Page 37 of Forever Yours

Needing to understand his sudden interest in becoming my friend, I asked, “Why?”

My friend circle was small for a reason. I wasn’t the kind of guy people flocked to. Even Jayson hated me when we first met. He’d thought I was interested in Liz, which I wasn’t, hence the instant dislike, but still.

With a deep gravitas I wasn’t prepared for, David replied, “Because you and I are alike in a lot of ways. People judge me because of the color of my skin, just like that asshole judged you for being gay. It makes it even harder when—”

“When what?” I asked when he didn’t continue.

“You also remind me of someone I used to know.”

I caught his use of past tense.Used to know.

“It goes both ways, you know. I’m a good listener as well,” I said when we resumed our stroll.

As we reached the tennis court, our steps slowed because neither of us was in a hurry to get back to the party. David bent down to pick up one of the pine cones that littered the ground and tossed it up in the air a few times. Lifting his arm, he held the pine cone in his left hand like a miniature football, then let it fly. I watched it sail until the darkness ate it, and I couldn’t see it anymore. He chose a few more pine cones from the ground and handed me one. The barbed tips jabbed into my palm.

“Your turn.”

When I threw it, it went, maybe, fifteen feet. My head fell back on my neck as I groaned in defeat.

“Well, that sucked.”

David tried and failed to stifle his laughter. Handing me another pine cone, he circled around to my right side.

“The trick is,” he said, taking my hand in his and rearranging the placement of my fingers. “You want to hold and balance the football in your fingertips and keep an open space of air in your palm.”

I huffed good-humoredly. “It’s a pine cone, not a football.”

His light chuckle fanned over my arm when he lifted it up and bent my elbow. His large body pressed close to my side as he manipulated my arm and hand positions until he was satisfied.

“You want to keep your hand cocked around your shoulder.”

A foreign flutter made its presence known deep in my belly when his hand slid from my elbow to my wrist. Before I could analyze its meaning, he said, “Now, throw.”

I did.

The pine cone flew through the air in a perfect arc. Farther and farther.

I turned and gaped at a grinning David.

“I can’t believe that worked,” I said in disbelief. I might have also jumped up and down excitedly.

“You’ve got a good arm.”

I flexed a bicep. “Years of swimming.”

His gaze inched down my chest. “I can tell.”

Those flutters grew, unnerving me—and they made me feel guilty as hell. I was devoted to Julien and wouldnevercheat on him, so my casual attraction to David was freaking me the fuck out. To be fair, he was drop-dead gorgeous, and I would have to be the most oblivious person in the world not to notice.

He also gave off mixed signals, making it hard for me to figure out if his appreciative glances and casual touches were…more. I prided myself in being a good judge of character. Of being able to tell if another guy was interested. But David had me off-kilter.

When my phone vibrated with an incoming call, I was grateful for the distraction from my ruminations.

“Hey,” I started to say but Fallon shouted over me.

“Where the fuck are you?”

I switched ears since my right one was ringing.

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