Page 83 of Bookworm
Opening my eyes, I saw that it was Bo's hand. He'd reached out and…put the back of his hand against myskin.
"Stryker," I said, "what are you…?"
"Checking your temperature," he murmured, frowning with a look of concentration.
"Why?"
Instead of answering, he took mecompletely by surprise. Bo wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and gently pulled me closer, until my forehead rested against his cheek. We stood like that for several moments. He was so closeI felt every rise and fall of his breath. My breathing grew shallow, my heart beating nearly out of my chest, as my eyes closed once more. His warmth surrounded me, and in that moment, I felt protected somehow.
After a beat, Bo hummed then stepped back.
"I don't think you have a fever," he said with relief.
It took me what felt like a lifetime to respond.
"Well…that's good," I said.
"Shin had a hard time with the flu, so…"
"Yeah."Of course, that made sense.Shaking myself out of it, I said, "Hand me your books?"
"I've got it," he said. When I gave him a dubious look, he added, "Noreally, I'm a quick healer."
My frown couldn't be contained.
"Plus, I brought this." Bo tugged on the strap of a messenger bag he had looped over his shoulder. By the outlines of square objects, his books were obviously inside. "Want me to take yours too?"
"Thanks anyway," I said.
I didn't know why I was being weird. I was glad Bo's hand was feeling better. Really, I was, but I'd wanted to help—and okay, maybe I'd been looking forward to spending time with him.Now, however, without the excuse of carrying his books…
"Guess I'll just go to class then."
"Not so fast, Kent," he said.
When I looked over, Bo was standing next to me.
"The bag also makes it so I can do this."
I jumped a bit as his fingers wrapped around mine, as our palms touched.
"This okay?" he asked.
It was better than okay.
Bo's hand in minewas wonderful, thrilling, the stuff that inspires the best love songs to be written. That was how it felt.
"It's fine," I managed. "What now?"
"Now, I'm going to walk my girlfriend to class," he said.
And right there, my heart melted.
#
Bo wasn't playing. He met me at the end of each of my classes, and we walked the halls, hand-in-hand.He also looked at me a lot more. Or at least, I caught him giving me these little glances, as if to make sure I was alright, adjusting hislonger stride to match mine, making sure we didn't lose each other in the crowd.It was surreal.Our peers were watching—apparently, the novelty of our couple status hadn't worn off yet—and I knew the goal was to convince them. I just hadn't thought he'd find it so easy to pretend.
Especially with me.
