Page 5 of Undeniable

Brendon, who coincidentally was best friends with my brother and James and was one of the few guys I also considered my friend, smiled softly at me. I quickly returned the smile before he headed out the door.

James finally turned to me and waited patiently until I heard the click of the door closing behind me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

His only response was a chuckle as he rubbed his hand across his mouth, suppressing his smile.

My temper, insanely close to snapping, flared at his lack of response.

“Whatever. Look, if you don’t want to be partners with me, then that’s fine. But—”

He shook his head and cut me off. “I have no problem being partners. That question was for your benefit.”

I stopped. “What does that mean?”

He chuckled again and thankfully sat down on the top of the desk behind him so I didn’t have to look up at him. I was slightly above average at five feet, six inches tall, but when the man you’re talking to was over six-foot, the difference was still noticeable.

“The way you were looking at me—it seemed like you weren’t too keen on us being partners.”

My jaw tightened, and I crossed my arms over my chest before responding.

“Do you blame me?”

“What? I’m crushed,” he said, placing his hands over his heart. “I’m going to be the best partner.”

I scoffed and couldn’t contain my eye roll. “I know for a fact the last group project we had, you somehow convinced Hailey and Madison to not tell Ms. Willmore that you actually had zero part in the final product.”

He raised his eyebrows and smirked once again. It dawned on me in that moment just how he might haveconvincedthem to give him full credit.

My face twisted in disgust, and I made a slightly dramatic gagging sound. “I didn’t need those visuals. All I’m saying is that shit won’t work on me.”

His smile grew, and I could feel my cheeks beginning to pinken. I nervously gripped the charm of my necklace between my fingers and dragged it back and forth across the thin silver chain.

“Aww, well, isn’t that a shame. I’m sure I’d have a blastconvincingyou, too.”

I knew he was kidding and just trying to get a rise out of me, but I couldn’t help but think about what that convincing might look like. And it was everything I could do not to give him the reaction he was so desperately looking for.

Instead, I squared my shoulders and leveled him with an unimpressed look. I didn’t let on that it was suddenly slightly warmer from the thoughts of his fingers between my legs or even his mouth.

Or what it would feel like to be the center of James Larson’s attention.

Who was I kidding? He was probably enormously selfish. I’d heard talk from other girls that said he wasthe best,but what did high school girls know?

“I wouldn’t let you touch me with a ten-foot pole. Or if you were the last man on earth.”

Another smile, and I chastised myself for saying anything at all. He leaned forward and made a show of scanning my face and dropping his eyes down my body.

Suddenly self-conscious and aware of our proximity, I shifted on my feet.

“I highly doubt that, but if it makes you feel better to pretend, then I’ll play along.”

“You don’t have to believe it for it to be true,” I quipped.

He nodded slowly, still appearing unconvinced for some stupid, cocky reason.

“Look, just come over to my house on Sunday and we can work on it then. And think about which resident you want to choose.”

I turned around, grabbed my backpack from my desk and headed toward the door.

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