A soft hand on my shoulder had me swallowing a sigh. I wasn’t in the mood to be hit on, and I definitely wasn’t up for small talk.
“Can I talk to you?”
I stiffened at the sound of Callie’s familiar voice, and when I whipped around, I found myself gaping in shock at the sight of her there behind me. With me sitting on this low couch we were almost face to face, and I could see it—her fear. Her tears.
Ah hell. My fists were ready, and a growl sounded low in my chest. “Did he hurt you?”
Her eyes widened. “Who?” She blinked. “What?” She gave her head a quick shake when I started to stand. “No. Nobody hurt me.”
I stilled. She seemed genuine. So then... “Why are you upset?”
“Oh, um, because...” She cleared her throat. “Um, because I’m a little scared of what I’m about to do.”
My brows came down in confusion. “What’s that?”
She moved around the sofa until she was standing right in front of me. Her hands came to my chest and fluttered for a second before lying flat. She swallowed, her eyes wide and panicked.
I was still scowling down at her because...what was happening here? What exactly was I missing?
And then she went up on her tiptoes and her lips parted and—she blinked. “Um, I’m gonna need you to meet me halfway here.”
My mind went blank as I tried to come up with any other explanation for what she wanted than the obvious. “You want me to kiss you?”
She wet her lips. “Um, yes? I was going to kiss you—but it seems I underestimated the height difference.”
“What is Callie doing?” April’s voice was loud enough for everyone to hear and the sound of talking and laughter faded around us as we became the center of attention.
Callie’s eyes grew even wider and more panicked, but I saw the moment when she came to a conclusion. “Screw it,” she muttered. One of her hands came up and gripped the back of my neck, drawing me down until my lips collided with hers.
The confusion, the hurt, the anger... For a second they were all replaced by the sweet heat of her mouth. The way her lips parted and slid over mine had my blood turning to fire, and I couldn’t even begin to care that there were other people around. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close, deepening the kiss even as my mind reeled with questions.
I had questions. They needed answers. But for right this second, Callie was here, and she was in my arms.
And that was everything.
“Okay, you two, get a room,” Leo called. He was laughing, but he was right.
I pulled back to see her blinking dazed eyes, her lips wet and swollen and...my heart couldn’t take it. It ached so badly I could barely breathe.
I wanted to kiss her until she forgot her own name, but this wasn't the place, and I couldn’t go any further without knowing what this meant. I grabbed her hand in mine and tugged, pulling her out of the living room.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Somewhere we can talk.”
“Oh, right. Talking is good.” She sounded as dazed as I felt, but there was no way she could be anywhere near as confused as I was. After all, she was supposed to be on a date.
After dragging her around the house and realizing there was no privacy to be had in this house, I led her outside and to my truck.
I opened the passenger side door, planted her inside, and went around to my own side, trying to ignore the crazy pounding of my pulse as my brain caught up with the situation.
She was here. And she’d kissed me.
But why?
When I got in and shut the door behind me, she stared at me with impossibly wide eyes. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“Oh no,” I said with a shake of my head. “You can’t come here and kiss me and then tell me you regret it. I swear, Callie, if you’re about to tell me you still like Roman—”
“No!” Her voice was high and earnest. “I wasn’t going to say that. And I don’t regret kissing you, I was just thinking that maybe kissing you in front of half of Lindale High was not my best idea.”
“Why not?” I demanded.
“Because you look angry.”
I took stock of my features. “I’m not angry.” I’m elated. I’m over the moon. Or I would be if I felt sure she wasn’t going to pull the rug out from under me.
“It occurred to me that maybe you’re not a fan of PDA,” she said. “I was going for a grand gesture, but I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Make me uncomfortable? I stared at her for a long moment. Was she serious right now? She thought that’s what I was worried about?
I leaned in toward her because I needed to be closer. “I thought you were on a date with Roman.”
She nodded. “I was.”
I glowered. Okay, fine, now I was a little angry. “Then what are you doing here?”
She shifted to face me head-on and I couldn’t help but notice how pretty she looked. A groan slipped out because not touching her was torture.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“You’re beautiful.”
Even in the dim light of the truck I could make out her blush as she ducked her head. “Thanks.”
“But what are you doing here?” My voice got a little too gruff and her eyes widened in response.
Crap. I hadn’t meant to scare her.
But she didn’t move away. She reached for me instead, taking my hand in both of hers and holding it tight. “I’m really sorry I messed everything up.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“I’m sorry I hurt you.”
I looked away. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” She sounded so insistent that I turned back to see her eyes shining with tears. For me. On my behalf. I let out an exasperated huff. What was I going to do with this girl?
“I get it, Maverick,” she continued. “I get you. I know you don’t let many people get close, but you let me in.”
I didn’t say anything. What was I supposed to say?
“I’m sorry,” she said.
I still didn’t know what to say. So I didn’t say anything. Instead, I gave in to temptation and kissed her, cupping her face in the palm of my hands and tasting the salt of her tears as she lost the battle and burst out crying.
I pulled back when she sniffled. “Why are you crying?”
“Because I’m an idiot,” she said in a shaky voice.
“You’re not an idiot.”
“I am,” she insisted. “Because I like you, Maverick Prater. I like you like you and I’m so sorry I ever made you doubt that.”
My heart? It was melting. It was aching and clenching and swelling and...I wasn’t sure I could take much more happiness because it might kill me.
I kissed her with all that happiness, hoping she could feel it.
I felt her lips curl up into a grin as I kissed her.
Yeah. She felt it.
“I like you too, Callie,” I said when I pulled back. I shifted and lifted her so she was in my lap and an even better position to be kissed. “I like you so much.”
I more than liked her, I was almost sure of it. But I wasn’t about to rush her any more than I already had. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you more time,” I said.
She smiled as she shook her head. “You couldn’t have known. I think it was just too many emotions at once, you know? And it was all so new and unfamiliar. I kept trying to make sense of it, but I’m realizing that feelings don’t make sense.”
I gave a little grunt of agreement and for some reason that had her grinning at me like I’d just said something funny.
Man, I really liked this girl. I wrapped my arms around her. “This is new for me too.”
Her brows arched up and I knew what she was thinking.
“It is,” I insisted. “It might not have been my first kiss, but you are my first crush. You’re the first girl I’ve ever felt this way about.”
Her eyes grew unbearably
soft, and for a second I tensed with fear. “Callie, please don’t cry again. It kills me when you cry.”
She sniffed. “I’m not crying.”
She definitely was.
“When you kissed me last weekend after that epic day at the cabin, it was...it was amazing.” The awe in her voice had my lips tugging up in a smile. But she wasn’t done. “It was amazing, but I hadn’t expected to feel that way. And this thing between us seemed to happen so fast, and I’d still had this stupid idea that I had a crush on Roman, and—”
“You don’t?” I didn’t even mean to interrupt, but I needed to know.
Her gaze grew more serious than I’d ever seen it. “I don’t. How could I when I’m so crazy for you?”
I was outright grinning now, a surge of happiness so intense going on inside me it left me speechless.
“It just took me a minute to catch up,” she continued. Her fingers worried the edge of my T-shirt, and I loved it. I loved that she was comfortable enough to touch me, to be this close to me.
That she’d chosen me.
The thought had me gulping down air. Relief mixed with a happiness I’d never known. It made me forget all about the pain of this past week. And it made me realize that it was worth it. Letting her in had been worth it, even if it did come with some hurt and a whole lot of confusion.
She moved one hand up until she was pressing it flat over my heart. “I think...I think maybe it was just easier to like a guy who didn’t know me, you know?”
I nodded. Because I totally did know.
“It’s hard to face rejection when someone’s really seen you,” I said.
She nodded, her face unexpectedly solemn. “It’s terrifying. And I guess for a little while there I didn’t think you could really like me. Like...” She licked her lips. “I guess I thought if you really got to know me, you’d get over any feelings you had. You’d realize that everyone else was right and that I was...unwantable.”
I pulled her close so quickly she fell against my chest with a laugh. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, loving the feel of her in my arms. “Unwantable, huh?”
She laughed. “You’re squishing me.”
I eased up on the hug but moved my mouth so my lips brushed her ear as I told her softly, “I can’t imagine wanting anyone more.”
She shivered in my arms, and then she was twisting her head so her lips could brush against mine.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it,” she whispered when we came up for air.
I ran a hand over her dark hair and shook my head. “No more apologies. We’re both new to this, and we both made mistakes.”
“I’ll probably make more,” she said with a cute little rueful wince.
“I know I will,” I said. “I don’t know the first thing about being a boyfriend.”
Her face lit up with that word. “I guess that means I’m your girlfriend.”
I grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
She nodded. “Me too.” She slid off my lap to settle in beside me. I started the truck and I knew without a doubt where I was taking my girl. The moonlight over the lake was perfect at this time of night and if we bundled up in blankets we’d be able to stay out to watch the stars come out.
“So, what do we do first as boyfriend and girlfriend?” she asked. Her voice was brimming with excitement that was contagious and it made me laugh.
“I have a few ideas,” I said.
She shifted until she was resting against my side. “I do too.”
“Oh yeah?” I felt a laugh brewing, this newfound happiness unable to be contained.
“It’s definitely going to involve some new nicknames.”
I glanced down at her. “You’re definitely not going to call me Goose.”
“Aw, come on,” she teased.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tight. “My girlfriend,” I said again, just because I liked saying it.
She cuddled up against me with a happy sigh. “My boyfriend.” She sighed again. “Not quite as good as Ice Man and Goose, but I like it.”
I kissed the top of her head. “And I like you.”
Check out Willow’s story next in Long Hair Don’t Care!
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About the Author
MAGGIE DALLEN IS a big city girl living in Montana. She writes romantic comedies in a range of genres including young adult, historical, contemporary, and fantasy. An unapologetic addict of all things romance, she loves to connect with fellow avid readers. Subscribe to her newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bFEVsL
Never Have I Ever Land: A Sweet YA Romance (Fall in Love Like a Princess Book 3) Page 12
