Page 15 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“Well, I don’t do them every day.” He attempts to whisper, but it comes out a little louder than he thinks. “My tolerance isn’t what it used to be.”

I put my finger to my lips, signaling him to be quieter. “They were five milligrams each, so you’re probably starting to feel something.”

“You shhh,” he responds, and I roll my eyes just as a gray-haired woman who reminds me of my grandma sits next to River and gives us both a smile.

“Hi dears.” She smiles at us before pulling out knitting needles and what looks like will eventually be a little pink sweater. I guess she can still feel my gaze because she turns her eyes to mine and looks at me from over the top of her round glasses. “It’s for my granddaughter!” she says, holding up the half-knitted garment.

“How cute! How old is she?”

“She’ll be two this weekend. Do you two have children?” she asks, going back to her knitting.

“Oh… no.” I start. “We’re not?—”

“Not yet?” She interrupts, while still not looking at us. “Oh, you have time, you’re still just little ones yourselves. I had seven,” she says, and my eyes widen, and I can almost feel my uterus shaking in protest.

“Wow, that’s… a lot.”I stammer as I try to conceptualize the thought of pushing seven children out of my body.

“Yeah, I could not get their father off me to save my life.” She pulls her eyes away from her knitting needles and smiles at us.

River lets out a laugh he tries to disguise as a cough, which actually makes him cough, and she taps his back gently. “Oh, arms up, hon! It helps!” she tells him as she holds one of his arms up. He grabs his water from the seat-back pocket and takes a sip, which I think helps more than the “arms up” advice, but I’m not too sure.

He turns to me and shakes his head. “I don’t think I want to have seven kids?” he says quietly.

“I definitely don’t,” I whisper back, shaking my head with wide, unblinking eyes.

“How many do you want to have?” He takes another sip of his water and clears his throat.

“Maybe three?” I shrug. “Four max.”

“I think that’s a good number.”

“Well, let’s hope our future partners agree.”

I don’t miss the way his eyes zone in on my mouth and then slowly trace the rest of my face. And I allow myself one second to imagine what it would be like to have these three to four future children with the gorgeous man next to me, and the story that could potentially start tonight. Once that second is up, I turn my gaze toward the window to force the hopeless romantic swooning over our meet-cute out of my head.The plane must have finished boarding because the lights immediately dim as the flight attendants begin their pre-flight run-through. But I somehow tune all of that out and turn my focus back to the man next to me staring at me so intensely, I feel slightly unnerved.

“I can’t stop staring at your eyes. They’re so big, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes this shade of blue.”

I’ve heard that before, but hearing it from River’s mouth and, more importantly, that deep, growly voice does something to the space between my legs that I wasn’t expecting, and suddenly, Delaney’s idea about fucking him in the plane bathroom sounds like something I’d like to explorethoroughly.

“They’re so beautiful,” he adds. I bite my bottom lip, unsure of what to say that isn’t a very lame “thank you,” but before I can respond, he continues, “Youare so beautiful.” He closes his eyes and turns away from me. “Way too fucking young for me, though,” he whispers, and I frown immediately because, okay,fair, butfuck that.

The plane starts to move, and I tentatively reach for his hand, dragging my finger along his knuckles and the top of his hand. “Says who?”

Probably everyone in the world, especially if they knew my actual age.

Probably ifheknew my actual age.

I shouldn’t push it. I should let him try to do the right thing and not put us in a situation where I have to lie to him, and he has to push aside whatever morals he’s grappling with. But I want to know what his lips feel like against mine.And Ireallywant to know what he feels like inside me.

“Sloane…” He moves his hand, and I think he’s going to move it so I’ll stop touching him, but he flips it so his palm is facing up and clasps his hand with mine. “You know you are.”

“But… who would find out?” I squeeze his hand gently just as we begin to pick up speed. I move closer to him so my lips are less than an inch from his ear, and I feel my heart begin to accelerate as I wait for the words about to come out of my mouth. “No one has to know.”

He squeezes my hand as we ascend into the air. The last of the sun goes down, cloaking the plane in almost complete darkness, except for the dim lights and those with their overhead lights on. I notice that the older woman next to River is already asleep, and I turn slightly in my seat so that I’m facing him. “Do you want to see me again after tonight?”

“Yeah,” he whispers. “I really do.”

“I am sensing a but…?”