“Work what?” Ayden glances confusedly at me.

I point back and forth between my breasts. “These bad boys.”

Even after being around my constant unfiltered mouth, Ayden still blinks in shock.

“Trust me, you could work yours, too, and get way more attention than she does.” His attention drops to my chest fleetingly then he looks away as his skin turns bright red.

My own skin warms as I recollect when he reached up my shirt and brushed his fingers across my nipple. The torrid sensations I felt that night were like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

I wish you would do that again.

Touch me like that

In my car,

In my room,

In my bed.

Touch me, touch me, everywhere.

Instead of touching, Ayden and I silently head down the hallway with the buzzing of voices flowing around us. His palm dampens in mine or maybe mine does in his… It’s hard to tell. We’re tense, sexually frustrated as Maggie would put it.

“I’ll tell you what I know about Kale,” he unexpectedly sputters, breaking the tension between us. “But only on one condition.” He releases my hand to push the door open and moves aside to let me through.

“Okay, what’s the condition?” I step outside into the cool winter air, and goose bumps sprout across my skin.

Ayden lets go of the door then promptly returns his hand to mine, as if the ten second break from our flesh touching nearly drove him to a panic attack. My body, although cold, warms inside.

“That you never, ever repeat to Kale what I’m about to tell you,” Ayden says as we start down the sidewalk and through the people eating lunch around the front area of the school.

“Okay…” I stare up at him, squinting against the sunlight peeking through the cracks in the tree branches above our heads. “You’ve got me worried.”

“It’s not anything to worry about.” He grows quiet, spacing off as we hike across the freshly cut grass toward the parking lot. “But it’s private enough that I need you to pinkie swear on it.”

My lips part in mock shock, and I cover my mouth with my hand. “Ayden Gregory, don’t you trust me?”

He stares up at the sky, stifling a smile. Eventually, his amusement gets the better of him, and he ends up grinning from ear to ear. He stops in the middle of the grass and raises his free hand with his pinkie hitched.

“Wow, where’s the trust, Shy Boy?” I give an exaggerated stomp of my foot then link my pinkie with his. “I promise that whatever you tell me will stay between us. But, just so you know, that’s always the case.”

“I know; I just need to make sure, for Kale’s sake.” He tightens his hold on my pinkie when I try to pull away. “Just like I need you to promise you’ll go easy on him.”

“Okay, I promise, even though I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Satisfied, he frees my finger, and we start walking again.

“I think Kale might have a crush on you.” He glances at me from the corner of his eye. “I’ve actually thought it for a while.”

“No way.” I wave him off. “Kale’s the kind of guy who will get a crush on someone equally as adorably nerdy as him. Someone who’s in love with comic books and wears capes on non-Halloween days.”

“Clearly, you don’t understand how a guy’s mind works.”

“Hey, I do, too,” I say, this time genuinely offended. “I’m totally running on the same brain waves.” Ayden’s brows elevate questioningly and I playfully swat his arm. “You seriously just lost cool points for that move.”

He shrugs, unbothered. “Sorry, but I’m glad you don’t run on the same brain waves as me. It would be weird.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I pause, contemplating what he said. “He really has a crush on me?”

“It’s just a guess, but as a guy who’s had crushes on girls before, I’m guessing that his awkward silence thing he does whenever he’s around you means that he likes you.”

I’ve known Kale since Lila and Ethan adopted him a few years ago. He’s like a little brother to me, which makes the situation kind of weird.

“You get awkwardly quiet around every girl we cross paths with,” I point out to Ayden after we climb into Lila’s Mercedes. “Which, by your theory, would mean you have a crush on all of them, including Maggie.”

“Yeah, but I’m a freak of nature.” He turns the key in the ignition, and the engine grumbles to life.

“So am I. I make love declarations about every guy I cross paths with.”

He shoves the shifter into reverse. “You haven’t done that in a while.”

I draw the seatbelt over my shoulder and strap myself in. “Ever since William.” And since you kissed me.

He rotates in his seat to glance behind him, but when our gazes collide, he pauses.

“Have you seen him again?” he asks with hesitancy.

I shake my head. “Not since that last time. What about you?”

“I saw him in gym. He didn’t say anything to me, but he did try to hit me in the face with a ball during dodge ball.”

“What a dick,” I grumble. “I’m so sorry for bringing you into this drama.”

“It’s just a ball, nothing like a fist. And you didn’t bring me into the drama. I chose to walk in it because I care about you.” A faint smile rises at his lips, one that warms me from my head to my toes. “Did you know his nose is crooked now?”