Page 26 of Landon & Shay: Part One

True.

He had a crooked smile with a perfect Cupid’s bow and a deep dimple in his left cheek. His eyes were a vibrant blue that reminded me of the lakefront on the clearest summer day, and his body was built like a god. Plus, he always smelled good—you know, when he didn’t smell like some other girl’s perfume. I wasn’t in the business of smelling him often, but sometimes, he’d walk past me, and he’d smell so good I’d want to crawl into the curves of his body just to breathe him in—that isifI hadn’t hated him so much.

Then there was his voice. It was full and refined. Landon spoke like a man from old Hollywood, very Cary-Grant-like, with a smoothness to all of his words. Even when he seemed completely disconnected from a conversation, his words melted off his tongue like silk.

I could see why girls found him…attractive.

But none of that mattered.

“So, what’s your game plan?” Tracey asked.

I wasn’t certain how to answer. I didn’t have a game plan at all. Truth was, I was planning to stay far away from Landon for the next few months. I wasn’t too determined to make him fall in love with me; I was simply determined to make him lose his side of the bet. If it came out as a draw, that felt like a victory to me.

“I don’t have a plan.”

Tracey frowned. “Well, that’s underwhelming.”

We turned the corner, and there Landon was, standing at his locker, talking to some girl—probably a sophomore—who was pretty much throwing herself at him.

When he turned his head, he locked eyes with mine. Then, he smirked.

Oh, heck. Did I mention Landon’s smirk?

I was certain that smirk got some pregnant on the regular.

“Oh my gosh.” Tracey shivered, wrapping her arm around mine and hurrying me past Landon and his current fling. “You’re so going to lose this bet.”

“Thanks for your belief in me,” I huffed.

“I’m sorry, but he’s going to use that smirk to win, and it’s going to work.”

“What do you mean? How do you know it’s going to work?”

“Shay, he just had sex with you using only his eyes.”

I felt my cheeks heating up as I hugged my books to my chest. “What? No. Shut up, Tracey.”

“I’m just saying, it looked like he screwed you with solely his eyeballs. You should go check your panties to make sure you’re in the clear.”

I swore, my friend was a little too much sometimes. “That’s disgusting.”

“Oh no, there’s nothing disgusting about a good eye-fuck. That’s how Reggie gets me through our English lit class.”

“You and Reggie have sex with your eyes during English class?”

“Well, it’s more of a one-sided thing, but trust me, he’ll join in soon enough once he glances my way.”

I laughed at my ridiculous friend. “How is the Reggie thing going?” I needed to shift the conversation away from Landon, and I knew bringing up Reggie would do exactly that.

“We’re in the playing-hard-to-get stage of it all. He’s coming around, though. He gave me a nickname,” she said as we stopped by her locker to pick up her English book.

“Oh? What is it?”

She stood still and tall with the biggest smirk on her face. “Stacey.”

I blinked.

She rolled her eyes and lightly shoved me. “Okay, so he called me by the wrong name. Tacky, I know, but not everyone can have their sworn enemy eye-screwing them in the hallway.”

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