What the hell does he think he’s doing?
He clocks me almost instantly and the second his dark eyes come to mine, a flutter rises in my stomach. No, no, no, I cannot have butterflies over this guy. That simply can’t happen. Butterflies are dangerous territory.
It’s first thing on Monday morning and unfortunately for me, I’ve been here for two hours already. Jackson is currently the star player on the Broken Hill High football team and seeing as though I have no intention of walking to school so early in the morning, I’m forced to catch a ride with Jackson, even on days where he has his before school practices. It sucks, but at least it gives me a chance to get through some of my homework and drool over the guys on his team.
The further I walk down the hallway, the more Jesse seems to liven up. When I first walked in, he looked sexy with a smoldering stare, but up close, he looks like an excited kid in a candy store who’s about to get exactly what he wants. “Jesse,” I say, stopping in front of him, feeling my cheeks flush under his intense stare. “Why are you currently overtaking my locker?”
Jesse pushes off my locker and has the audacity to look shocked. “Oh,” he smirks. “This is your locker? I had no idea.”
I narrow my eyes on him, wondering why I can’t stop grinning. “Geez, for being the most popular guy in school, I figured you’d be a better liar.”
He shrugs his shoulders, unapologetically. “What can I say?” he grumbles. “I can’t be perfect at everything.”
God, he’s so cocky, yet I find I absolutely love that about him. I roll my eyes before indicating toward my locker. “Do you mind?”
Jesse instantly steps out of my way, though he doesn’t go far. He steps into the next locker and leans into it as I get busy putting my things away. I quickly glance across to him to find his gaze heavy on my body and a hungry smirk playing on his lips. “What do you think you’re doing? Why are you here?”
He shakes his head. “I’ve been asking myself the same question, Tiger.”
Fuck, there’s that name again. I look at him as though he’s just lost his mind. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that we should hang out.”
My brows furrow. He really has lost his mind. “Umm, correct me if I’m wrong here, but a random screw at some stupid party doesn’t usually result in guys like you wanting to hang out. What’s going on here, Jesse? This isn’t how this is supposed to go.”
He shrugs and gives me a grin that has me clenching my thighs. How is it possible for him to get this kind of reaction out of me? I’ve been hanging out with Jackson’s sexy footballer friends ever since I was little and I’ve never had this issue with a guy. “We’re already way past normal, Kaylah. Spending the night and going back for more, trust me, that shit just doesn’t happen.”
My lip gets caught between my teeth as I take in his words. “Then why did it?” I whisper.
He shakes his head, just as confused as me. “I can’t tell you that,” he murmurs low, stepping into me. His arm goes high on the locker and I can’t help but notice the way the movement has a sliver of his perfectly suntanned skin showing just above his low-hanging jeans. “But I know that I want to do it again.”
Breathe, Kaylah. Breathe.
I try my best to appear unaffected by his closeness but the way he lowers his voice has me desperate to throw myself at him. Shit, what is wrong with me? Don’t tell me that I’m crushing on Jesse Ryder. That can’t happen. Besides, this is all ass up. Usually, you’re supposed to have the ridiculous crush and then sleep with the guy, and once that’s out of the way, you can finally move on. It doesn’t go the other way around. This leaves way too many unanswered questions.
I glance around, making sure no one is paying attention to us and then realize we have the eyes of everyone in the hallway on us. I groan, of course, everyone is staring. This is Jesse Ryder talking to his sworn enemy’s little sister. This is prime time entertainment. “Jesse, what happened on the weekend can never happen again.”
Disappointment flares in his eyes but he’s the king of covering his emotions. He grins down at me, giving me that same look that he gave me on Friday night before I decided it was a good idea to kiss him. His eyes lower and I clench my fingers around the door of my locker to keep me from throwing myself at him. Why am I so affected by this? “Baby, that would be a tragedy.”