Page 22 of Late Nights

Cannon laughed. “Can’t be staring at me, or you’re a sitting duck.”

“I wasn’t staring at you,” I argued.

“You totally were.”

I totally had been.

“Was not.”

“Really? Then what were you looking at?” he challenged.

“I was looking past you, because…” I looked past his face to something I could lie about, but there was nothing. “Because I thought I saw something on the wall. Spiders freak me out.”

And yep, looking for a made-up reason to explain why I had been staring at him caused my character’s death yet again. Ugh.

“Uh-huh, sure.” By his grin, he knew I was full of crap.

I hated how he always came out on top in conversations like these. That he was always the calm one while I was a rattled mess. And though I couldn’t expect him to react to me the same way I did to him—thanks to my dumb crush—that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to put a wrench in his cool and collected demeanor.

In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I grabbed his controller from his hands.

The look of shock on his face was exactly what I had been going for. I gave him a wicked grin, feeling like I had somehow won. What I won, I didn’t know, but it felt good to know I’d caught him off guard.

He responded with a mischievous grin of his own. “Oh, is that how we are going to play?” He reached for the controller, but I was faster, lifting it high above my head, his hand grasping air.

His eyes turned predatory, and heck if it didn’t make me excited about what his next move was going to be.

He reached for it again, but I pushed up off the couch, moving my body higher. He moved with me, not giving me a chance to counteract his next move. With my arm up straight above me, he moved in for the kill—tickling me.

My arm instantly came down, but it was too late. He had full access to my underarms and sides, and he was taking full advantage.

“Oh, my gosh, Cannon, no,” I giggled in between gasps of air.

“Give me back my controller, and this can all end,” he taunted, his hands tickling me relentlessly, the game completely forgotten.

I didn’t want to give up so easily and worked to get away, but I was too ticklish and was no match for Cannon’s strength.

Falling back on the couch, he came with me, his body hovering over mine, and it was both the best and worst situation to find myself in. Having Cannon’s strong body above mine was like a fantasy come true, but being tickled was torturous.

“Okay, okay,” I wheezed out, shoving the controller into his chest. “You win.”

His fingers stopped moving along my sides and I finally took in a full breath, tears leaking out of the sides of my eyes from laughing so hard.

Now that I could focus on something other than the need to stop being tickled, I could feel the weight of Cannon’s body on me, our legs tangled, our breathing heavy as we stared at each other, the silly moment gone.

As cheesy as it sounded, I could get lost in his eyes, the crystal-clear blue mesmerizing. A piece of his hair fell forward, and I wished I could reach up and push it back, feeling the silky strands against my fingers. Instead, I laid there, not wanting to move, wishing we could stay in this moment forever.

His eyes seemed to be drinking me in, like maybe he was enjoying this moment as much as I was.

“I have a hard time not staring at you too,” he said, barely above a whisper.

Wait. Did he just say what I think he said? Was I dreaming? Was I in some alternate universe? Did Cannon James just admit he struggles to keep his eyes off of me?

Before I could say anything, he was gone, and I instantly missed the feel of him on me.

He stood several feet away, running his hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or himself. He looked down at the ground, his face devoid of emotion. He was clearly regretting what he’d said, and I didn’t want this to become some awkward thing between us. I could blow it off as a random incident between two people having fun and getting carried away. No need for him to freak out.

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