“Sorry about that,” Keira said, closing the door behind her.
That look was still in Keira’s eyes, the one that told Kona she wanted to forget Leann had stopped them. But the mood had shifted and Kona didn’t know if that interruption had really been a bad thing. Keira still looked so open, so willing to give in. A flash of Leann’s shocked expression came back to him then. It was familiar, something Kona had seen too often when he’d convinced some girl to go home with him. Their friends, the people who cared about them, always had the same look on their faces.
“She’s just worried you’re making bad choices.”
Keira considered him for a moment, moving in front of him with those arms back around her waist. She wasn’t guarding herself, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to touch him either. “Am I?”
He rubbed his face, trying to clear away the mild guilt he felt. He’d almost let things slip out of control. Again. “I don’t know.” Keira should know what she was getting with him. Kona had no idea where things were heading. He knew he liked her. He knew with very little effort, Keira could have him completely under her spell. He was close to that now and this was only their first date. “I’m not a saint. I’m nowhere close to being good enough for you.”
Keira’s arms fell to her side and she stepped into Kona’s space. That sweet scent on her skin was musky now, still tempting, still intoxicating. “Why don’t you let me decide that?”
He liked how bold she was, how that awkward girl who threatened him in class was gone. Weeks with Kona, with him pushing her buttons, with him insinuating himself in her life had changed Keira and he liked the fire that she held in her belly. It drew him to her, made him helpless. Kona took her face between his hands and gave her a kiss, brief but lingering. If he kept at it, he knew he wouldn’t ever be able to walk away from her.
“It’s late. It’s probably a good idea for me to jet.” Kona had bite his bottom lip to keep from smiling at Keira’s expression. “You don’t want me to go?”
“I wouldn’t hate it if you stayed.”
Kona tried to ignore the double beat of his heart. “That’s tempting, Wildcat, but if I stayed I couldn’t promise you’d avoid those bad decisions.”
“Kona, I get the feeling you might end up being my favorite mistake.”
She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. It had been like that for nearly two weeks and the smile Keira wore that day as she left Kenner Hall, her arms loaded down with folders and notes for her Arthurian Studies presentation, had little to do with how she and Kona kicked ass. It was him. He put that smile on her face every day since they’d been “hanging out.” It was a stupid phrase, one that flew out of her mouth anytime Leann badgered her about what was going on between her and Kona, but it stuck and that was the only definition Keira would allow herself.
Hanging out with Kona Hale meant a lot of late nights, a lot of slapping his hand off her ass or shoving that imposing chest with her elbow because he wouldn’t focus on their presentation. They ate lunch together in the cafeteria, away from Leann, away from Kona’s football friends, ignoring the quick stares they drew. They worked in the library after practice, sweaty and stinky. Kona never failed to follow her down a dark stack of books, trying to kiss her, trying to get her to touch him despite how dirty and worn out they both were. He was insatiable and Keira couldn’t help herself, she loved the attention. But, yes, they were only hanging out.
Movie dates and parking for hours, nearly naked in his Camaro still qualified as hanging out, right?
She was nearly to the door, trying to hurry to Kona’s car to dump off all her stuff before they had a celebration lunch for landing an A on their presentation, when someone moved to stand in front of her. Someone female, someone tall and too thin. Someone with bleached blonde hair. Someone Keira had seen slithering out of Kona’s bedroom weeks ago.
“I just wanted to let you know, he’s going to get bored of you.” Tonya Lucas pulled the smile right off Keira’s face. She’d spent every class period since that day at the team house glaring at Keira or making snide comments anytime Keira and Kona sat together to work in class on their presentation. Kona told Keira to ignore her, that Tonya was a common, jealous bitch, but today it seemed the girl wanted to level up her insults.
“I really don’t need you in my business.” Keira stepped to the side, trying to go around her and leave out the door, but Tonya slipped back in front of her, blocking her escape. Outside, Keira could see Kona sitting on the hood of his Camaro, glancing toward the building as he waited for her. She’d barely managed to get him to deposit her player and the DVDs they used for the presentation. She’d wanted to hang back and pester Miller about their grade.