Page 38 of Between the Boards
His eyes drop to my lips and stay there, making my stomach do backflips.
Is he…
Zale leans in slightly.
Oh my god, he’s about to ki?—
“There you are Kairi.”
Zale straightens abruptly and we both look over our shoulders—my heart still racing—to find Eliana walking toward us, camera bag slung over her shoulder. The rest of the team trails behind her, spilling out of the house with boards under their arms.
“I went up to your room earlier,” she says, glancing between me and Zale suspiciously. “Thought you might want to help me set up,” her eyes narrow slightly, “but you were already gone.”
Zale pushes to his feet, stretching like nothing happened. “She’s all yours, Eli.”
He walks off toward the others and she turns to me the second he’s out of earshot with narrowed eyes.
“Tell me I didn’t just interrupt something.”
I groan softly, pushing to my feet. “I don’t even know what that was.”
Her eyes widen. “Well let me fill you in—he was about to kiss you.”
“I—maybe?” I say, pushing a wayward curl out of my face. “One second we were talking, and the next…”
“Well,” she says slowly, studying me, “your love coach is going to be thrilled to hear about this progress.”
I follow her gaze and find Colton standing off to the side, his arms over his head as he stretches while his eyes stay locked on me.
“Or not,” I mutter before making my way toward him.
“Morning,” I say softly.
“Morning,” Colton replies easily.
He lowers his arms from his stretch and curls his hand behind my head, pulling me in just enough to press a kiss to my hair. Heat rushes to my face but I remind myself he’s just performing because Zale is nearby.
“Busy morning?” he murmurs.
“You could say that,” I sigh.
“Alright, lovebirds,” Gabriel calls. “Team meeting.”
I slowly turn and find every single person looking at me, except for Zale. He’s staring at Colton like he wants to fight him here and now.
“Sorry,” I mutter, embarrassed as I step forward.
Colton catches my hand and doesn’t let go as we walk toward the group together, fingers intertwined, and I feel Eliana’s stare burning into the side of my head.
Right.
The last update I gave her was that Colton and Iweren’tdating.
“Alright,” Gabriel says, glancing at his clipboard. “Competition’s in two days and we’re making a few lineup adjustments.”
He looks up and stares directly at Colton, whose hand tenses around mine.
“Colton, you’ll be stepping in for Griffin. He’s dealing with some personal matters and can’t make it.”
