Page 62 of Third and Ten

It was one of my better moments.

Until she got called to work. *smiling face with tear emoji*

BLAKE THE SNAKE

Look at you, man, finally crawling your way out of the friend zone.

*gif of battered soldier*

JD

*gif of a smiling turtle*

CHAPTER 19

TENLEY

My skin feels unpleasantly sticky, and I try to disguise the way I have to adjust my shirt as Ethan and I scoot down one of the rows in the parish courthouse. I’m already stress-sweating, which is always fun for a big-busted girl like me.

I don’t foresee any reason why the judge won’t grant my petition for temporary custody, but tell that to my anxiety-riddled brain. I glance over at Ethan, forcing a tentative smile for him. He smiles back warmly, and I can see the gratitude in his eyes. I can’t help myself as I reach out and hook my arm in his. I’ve never been one to initiate this much physical touch, but taking on Ethan seems to have changed that. I continue staring at my handsome nephew and reflecting satisfactorily on my emotional growth until I notice his head turning in recognition.

“Hey, you came!” Ethan whispers excitedly as we’re joined by some tall, hot stranger in a suit.

I lean back quickly. What the heck is he doing here? And why does he look so different today?

“Of course I came,” JD replies in a hushed tone, but his voice is too deep, and the bailiff passing by with the judge’s last customer gives him a warning scowl.

I turn to the left to find a familiar pair of hazel eyes already staring back at me. “JD? You’re here. And you…shaved?” I ask incredulously, only to get the same glare from the bailiff.

He winks and shoots me a dimpled smile, and I shiver. “Hey, Tenley.”

I whip my head around, hoping to disguise my widened eyes. I gulp and attempt to get my thoughts in check, but it’s impossible as long as I can feel him staring at me with an ear-to-ear grin. This isn’t the scruffy dork stuck in a football player’s body that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing daily over the past few months.

This is a grown man.

Someone announces the judge’s arrival, and we all stand. Slowly, I allow myself another peek. He’s no longer looking at me, but I can tell from his smug expression that he knows I’m checking him out.

And sadly, I can’t help myself.

I bite my bottom lip and inventory the changes he’s made since I saw him last. A dangerously adorable pair of dimples is visible now that his jawline is completely smooth. His light-brown hair is longer than usual, which I only notice because it looks so nice parted to the side. His navy suit must have been tailored to fit him, and, holy cow, does it fit him. I let my eyes run quickly over the fabric hugging his well-defined shoulders. He looks annoyingly and distractingly good.

Ethan nudges me with a gentle elbow to the ribs and a knowing smirk on his face when my ogling becomes too obvious. I notice a slight quirk in JD’s smile before I turn my attention away, trying to concentrate on Blake’s exchange with the judge instead of thinking about JD’s lips. Then Blake shoots me a warning glare when I fail to answer the question the judge directs at me.

It’s like they all know exactly what’s on my mind, and I’m still powerless to control it.

What is wrong with me? Why am I standing here undressing JD freaking Bourgeois with my eyes?

Sure, I’ve never been able to convince myself that he’s not attractive and sweet and basically great. I can no longer deny that I’ve developed a crush on JD, maybe even legitimate feelings. And I admittedly haven’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss we shared the other night. But I’ve never had tunnel vision when a man entered the room. And I don’t know how to deal.

He is just a man, I remind myself, and one whom I’ve been able to keep my cool around until now, for the most part.

But that was before I witnessed him rising from the ground with Ethan draped over his shoulder. Before we began sending one another increasingly flirtier texts all day, before my stomach started cutting flips every time he looked at me, and before he kissed me like that.

And how had he managed so much restraint the other night, anyway? He’d lured me into thinking he was going to keep things casual and “friendly” before ambushing me with that ridiculously hot kiss. Then he just continued living as if it hadn’t happened, our only communication over the past thirty-six hours being a few businesslike texts about Ethan and a “good luck” message from him this morning. Meanwhile, I’ve been stuck in my own head, consumed with reliving my very detailed memory and asking myself all kinds of other dangerous questions, like how to keep pretending we’re only friends after this, what might have happened if we hadn’t been interrupted, whether JD always kisses that way—so composed, yet intense—and why I’d even let him kiss me in the first place. I can feel my temperature rising again, just from thinking about it.

I blow out a breath, still trying to figure out what’s changed between us. Maybe I’ve finally let JD wear me down to the point that I’ve given up on resisting him, or maybe it’s my family’s influence.

Maybe I just plain wanted him to kiss me.

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