Page 42 of Ruthless Rose

He turns me in his arms, dipping his head down to kiss me slowly. When he eases back, I gaze into his eyes, searching for any sign that he’s not being honest with me.

I see nothing but warm brown eyes staring into mine.

Half of me is curious what he sees when he looks at me. The other half isn’t sure she wants to know.

We go back downstairs and settle in at the kitchen table. Micah pulls out his notebook and gives the offending grammar worksheet a nasty face, groaning.

“Before we start on that, I was wondering how you think you did on the physics test today.”

Tongue in his cheek, he gazes steadily at me before he nods, a slow smile curving his lips. “Pretty sure I fucking aced it.”

I can’t contain my excitement for him, even though it means I’ll have to pay up on our bet and go to the game. “Really? I guess you’ll find out tomorrow, huh?”

“Nope. I want you to ask. You have Roudebush tomorrow for AP, right?”

I nod. “You want me to ask him for your grade? What makes you think he’ll tell me?”

“He will. Just tell him you’re my tutor. Pretty sure he already knows.”

I shrug again. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”

“So, you’ll be at the game, then?”

My eyes flick to his. “You seem pretty confident.”

Our gazes hold for several seconds before he shrugs, then props his elbows on the table and glances down at the worksheet.

I don’t know what possesses me, but I tap his worksheet with my pen, “What do you say to a second bet, then?”

Interest washes over Micah’s features. “Really?”

“If that’s what brings in the grades to get your coach off your back, then yeah.”

An odd look flickers over his face, but it’s gone so quickly, I could have imagined it. Shaking it off, I look down at the Spanish worksheet. “What if we do something with this?”

He frowns. “A simple worksheet?”

“Sure. We’ll do a little review, then you take it like it’s a quiz. Ace it and …”

“And what?”

I look at him with wide eyes. “Whatever you want, I guess.”

“Whatever I want? You sure about that?”

I shrug, attempting to appear more confident than I feel. “I trust you. Better make it something good, I guess.” I’m assuming I’ll end up obligated to go to the party after the football game. Since I’ll already be out at the game, it’s no biggie assuming Scarlett and Max will go with me.

He nods, working his jaw back and forth. “Deal.” He holds his fist out for a bump, which I return with a smile, happy that he likes this turn of events.

We review the ins and outs of the irregular preterite tense verbs, and then I leave Micah to have fun with the worksheet while I get some tea for myself and coffee for him.

Probably no more than five minutes later, I peek around the corner and ask, “Do you like cream and sugar?”

“Yep. Thank you.”

Pulling the cream out of the fridge, I can’t help myself. “So, how’s it going?”

“I’m done.” His pen hits the table as if he’s tossed it down.

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