Page 35 of Under Pressure

“What was the other part?”

“Your brain,” she mumbles.

My eyes widen involuntarily. I’ve never had a girl say she likes either of those things about me before. I’ve only hooked up with girls interested in my body.

“Not the way I look?”

She finally makes eye contact with me. “I wasn’t even aware of what you looked like till a month into class,” she admits.

A rush of pleasure runs through me until she kills it. “But I didn’t really know you then.”

Her words echo the same sentiments she made that day at the library when she asked what exactly there is to like about me. But the slight disappointment I’d felt then is nothing to what it is now.

“I’d like to think I’ve improved some in the last month and a half,” I defend myself. It must come out more harshly than I intended because her eyes widen comically.

“I didn’t mean it as a criticism. Just that I didn’t actually know anything about you.”

“So what do you think of me now?” The question slips out before I can contain it. “You know what, never mind.” I stride across the room and grab my own bag, but when I turn around, she’s blocking the door.

“Oh, no. Turnabout is fair play. Why do you care what I think? If I had to answer your question earlier, you have to answer mine.”

I approach her but she holds out a hand to stop me before I can reach her, narrowing her eyes. “And don’t think you can kiss me to distract me.”

I shrug, even though that’s exactly what I planned to do. “I don’t care,” I say finally.

She raises an eyebrow. “You asked me to spill my secrets.”

Yeah, when it was her confessing, not me. “I don’t have any secrets.”

She stares at me, the slight enjoyment on her face at turning the tables on me gradually dropping. “I’m not trying to psychoanalyze you, Tyler. Or trap you or trick you or whatever else you think I’m doing. I’m just asking you to admit that maybe you care about me a little.”

I tamp down the panic that immediately rises within me. Mia’s never expected anything of me before. I’ve told her flat out I don’t do girlfriends and she was okay with it. “We’re friends,” I settle on. That’s all I’m willing to concede and she must sense that because she receives it happily.

“Now was that so hard?” she asks, taking a cookie out of the container and stuffing it between my lips.

“What’s with the cookie?” I mumble between bites.

“Your reward for good behavior.”

She saunters out and I can’t help but smile at her pluck. The Hufflepuff’s hitting her stride.

Chapter Ten

Mia

“Breathein on a count of five, then exhale on the same count. Let your breath serve as a clearing of the mind, of the body. Release all negative thoughts.”

I do as the calm voice coming from my phone tells me, trying my best to focus. I actually really like this new meditation app. And on any other day, I would truly appreciate it.

But every time I close my eyes, all I can recall is that kiss from two days ago. The way Tyler’s mouth felt on mine, his lips both soft and firm, taking from me, encouraging me to give back as well. How his palm had run up my thigh, urging me to wrap my leg around him. He’d been hard against me, exactly where I’d needed it. Every time my breasts had brushed his chest had been pure sensation, and when he’d finally put his hands on them…

No, no. I’m supposed to be calming myself down, not working myself up. I need to keep on top of my meditation practice to prevent another anxiety attack like the one in the lab the other week. I can’t have that happen again.

But how can I focus on anything but Tyler? I’ll be seeing him again this afternoon for our Thursday round of participants. And he had suggested that… what was it he called it? A mutually beneficial arrangement. He wanted to kiss me in places other than my mouth. Just the thought sends a zing through me.

He might be attracted to you, but don’t forget that he didn’t say he cared about you.

He said we’re friends. Caring is implied.

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