Chapter Thirty-Seven
Damian
I slide my hand into Sophie’s as we make our way to the library after class. Bringing hers to my lips, I give it a peck. “Was thinking the library’s pretty boring.”
Her eyebrows furrow.
“To have our session, I mean. It’s always the same table with the same chairs and the same walls.”
“Uh huh.”
I sweep my lips across her hand again. “What do you say we study in my room? We’ll have privacy and we can be as loud as we want without the librarian telling us to be quiet.”
“That’s certainly tempting.”
“Sure is.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Is this a ploy to get out of tutoring?”
I hold up my hands like I’m innocent. “No way. I’m just bored of that library, that’s all.”
“Well, it really would be nice to have some alone time so we can concentrate without the noises of copy machines and things like that.”
“Mhhm.”
“And it wouldn’t hurt us to be more comfortable instead of in that stuffy library.”
“That’s true.”
She smiles. “Okay, let’s go.”
Hand in hand and not caring that people are looking, we leave the school building and make our way to my mom’s apartment. The best thing about Mom being the principal is that she’s never home. I bet she wouldn’t approve of us having our session in my room. Not that I care what she thinks, anyway.
We enter the apartment and go to the kitchen, where I fetch some snacks and drinks. That’s another positive thing about having the session here—we have access to food.
We bring the stuff to my room. Sophie and I place everything on my desk, I wheel a second chair over, and we plop down. I’m so not in the mood for this right now. I want to hold her hand, wrap my arms around her, kiss her. I just want to be with her.
But schoolwork comes first.
Or does it?
Leaning forward, I press my lips to hers, then back away.
She giggles as she lifts a brow. “Was that a kiss good luck or something?”
“More like a kiss that should sustain us for the entire lesson.”
She gets up and stretches toward me, kissing me back. “Who said we can’t kiss during the lesson?”
“Really?”
“If you be a good boy and behave, I’ll consider it.”
I frown. “But I’ve been a good boy.”
“Yeah, you really have.” She stretches and kisses me again, but this time it’s longer and with much more feeling.
“But we really should focus,” she says as she sits down. “Did you understand anything Mrs. Sullivan taught today? Most of the class was lost. I even had to read the material to myself because she didn’t explain it well.”
“I think I understood most of it, but I wouldn’t mind you reviewing it.”
As she reteaches me the material, I reach toward her hand that’s resting on her book and lock my fingers through hers. Sophie looks up and smiles before continuing to talk.
I stroke her palm with my thumb.
“Damian! Are you even concentrating?”
I give her an innocent look. “What?”
She playfully twists her nose. “You’re distracting me and yourself.”
“That’s the point.”
“I knew you asked me to come here because you wanted to have fun instead of studying. See, I know you well.”
I give her another innocent look. “No, I honestly wanted to come here because I don’t like going to the library. It’s not my fault I want to hold your hand because you’re special to me.”
Her cheeks flame as she smiles shyly. “You’re special to me, too.”
“And that’s why I love being with you. I don’t want to let go of your hand, if that’s okay, but please continue.”
As she does that, I try to concentrate. I honestly do. But I just want to kiss her and hold her close and whisper sweet things in her ear.
“Damian…”
My gaze springs to hers. “Hmm?”
“Your mind isn’t here. What are you thinking about now?”
“You. Always and only you.”
She tucks some hair behind her ear. “That’s sweet. You’re always on my mind, too, but please focus.”
“Okay.” I buckle down and concentrate, but I don’t let go of her hand. She seems happy about that. She shivers when I stroke it and I smile. I like that my touching her has such an effect on her. Same way her touching me has an effect on me. Shows that what we’re feeling for each other is real.
Once she finishes, she has me answer the questions at the back of the book. I’m forced to release her hand, which sucks, but she’s right—I don’t want to disappoint her or myself by falling behind in school.
The questions are very difficult and I unfortunately get several wrong.
Sophie spends a few minutes explaining them and it’s not long before I understand it.
Even though we’re together, she’s still taking the tutoring seriously.
She’s not slacking off or skipping lessons. She really is such an amazing person.
“How about a thank you kiss because I’m doing so well?” I ask, blinking my eyes like a sad puppy.
Smiling, she bends forward and rewards me. I pull her close, moving my lips over hers and hopefully showing her how much I appreciate everything she has done for me since I first met her. And when she kisses me back, I know she got the message.
I behave like a good little pupil as we move on to math and the rest of the subjects.
I keep my hand away from hers so I won’t be distracted.
Sophie purposely keeps her hand on her textbook, as if she wants me to take it, but I want to be a tease and leave her wanting me.
Besides, once we’re done tutoring, we’ll have all the time in the world—at least until curfew—to spend time together.
While she’s in the middle of reviewing psychology, her foot pokes mine. I glance up to check if she meant to do that and find her smiling at me. Returning the smile, I touch her foot with mine. She taps mine back.
“You’re distracting me, tutor,” I fake-complain.
She shakes her head. “There’s no room under here. Your shoes are too big.”
“No, they’re not.”
“Yes, they are.”
“Well, your shoes are tiny.”
“They’re normal size.”
“No.”
I stand up and hold out my hand to her. Her eyebrows knit as she looks up at me. “What are you doing?”
“Clearly we both don’t want to study anymore. So come with me.”
“Where?”
“Just come.”
After placing her hand in mine, she lets me pull her to her feet. I wrap an arm around her lower back as I tug her close to me.
I lead her to my bed, where we sit down facing each other. Sophie gazes into my eyes like she’s trying to figure out what I’m doing.
I place my hands on either side of her face before resting my forehead on hers. “There’s something I want to ask you,” I say in a gentle voice. “But I’m nervous. And I don’t know why. Maybe because you mean so much to me and I don’t want to mess this up.”
Drawing back, she strokes my cheek with her finger as she looks into my eyes again. “Nothing you do will mess this up. Unless you break my heart.”
My forehead is back on hers. “That’s never going to happen.”
She draws back again. “What did you want to ask me? Please don’t be nervous. You can ask me anything. Or tell me anything.”
“I…” I shut my eyes for a second before staring into her pretty eyes. “I want to know if you’d like to be my girlfriend, Sophie Reed.”
A huge smile breaks out on her face. She flings her arms around me, squishing me to her chest like she wants to flatten me into a pancake.
“Of course I’d love to be your girlfriend, Damian Lawrence.
” Leaning back to look at me, her smile widens.
“This is the happiest day of my life. I have a boyfriend. A boyfriend.”
I can’t help but chuckle at how adorable this wonderful girl is. “This is the happiest day of my life, too. Thank you so much for bringing light into my life.”
She throws her arms around me again, pressing her nose to my chest. “Do you have any idea how good you smell?”
“What?”
She goes still in my arms, like she’s embarrassed for saying that out loud. “Um. You smell good. Like really, really good.”
Smiling and bending close to her ear, I whisper, “You smell really good, too. Like, really, really good.”
“Sorry. I talk before my brain can stop me.”
I rub her nose with mine. “You don’t have to be embarrassed to say that sort of thing. I love hearing what’s on your mind.”
“Well, if you really want to know what’s on my mind, you could make more of an effort to clean your room.”
“My room is clean.”
She nods at a T-shirt sleeve sticking out from my drawer.
“Seriously?” I say.
“I can’t have a messy boyfriend, can I? What will all the snooty rich people say?”
Laughing, I tug her close. “I really, really like you, Sophie.”
“I really, really, really, like you.”
“I really, really—”
“Oh, shut up and kiss me, Damian.”
Our lips connect and I show her how much I “really really really really” like her.
I more than like her, but it’s way too soon to say that.
She’s still recovering from Axel hurting her and I don’t want to overwhelm her or pressure her to say something she’s not ready to say.
Besides, we have all the time in the world.
We roll around on the bed and she’s on top of me, our lips never breaking once.
I feel so much from her kisses, how happy she is, how much light I bring into her life, how alive she is right now.
I show her that her feelings match mine.
Movies always say it’s like BAM when it’s right, but I never really believed them.
This isn’t just BAM, it’s BAM in a volcanic eruption along with fireworks and an explosion all in one. But the best kind of explosion.
We roll again and she’s under me. I’m careful not to hurt her as I continue kissing her and showing her that I’ll never leave her.
I’ll do everything I can to be the best boyfriend in the world.
I’ll be there for her, hug her when she’s feeling down and I’ll encourage her and support her in everything she does. I want her to conquer the world.