Free Blindsided by Emma Hart

know I couldn’t throw a ball in practice today?”
    “So much for your epic skills.”
    “I have epic skills when I’m not thinking about kissing the shit out of a certain blonde.”
    “Maybe you should stop thinking, then.”
    “When I can still taste your lips on mine? How do you expect me to do that, babe?”
    She chews on the inside of her cheek, and I know I’ve caught her off guard. Hell, I caught myself off guard. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
    “How am I supposed to answer that?” She glances at me.
    “However you want.”
    We reach the top of the hill, and Leah leans against a tree the way she did the first time we ran together. She lets her hair down, and I look at her properly. She’s wearing no makeup, and she’s probably the only girl I know who can pull that off and still look red-carpet ready. Her long eyelashes, darker than her blond hair, curl over her eyelids, and her pink lips are naturally plump. The pink in her cheeks instantly sends me back to last night when the cause of the flush in them was me.
    “You’re infuriating, you know that?” Leah snaps her hairband around her wrist.
    “You’ve said something like that before.”
    “Have I? I mean it more now. I’m still pissed you followed me home. How fucking dare you pull such an asshole move?” she yells.
    “You walk away from me, darlin’, and I’m gonna fuckin’ follow you. Got it?”
    She stands up straight and points at me. “I just… Argh!” She turns on me fully now, her eyes ablaze with anger and heat that sear right through me. They’re shining, playing off her flushed cheeks, and her pouting lips are just begging to be covered by mine. “I can’t even put it into words. That’s how angry I am at you! And you know the worst thing? The absolute worst thing?” She pauses. “I’m not even mad that you kissed me. I’m mad you that followed me home. Okay, maybe I am a little mad that you did. I don’t know. Shit! I’m not even making sense. I’m going home before I fling myself into this rock, because it turns out that I have no idea why I’m here.”
    She moves and I grab her arm, spinning her into me. I curve my hand around her back and hold her body against mine, trapping her in place. Her hands are flat on my chest, her fingers twitching as she breathes heavily. Her blue eyes are wide and angry and hard as they look into mine.
    I run my fingers through her hair to push it back from her face and cup the back of her head, bringing my face close to hers.
    “What do you want me to say, Leah? That I’m sorry? ‘Cause I’m not. Not for one single fucking second.”
    “I don’t want you to—”
    “Do you want me to tell you how I fucked everythin’ at practice today because all I could think about was the way your body felt against mine? How all I could taste was the sweet taste of your mouth? How I’ve touched your silky skin and wished there was nothing between us? How, now that I’ve had more than one taste, I don’t know if I can give it up?” I move my face even closer to her. “Do you want me to tell you how badly I want to rip off your clothes and taste every single inch of your body? How I want to take you to the edge and push you over it until you can’t breathe? Huh? Is that what you want, Leah?”
    Her breathing is coming hard and fast through her parted lips, each breath heating my own, making me ache to kiss her again.
    “’Cause if that’s what you want, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how you’ve driven me fuckin’ crazy for the last day. You’ve driven me fuckin’ crazy since the day I met you. First because you said no and now because I want to fuck you so, so badly.”
    “No,” she whispers. “I don’t want to know that. I don’t want to know it because knowing leads to believing, and if there’s one thing a girl should never do, that’s believe you.” She knocks my hand from her head and steps back. My hand falls from her waist. “You’ve had your fun with