“What do you want from me?” I snapped.
“Enough with the leading questions,” he sniggered.
“Hudson, be serious.”
He shrugged. “Would it be so bad? Us getting it on?”
Finding my resolve, I added, “No happening. Not in a million years.”
His hooded gaze slid down my body again. Hudson was amused now, and I felt like the schoolgirl I was. “That’s a long time.” He chuckled as if my words were borderline ridiculous.
“Maybe I’m not attracted to you?” I huffed.
“Yeah, care to test that theory?” Hudson smirked, glancing towards my nipples.
“No.”
“Coward,” he goaded before adding. “So, little Molly Miller thinks we’ll never fuck?”
I took a much-needed deep breath to calm my nerves. “Yes, although I wouldn’t usethatword,” I huffed.
“Of course not.Fuckis too honest and raw to be used by the principal’s sweet virgin daughter. Let me give you another piece of advice, and this time, it’s for free.”
“What?” I uncrossed my arms and lowered myself into the pool, the water covering my breasts.
Hudson moved into my personal space, his thighs bumping close to mine. “Never challenge an American male, sweetheart.”
“I’m notchallengingyou. All I said was that there is the possibility that Idon’tfancy you.”
He chuckled. “Bullshit. If I put my mind to it, I’d have you on your back in no time,” Oh my God, the boy talked about sex so casually, like he was ordering a fricking pizza. I must have been bright purple from embarrassment. Hudson pushed me so far out of my comfort zone. I should have remained mute in the presence of his sophisticated manliness. He made me feel like a green, thirteen-year-old girl.
I did attempt to clawsomecontrol back. “I must say you’re awfully presumptuous,” I remarked, planting my hands on my hips. I was determined not to shy away from the subject, which was probably idle chit-chat to this boy. He was way too comfortable speaking about fucking. I wondered how many girls he had slept with at the school. I imagined he polished his man-whore crown regularly.
And the worst thing was, itdidn’tput me off, and I had alwayshatedplayers.
“Presumptuous about us fucking?” he questioned with a lip curl.
“No. That I’m a virgin.”
Hudson’s mouth then spread into a wide smile, openly amused by what he would no doubt consider general banter. He thought he had all the answers and it pissed me off.
He lifted a finger and flicked my nose with the tip, “It’s stamped all over you sweetheart.”
I snorted, tipping my head back into the water to re-wet my hair, pushing it off my neck. My scalp had started to itch. As I straightened, I blurted, “So, I’mthattransparent?” Part of me wanted to say I had a boyfriend in the UK, maybe throw Cassius’s name out there, but I bailed.
Hudson’s face darkened with annoyance, and he moved in the water. It forced me back a step. The poolside was now digging into my shoulder blades. “Clearly not. Or I wouldn’t have misjudged you that day in the library.”
“What doesthatmean?”
“You lied to me,” Hudson stated, his eyes narrowing as he closed the space between us. It was very much a push-and-pull scenario. I retreated, and he advanced. Hudson must have been on his knees as our heads were now level.
Glancing around the empty poolside, I was confused. Firstly, why was I still in the water having this conversation with him? And what had I lied about?
“How did I lie to you?”
Hudson raised his arms and placed them on the poolside on either side of me,cagingme in, and my heart almost stalled. “You didn’t tell me who you were.”
His nearness was evoking a range of emotions. I needed to get a grip. “What?”