I tug at the ends of my hair in frustration and sigh. “I’m trying, Sam. You’re not completely wrong about me. I don’t do commitments with women. I never even thought about anything more than one night… until you.”
“You had the chance three years ago, Tucker.” She balls her hands into fists on the table and leans forward. “The only reason you feel differently toward me now is because you need my help.”
“That’s not true.” I dig my elbows into the table meeting her halfway. Our mouths are so close I can feel her breath on my lips. “After you stood me up for tutoring, and I had to find out who you are the hard way, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I still can’t. Maybe I would’ve passed the practice test if you’d stop taking up so much space in my head.” I wink, and she giggles softly.
I brush my lips against hers, and her mouth opens for me, permitting me access. We stay this way for a few seconds, our breathing erratic, the anticipation of the kiss too much to bear.
“I want to believe you, Tucker,” Sam whispers. “Words mean nothing without actions. So, show me.”
Before she can utter another word, my lips crash against hers, my tongue sweeping into her mouth colliding with hers. Her kisses are tentative as if she’s fighting an internal struggle with herself to be with me. Part of her hates me for the past. But not right now, not in this moment. She wants me to show her I have changed, or that I can change for her.
I thread my fingers through her hair to deepen the kiss. She moans in my mouth as she rakes her nails down my neck. And then our moment passes with someone clearing their throat loudly next to our table.
“Break it up,” a woman says, annoyed. “No touching in the library.”
I was so consumed by Sam I didn’t even notice footsteps behind me. Before I look up, I already know I will find the librarian glaring at us.
Just my luck.
After I grab a chicken wrap from the buffet line in the cafeteria, I head over to the table by the window where my teammates are waiting for me.
“About time you showed up,” Drake says with a smirk. “Were you trading sexual favors for grades again?”
My friends and their girlfriends laugh at my expense.
“Laugh it up, assholes.” I sit next to Jamie knowing he won’t give me a hard time.
His girlfriend hasn’t been around much since The Queen ousted him for talking to other girls. It was all a misunderstanding, of course, but like me, Jamie suffered from the news.
“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Taylor says to me, smacking Drake on the arm. “He’s an idiot.”
I nod, unwrapping my sandwich from the paper. “I’ll get him back later… when he’s least expecting it.”
Drake laughs. “I’d like to see you try.”
“How’s it going with the tutor?” Preston asks with a mouth full of food. “You gonna pass?”
I take a few bites of my wrap, starved after going straight from practice to the library to meet Sam. “I think so.”
“Don’t think,” Preston says. “You need to know.”
“I got it under control,” I assure him and then nudge Jamie in the side to get his attention. “Any new leads on The Queen?”
He shakes his head. “She’s always one step ahead of me.” Jamie scratches the stubble along his jaw, deep in thought. “There’s something familiar about her code. I know it from somewhere, but I can’t remember why.”
“Dude, I don’t even know what that means. Way over my head,” I say, holding my hand up.
“Every time I break through one of her firewalls, I get shut out again. The bitch even wrote a virus into one of the patches.”
“So, what does that mean?”
I’m clueless when it comes to this kind of shit. Jamie is a whiz when it comes to computers. He gets that from his dad. And I got natural athletic abilities from mine.
“It means that she knows I’m on to her. Her code is like poetry. It’s like art,” he says, sounding somewhat impressed.
“I still don’t understand,” I confess.
Preston laughs. “Jamie has a crush on The Queen.”
“No, I don’t,” Jamie shoots back, annoyed. “It’s just… I’ve never met anyone like her…” His words trail off, and I can see it in his eyes. Jamie has a thing for this girl. What if she’s a man? I don’t even want to point it out to him because he seems oddly fascinated with her.
“Jamie’s in love,” Drake’s deep voice booms.
“Fuck off,” Jamie growls at Drake. “You guys don’t get what I’m saying anyway, so there’s no point in explaining myself.” He slides his legs off the bench, turning away from us to leave before he adds, “Incoming.”
I turn around to see what he’s talking about and find Sam walking down the long aisle between the tables headed in our direction. I expect her to stop when our eyes meet, but she keeps going until I shout her name.