Chapter Ten
Cooper
I shouldn’t have sniffed her neck like some weirdo. Even in the cab of my truck I could smell her perfume, that scent I’d noticed last night. Lately, I was noticing way too much. At least she had on jeans tonight, although I could easily recall the way her legs looked in those tiny shorts yesterday, and her pants were tight enough I could still see the shape of them, and I might’ve checked out her ass as I’d walked her to my truck.
What the hell was wrong with me?
A sweet girl asks me to help her land a guy and suddenly I’m ogling her and thinking about her lips and her perfume and her legs and—man, I needed to derail this line of thought.
So I focused on the way the headlights lit up the narrow road and trees flanking it, and my plan to put her on Pecker’s radar tonight. For all I knew this attempt would crash and burn and I’d discover I knew nothing about people my age. Hell, maybe I should suggest everyone go outside and stare at the stars once we arrived at the party. Just really drive it home that I didn’t know what it took to be cool, only that not caring had somehow made me cooler.
“You okay?” Kate asked.
I kept my eyes on the road to keep my head in the game. “Yeah. I was just thinking about the lake.”
“When are you not thinking about the lake?”
I smiled at her, and she smiled back, and a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time went through my gut. “Not to rub it in, but you missed out today. There was this perfect breeze and enough cloud cover to keep the temperature nice and cool. You wouldn’t have been able to get your sought-after tan, of course.”
“Well, then, I’m out. Do you think I’m doing this whole rowing training for my health?”
No. You’re doing it for some meathead who only thinks about himself. I needed to remember that before my brain got any other ideas and I did something stupid that’d ruin the easy, fun thing we had going on.
“It’s always a bit crowded on the weekends, but it wasn’t too bad today.” The lake. That’d keep me safe. Whenever I thought about veering from the plan, I’d throw out more facts about it. Remind myself that I needed her help with training there, in addition to the side fun we were having.
“Maybe we should just wait until Monday to train more, then.”
I scowled at her and she held up her hands.
“Just kidding, Coach Grouchy Pants. I’m so excited to get out on the lake with you tomorrow that I can hardly control myself. Your jaw is totally going to drop once you see the time we make.”
“It better,” I said, keeping my tone light. Calling me a grouchy pants was hardly fair. More like clinging to every hour of fun and freedom before a decade of boredom and falling in line. I almost told her about the internship, simply because it’d be nice to vent, but that’d be a total downer, and we had enough to think about tonight if we were going to pull off our plan.
Kate scooted forward as we pulled up to the two-story cabin with as many cars as trees. “Wait. Who’s throwing the party?”
“Paris.”
Her shoulders deflated. “Great. She haaates me.”
“How could anybody hate you?”
“I don’t know, yet people pull it off. Basically I wouldn’t be her lackey, but she was cool enough that Amber didn’t mind, and maybe I don’t exactly have kind feelings for her because of that, either.”
“As you can see, half the school is here. You can avoid her easy enough.”
“Right.” Kate nodded and reached for her door handle. Then she abruptly spun around, her face pale. “Remind me why I’m doing this again.”
“Because I’m a genius and you trust me completely.” I figured joking would be better than having to say the truth out loud. For one, thinking about being this weird dating puppet master made me seriously reconsider my life choices, and for two, irritation started to rise up when I thought of Pecker in general.
“I do trust you, and you are a genius.” Kate ran her palms down her jeans. “But I’m, like, crazy nervous. Way more nervous than I thought I’d be.”
“Just relax. I’ll be right there with you—”
“With your arm around me, acting all flirty, and like we’re casual acquaintances who probably fool around a little?”
Whatever you do, do not think about what it might be like to fool around a little. I ninja chopped away the image of pulling her close. “Yeah, that’s the vibe we’re going for. But like I said, I’m not going to be super possessive or anything.”
“What about…kissing?”
Every ounce of my restraint went to keeping myself from looking at her lips, and I quickly shut down all thoughts of sparkly lip gloss and driving my hand through her hair to satisfy my curiosity about how it’d feel between my fingers. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Maybe on the cheek? Like when I whisper it’s time to go? And you’ll act like you’re…” Into it. That was what I meant, but I worried it’d come out wrong and only make her more nervous—not to mention rev me up more—so I softened it. “Like you think that sounds like a great idea.”
She nodded again and again, like she did when her nervousness reached the next level.
I took her hand and slipped my fingers between hers. “We don’t have to do this.”
She looked at me, blinking the green eyes that looked even bigger and brighter thanks to the makeup she’d put on. “No, I want to.”
Could’ve fooled me. “Okay. I’m going to open the truck door and pull you out with me.”
I wrapped my fingers around the plastic handle.
“Wait,” she said before I tugged.
I turned back to her. “You’re doing this for your crazy mission thing, and as you like to remind me, you’re on a tight deadline. It’ll work. But first we have to go inside that party and pull off step one.”
“I think this is step two.” Her eyes met mine. “And call it by its name.”
“Why?”
“Because it’ll make me feel better.” She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. “Please?” How could I possibly say no to her sweet features and that pleading look that said she really needed this.
I sighed, drawing it out, because I might be the sucker in this situation, but it didn’t mean I’d completely own it. “Operation Prom Date is officially go for launch. Once this mission is complete, we’ll report to home base for further instructions.”
A smile spread across her face and she tightened her grip on my hand. “Okay. Now I’m ready.”