Gah.

I thought I waved back, but with all of the emotions running through me, and the whole remembering to breathe thing, I wasn’t convinced I had control over my motor skills.

“I’m volunteering every week,” Caitlin vowed from her spot standing next to me.

I choked back a laugh.

“Did you know he was going to be here?” she asked, her voice incredulous.

I shook my head, still not trusting my words. Gray hadn’t mentioned anything about volunteering at the school; I’d figured he was going to take a more hands-off supervisory role.

“He’s been coming down here a couple times a week,” Anna, the girl nearest us, commented with a mischievous grin.

I reddened, mortified to be caught perving on my law school professor by an eighth grader, the sight of Gray momentarily distracting me from the fact that I wasn’t alone. Then again, no one was exactly looking at me. I nudged Caitlin again, but she definitely wasn’t paying me attention, her focus solely on the basketball court.

“Caitlin!”

Her head jerked away from the court. “What?”

“We should probably go take the girls to do something.” Besides ogle our professor.

Caitlin groaned. “Do I have to, Mom?”

I laughed in spite of myself. “Come on. The view will still be there,” I teased.

I led the girls over to the far side of the gym. Caitlin finally snapped out of it and showed the girls gymnastics moves that they soon began emulating while we waited for the game to end and the courts to become available.

I’d never tumbled, but ballet had left me with a few moves. I was in the middle of demonstrating how to do a split when I heard a flurry of giggles and all attention suddenly focused on a point behind me.

I knew he was behind me without even having to look. I didn’t know if it was the scent of his cologne, or the cat-and-mouse game we played—and in this case I was beginning to think I was the cat—but either way, I’d become remarkably attuned to all things Graydon Canter.

I turned and was treated to the sight of Gray walking toward me.

His smile deepened as our gazes locked.

“Hey.”

I smiled back, trying to look nonchalant, like I hadn’t been drooling over him for the last hour. I most likely failed.

“Hey.”

Gray flashed that same smile at the girls.

“Do you guys want to play basketball? Sorry we’ve been hogging the court. Some of the guys still want to play if you’re interested.”

Anna, who was clearly the ringleader, spoke for the group. “Yeah. That’d be cool.”

I watched as the other five girls followed her like a row of ducks to the middle of the court where a group of guys stood waiting for them, dribbling the ball. I grinned. There were definitely some romantic sparks going off in the group.

Caitlin hovered near us for a moment, as if she wanted to speak, but I watched in amazement as her cheeks flushed and instead she just nodded her head and took off, following the girls. I’d gotten so used to the side of Gray that I knew—the side that could be playful when he wanted to be—that I’d forgotten everyone else still saw him as utterly terrifying.

Although, to be fair, he could definitely be that as well.

Gray grinned at me. “I take it my reputation is still intact? My name continues to strike fear in the hearts of 1Ls everywhere.”

I bit back a laugh.

“Basically. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Caitlin be so quiet.”

“What can I say? It’s a gift.”

I jerked my head toward the group of boys chatting with the girls on the court. “I’m surprised you stopped playing. You looked like you were having fun.”

He shot me an amused look, dipping his head so we stood closer together. He was still a little sweaty—not in a gross way, but in a, I want to lick your abs, sort of way. I bit down on my lip.

“Let’s just say that everyone’s concentration wobbled a bit when the girls came into the gym,” he murmured.

A smile tugged at my lips. “Playing middle school matchmaker?”

His eyes gleamed. “They weren’t the only ones who were distracted, Splits.”

I died. Twice.

He smiled down at me, his back to everyone else, the moment a secret between us.

I was turned on, sexually frustrated, and ready to throw caution to the wind. My voice shook as I tried to speak past the emotion and arousal that clogged my throat.

“I didn’t know you were volunteering here,” I commented, struggling to keep from reaching out, grabbing his T-shirt, and hauling his mouth to mine.

If you looked up “sexually frustrated” in the dictionary, you’d get a picture of my face. If you looked up “temptation” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of his.

His expression was almost sheepish, another side of him I hadn’t seen before.

“I started during fall break. I come a few days a week. It’s cool. They’re good kids. I help them out with homework sometimes, although I have to admit, they’re severely testing my math skills, and I occasionally play basketball, which I am far better at.” He shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

It was a big deal. It was him trying. Just like when he bought me coffee to make me feel better. Or explained the Commerce Clause to me. It was all the little things he’d been doing along the way that, strung together, meant a lot.

I was falling in love with him.

The truth of it knocked me back, and it was almost a minute before I could speak. Moments passed while he just stared down at me with a quizzical, searching look as I attempted to process this change.

I knew it was a tricky situation, but we were two weeks away from finals and the semester was almost over. I could understand waiting until he wasn’t officially my teacher anymore, but it pissed me off that he wasn’t willing to give us a chance, period.

He smiled at me when he saw me, said hi, talked to me about the pro bono project. We’d almost become friends. But what had happened between us on Halloween was never repeated, despite the tension that swirled around us.

“You okay?” he asked, concern in his gaze.

I nodded, not sure I trusted my voice enough to speak.

“You didn’t tell me you were so good at basketball.”

It was the lamest thing to say, and the world’s most awkward transition, but so much easier than, I think I’m in love with you. Considering he’d freaked out when we’d kissed, I figured a declaration of love would send him running and screaming in the opposite direction.

Epic fail.

He gifted me with another heartbreaking grin. “Yeah, I played a bit when I was a kid.” He shot me a pointed look. “You didn’t tell me you were so bendy.”

Bendy? I remembered the split, and my heart picked up a beat.

Fuck.

The back and forth was killing me. We kissed, he told me it couldn’t happen again. He fingered me on Halloween, told me we could only be friends. And he flirted. Constantly. He was sweet, sexy, and little by little, he carved a space in my heart with his name on it.

The stakes were too high, there was too much at risk for me. Either he wanted me, or he didn’t, but either way, he had to decide.

“You can’t keep doing this.”

The words came out before I even realized I felt them, and then as soon as I said it, I knew. I couldn’t let myself love him if there wasn’t a chance he would love me back.

The smile slid off his face.

My voice shook, but I said it anyway.

“I want you. If that means waiting a few weeks, fine. But I’m done playing this game. Either you want me, or you don’t. Stop jerking me around.”

“I’m not—”

“You are. Tell me you’re not, every time you touch me, kiss me, smile at me. You say we can’t be physical, and then you tell me I’m bendy. You flirt with me. Constantly. And don’t just say it’s your personality, because I’ve never seen you talk to anyone the way you talk to me. If you want me, do something about it. If you don’t, fine. I’m a big girl. I can deal. But either way, make up your mind.”