Page 90 of Ignition

The snow-capped trees and fellow runners I passed blurred at the edges of my vision as I checked my phone again, for the hundredth time that week. I’d been watching it like a bomb, waiting for my dad’s call, or worse, an angry text from Pri telling me Mia was packing her bags.

None came, which put me even more on edge.

The tentative peace with my parents felt tenuous, the nods when I’d said I wanted to focus on my studies and postpone the blind dates even more so, when I knew for a fact “understanding” wasn’t in their vocabulary.

It all hinged on Mia remaining a mystery.

As long as they didn’t know her name, I’d done my job.

The cold air bit at my overheated skin and the jersey clung to me like ice, but I only pumped my burning legs harder, breath coming in puffs of white in front of me.

The lecture droned on and on, and by the time the sun dipped low, my shirt was all itchy and my fingers kept loosening the tie that as good as strangled me.

A tiny jolt of adrenaline barrelled through me from the balls of my feet to my nape every time I caught her glance my way, just as unable to help herself as I was.

I tossed my phone in my hands and warred with myself.

Lost spectacularly.

J: I believe I owe you an overdue kiss. Tell me when you want to cash it in xx

A slow smile tugged at my lips as I abandoned all pretence of taking notes, hung back in my seat a few rows away, and watched heat creep up the side of her neck. She shot me a glare that only pulled my mouth into a smirk and responded.

M: I’d tell you where to stick your kiss, but you’re supposed to be smart, so…

My chin rested on my palm, hiding most of my grin as I typed under the desk.

J: Such a liar. I can see your blush from here xx

She froze in her seat, then smoothed her hair in that nervous gesture I’d catalogued months ago. Then, her back stiffened, as if refraining from turning and spearing me another glare.

The clock ticked, and the minutes stretched, counted off by the slow metronome I drummed against my thigh, but no reply came.

J: Fine. Don’t let me catch you up in the clock tower

Bait placed, all I had to do was battle the restlessness making my muscles burn, and time, crawling by and testing my limits.

The clock chimed six, an outburst of chatter and the shuffle of feet marked the end of class, and I strode off, resisting the urge to throw her a glance over my shoulder.

Footsteps unusually quiet, they drummed up, up, until the staircase turned into a dizzying spiral, until the shadows swallowed me. I set my notebook and pen on the windowsill and planted my palms on it as I peered down at the quad and tried to coax my pulse to slow down, though it rebelled.

A shuffle of steps—small, tentative—had my heart kick up with a violence that was almost concerning. A flood of heat rushed all over in anticipation, like my body knew who it was before I turned.

She was chewing on her lip and looking as if she’d battled against herself all the way up, and the breath punched out of me with a sharp kick to the solar plexus.

My mouth swallowed whatever had been on the tip of her tongue as I lunged forward, pulled her into my arms, and kissed her.

Finally.

The muscles on my nape relaxed as my fingers found her hips, pulling her against me, as hers tangled in my hair, like no time had passed since the cursed countdown on the dance floor a week ago.

Mind a blur, body acting on pure instinct as her softness pressed into my chest, I turned and walked her back, until the shadows of the alcove swallowed us whole.

“Josh—”

God, yes. The sound of my name on her lips alone buckled my knees, but in that breathy, needy tone? It was downright fuckin’ dangerous.

My palms skated down her hips, hooked under the back of her thighs, and pulled her up, until her ass perched on the little console table. A metallic clatter told me we’d knocked something to the floor, but I couldn’t care less.