Zach carries me into the cottage through the back door that I’d left open when I marched out to meet him.
In my bedroom, he lowers my feet to the floor and, kneeling, he takes off my boots.
The light’s switched off but the window’s open and the moon’s strong. Somewhere up there, I have faith that tonight Orion has caught up with The Pleiades. At least tonight, he’s resting.
When Zach’s done, he stands up and towers over me. There’s so much tension and lust in the air that I’m getting breathless.
I’m getting shy.
“You missed your lesson for tonight,” I tell him, just to say something.
I see his lopsided smile in the silver moonlight. “Lesson?”
“Uh-huh.” I nod, smiling too. “I’m your nerd tutor and you’re the jock who needs to pass the test or he won’t make the team.”
He reaches forward and traces the lace on the neck of my dress, looking at it like it’s the prettiest thing ever. “Yeah? What do I play?”
Shivering, I look him up and down. He’s tall and broad and he looks like he’s always bursting out of his clothes.
“Um, football?”
“Am I any good?” he asks, still fingering the lace like he can’t stop touching it.
“Yup. You’re the best. Only, you just can’t focus in class.”
He moves his fingers up my neck and grabs onto the curls of my hair, playing with them. “Why not?”
“Maybe because you’re always watching me,” I whisper, reveling in the tiny little ways he’s touching me.
“So you’re my classmate, too?”
“I am. I’m also very intelligent, ahead of my years, and that’s why they want me to tutor you.”
He chuckles. “So why do I watch you?”
I swallow and gravitate toward him. “At first, I think it’s to intimidate me. To make me feel less than you. Because you’re the prince of the college and I’m just… a blue-haired, weird girl.”
He glances up from where he was watching himself toy with my hair.
Boring his eyes into mine, Zach lets go of the strand and wraps his hand over the nape of my neck in possession. “But maybe I’m watching you because I can’t stop. Because you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. And because your blue hair reminds me of the sky and the ocean. Freedom.”
Blood’s rushing just under my skin, painting everything scarlet. I’ve never been so awake in the middle of the night, so colored and flushed.
“Is that why you watched me in detention all the time?”
More often than not, I’d end up with detention and Zach used to be right there with me. Somehow, we’d always sit in the same places where we sat the first day we met. And all the while I kept my head down and away from him because I could feel his eyes on me.
“Yeah,” he whispers, flexing his fingers on my neck. “And to make you blush.”
I lightly slap his shoulder. “That was a very rude thing to do.”
Chuckling, he kisses me lightly.
This time, I’m the one who deepens it. I’m the one who invades his mouth and nips his lower lip, making him groan.
A second later though, he’s taking over.
His hands fist my nightie before pulling it up and off my body. Just like that, I’m nearly naked, standing there in my blue boy shorts.