By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

21. The Epic Rampage of Stilettos - Cora

Stupid! Stupid, selfish, Cora! I mentally smacked and scolded myself. I bounced off of E's lap, apologizing for everything I could remember that I'd messed up somehow: tonight, tomorrow's fight, crying on him, overreacting about seeing Daniel, hitting him on the chin, everything.

I started rushing to gather the few things we had out and turned back to him, dumbly expecting him to be helping me. I certainly wasn't expecting that he'd be sitting in almost the same exact position watching me with raised eyebrows that said he found what I was doing funny.

"What?" I asked, still half in panic mode.

The corner of his lips twitched. "Oh, nothing. Just seriously wondering if your mental health is still stable."

I gave him a rude gesture my dad would not have approved of. "Theo! This isn't funny!"

"What isn't?" Well, at least he had the decency to look mildly confused.

I gestured around wildly. "This! Theo, I'm being a selfish jerk! You should be home right now resting for your tournament not here babysitting me while I act like a child! Why didn't you say something!?" I fired the question at him, suddenly accusing.

E's eyes met mine and held for a second, before he averted them to the water. "I didn't want to," he said quietly.

"E! This isn't a joke! I'm ruining your tournament tomorrow and you don't even seem to care! Why don't you yell at me or—" I cut off, suddenly understanding his words for the first time. "You... didn't want—to?"

He kept his eyes on the water. "No. I didn't."

"Theo, I understand you're a gentleman and don't want to tell me that I need to get a grip and stop being a baby, but there's a point when it's really ok to do. We reached that point 10 sobs ago!"

E sighed. "I wasn't being a gentleman and I wasn't being polite," he said, still not turning his eyes from the waves. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I was being selfish."

I stared at him uncomprehendingly. How on earth was he calling himself selfish when it's me that's not thinking about anything but myself? I tried several times to ask him something, anything, that made sense, but I couldn't get any words out.

"Pip, here's the thing. I didn't ask you to move or leave because I just didn't want to. I liked having you on my lap, even if that meant you had to be crying over your brother. I didn't care about the why, I was just happy you were there." E kind of rapped the words at me, he was talking so fast.

I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that, but I felt my lips quirk up in the first time in forever, nonetheless. "E—"

He stood suddenly, cutting me off. "Shit! That came out all wrong! I didn't mean that." Finally, finally, he looked at me. I'd never seen him seem so insecure, so unsure of himself and what to do. "What I mean is—" Before I could even move, he'd stalked over to me and kissed me.

It was nothing like the kiss in the water with the soft brushing of lips. He wasn't teasing me or just having fun, he was serious. His mouth pressed hotly against mine as if he thought it would fix the words he said, though they didn't need fixed. He had his arms around my waist, actually holding me up off the ground, and slowly slid one up my back and into my wet and tangled hair, knotting his fingers in it.

I wrapped my arms about the back of his neck and my legs around his waist and he deepened the kiss. I was on sensory overload and couldn't have formed one coherent thought even if I wanted to.

I'm not sure how long it lasted, but eventually his lips teased mine and he pulled away from my lips before it could go any further. I wanted to protest, but his lips covered mine once more, quickly, before tracing slow kisses down my jaw line to my neck.