Page 18 of Our Secret Moments

He shrugs. “Talking to people isn’t his thing, apparently.” I nod, feeling a strange pang in my chest for drawing out this process for him when he probably would have benefitted from going first and getting this over with. Wes takes my silence as dismissal. “Just do it, Cat. Please. I’m begging you.”

I sigh, catching Connor’s eye as he fiddles with the hem of his shirt. “Okay,” I say quietly. Wes’s eyes light up at the challenge. “Okay, fine.”

He whispers a silent ‘yes’ to himself before using every given moment to try to make me laugh as I ask him the basic questions like his age (nineteen), birthday (June 14th), star sign (Gemini), height (six-one, but he looks five-eleven) and hobbies which ranged from kayaking to chess. He answers them all lazily and I keep my face painted in a smile the entire time until he winks at me and moves on.

When Sam Cho takes a seat at the table I smile so hard that my cheeks hurt. It helps that he’s an attractive guy – smooth face, adorable dimples and a smile to match. He’s also one of the boys who gave metheeyes in the locker room the other day.

“Hi, Sam. It’s nice to meet you,” I say when he crosses his arms against his chest.

“You too,” he says. I laugh as if he said something funny, tucking my curls behind my ear. His eyebrows crunch as he looks left and right for the joke he must have missed and when I train my gaze over his head where Connor’s eyes are burning holes through the back of Sam’s head. “Ooh, Connor? Tell you what would make him mad?”

“I’m open to suggestions,” I say, shrugging. Connor has no right to be this upset over not getting a chance to talk to me and I’m having the time of my life seeing how far he’ll go before he has a tantrum.

Sam’s smile creeps up on his face as he leans into me and I lean forward. I have no idea what I’m doing, or what he’s going to do, but my heart is pounding with anticipation. The desk isn’t that big so he reaches over easily, tucking another strand of hair behind my ear. His face is so close to mine now I can feel his steady breathing against my neck, the sensation so weirdly foreign to me that my eyes flutter closed for a second.

“I’m not going to do anything, but from his angle it probably looks like I’m saying something filthy,” he murmurs softly. “I’m giving him three seconds before he comes over.”

CONNOR

What the fuck is he doing?

I know the comments he made about her were harmless, but this, right in front of me, is anything but harmless. The room is almost cleared now, and I’ve been standing in here for what feels like hours.

I don’t bother to hide my annoyance as I storm over there, pull Sam out of the chair and sit in his seat. It’s petty andextremely pathetic, but I’ve been watching her laugh with all the guys on the team while I have to wait around to have a five-minute conversation with her. And those five minutes with her would mean the world to me.

“I told you,” Sam mutters, laughing as he walks away.

Cat doesn’t even look at me as I sit down, spreading out my legs, pinning my arms against my chest. She stares down at the papers in front of her, taking notes as if I’m not right here.

When I get more comfortable, my leg stretches out further and my jeans brush against her tights. I watch her actively try to fight it, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. I brush my leg against hers again, needing some sort of reaction. It might be doing nothing for her, but I know I’ll be thinking about this tiny interaction for weeks.

“Catherine,” I press.

“Connor,” she says lazily before finally meeting my eyes.

It’s impossible for someone to get more and more beautiful every time I see them, right? Like, thatshouldn’thappen. So, why is it when I look into those dark brown eyes, I can see a golden pool of light swirling within them that I’ve never seen before?

“It’s my turn now, right?” I ask, nodding to her sheets which she’s neatly piled up.

“Actually, no,” she quips, beaming at me. “That’s all I’m going to do today.”

There is no way she’s being serious. “What?” I ground out.

She sighs, tilting her head to the side playfully. “Well, Coach said to go through as many as I can and I’m tired,” she says, clearly faking a yawn as she stacks her sheets on top of her laptop before leaning on her forearms. “Besides, I know most of the answers to the questions I was going to ask you, so it’s not like I really need much from you.”

I tilt my head to the side. “So, you strung me along this whole time just to say you don’t need me?”

“No, Connor,” she says, pulling out her chair as she stands. She presses her palms to the table as leans into me, her strong scent of her cherry and macadamia shampoo invades my senses. I lean into her too, needing to be closer to her, but she moves her head to the side of my face and all I can hear is my heart pounding in my ears. Suddenly nothing else exists other than her proximity and the tight feeling in my chest as she whispers, “It’s called edging.”

Fuck.

My.

Life.

NINE

CONNOR

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