is true, there is no more Macyn.

"Nah, I make time. I'm not one to slack off on the work. Remember Biology?"

I smile. "Yeah, I remember."

He grins and my breath catches. Oh God, that grin. For an entire semester. One-on-one.
I'm never gonna survive.

"You were so repulsed I thought for sure you were gonna puke right there in the lab."

"I came pretty close—especially with those worms." I shudder.

He laughs. "Yeah, you looked pretty green with those."

I sigh.

"What?" he asks.

"Green is so not my color."

He laughs again. "Oh, I don't know. You were pretty cute."

Cute? Did Kyle Cooper just call me cute? I instantly blush.

"You have your cell on you?"

"What?" I'm still hung up on the cute comment.

"Do you have your cell phone with you?"

"Oh, yeah." I pull my iPhone out of my back pocket and hold it up.

"I knew it would be pink," he says just before he reaches for it. I won't apologize
for being a girlie-girl who loves pink. I won't apologize for the daisy stickers on
it either. I'm girlie. People can deal. Every day I wear something that has pink in
it. I don't know why, but I just love the color. Lisa hates it and wouldn't be caught
dead in pink.

Kyle reaches for my phone. I quickly pull it back and hold it against my chest, narrowing
my eyes.

"What do you want with it?"

"I'm not going to go through it or anything. I was just going to put my number in
so you can text or call whenever you want to hook up."

My mouth goes dry. Coop's phone number. In my phone. Holy shit.

I keep my eyes narrowed and slowly hand him the phone and he works it like a pro then
I hear a beep. He pulls his nearly identical iPhone out of his back pocket only his
is black where mine is pink. He slides his long fingers across the screen.

"There." He turns his phone toward me. "Now I've got your number too." He wiggles
his eyebrows.

"Well, don't go all stalker on me like Jason DeMarco did last year when we had to
work on that Psych project."

I look at him and note he's frowning instead of laughing at my, apparently, poor attempt
at a joke.

"What the hell? He stalked you?"

I shrug. "I may be exaggerating a bit."

"She's not." This from Lisa, the traitor across the aisle.

"Thank you very much," I say sarcastically, sending her a glare.

"You're welcome," she replies, sweet as can be.

"What happened?" he asks.

I shrug and shake my head. "It doesn't matter. It's done and over with."

"Hmm," is his only reply. I really don't want to talk to Coop about douchebag DeMarco
and his nonstop texts and phone calls. The nude pictures and—dear God—the videos.
The party where he trapped me, forced his tongue down my throat then proceeded to
touch me wherever he wanted to while I fought, scratched, and clawed at him. I shudder
and shut the memory down, closing my eyes briefly. This isn't something I want to
talk about to him—or anyone—ever.

"Anyway…" I say hoping to change the subject. The bell rings and I breathe a sigh
of relief.

He leans forward, his nose nearly touching mine and I barely cover my gasp—barely.
My heart speeds up and I can't look away from his eyes staring directly into mine.

"This isn't over. You'll tell me what he did."

"You think so, huh?" I reply smartly.

He nods. "I do."

"We'll see," is all I say as I grab my books and stand.

"I'll give you a call tonight after basketball practice and we can figure out a schedule."

I nod. "Sounds good but I'll need—" I was about to say my phone when he leans forward,
his chest brushing mine, his lips a hair's breadth away from mine. My eyes widen as
I lick my lips. His gaze locks onto the movement as he reaches around me and boldly
tucks my phone into my back pocket, my breasts brushing against his chest as he does.
My breath catches and I know he hears it. He pauses and looks at me, his eyes now
almost black as his gaze sears into mine.

After what feels like an eternity but is really only a matter of seconds, he pulls
back straightening to his full height and touches his index finger to the tip of my
nose. While the gesture is light and flirty, he doesn't crack a smile.

"I'll call you."

I nod. As he walks away, I pull my books up to my chest, wrapping my arms around
them.
My eyes still wide. My mouth hanging open. He's rendered me speechless.

"Wow," Lisa breathes standing next to me.

I can only stand there and nod. What the hell just happened?

Lisa elbows me and wiggles her eyebrows. "And," she says saucily, "he's single."

"He's not interested in me like that."

"Don't be stupid, Wilks," Aaron says as he turns and starts walking toward the door.
"His eyes dilated and darkened. He's more than interested."

"Because you shared that information, again, I won't cuff you upside the head for
the insult."

He grunts and gives a half-assed wave as he walks out the door.

Lisa smirks. "See? Girl, you're neither dumb nor blind."

No, I'm not but… he's Kyle Cooper and I'm just… me. He is way out of my league.

She nudges my shoulder with hers. "Let's go. We're gonna be late."

"For what?"

"Tryouts."

Kill me now.

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