Becks seemed to sag in relief.
“Why so interested?”
He suddenly righted himself, grinning, back to the confident Becks I’d always known. “No reason,” he said. “Just wanted to know what we’re dealing with. So, you ready to start lesson one?”
“Lesson?”
“Yeah, Sal.” The twinkle in his eyes made me feel nervous and excited, scared and hopeful all at once. “Like I said before, if we’re going to make this believable, you’re going to have to get used to us having more physical contact.”
Physical contact? That sounded ominous.
He laughed. “Wouldn’t want any future girlfriends getting the wrong impression, right? Your skittish reactions might put a damper on my rep. We need to practice here before we take it public”
“Go on,” I said slowly.
Standing, he walked over and took a seat next to me on the bed. Angling his body toward mine, he said, “I thought we’d start easy, just a little touch exercise, since you seem so edgy.”
Ignoring my thumping heart, I said, “I’m not edgy.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Are to.”
“No, I—”
Becks sighed¸ his hand suddenly on my thigh. The move jolted me so much I nearly fell off the bed.
“See?” he said, and I could tell he was trying not to smile.
He failed.
Throwing his hand away, all indignation, I jumped to my feet. “That wasn’t fair! I wasn’t ready.”
Becks tugged me back down, looked me straight in the eye. “That’s the point,” he said. “Whenever we’re walking down the hall, in class, wherever, you won’t always know when I’m going to touch you, hug you, kiss you.” At the thought of kissing Becks, my heart danced a jig in my chest, but Becks wasn’t done. “You’ve got to be prepared, Sal. If you want to make this guy jealous, he has to believe we’re a couple. He won’t if you keep reacting that way. Hooker won’t either.”
He had a point.
Wearing my most serious face, I turned to him. “Alright, Mr. Miyagi, I’m ready to learn. Teach me all your skills.”
Becks laughed. “Okay, Sally-san,” he winked, “but we’ll just stick to touch today. I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you too fast.”
I blushed, realizing how that must’ve sounded. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that wanted him to overwhelm me, as fast as he pleased.
Thankfully, Becks let it go.
Scooting closer, he lifted a hand. “I’m going to touch you now, okay?” he asked as if knowing it beforehand would make me less tense.
I jerked a nod. The knowing didn’t help, kind of made it worse actually. Now that I knew what was coming—Becks, my Becks, touching his skin to my skin—my nerve endings were on full alert.
Gently, Becks placed his hand on top of mine.
I didn’t jump this time, but my body was like a live wire, lit up from the inside.
“Jeez,” Becks said quietly, running the tips of his fingers up and down my arm. “You’re shaking, Sal.”
Mortified, I looked down to see that he was right. Every time his fingers passed a certain place on my skin, gooseflesh appeared first followed by a tiny quiver.
“Sorry,” I said, completely at a loss.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t command myself to not react. Why was my body betraying me like this? Didn’t it realize that if Becks saw how much I loved his touch, how much it moved me, he would know?
Just as I feared it might already be too late, he said, “This isn’t working.” Removing his hand, he sat back, shaking his head. “I don’t know why I freak you out so much, but we need to try something different.”
I was a lot of things, but “freaked out” was definitely not one of them.
“Here,” he said, moving a bit closer. “You do me.”
“What?”
“Well, if I can’t touch you, you’ve got to touch me. Go ahead, Sal.” He rolled his neck around, loosening up like he did sometimes before a game. “I promise I won’t move a muscle.”
I grimaced. As if I needed yet another reminder of how undesirable Becks found me. Here I was shaking like a leaf because of him, and there he was cool as a cucumber. Of course, he wouldn’t move. Becks wasn’t the one suffering from a severe case of Un-Requited Love Syndrome. Much as I wished he was, the only love-struck idiot here was me.
Determined to make him feel something, I leaned in. “Close your eyes,” I said.
He did.
I took a second to study him, opening himself up to me, so vulnerable, and then started off the same way he had.