Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting #1)(28)

I slowly dragged the cursor down, hoping she’d get whatever fix she was looking for and the torture would end soon.

Kate’s fingers brushed my knee. “Wait, scroll up again.”

My pulse quickened as she rested her hand where her fingers had brushed, her touch soaking through the thin cotton of my sweats. I swallowed and kept my eyes glued to the screen as I followed her instructions. If I looked at her, I was afraid I’d lose it and either tell her this was ridiculous and I wanted out—in words that’d probably come out way too harsh sounding—or that I’d try to kiss her.

So I just scrolled back up to post 307 of Mick talking about how awesomesauce he was at football and how hard it was for him to choose a school, and in #firstworldproblems news, the coaches from the colleges were calling him every day now.

Woe is you, dude, at least you get a choice. Harvard was nothing to turn my nose up at, and the truth was, I did want to go there. They had a great rowing team, and they were number one in marine biology, a subject I’d love to explore more and possibly major in. To go and study political science instead? It seemed like a wasted opportunity. But I didn’t dare say that to dear old Dad.

Kate made a hmmm noise. “Okay, go to his recent checkins…”

I stop and say hi to a girl I kinda sorta know one day after school, and now it’s come to this… Cyber stalking a guy I can’t stand for someone I want to stand close to a little more than I should.

She leaned close enough I could feel the warmth radiating off her body. Okay, a lot more than I should.





Chapter Sixteen


Kate


My phone chimed and I nearly jumped out of Cooper’s too big clothes. “It’s him,” I whispered when a text from Mick flashed across the screen. “Quick, close that down.”

“Gladly,” Cooper said, slamming his laptop shut. “For the record, he can’t see you through the phone.”

“I feel like he’ll sense it.”

Cooper gave me a you’re insane look that would’ve been easier to dispute before he’d seen how well I knew how to maneuver around Mick’s Facebook page.

Better keep the other places I use for recon to myself. Everyone knew that thanks to the adults on there, Facebook was where you censored yourself more anyway.

With the computer now closed and put away on the nightstand, I opened the text.

Future Prom Date: Are you and Callihan a thing?

“Future Prom Date?” Cooper’s scowl made his dimples disappear for a moment. “How’d I miss that the first time you shoved your phone in my face?”

“I was going for resolute,” I said, curling my phone closer. “It seemed like a good way to help my goals come true. Like all that visualization crap athletes talk about before a big game. Don’t you do it for rowing?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Cooper let out a long breath. “Okay, so maybe our coach has talked about it. But if someone sees that on your phone—especially Pecker—he’ll freak.” His eyebrows arched up and he put a hand on his chest. “That’s why you recruited me. To tell you that kind of thing before it blows up in your face.”

“Noted.” I lifted my phone and ran my thumb across the glass, getting a residual thrill over Mick texting me in the first place. “What do I say to him? I mean, clearly, I say no, we’re not a thing. Right?”

“Wrong.” Cooper shifted, the navy and white comforter bunching underneath him. “You dodge. Make him guess. Here—” He snatched my phone from me.

“Hey! Have I ever told you that you have boundary issues?”

“You’re in my room, wearing my clothes, making me stalk a guy on my laptop. Let’s not get into boundary issues.”

He had a point there. His bedroom was nice, too—spacious and cleaner than I expected, and before he’d come in, I’d checked out the killer view of the lake from his huge windows. And speaking of his clothes, they were soft and warm and smelled faintly like him. I was considering crossing a big boundary and claiming his hoodie as my own so I’d never have to take it off, and it had to do more with wanting to hold on to the sense of security I felt than simply being warm.

The tap, tap of my phone’s keyboard brought me back to the current situation, and I scooted closer and watched him type out a response, hypnotized by his long fingers and the way the line in his forearm twitched as he typed.

Until I read the words.

Me (well, Cooper posing as me): We hang out sometimes. Did you text me to talk about him, or do you want to know what I’m doing this weekend?

I gasped and reached for the phone, my chest meeting the hard resistance of his shoulder. “You can’t send that!”

Cooper held it out of my reach and hit send. “Too late. You can thank me later.”

“You know, I felt bad about dunking you in the water today, but now I’m glad. If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open.” I lunged for my phone again and Cooper and I fell off the foot of the bed, ending up in a tangle of limbs on the floor.

Cooper groaned. “Hanging out with you is hazardous to my health.”

I got the giggles as I tried to untangle myself from him, but he shifted forward as I reached across him for my phone, and I ended up in his lap, our noses all but touching.