“I’m assuming you’ve read Dethroned.” Her expression remains stoic, which tells me she did. “Trent is the father, not me.”
“How do you know for sure? You were with her, weren’t you?” Sam pulls away and folds her hands on her lap. “The kid could be yours.”
“I know for a fact it’s not,” I assure her. “I only kissed her.”
She shakes her head in disapproval. “I’m not sure what to think. You have a terrible track record with women.”
“I love women,” I shoot back.
She chuckles. “All womanizers say the same thing.”
“I’m not a womanizer,” I growl.
She leans forward, her voice a whisper in the quiet library. “Is that so? Then how come you did the same thing to me that you’ve done to every woman you’ve ever been with? How come you can’t commit to anyone?”
“I’m committed to you,” I challenge.
She snorts. “You’re here to save your ass. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you because everything is always about you, Tucker. Men like you think the world revolves around them. Do you even know anything about me?”
Her words paralyze me. I’ve never had a woman speak to me this way. The reality of her confession hits me hard, leaving a deep pain in my chest.
“I like you, Samantha, but you’re making it hard for me to get to know you.”
“Because you haven’t tried to know me,” she counters.
“I took you to see the Harry Potter movies.”
“Under false pretenses,” she says. “You lied about being a fan.”
I tug at the ends of my hair in frustration and sigh. “I’m trying, Sam. You’re not wrong about me. I don’t do commitments with women. I never wanted more than one night with a woman… until you.”
“You had the chance three years ago, Tucker.” She balls her hands into fists on the table and leans forward. “The only reason you feel differently toward me now is because you need my help.”
“That’s not true.” I dig my elbows into the table, meeting her halfway. Our mouths are so close I can feel her breath on my lips. “After you stood me up for tutoring, and I had to find out who you are the hard way, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I still can’t. Maybe I would’ve passed the practice test if you’d stop taking up so much space in my head.”
I brush my lips against hers, and her mouth opens for me, permitting me access. We stay this way for a few seconds, our breathing erratic, the anticipation of the kiss too much to bear.
“I want to believe you,” she whispers. “Words mean nothing without actions. So show me.”
Before she can utter another word, my lips crash against hers, my tongue sweeping into her mouth, colliding with hers. Her kisses are tentative as if she’s fighting an internal struggle with herself to be with me. Part of her hates me for the past. But not at this moment. She wants me to show her I have changed or can change for her.
I thread my fingers through her hair to deepen the kiss. She moans in my mouth as she rakes her nails down my neck. And then our moment passes with someone clearing their throat loudly next to our table.
“Break it up,” a woman says, annoyed. “No funny business in the library.”
After I grab a chicken wrap from the buffet line in the cafeteria, I head over to the table by the window where my teammates are waiting for me.
“About time you showed up,” Drake says with a smirk. “Were you trading sexual favors for grades again?”
My friends and their girlfriends laugh at my expense.
“Laugh it up, assholes.” I sit next to Jamie, knowing he won’t give me a hard time.
His girlfriend bailed after The Queen ousted him for talking to other girls. It was all a misunderstanding, but Jamie suffered from the news like me.
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Taylor tells me, smacking Drake on the arm. “He’s an idiot.”
I nod, unwrapping my sandwich from the paper. “I’ll get him back later when he’s least expecting it.”
