I shrugged. “I just don’t want to upset you. I’m in your house, and you’re technically my mom’s boss.”
“If I’m your mom’s boss, then what am I to you?”
“Umm…” I bowed my head. “I’m not sure. What do you want to be?” I waited on pins and needles for his answer.
Never expecting him to admit, “I need to be the guy you stay away from.”
“Oh…” Feeling brave, I challenged, “What if I don’t want to?”
His eyes dilated, and he didn’t try to hide it from me. He wanted me to know I was having an effect on him, and for a brief moment, I felt powerful.
As quickly as it was there, he snatched it away. Pushing off the doorframe and acting unfazed before he asked, “You like popcorn, Soph?”
Despite feeling disappointed, hearing him call me Soph was doing all sorts of things to my stomach. I stood on shaky legs, hoping he didn’t notice the effect he had on me too.
Trying to play it cool, I nodded. “I like popcorn.”
I’d only been living there for the last month, but I already felt like I knew a lot about him. Especially when it came to girls, they were constantly walking in and out of his house. Sometimes they were the same girls, most of the time they weren’t.
Jax was one of the most popular guys at our school. Everyone knew who he was, and rumors about him ran rampant in the halls. Every day it was something different. The most recent was that he’d lost a bet to his teammate Ryan, and he had to get his dick pierced.
My stomach fluttered just thinking about it. I might have been inexperienced, but I wasn’t stupid.
“Let’s go make Baby Soph some popcorn, huh?”
“Baby Soph?”
He stayed mute until we were standing in the kitchen. “Everyone calls you baby, right?”
Setting the stove on for the kernels, I simply nodded. There I was thinking he was calling me baby in an I’m hitting on you kind of way.
I’m so dumb.
“You don’t have to call me baby like everyone else does. It’s just a silly nickname that started in first grade. I’ve always looked innocent, and you know, younger, and since I’m a petite girl it kind of just stuck.”
What happened next was right out of one of my many dreams about him. He gripped onto my waist and lifted me up onto the counter to stand in between my legs. His grasp never left my sides, and I thought I’d stopped breathing.
“I like throwing around, Baby Soph. Look.” He peered down at his hold. “My hands can touch around your waist.”
I swallowed hard.
“So tell me, Sophie? How innocent are you?”
I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry.
What could I say? The truth?
He’d laugh at me.
I could feel my cheeks burning, and when he dug his fingers into my waist a little harder, it felt as though he was holding back from something as well.
Did he want to kiss me? No. Why would he want to kiss me?
I cleared my throat, wanting to break this intensity between us. It was a connection I’d never experienced with anyone before, and the way he was making me feel was too much of everything. Gazing back toward the stove, I changed the subject.
“Are you going to get the kernels?”
He smiled, and it lit up his entire face. I could tell he knew I was avoiding the question.