“Let’s just focus on right now, okay?” I leaned over to brush my lips against his. “I want to soak up this day and remember it forever.”
“Sounds good to me.” He wrapped his arm around me, and I laid my head on his shoulder, watching the Christmas lights twinkle down the darkening street.
I didn’t know what the future held for me—or for my dreams of becoming a journalist. But right then and there, it felt like I had won everything I’d ever wanted.
Dad had been right.
If it was something you loved, it was always worth fighting for.
24
Jimmy
I sipped slowly from my cup as my eyes scanned the party at Andy’s house. He’d hung white twinkle lights from the ceilings, probably in some half-attempt at making the place look festive for New Year’s Eve. The place was packed with Sweet Mountain High students. It was entirely too warm, and the noise level was just below deafening as music pumped out of a nearby speaker. Despite the crowd and the excitement in the air, I didn’t feel like joining them.
“Hey, man.” Andy plopped on the couch next to me, giving me a grin. “What are you doing hiding over here? I heard some guys talking about dismantling Principal Gentry’s old beater car and hiding it on the roof of the school. You in?”
I tilted my cup toward him. “Uh, that would be a solid no. My days of pranking are over. You hear that? No more burning down sheds for me.”
Andy’s grin only grew wider. “Sure, sure, I hear ya. I don’t suppose that would have to do with a certain blonde-haired girl you’ve been thinking of?”
“Maybe.” I took another sip. “But also, because if I’m serious about making something of myself, I can’t slip up again. My mom wanted me to get out of this town and experience the world. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Everything had changed for me in a matter of months. I felt a focus I’d never felt before. It all revolved around paying my debt back to Principal Gentry, cleaning up my grades, and rocking my last baseball season as a Sweet Mountain Panther. Those were the goals. And of course, being the man Mia needed.
As if on cue, two arms snaked around me from behind, squeezing me gently. Blonde curls appeared on my left side, followed by two beautiful brown eyes and a set of cherry-red lips I couldn’t get enough of.
“There you are,” Mia said, her warm breath causing electrifying tingles down my neck. “You disappeared on me. I missed you.”
I chuckled softly and ran my hand up her arm. “You were dominating the boys in darts. I had to walk away for their sakes. It was embarrassing.”
She hopped over the couch and positioned herself in my lap, her arms still draped around my neck. “Yeah, they’re regretting the day they taught me how to play. Now, Raquel has them begging for mercy. She’s a shark! I didn’t realize she had it in her to hustle a room full of boys. I’m glad we convinced her to come out tonight.”
I smiled at her and pulled her in tighter. The fact that she was here, in my arms, was nothing short of a miracle. Mia’s mom had agreed to let her stay with Raquel’s family until she could move her job back to Sweet Mountain. And her dad was already doing great in treatment.
She might have been banned from The Prowler for life, but Dad had managed to pull some strings with a friend on the Sweet Mountain local newspaper. An internship was opening up in the new year, and Mia could put her writing talent to good use there. Plus, kids had short attention spans. Already, the anger over Mia’s slip-up on the blog was fading. By the time we started up school again next week, I was sure that everyone would have moved on with their lives.
The only thing looming on the horizon for us was college in the fall for me, but we’d tackle that when it came around. For now, I would be forever grateful for a few more months with Mia Jackson in my arms.
“Hey, Andy.” Mia ran her hands absentmindedly through the hair at the back of my neck, driving me crazy with the desire to carry her off to a more private location and have her all to myself. “Do you happen to have a pool at your house?”
He shot her a confused expression. “Um, yeah. But it’s like freezing outside. Why?”
“I think I owe someone a little payback for the time he drenched me at Tim Pfeiffer’s party.”
I could vaguely recall a party from earlier in the year when the boys had pushed me into Tim Pfeiffer’s pool, and Mia had been an unfortunate casualty of the splash zone. That seemed like ages ago—back when I’d been too blind to see what was right in front of me.
Mia took my nearly empty cup and raised it high, her lips curling into an ornery grin. “If I can’t throw you in a pool, Jimmy Alston, I’ll take the next best thing.”
With that announcement, she dumped my drink over my head. It was only a little bit of liquid, probably not more than a cup, but it was cold enough to send a shock right through me. Mia jumped off my lap before I could react, giggling like crazy. I shot off the couch, chasing her through the crowded rooms. And when I finally cornered her in the basement hallway, my heart was beating like I’d just sprinted around the bases for a triple.
“You’ve got nowhere left to run,” I said, puffing up my chest to take up as much room as possible and block her exit. “What are you going to do now?”
Her face was flushed from the running. The glow in her eyes changed from laughter to something much more smoldering that made my gut warm. “I think I’m going to kiss my boyfriend.”
I took a step closer. “Real or fake boyfriend?”
“Real. Definitely real.” She bit her lower lip. “He’s the best boyfriend in the whole world.”
With a snort, I tilted my head to one side. “How would you know that? You’ve never had a boyfriend before.”
She glared at me in a cute way that made her nose wrinkle. “Don’t argue with me. I’m an ex-relationship advice writer. I know what I’m talking about.”
“Oh, okay.” I bit back a smile as I cupped her chin and ran the pad of my thumb over the soft curve of her lower lip. I could kiss those lips all day and never be tired. “Then I will work extra hard to prove you right.”
She smiled, her arms encircling my waist. “And that’s why you’re the best boyfriend ever.”
I snorted again but didn’t argue. Instead, I bent down and teased her lips with a light kiss, then pulled slightly away. From the irritated noise she made, Mia was having none of that. She rose up to her toes where she could kiss me thoroughly, the coconut scent of her hair filling my senses. And when she was finally done with me, I couldn’t help but grin like a man on top of the world with his girl in his arms.
“Who would’ve thought Jimmy Alston would burn down a school shed and steal my heart on the same night?” Mia asked in a low voice as we stood there and watched Raquel take on some more of the baseball team in darts.
I bent down to press a warm kiss to her earlobe and smiled when I felt her tremble slightly. They were definitely the good type of trembles.
“My very best and last prank,” I said.
She glanced up at me, her eyebrows arching. “I’m not so sure about that. The best? Definitely. But I doubt it’s the last.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, you just can’t help yourself when it comes to me.” She grinned. “And I look forward to paying you back for every single one of them.”
I squeezed her tight, inwardly laughing at her sass. She was going to keep me on my toes for a very long time. I liked that.
“Best junior year ever,” she added with a last contented sigh.
I couldn’t help but agree—best year ever.
No faking that.
Epilogue
My Surprise Next Door
A Sneak Peek of book 4 in the Sweet Mountain High Series
By Stephanie Street
Taggish Morton
“Jimmy! Come on. You can talk to your girlfriend later.” Jimmy shot me an annoyed frown, but he put his phone back in the pocket of his basketball shorts. Basketball wasn’t our sport, but we made
do playing pickup games in my driveway until baseball season started. The other guys were over, too. Andy, Luke, Cal, and my best friend, Braden. We were just passing the time on a Saturday morning.
Spring-time temperatures had us playing shirts vs. skins. Post Malone and Ozzy Osbourne blared from the speakers hooked up to Braden’s phone, and the sprinkler in the neighbor’s yard sprinkled us intermittently. It didn’t get any better than this.
I’d just checked the ball to Andy when my dad pulled up in front of the house with four boxes of pizza from our favorite take-out place.
“You guys hungry?” he called, holding the boxes aloft.
“Dude, your dad is the best.” Braden backhanded my stomach as he hurried to take the pizza from my dad.
“Is he gonna make us put our shirts back on to eat?” Cal asked. He had that look in his eye that said he’d eat the couch cushions if it was all that was available.
“No, man.” I shook my head and followed my friends toward the house.
“Dude, Morton’s house is the best. Bachelor pad!” Andy lifted his hand for a high five, but Jimmy, the only one close enough to hit his hand, left him hanging high and dry.
Bachelor pad.
Andy wasn’t wrong. It was just me and Dad living here, and it was a constant reminder of what we’d lost hurt. My mom. She would have made the guys put on their shirts. And wash their hands before grabbing slices of pizza and cold sodas from the fridge. Dad wouldn’t remember something like that. Besides, I was sure he’d already disappeared into the back bedroom he’d converted into an office.
I’d almost reached the screen door when I heard a voice calling out from the house next door.
“Can you please turn off the music?”
Mara Cronk. Another senior at Sweet Mountain High and also my neighbor. She was quite possibly the most annoying girl I’d ever met. I couldn’t stand her.
“We’re still listening to it!” I shouted back over the noise.
Even from a story up, I saw Mara’s eyes narrow angrily. Like that was new. Mara was always angry about something. I’d never known anyone with a stick shoved so far up her—well, you get the picture.
Instead of glaring, I sent her my most charming smile, the one that always got me out of trouble and kept me in the good graces of women of all ages—I’d been keeping track.
Mara rolled her eyes and scowled.
She hated me.
She slammed her window shut.
I slammed the screen door shut.
“Who was that?” Luke asked around a mouthful of pizza. Something else my mom wouldn’t have stood for.
“Let me guess,” Braden said with a grin. “Mara.”
Andy made a noise. “Mara Cronk? She’s your neighbor?”
I nodded without saying a word. I was sure my feelings about Mara Cronk were plain on my face for all to see.
“She’s always bugging him,” Braden gloated. He thought it was the funniest thing ever, but living next to Mara was like living next to a grouchy old grandma.
“Maybe she’s got a thing for you,” Cal suggested.
I choked on the huge bite I’d just taken of my pizza. Jimmy laughed as he pounded my back.
“You alright?”
“Yeah,” I rasped, trying to clear my throat.
“Jeez, Tag. I didn’t know you were going to croak at the thought of Mara liking you,” Cal teased as he picked up a second piece of pizza, half of the first piece still in his other hand.
I picked up a water bottle and took a long swallow. I cleared my throat again before attempting to say anything.
“Mara Cronk is the last girl on the planet I’d want liking me.” She might be kinda cute with dark brown hair, green eyes, and a tall, slim body, but Mara Cronk was a royal pain in my butt.
“You never know, Tag.” Braden wagged his eyebrows. “Maybe someday you’ll change your mind.”
I wouldn’t bet on it.
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Lacy Andersen is the author of several series, including Rock Valley High, the Billionaire Matchmaker, the Monstrana Paranormal Romances, and Faking Ever After. When not writing or dreaming up stories to tell, Lacy is busy running after her kiddos, watching Netflix with her husband, or reading the latest releases. She has a serious addiction to cotton candy, loves to compete in any type of game, and is currently planning her next trip around the world.
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My Fake Boyfriend Page 14
