Forbidden Love

31

Luna

My heads exploding. It's been an hour and neither of us have moved an inch. Every problem, I try my best to explain but my brain feels fuzzy at the contact. Moving now would just be admitting that I'm affected by his touch, which I most certainly am, but I'll never admit it to him. That is far too embarrassing knowing that he'd probably laugh. I'm not his type. I'm his tutor.

I just need to remind myself from time to time. But it sucks when all I can think about is his leg next to mine. He deserves a focused teacher.

"Luna?"

"Sorry, what?"

He frowns. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I focus on the problem at hand—the workbook problem not the boy problem. "Did you finish the reading?"

"Not yet, I was just saying that I can barely concentrate. A break would be nice."

"I can leave, and we can pick this up tomorrow if you want."

He looks down and it's evident he wants to stop. "You don't have to leave... we could..." He trails off. "Oh! I know. Come on." Before I can ask what in the world he's thinking about, he grabs my hand and leads me downstairs. Instead of going to the front door like I expect us to, we head toward the back door, and he slides it open.

"What are we—" I start to ask what we're doing, but the second Jaxon scoops something off the ground, I stop short. "You want me to watch you play football?" As great as that sounds, I've already done that today.

"No." He twirls the football in his hand. "I want you to play football with me. You said you've never played."

A bubble of laughter escapes me. "Yeah, uh, I don't think that's the best idea. I'm not exactly the poster child for sports."

"I don't expect you to be the best, Lu." My heart races at the nickname. "I'll even go easy on you."

"Ever the gentleman." I say dryly. "I wouldn't even know what to do."

"We'll start simple. Go deep." I blink at him, and humor gleams in his eyes. "That means to run."

"I know what it means, I don't live under a rock." I lie just to wipe that expression off his face. "But I just can't catch the ball."

"You never know until you try."

Only because I want to prove to him that I can't catch it, I run to the opposite side of his backyard and hold up my hands. He smiles just before he throws the ball—and I don't mean to stroke his ego or anything, but wow. I'm not sure what qualifies as a good throw, but that has to be one of the best. The look on his face just proves he knows it too.

The ball ends up coming straight to my face and I duck.

"Luna!" Jaxon calls. "This isn't dodgeball. You have to actually catch it. Now throw it back."

I'm aware I have to catch it. I think to myself. Idiot.

I grab the ball off the ground with more force than necessary and briefly wonder if I'm supposed to hold it a certain way. Eventually, I give up and just throw the ball to him before he can complain some more. The ball spins in a little circle, and the gasp that comes out of Jaxon is audible from across the yard.

"Liar!" He runs to me. "I thought you said you didn't play."

"I don't. Never have." I remind him. "I don't even know how to hold the thing."

"You just threw a perfect spiral." He continues at my dumb expression. "It's a good throw."

Ha! Suck it, Jaxon. "I guess I should try out for football and replace you as quarterback now."