21. Solomon #3
She’s quiet again, and I wait. I get the sense she’s working through something in her head. “I know how important your clinicals are to you,” she finally says, her voice small in a way I don’t like. “If…if you think this is too risky, if you would rather I stay away—”
“Cecelia.”
She lifts her face to look up at me, once again stopping my breath with her beauty. Am I ever going to get used to that? “It would be really hard,” she whispers. “To stay away from you. But I’ll do it, if that’s what you want.”
The vulnerability in her expression hits me hard. I know she doesn’t let many people see her like this and it makes me want to pull her close, to kiss her until she stops worrying.
“I do not want that,” I tell her. “Not at all.”
She relaxes a little and gives me a smile so shy and adorable my chest actually aches.
“We’ll need to be careful,” I say. “Stay professional during training, obviously.”
She nods. “We probably shouldn’t spend time together on campus. At least not until the semester is over.”
There’s an eruption in my chest and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face if I tried. “Until the semester’s over, huh? You think you’re going to stick around that long?”
Her face goes red and I immediately feel bad for teasing her. “I hope you are,” I say quickly. “Around for that long, I mean.”
She sucks in a deep breath. “I hope so too,” she says, so softly I can barely hear her.
We stare at each other for a long moment and I wonder if she’s feeling the same way I am.
Like we’ve just promised each other something, like this thing between us is real in a way it wasn’t last night.
Like we’re actually going to try to be something real.
And maybe she is thinking all those things, because I see the exact moment her expression changes, her eyes lighting up with mischief. Cecelia’s teasing mode activated. “I want to hear more about how you’ve been obsessed with me since freshman year.”
“I did not say obsessed.”
“You totally said obsessed. I’m pretty sure I heard the word yearning in there, too.”
I lightly pinch her side. “You’re crazy. I barely noticed you at all.”
She pouts. “Really?”
“No, not really,” I reply immediately, because apparently, I have zero shame where this woman is concerned. All she has to do is frown at me and I’ll say anything just to make her smile, even if it embarrasses the shit out of me.
“The first time I saw you was at a party your freshman year. You were with your cousins and you said something that made them all laugh. Then some guy walked by—I don’t know what he said but it was probably rude because you stood up and started laying into him.
” I smile at the memory. “I could hear you across the room. The dude’s face went white and he practically ran away. ”
I close my eyes, remembering the way she’d swung her hair over her shoulder and sat back down, seeming to jump right back into the conversation without missing a beat.
“You were wearing a black tank top and jeans and your hair was down. I remember wanting to touch it.” I run my fingers through her hair now, marveling at the fact that I’m able to do that.
She’s quiet for a long time and I suddenly wonder if I said too much. “Shit,” I mutter, opening my eyes to see her staring at me. “That was a lot, wasn’t it? I probably sound like a total creep—”
She puts a hand over my mouth. “You don’t. But I wish you would have talked to me, back then.”
I shrug, brushing her hand away. There’s no point in telling her why I didn’t.
No point in telling her that I didn’t talk to her because I knew, sooner than later, she’d figure out what a freak I am and start avoiding me.
That I would rather have the chance to watch her pretty smiles from afar than talk to her and risk losing her.
There’s no point in telling her that I’m still pretty sure that’s how this ends between us.
Instead, I force a smile. “When did you decide you liked me?”
For a moment, she looks like she wants to press me on her question, but she must decide, like I did, that it’s better to keep things light. “Hmm,” she says, tapping her chin. “I think it was when you took your shirt off at the Sigma party.”
I growl and pounce on her, my fingers finding her sides and tickling her until she shrieks with laughter. “Fine, fine! It wasn’t then! I mean, you did look really good with your shirt off.”
I sigh and lean back into my pillows. “Must you always objectify me, Ransome?”
She laughs, stacking her hands on my chest and placing her chin on top so she can look up at my face. “I was definitely attracted to you before, but I think I started to really like you when you beat me at poker.”
I snort out a laugh. “Seriously? I would have thought that was a major point against me.”
She shrugs a little. “You didn’t let me win. I hate when someone lets me win, and guys always do it.” She flashes me a grin. “Boys are usually afraid of me. But you weren’t. And I liked that. A lot.”
I decide that’s enough talking. I’m pretty sure if I don’t occupy my mouth in another way, I’m going to blurt out that I’m already half in love with her. Probably more than half. Instead, I pull her up until her face is even with mine and I kiss her.
And I don’t stop for a long, long time.