I stand from the chair and turn it back around, sliding it under the table. I’m taking my win and not pushing my luck any further today. “I’ll pick you up at eight?”
“I can drive.”
“Savannah, it’s a date. I’m picking you up.”
She bites her bottom lip, and I can’t stop myself from cupping her chin in my hand. I pull slightly, freeing her lip, and run my thumb along the side of her cheek. “What’d I tell you before? Stop hiding that from me.”
Her throat bobs slowly, and when she looks up at me through her thick fan of lashes, I have to bite down on my intrusive thoughts. I head to the door, already counting down the minutes until I get to see her smile like that again.
22
savannah
“Bark, bark!”
I catch Chloe’s reflection behind me in the mirror. Her tongue is hanging out and her hands are folded over at her chest like a dog.
“Down, girl.”
“You look hot,” she says, falling onto my bed.
I tilt my head, trailing my eyes down my body. I don’t look any different than I usually do. My outfit is the same as always—jeans and a sweater. Although, I did forgo my usual all-black attire, and went with a very unlike-me pink sweater. Instead of my air-dried wavy strands of hair, I decided to give Chloe’s round thermal brush a try last minute, giving me more of a blown-out look. Maybe it’s the tiny stroke of eyeliner I added. I study my reflection, this time a little more self-conscious. It’s not that I think trying hard is a bad thing, but I don’t want to give Noah the wrong impression.
This is a one-off. This is a ‘let’s get this out of our system’type of thing. Not an ‘I’m willing to give up my entire stance on hockey players just because you have some weird monopoly on my thoughts and I’ve imagined you naked’type of thing.
I’ve seen the worst in people in their attempts to get ahead in this sport. It’s cemented in my mind that hockey players will do whatever it takes to get to the NHL, and no one is safe if they’re standing in the way. Noah is currently the best player in the league, with a spot already waiting for him with Toronto. He doesn’t need to pretend to like me to throw my brother off his game in order to make himself look better, unlike Cody. He was good enough to be noticed by my dad early and didn’t need me to point my dad in his direction, unlike Tucker.
A booming knock on the front door pulls me from my racing thoughts. I squint with pursed lips, looking back and Chloe. “What the hell? He’s on time?”
“Yeah?”
“He’s never on time.”
Chloe pushes herself off the bed. “Maybe this is important to him.” She stands in my doorway, lightly tapping her fingers against the wood frame, before looking at me through the mirror again. “I know you want to hate him, Sav, but I promise you—the world won’t end if you have a good time.”
Mine would.
If I have a good time, let down those walls, and let him in, I fear I won’t know how to come back from that.
I push the thoughts aside and smile at her. “Et tu, Brute?”
She drops her head with a laugh before turning towards the living room.
I’m left standing alone with my new sweater, styled hair, black-rimmed eyes, and the proof that maybe this is important to me too, staring back at me.
With a final sweep over my sweater, I grab my purse and open my bedroom door to find Noah with his arms crossed, leaning against the back of my couch. My breath stills in my lungs. Even if nothing comes of this date, and we go our separate ways after today, I know without a doubt that I’ll be onmy deathbed with images of his jawline and silver hoop earring in my head. His tongue sweeps across his bottom lip before he pulls it between his teeth, and I swallow past the lump in my throat when I lock eyes with my summer storm.
He pushes off the couch, blowing out a breath as he drags his knuckles across his chin, and his eyes rake up and down my body.
“Savvy, babe. You look—” The words die in his mouth as he shakes his head.
He’s so devastatingly handsome.
“Back at ya, Golden Boy.”
We get to the bottom of the stairs and my heart rate spikes when I spot Noah’s Range Rover. The lights flash as he unlocks it, and his hand finds the small of my back, guiding me to the passenger side.
The ground shakes beneath me and I sway, feeling light headed, before I come to an immediate stop.
