Page 162 of Knox Academy Omnibus
My heart skips at his words and for the first time since waking up, a genuine smile stretches across my face.
“Maybe you should throw another party then?”
“What and invite the whole school?”
“I was thinking something a little more exclusive.”
“Just the family?”
“More. Exclusive.” I bat my eyelashes suggestively. Well, I hope that’s what I’m doing. I feel pretty foolish and I have to stop walking because flirting, walking and talking all at the same time are bound to be a recipe for disaster for my clumsy ass.
“Just the two of us?”
“Now that’s what I’d call a party.” I wink at him and he laughs.
“I don’t know how to party slow,” he tells me.
“Maybe slow is overrated. Maybe I’m ready to party hard, with the right person.”
“And is that person me?”
I’m pretty sure we’re equal distance from my dorm and his car at this point. I could easily drag him back to my room to prove a point. But then I think of Onyx tangled in my sheets and feel dirty.
“Yes. You’re my person,” I say earnestly as I look into his warm, twinkling grey eyes. He kisses me softly on the nose.
“Good. Let’s eat.”
I smile at him and let him lead me to his car. We drive along listening to soft rock playing on the radio in the background. It’s easy and companionable, and eventually we pull up outside the diner I brought Kalen’s drunken ass to. I smile when I see the sign.
“What?” Sawyer asks.
“Nothing. I love this place. Great choice,” I tell him, not wanting to mention his brothers, needing to keep this time ours.
“I know. Kalen mentioned it.”
Oh.
We climb out of the car and head inside the noisy diner that’s bustling and much busier than when I was last here. We grab a booth by the window and Sawyer slides in opposite me, handing me a menu, which I don’t bother to look at. I know what I want.
I study his face as he looks at the menu. He looks good, like, really good. He seems happier, lighter almost than when he was teaching. As much as he made my mouth water in a suit and in his workout gear, I love him like this: relaxed in an old band tee, ripped jeans and a backward baseball cap. He has more stubble on his face too since leaving the academy and I can’t help but think about how it would feel scraping along the inside of my thighs. Slowly, obviously, as that’s how we’re taking things.
“Do you know what you’re having?”
“Oh. Hmmm. Yeah.”
“Oh good, because you’ve been staring at me for five minutes now.”
“I just don’t understand how it can take anyone that long to choose food,” I deflect.
“I knew what I wanted the moment we pulled up. I was just studying the menu to allow you more gawking time.”
I pout and lightly kick him under the table, causing him to laugh. A waitress comes over – thankfully one more happy than the last who served me – and takes our order. We both opt for a full English fry up with fresh fruit juice and coffee.
Service is quick and the banter is easy, as I enjoy being in Sawyer’s company. He talks a little about what he’s doing working for his dad outside of the school, but it all sounds pretty vague and boring. We share notes on where we’d both like totravel, our favourite films, music, tv shows. It’s a proper date and I love every single minute of it.
Unfortunately, all too soon it’s over and we have to start heading to the obstacle course that’s set up for this afternoon. Sawyer and the guys had already warned me that this one would be outside, unlike our training route, but unbeknown to them, I’d been putting in extra training outdoors with Jasper and Frost. I’m ready.
As we drive towards the location of today’s event though, nervousness twists my stomach into a pretzel. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much before the course. It’ll be bad enough if I embarrass myself by falling over or coming last, without puking everywhere too.
