Page 33 of Look What You Made Me Do

“Every kid on that list” – he tapped it for emphasis, his eyes bright with sincerity – “deserves their spot.”

A flood of pent-up emotion clogged in her throat and prickled at her nose. Ella’s teeth dug into her bottom lip to prevent it from spewing out. She looked down, blinking rapidly to clear the hot shimmer of tears.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice scratching like sandpaper in her throat.

“Ella?”

When she didn’t answer, he lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Ella,” he repeated.

She shook her head, avoiding eye contact, looking at his neck, his ear, the round outline of his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It’s been… He just doesn’t have any confidence in himself… but he’s smart, you know?” She swiped at a tear that had managed to avoid her blinking and spilled over. “All his teachers say so, he just doesn’t apply himself… He’s too angry – with me and Rachel – and I know how much he wanted this…”

“Hey,” Jake said, his thumb drying another tear. “Don’t cry.”

She gave a gurgle of embarrassment, dodging his touch as every cell in her body screamed at her to lean in. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I’m not usually this emotional.”

Despite often extreme provocation, Ella had learned early to shelter behind an aloofness she wore like armor. Where no one could touch her.

Hell, she’d not even cried at her mother’s funeral.

“It’s just… It’s been a tough couple of years and… I never thought I’d suck this badly at being a big sister.”

He nodded, his expression full of compassion, his eyes full of knowing. Full of understanding – as only Jake could. On the back of Cam’s insult, it was surprisingly comforting.

“I swear to God,” she said, her voice perilously shaky. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that then I’m going to be bawling like a baby.”

He smiled as his thumb swept across the ridge of her cheekbone. “Like what?”

The caress was so gentle Ella’s eyelids fluttered closed as she swayed a little. They opened again to find the look in his eyes had changed. His pupils had dilated, the green intensified. He was staring at her mouth.

Was he closer? Was she?

“Like what, Ella?”

Like he wanted to kiss her. “Jake.”

If he heard the warning note in her voice, he ignored it.

In fact, he took a step closer. She supposed she should back up, but all of her faculties deserted her as her gaze locked irresistibly on his mouth. The gallop of her pulse echoed in her ears as her belly looped-the-loop.

His head dipped at the same time she lifted on her tiptoes and when his lips settled on hers she sighed against his mouth. It was soft and gentle and she welcomed his lazy exploration, her blood pumping thick and warm and slow through her belly and breasts and thighs.

But then his tongue stroked against the seam of her lips and the slow heat roared to life like a struck match and she wanted more. She wanted to feel the full force of his kiss. She wanted open mouths and heavy breathing. Parting her lips, Ella’s tongue sought his, bold and sure, deepening the kiss on a husky moan, gripping the front of his shirt, pulling him closer as pure, unadulterated lust coursed through her system.

The loud trill of the school bell was like the proverbial bucket of ice water and they both pulled back.

Ella’s pulse leaped at the unexpected interruption and it took a second for her to grapple her thoughts back from the abyss of pleasure still swirling and sucking at every inch of her body.

But then the real world intruded as the sounds of students rushing by outside brought her back to the here and now.

They were standing in her office. In front of the window.

For the entire world to see.

Anyone could have caught them. A student. A parent. Donald Wiseman from the district education review board with the creepy smile and penchant for adjusting himself during his unannounced visits.

God knew the train full of passengers seemed to be inordinately interested in the goings on.

Just as well the bell had rung because who knew what kind of show they’d have witnessed had it not.

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