Page 26 of Don't Brake My Heart
She swiped through ‘balls’, ‘butts’ and ‘beans’ to the inevitable ‘boobs’, at which point she coolly met my gaze with a lift of her brow.
‘You know him so well,’ Derek complimented with overdone admiration.
‘He’s teasing you,’ I grumbled.
‘I am usually aware when someone’s teasing me.’ She bit her lip over a laugh, her face contorting. It shouldn’t have been cute when she was calmly suggesting using me in memes for promotional purposes.
While I was distracted, she lifted her phone and snapped a picture. ‘More resources for my Colin memes. I’ve got a lot of material for social-mediaass-ets.’
Dad clutched his stomach, cackling along with the boys and the tingling at my hairline was the first clue I had about what was really going on. Zeroing my gaze on Leesa, I studied her expression critically. The longer I stared, the wobblier it got. Dad gave up the ruse entirely, hooting with laughter.
I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms. ‘Ass-ets? I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t make a joke about how much I like time trials.’
Nelson howled with laughter, slapping his knee. ‘Colin rides big TTs!’
‘The Australian TT champion!’ Derek added.
‘Big TTs, huh?’ she repeated, shooting me a provoking look. I was provoked – and enjoying it, although I wished the others weren’t here so I could tell her I’d been lying and her tits were the sweetest ones I’d ever seen and I’d imagined in some detail what they might look like if she took off that floaty dress and let me see.
‘How were your TTs, when you were racing?’ I asked her instead. ‘I’m really, really interested in your TTs.’
‘My TTs were never impressive enough for you,’ she retorted.
Leaning over the table and tipping my face up to hers, I said, ‘Well played, Magda. Well played. For a second, I thought you might actually post this on the client accounts.’ I snagged the tablet from under her nose. ‘I’m going to need a copy of these works of art. I’ll give this back to you later.’ Along with a few other photos I was going to enjoy taking.
9 September, the year before
Leesa
‘The sign wasn’t a prank,’ Colin insisted with a groan that caught me in the gut. ‘The men’s team is flying out to Canada from Amsterdam, so I came to support you guys. To support Lori.’
My bullshit radar was off, since part of me insisted he was telling the truth – the same part that had recently decided, in an inexplicable turn of events, that he was hot.
‘To support Lori with a “Go Leesa” sign?’ I pushed. ‘There was something on the back, right? An insect to scare me? A spider?’
The colour in his cheeks confirmed my suspicion. ‘It was your last race,’ he said quietly.
‘Huh, I was aware of that too!’ And Colin Gallagher had had a part in the disaster my last race had turned into.
‘Shit,’ he said under his breath. ‘I tried to apologise. I really didn’t mean—’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I cut him off.
‘It does to me! If this is my last chance—’ It was his turn to cut himself off.
‘Your last chance to prank me?’ I finished for him doubtfully.
As though a screen was raised over his face, he shot me a sudden smile, intent and a little bit dark. ‘You got it,’ he said with a wink.
My gaze dropped to his little pout. My mouth was parched, my heartbeat misbehaving. He’d just admitted to a stupid prank that had gone so very wrong. I should have hated him; one part of me was imagining screaming and pounding on his chest. But another part of me pictured that as a prelude to something like… a kiss, where I could pull his hair and scratch up his back. The way he was looking at me, all heat and intent, made me think about the thin line between enemies and lovers.
God, what was wrong with me? I couldn’t reconcile it, Lori’s gangly younger brother and this slow, liquid charm he’d turned on me.
I gave a desperate swallow as subtly as I could. As though hitting a final nail into my pride, he licked his lips.
‘You know I only pick on you because you’re hot.’
This was a new torment. Were these the strange effects of a general anaesthetic? He seemed to be closer all of a sudden and I didn’t mind it.
