Spycraft Academy by B. Miles (little readers .txt) 📕

So why wasn't he?

More importantly, what should he do about it? Silently pining after her, waiting for her to realize he was standing there in the first place was what stopped them from having any moment for years. If she was just distracted, he would get that, but if she felt the same about him as he did her, there should have at least been a look, a smile, a sign that things had changed.

He should ask her. Even if it made him seem desperate or single-minded or however the hell it would make him seem, he should ask. He was not about to live through another decade of wanting her without her wanting him.

"Somebody's in loovvee." Drina's voice flowed through his ear like honey. She was standing behind him, probably on her tiptoes given how short she was compared to him.

Gooseflesh prickled his arms. He was glad for the long sleeves. He'd quite hoped that she would drop the 'enticing coquette' bit once she was in the crew, but apparently not.

"Head over heels," he said, rolling his eyes as if he wasn't.

Before he could so much as step away, Drina had him by the belt, pulling his back flush to her front. It probably looked ridiculous, being pushed around by a woman, but it didn't feel that ridiculous when the tips of her fingers traced tiny patterns into the small of his back.

"You know, your defense mechanisms are very transparent."

Her fingers danced across the small of his back, around his waist, to his lower abdomen, and her body followed until she was standing right in front of him. The lopsided smirk dimpling her cheeks was one that he was beginning to associate with trouble.

"It's alright, you know." Her hands kept making those little electric circles on his skin and he had to hold back a shudder. Sam should have taken a step back so that she couldn't tease him, but when he thought about it, a large portion of his brain roared at him to stay right where he was.

It had been a while since he'd been with a girl. The quell section was hardly teaming with healthy bachelorettes.

"I think she loves you too."

"Really?" He blurted. His mouth clamped shut and he had the urge to kick himself in the ass.

Drina's eyebrows bounced high on her forehead and her smile got slicker. "Really, truly. When I asked about you two last night, she got the cutest little smile on her face. She told me that you two had something of a spark on the journey here, and she was worried that she might have scared you off."

Oh. That was why she was acting so normal? She thought he wasn't interested. Sam looked up and caught Mattie's big blue eyes all the way across the arena. She was staring at the two of them, but when Sam met her gaze, she quickly looked away.

He took an instinctive step back to distance himself from the other girl. If what Drina said was true, then he didn't want to make Mattie think that he was uninterested and looking for other girls to fool around with.

"Not so fast, lover boy."

Drina snatched him by the belt again and yanked him to her like a doll. He didn't stop her when she did that. He didn't stop her when she reached up and grasped the back of his neck. He didn't stop her when she forced his head down so that she could whisper in his ear.

"Let's make a wager, shall we?"

Her voice was a dark hiss tunneling into his brain. She kept him anchored by knotting her fingers in the back of his head.

"I bet you that I can sleep with her before you do. And if I win, you have to do whatever I want…for a whole day."

The thoughts that had been churning in his head came to an abrupt halt. He squinted at Drina, partly offended because Mattie wasn't some race hound to make bets on, and partly hopeful that she would win.

Before he could answer, her expression shifted and she flicked him on the nose. "Kidding."

Her sense of humor was quickly becoming apparent. Sam needed to quit getting so worked up when she baited him. There was something oddly comforting about knowing her angle, like he was in on the joke. He didn't have to worry about how he was going to respond, or if he looked clueless when he tried to respond in the first place. She wasn't actually flirting with him, just screwing with him, and if that was how she played around with her friends, then he could loosen up and joke around with her too.

Sam squinted at her and she stuck out her tongue, but when Drina turned to walk away in Mattie's direction, Sam snatched her by the back of the trousers and pulled her flush against his chest.

"Fine," he said, bending his head and muttering into her ear. "But if I win, you have to do whatever I want…for a whole. Entire. Day.”

His previous realization began to melt a little when he felt her go completely still and saw the gooseflesh rise along her arms. Maybe she was playing around with him, but she certainly wasn't as unaffected by his response as he expected.

"Oh?" She didn't look at him.

Sam studied the side of her face, frowning in thought. He expected her to keep joking with him, but there was something different about her quite suddenly. Maybe it was the way she seemed so stiff while her voice sounded so casual, maybe it was something more subtle that he couldn't pinpoint.

Maybe she wasn't used to somebody playing her game.

This was new. Exciting. He felt like a kid again, inching toward the feral cat who stayed in the alley next to the cobbler's shop, quietly sneaking up on her to trap her in his arms, scratching her ears even as she clawed his arms, grimacing and patiently waiting for