Page 16 of Undeniable

James scoffed and shook his head. Disappointment I wasn’t expecting glinted in his blue eyes as Ms. Willmore asked us to begin our presentation.

I turned back to her and forced a small smile. I felt James’s breath against my neck a second before he whispered, “I didn’t cheat, Ivy. And Ihatethat that was your first thought.”

He straightened and turned to the class while my jaw was still on the floor.

“For our project, Ivy and I interviewed Mr. Roger Duncan. He was the principal here for nearly thirty years, but through our interview, we learned that there is so much more to his life than that.”

Somehow I was able to pull myself together long enough to complete the last five slides like James had planned. And even more unbelievable, the project was actually amazing. The details he was able to find and the effort it took to put it all together were astonishing. And I had no idea how he fucking did it.

James was a lot of things—aggravating, cocky, selfish—but he wasn’t a liar. So, after we sat back down and instead of listening to the rest of the presentations, I spent the remainder of class trying to figure out how he’d done it.

When the bell rang, I hustled to gather my things. I wanted to catch James before he headed to lunch, but he was out the door before I had my backpack zipped.

Like an idiot, I told Shelby not to wait up and hurried after him.

“James,” I hollered down the hallway, but he didn’t turn around, continuing toward the cafeteria with Forrest and Brendon on either side of him.

“James,” I tried again, but it wasn’t James that finally acknowledged me as I pushed my way between students.

Brendon turned at the sound of my voice and smiled. “Hey, Ivy,” he said, stopping in the middle of the crowd.

My brother stopped as well, but James was slow—very,veryslow—to turn around. And when he finally did, he appeared completely disinterested. I knew I’d hurt his feelings with the cheating comment, but it wasn’t completely uncalled for.

“Heard you killed your presentation,” Brendon offered, and I smiled.

“Yeah, we did. James, can I talk to you real quick?”

I could hear his sigh over the bustle of the students, but he nodded. “I’ll meet you guys there.”

Forrest glanced between James and me a few times, reluctant for some reason to leave us alone, but he finally pivoted in the direction of the cafeteria. Brendon was even more reluctant, but I gave him a wider, more reassuring smile.

He turned and followed my brother, leaving James and me standing in the quickly emptying hallway.

Patiently, we waited for a few more people to filter into classrooms. But when the bell rang and it was just the two of us, I simply asked, “How?”

With my question, he relaxed. He uncrossed his arms from over his chest and dropped his shoulders enough that I noted the movement. His fitted white Willowwood High T-shirt stretched across his chest as he stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

“I got Mr. Duncan’s daughter’s cell number from Madison’s mom. I called her and after lots of begging and negotiating, she gave me thirty minutes with Mr. Duncan. It was enough time to fill in the gaps in your research. The rest of it wasn’t too hard, besides telling Ms. Willmore that it was my fault you sent the email about us not having it turned in on time. I told her that you didn’t think we’d have it turned in on time because I hadn’t finished my portion. But when I told her I’d gotten it done, she was pleasantly surprised. There’s no way we got less than anA.”

Shocked didn’t begin to describe how surprised I was to hear the effort he’d gone to to finish the project. To practically do the entire thing the night before.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I muttered and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

“I didn’t want to let you down.”

The emotion in my throat was surprising and made it hard to swallow. I found myself fidgeting with the necklace hanging around my neck. I nervously ran the small charm back and forth along the chain. It was a habit I’d picked up when I needed something to do with my hands and I was having trouble sifting through my thoughts.

And standing in front of James, I couldn’t rationalize my thoughts, nor did I recognize my feelings as his words settled over me.

The charm made a faint sound when it swept across the chain, but the heat of James’s hand covering mine stopped my movements. I sucked in a quick breath, caught off guard not only by the action but also by the sensation that whipped through me, like his touch danced up and down my spine until I was consumed by it.

His fingers lingered over my own for several seconds as I grasped the charm and tried to gain my composure. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

Slowly, I dropped my hand, expecting James to do the same, but he didn’t. He hung on to the charm, moving it between his thumb and forefinger and brushing over the small sapphire stone in the center. His eyes, which were a much lighter shade of blue, studied the small flower while I watched on.

He was staring at it like he’d never seen it before, yet he’d been there when my mom gave it to me and he’d seen me wear it every day since.

It wasn’t until one of his fingers brushed the skin between my breasts that I felt a blush spread across my cheeks, down my neck and bloom onto my chest. He was so close to me, and it was only the second time in recent history that he’d touched me, or nearly touched me, like that—without provocation or real reason. Like he was curious.

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