Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting #1)(49)

A few girls whispered, and I swore it was about me, because I got fake, snide smiles when I passed them. What’s going on? Did I enter some kind of alternate universe?

Chalking it up to not getting any sleep last night—I’d relived my kiss with Cooper countless times, tossing and turning as I thought about how I wanted to do it again, and how crossing that line would be a huge risk to our friendship, so it couldn’t happen again. Then I tossed some more as I replayed how unaffected he’d seemed—to the point that I wondered if he was lying when he told me I could kiss.

Frustration and confusion now mixing in with the twilight zone feeling, I grabbed my books and headed toward my morning classes.

My heart sped up when I spotted Cooper in the crowd.

I didn’t know if I should let my thoughts wander to where they were going, but it was too late to stop them anyway. They dwelled on the delicious sensations the press of Cooper’s lips brought on. The way he wrapped his arm around my waist and held me so tightly to him. The touch of his tongue to mine.

Residual heat coursed through me, the frenzied butterflies in my gut now gliding around with wings on fire.

Maybe… Maybe it could happen again.

Afterward he’d been closed off, but during that kiss, he’d been anything but. His low groan, the way his fingers dug into my sides—that wasn’t unaffected behavior. Right?

I suppose after Amber, I stopped trying a bit. Maybe even retreated into myself. Putting myself out there was hard, and the sting of rejection hadn’t faded as much as I wished it would. It made it hard to take another chance, especially one with such high stakes attached—the statistician in me couldn’t help calculating the odds, and when it came to Cooper, even a one percent chance of messing things up between us didn’t seem worth it.

In a lot of ways, Mick was the safer option. While I’d had a crush on him for a long time, it was all attraction and daydream based, so my heart wasn’t all caught up in him, completely exposed and unprotected.

If Cooper rejected me, on the other hand, I didn’t know if I would ever get over it. It’d be like Amber ditching me times a thousand. I’d experience that crushing loss that sucked away happiness and accentuated loneliness, and just the thought was enough to give me heart palpitations with a squeezing side of anxiety.

Arms wound around my waist, and I thought Cooper must’ve seen me having a panic attack and come to steady me.

Instead, Mick’s voice filled my ear as my back met his chest. “Morning, sexy.”

Disappointment flooded me, and I worked to wipe it off my face before I spun around. “Morning. I’m, um, kind of—”

“In a rush? As usual?”

I smiled. “Yeah, actually.”

Mick hooked his finger in my belt loop. “Even though that flick was super cheesy, I had a good time at the movies last night.”

“Uh, yeah. Me, too.” I decided not to mention I thought the movie was romantic and swoony, not cheesy, because that conversation would take too much time and my thoughts were too tangled up with other swoony romantic sensations I’d experienced last night near the shore of the lake. “Can I talk to you at lunch? Like I said, in a rush.”

“Actually, I said it for you, because you’re always rushing off in the mornings.” Mick tapped my nose, and it was a cute gesture and all, but I wasn’t feeling it. Everything felt off, and I supposed that was the push I needed.

“Okay, well, see you later.” I broke away and sprinted down the hall, past worrying if it made me look like a crazy person—I didn’t give a damn about looking too serious anymore, either.

I caught up to Cooper right before he turned into the English department hallway, which was in the opposite wing of my first class. I was working on not worrying my impulsive move might make me late, because I needed to see where he and I were at before I made any more decisions.

My tightening throat made speaking suddenly seem impossible, but this was Cooper, so I forced myself to push through my nerves. “Hey.”

Okay, so it wasn’t, like, a lot of words, or a grand declaration or anything, but seriously, why were my hands shaking?

He barely glanced at me. “Hey. I’m kind of in a hurry.”

Ironic, considering I’d just blown off Mick with the same excuse, which wasn’t helping with the shaking hands thing. I grabbed Cooper’s arm and pulled him to a stop, my pulse thundering in my ears. “I understand hurries and not wanting to be late for class and all, but I…” Need a sign that I’m not alone in thinking that we’re great together.

For you to look at me or talk to me at the very least.

When I didn’t get any of those things, I cleared my throat. “I just wanted to say thanks again. For last night.”

I held my breath as hope and desire flooded my chest, waiting to see if I saw a spark. Saw that he couldn’t stop thinking about our kiss, either. Something. Anything.

Standing there, my hand on his arm, it hit me, so strongly my knees wobbled. I didn’t want someone who made me incapable of speech. I wanted someone who I could talk with about my passions and hobbies and anything and everything. Someone who made me laugh, who truly knew me, and made me feel completely unsteady in the best possible way.

I didn’t want safe and risk free. I wanted the boy who kissed me under the starlit sky last night.