Free I'll Be Waiting (San Juan Island Stories Book 6) by Wendy Lynn Clark Page A

stung and her nose throbbed and her eyes watered, but the shock made her burst out laughing.
    Relief washed across her teammates’ faces on both sides of the net as her outside hitters helped her up. The JVs launched into their favorite chant. “Skylar! Skylar! Look to the Skyyyyy-lar!”
    The chant sounded so sweet in a hard-fought practice match as she stepped into her famous float serve, but so bitter when her teammates wiggled their hands in the air because she had been a dummy.
    She laughed anyway. Only a jerk would get mad over a little teasing.
    “Robinson, eyes on this side of the gym.” Her coach’s face burned nuclear red.
    “They are.” She tried for an innocent look.
    “I mean it, Robinson.”
    “I promise they are.” She smiled hopefully, even though her face was still throbbing. Jeez, did the wrestlers on the other side of the gym see her spectacular fail? Or, specifically, did the one wrestler who mattered see it? She glanced over for just a second to see if Luke had witnessed her screw-up.
    “That’s it. You’re on cleanup.” Her coach shook her head.
    “Aw!”
    But as she rolled up the net after practice she realized luck had once again bestowed its golden kiss, because Luke had apparently been designated to clean up his side of the gym too. Solid in his skintight uniform, every muscle from his calves to his buns tightened as he lifted the heavy mat. Skylar traced the puckers and bulges as she dragged the net down the hall after him to storage, drawn like a kitten to her first catnip.
    He held the door for her and flipped on the light. She unpeeled her gaze and thanked him with a smile.
    He avoided eye contact. “Sure.”
    His voice, directed at her for only the second time in her entire life, teased her with its subtle charms: quiet, distinct, and oh so delectable.
    She put her net with the others, and he put his mat with the others, and she kind of smiled at him as he finessed all of the mats into perfect alignment. Then suddenly the storage room door swung shut. Locking her and Luke in the storage closet together.
    Luke pushed the door. No handle on the inside. “We’re stuck.”
    His voice sounded distant. Not thrilled to be spending time alone with her, but not really angry either. She hoped he wasn’t furious. Because despite what had happened only yesterday, the truth of whether he liked her or like -liked her or hated her remained an unsolved mystery.
    “Sorry. One of my JVs is a huge practical joker.”
    He rubbed his forehead and stepped back from the door, resigned. “We could be stuck in here all night.”
    Skylar plopped on the mats and lounged against the wall. “I’ve got Renee’s car keys in my locker. She’ll definitely find us. And who cares, right? This is like an adventure.”
    “We’ve got a position paper due in English tomorrow.”
    “Oh, seriously? Oopsie.”
    He glanced at her. Brown eyes sharp, he was assessing her repose. Then his gaze flickered to the floor and he seemed to consider her words and how to respond. “You don’t care about your grades.”
    She shrugged and smiled. “My mom says I can learn my whole life, but I’ll only be seventeen once.” She had a really cool mom.
    His lips twisted to the side. “That’s pretty carefree.”
    “I guess.” It wasn’t like one paper mattered—or even one grade, or even one semester. She was moving to San Francisco with Renee to become a flight attendant, and for that she just had to graduate or get her GED, whichever was easier. She’d never need a good GPA, and she’d already passed most of high school without studying. But for Luke “More Studious than Hermione Granger” Zemackis, a night stuck in a closet probably rated the same as the Titanic disaster.
    Skylar bit her lip. “Are you going to pull an all-nighter?”
    “I’m done. I was just thinking…” He glanced at her and away.
    “Thinking what?” she asked.
    His hard cheeks very slightly reddened. “It’s nothing.”
    An