Page 93 of Faking the Goal

My hand pauses halfway to my mouth.

I look at him over the rim of my cup. "Excuse me?"

"Tell me three things about yourself."

"Uh, why?" I take a sip. "You writing a paper about me too, Sunshine?"

"No. Just trying to get to know you better."

The latte goes down the wrong fucking pipe.

I choke, coughing into my fist while Kentaro watches me with a crease forming between his brows.

"Really?"

"Why do you seem so surprised?"

Because I am.

People have said they wanted to get to know me before, sure. Usually men, usually accompanied by a lingering look at my tits, and usually with a very generous interpretation of what getting to know me actually meant.

What's your favorite position?

Do you live alone?

Want to get out of here?

Apparently, my vagina has historically been a far more compelling subject of study than my personality. And that never bothered me. I wasn't exactly looking for their childhood dreams and deepest fears either. But Kentaro isn't looking at my body. There's no smirk on his face, no flirting buried underneath the question, no obvious ulterior motive.

He just looks... interested.

In me.

Which shouldn't feel nearly as strange as it does.

Especially coming from him.

Kentaro Azuma, who I'm fairly certain would rather swallow his own hockey puck than sleep with me. Hell, I'm probably somewhere near the bottom of his list of women he'd ever consider taking to bed.

So this isn't that.

He actually wants to know me.

And for some stupid reason, that realization makes something flutter nervously beneath my ribs.

"Nothing." I trace my thumb around the lid of my cup. "I'm just not used to people asking, I guess."

His brows draw together. "Nobody's ever tried to get to know you?"

"Not personally."

"What does that mean?"

I give him a look. "It means when most guys tell me they want to 'get to know me,' what they actually mean is they want to get into my pants."

His frown deepens. "Then what about your friends? Didn't they have to get to know you before you became friends?"

A laugh slips out of me, "That's the thing, Sunshine. I don't really have friends."