Lake (Trinity Academy 3)

My mouth drops open, and my head quickly turns to Lake, “There’s more?”

He pulls a cute face and scrunching his shoulders up, he says, “Sorry?”

“Eomeo.” I bring my hands to my cheeks and stare at him with huge eyes, “Gwiyeobda!”

“Holy shit,” Mason mumbles next to us, and I quickly glance at him. He's staring at both Lake and me. “Buddy, I’m sorry to say this, but you’re fucked.”

“I just realized that,” Lake says, then he takes hold of my arm. “Do that again.”

“What?” I ask, not understanding what they’re talking about.

“The huge eyes, excited thing you just did,” Mason tries to explain.

“Like this?” I ask, and I bring my hands to my cheeks again and widen my eyes.

“Now add the words.”

I finally catch on to what Mason is talking about and decide to try something different. Keeping my hands against my cheeks, I furrow my brow and pout at Lake, pretending to look sad. “Oppa! Lee can’t take all of this.”

Lake rubs a hand over his face, and I get a glimpse of a huge smile as he turns slightly away from me. He places a hand over his heart and protests, “Shit, that’s too cute.”

He keeps sneaking peeks at me, so I up my level of cuteness. I place the tip of my forefinger on my bottom lip and turning my head from one side to the other, I go, “Humf, humf… Oppa, this is too much for Lee.”

Lake just stares at me for a little while, and when he darts forward, I let out a squeak of surprise. Moving in behind me, he wraps an arm around the front of me and pulls me back until I’m practically locked to his chest. When I try to glance up at him from over my shoulder, he shakes his head and leaning down, he buries his face in my neck.

“No more,” he chuckles, and I feel the sound vibrate through my back. “You’re too cute for me to handle right now.”

“Yep, like I said,” Mason grumbles, “You’re fucked.”

“Who? Why?” Kingsley asks as she comes into the room, carrying a bag.

“I did this,” I say, and when I lift my hands to my cheeks, Mason drops the bags, grabs Kingsley and places a hand over her eyes. Lake rushes to take hold of my wrists and pin them to my chest.

“No way in hell am I letting you teach her that,” Mason exclaims, and begins to drag her out of the room.

Kingsley laughs and tries to pull his hand away from her eyes. “I want to see.”

Laughter bubbles over my lips as I watch Mason lift her off her feet and carry her out of the room, while arguing, “No, you’re cute enough.”

When I hear the door to the suite click shut, I slowly become aware of the fact that Lake has me pinned to his chest.LakeWhen we’re alone, I can’t make myself let go of Lee. Not yet.

It feels like I’m bursting with affection for this woman after all the cute faces she made. It makes me wish I could lock her in my heart and keep her there.

Earlier, when I placed my hand against her neck, I could feel her pulse racing. The moment made me realize Lee no longer sees me as a stranger.

She’s already relaxed so much around the group and myself, and every time I get to learn something new about her, it makes my feelings for her grow.

Seeing the interest in her eyes when she looks at me fills me with relief and happiness. I’ve lived the past two years with the knowledge that I would marry her. But now that I’m getting to see her smile, hear her laughter, and I’m able to touch her, it makes everything an overwhelming reality.

It feels like I’m watching my hopes and dreams come to life.

Even though she’s not shying away from me anymore, I don’t want to push her. Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, I reluctantly loosen my hold on her.

She doesn’t dart forward, like she would’ve done yesterday, but instead turns around and smiles at me before she looks at all the bags, “Where do I even start?”

Grinning, I pick up the closest bag and tip it over on the bed. I pick up a black shirt and shake my head, throwing the fabric to the side. “I think we should separate all the dark colors and throw them out.”

“Why?” she asks, picking up the black shirt and folding it neatly.

“Because light and colorful clothes will flatter you most,” I explain, and begin to work my way through all the items until there’s a neat heap of dark colors stacked on the right side of the bed. “I think that solves the problem,’ I mumble.

Lee lets out a chuckle as she starts to place the stacks back into empty bags.