Page 19 of Detention with Daddies

Cleaning up is easy and fast, and it leaves us hovering near each other by the windows. “Going home?”

I purse my lips at him, using the cement wall at my back to help cool me off. The way he’s looking at me is making it necessary. “I am. I need a shower.”

“There are showers here.”

“I didn’t plan for that. Maybe next time.”

The way his blue eyes darken before he tucks a strand of hair I missed behind my ear. The small touch zaps me deep. My skin lights me up with want.

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

A small laugh puffs out of me. “Okay.”

He walks me to and from the university near daily. It’s one of my favorite routines.

First, we stop at my lab to grab my things. Salazar takes my bag before I can grab it and won’t hand it back when I reach for it.

I make a face at him, but it’s got my heart pumping a little fast. What is he up to?

“That was your first training session with them, right?”

“Mm-hmm.” My arms cross to stave off the cold that comes with the evening air hitting my sweaty skin.

“You did a good job motivating them. You’d make a good personal trainer.”

Heat blasts my cheeks. “Thanks, I’m glad you think so.”

“Too bad that gym you interviewed with were idiots. Completely missed your appeal.”

I laugh, hard. “My appeal?”

His grin crinkles around his eyes with pure amusement. “Oh, Liv. You have no idea, do you?”

“What?”

Salazar sucks in a slow breath and meets my gaze. I swear he’s blushing. “Every bit of you is appealing.”

If I thought he was blushing, I know my face is on fire. “You don’t have to say things like that.”

His smile flattens, and he shakes his head. “You’re right. I don’t have to.”

Salazar lets that sit between us as we walk. We don’t have many uncomfortable silences, and this one isn’t that exactly, but it’s teetering on the edge of it.

At my car, I turn and lean against the door. Salazar is keeping my bag hostage, and it makes me laugh, which makes him smile.

“So, hey. Do you have any interest in playing a low-key soccer game tomorrow with me and Ruby? I’m taking her to her favorite ice cream shop after. We try a new flavor every week, and I think you’d like it.”

It’s the first time he’s offered to see me outside of class, and it makes me both nervous and excited. I shift against the side of my car, hands behind my butt as I chew on my lip. “Would that be appropriate?”

I look up at him, and I swear we stare at each other for so, so long. Every small tension that’s been laid between us seems to twist and multiply.

My skin heats under his observation, the cold from my sweat nearly completely gone.

His attention is on my mouth, and I can’t seem to help but pull my bottom lip between my teeth. Salazar clocks the move.

God he’s so close. Invading my space. It makes me so, so warm.

So tense.

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