Danger Zone

by Stacy Claflin

  What if this Damon kid was Ariana’s version of Alex?

  He swore. He’d really thought he’d avoided all this with her—the responsible girl who loved school and always took pride in her work and in winning the annual science fair.

  This was payback. It had to be. He’d been a hellion, and despite turning his life around, karma had showed up, guns blazing.

  If this was karma, it was only the beginning.

  Things were going to get a lot worse with Ariana.

  Attempt

  Zoey tucked some of Ariana’s hair behind her ear and fixed her blankets around her, reminding her of the days she’d told her stories to get her to fall asleep. “I’m sure your dad had a really good reason for taking your phone, honey.”

  Ari’s brows drew together. “He was being such a jerk!”

  “Like I said, there has to be a good reason for it.”

  “For being a douche?”

  “Don’t talk about him like that.”

  She sat up and crossed her arms. “Well, he is.”

  “No, he’s not—and I don’t want you using that kind of language. Do you understand?”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like him.”

  Zoey lifted a brow. “I beg your pardon? Now you think I’m being a jerk?”

  “Why can’t you guys just leave me alone? I haven’t done anything wrong. You treat me like a baby! I’ll be driving soon, you know.”

  “Not that soon. And especially not with this attitude.”

  Ariana’s mouth formed a straight line. “You can’t stop me.”

  “Yes, we could—if you give us reason to.” Zoey’s blood pressure was rising, and she could certainly see what Alex had been saying about her recent behavior. “You’d get a lot further with us if you drop the ’tude.”

  “It’s not fair. I’ve always been responsible, and this is the thanks I get?”

  Zoey took a deep breath and counted to ten silently. “I know hormones are difficult, and you’re in the thick of it. Being a teen isn’t much different from being pregnant. I was there not long ago.”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with hormones. It has everything to do with me growing up. You guys act like I’m still eleven and was just abducted. Newsflash—I’m almost fifteen now. Time to give me some space and freedom.”

  “You know what?”

  “What?” Ari’s mouth curved down.

  “I agree that we may need to reconsider some of your rules. Mimi, Papi, your dad, and I all need to sit down and discuss it, but first you need to be more respectful—especially to your dad. The sweet and responsible Ariana is the one who’s more likely to get added privileges. The one I’m talking to right now will probably lose more than just a cell phone.”

  “What?”

  She gave her a kiss on the cheek. “We love you, and that’s why we set boundaries.”

  “I hate having four parents.”

  Zoey gave her a double-take. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.” Ari’s nostrils flared. “My friends complain about two parents, but I have it twice as bad!”

  Zoey bit her lip. “I’m going to give you some time to rethink that statement. We can discuss this tomorrow with Mimi, Papi, and Dad.”

  “Whatever.” Ariana rolled onto her side and pulled the covers over her head.

  Unbelievable. Zoey shook her head as she stared at her daughter. She was tempted to say more, but it was clear she wouldn’t get anywhere. Tomorrow might be better, and if Zoey brought in her parents, it might help. Ari always listened to them.

  By the time she got to the apartment, Alex was sitting at his desk staring at his laptop wearing boxers and an old rock band tee. Both babies were sleeping soundly in their cribs. She took a deep breath and put an arm around him. “I see what you mean about Ariana. She’s fuming that you took her phone.”

  Alex turned to her. “I’m sure she is. Did you know she changed her password?”

  “Isn’t she always changing it?”

  “Yes, but we’re supposed to know what it is.”

  “Let me see.”

  He handed it to her and returned to his typing.

  Zoey tried Ari’s password, but it didn’t work. Then she tried the previous one. Didn’t work, either. “I told her we’d sit down and have a talk with her and my parents tomorrow.”

  “Good luck with that. She hates me.”

  “I suppose it isn’t any worse than what we gave to our parents. It just sucks to be on the other side of it.”

  “I guess.” Alex closed his laptop. “How are you doing?”

  “Frustrated. I hope we can get through to her. I tried telling her how much we care, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.”

  Alex held her gaze. “No, I mean how are you? You’ve been down since that job interview.”

  Zoey’s skin crawled at the mention of it. She wanted to tell him about the kiss, but at the same time she didn’t. Especially now that she was so upset about Ariana. She had meant it when she told Macy she would tell him, but it just didn’t seem to be the time. And how would she go about it? Just blurt out that Hiram had kissed her? Start at the beginning and tell him every detail of what had happened leading up to it?

  He would think she was stupid. Maybe even think she wanted it! Looking back, she’d been a fool to let it get to that point. Red flags were flying high, and she’d ignored every single one of them. She should’ve seen it coming a mile away, but she hadn’t.

  “Zoey?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Alex tilted his head. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. Just disappointed I didn’t get the job. It sounded like the perfect opportunity. Nothing else I’ve looked at comes close.”

  Because it had never been a real opportunity to begin with. Hiram Ricci—or whoever he really was—was probably looking for someone to hook up with. He was crazy to go to all that trouble, and even crazier to think Zoey was that person.

  Alex rose and pulled her close. “Should we forget about the vacation? That way you won’t feel the pressure to get a job, and I won’t be working every day. It’s obvious Ariana needs more from us, and we can’t give that to her if we’re focused on our jobs. And what about the twins? They need us, too.”

  “But we deserve a family vacation,” Zoey said. “You and I haven’t even had our honeymoon yet. We all need this time away.”

  “Maybe we should go to the coast instead of Hawaii. It’d be a lot cheaper, and we’d still be getting away to a beach. We can always go to Hawaii another time.”

  Zoey didn’t respond. He might’ve been right, but she didn’t want to go to the Washington coast. They could go there any time.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” He rubbed her back. “Is there anything about that interview you want to talk about?”

  “You’re right about the coast,” Zoey said quickly. “Let’s bag Hawaii and rent a cabin locally.”

  Her chest tightened at the decision. She really should tell him what happened but couldn’t deal with him thinking she was a world-class idiot.

  Splash

  Ariana held her phone up and put it on selfie mode to check her makeup. It was a lot heavier than usual—and it served two purposes, though she’d really only been going for one. The first and surprise benefit was that it had riled Dad up. He’d all but demanded she wash it off that morning. But the second and more important purpose was to make her look older, to give Damon more reason to put his arm around her again and read in her ear.

  Maybe this time he’d even kiss her. They’d been so close, and he’d obviously been conflicted. Why else would he have raced off to the bathroom after their lips had nearly made contact? He wanted her as much as she wanted him—that was the only thing that made sense.

  Her heart raced at the thought, but at the same time, it built her confidence. Maybe he was hesitant because of the age difference. But really, what was three years in the grand scheme of things? She knew plenty of married people who
had a far bigger age gap than that. Her own parents were two years apart. That was practically the same thing. Just one year difference, and they’d started dating right about her age. Dad had been thirteen and Mom fifteen. Ari was fourteen, and had always heard how mature she was for her age.

  Nobody had a single thing to complain about. And if Damon wouldn’t kiss her, she’d kiss him. Show him she was mature and could handle a relationship with a high schooler. Push aside any worries he had.

  She added a little more lip color and put her phone away. Barely a minute later, his red convertible pulled into the parking lot with the top down again.

  Her heart thundered, but she ignored it. Stood taller and smiled at Damon as he pulled up to the curb. “You’re on time today.”

  “One minute early.” He leaned over and opened the door.

  She climbed in and sank into the seat. “The coffee shop again?”

  “We can grab a mocha on the way if you want, but I have another idea.”

  “What?”

  He slid his hand underneath hers and threaded his fingers through hers. Held her gaze with his intense dark eyes.

  Ari’s pulse pounded out of control. There was no mistaking that gesture. Putting his arm on the chair behind her, buying her mocha, and even resting his hand on her knee—all of that could be taken as friendliness. But holding her hand! That could only mean he really did have romantic feelings for her. She hadn’t been imagining the signals.

  She was definitely going to kiss him if he didn’t make the first move. But not now. Not in the middle school parking lot.

  He finally spoke, making Ariana realize how long silence had rested between them. “I was thinking we could drive to the lake. We could either study here in the car or find a cozy spot near the water. What do you think?”

  It sounded perfectly romantic. She grinned. “I love it.”

  “Great. So, you want to grab mochas?”

  Mochas made her think of her dad. The douche. “What about Italian sodas? I’m in the mood for something sweet.”

  Damon cupped her chin and batted his lashes dramatically. “So am I.” He let go of her hand and peeled out of the parking lot, stopping at a coffee stand and ordering the flavored sodas.

  Ariana’s heart thundered so hard she could barely sip the drink. By the time they arrived at the beach, his was half-gone and she’d barely made a dent in hers.

  He laced his fingers through hers again and glanced out the front of the car for a moment. “I couldn’t park as close as I’d hoped. We can still see the water, but it’d be better to go sit on the sand, don’t you think?”

  She got lost in his eyes, hyper-aware of his hand around hers and nodded, unable to find words.

  “Great. Grab your bag. Let’s go.” He leaped over the door like the day before and opened the trunk. “Got some blankets we can sit on.”

  Her pulse pounded in her ears. Blankets? What exactly did he have in mind? She wasn’t ready for more than just a kiss. A passionate kiss, sure, but nothing more. That was as far as anything had ever gone in the past with Scout and her other boyfriends. Damon surely had more experience and would know right away that she didn’t. He might think she was just a kid, might regret ever having any feelings for her at all.

  Damon pulled open her door and gave her a sweet smile. “You coming?”

  “Of course.” She grabbed her bag and leaped out. The blankets were practically spilling out from his hold. “Want me to carry some of those?”

  “I got it.” He closed the door and set the alarm, then readjusted the blankets. “Let’s find a cozy place to get comfy.”

  She couldn’t think of anything clever to say, so she just sipped her soda as they made their way across the rocky sand.

  He paused near some dried-out logs. “What do you think of this?”

  “It’s nice.” That sounded so lame! He would totally think she was a loser.

  Damon glanced to the left. “Or what about under that weeping willow? It’ll shade us from the sun.”

  And hide them from everyone else, unless they walked directly in front of it. “Yeah, let’s sit there.”

  He spread out the two large blankets underneath the tree. “Gotta have two blankets on this poky sand.”

  “Smart thinking.” She kicked off her sandals and crawled on her hands and knees over to the trunk, glancing back to see if he was going to join her.

  He was watching her. Her heart skipped a beat. Damon was checking her out. He actually found her attractive!

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to stare. You’re just so beautiful.” He pulled off his shoes, grabbed their bags and drinks, and joined her against the trunk. There wasn’t much room, so his side pressed against hers.

  She hardly noticed, though, with his words echoing in her mind. He thought she was beautiful?

  Damon handed her the drink. “Should we pick up where we left off last time?”

  At the almost-kiss? She nodded.

  Instead of brushing his lips across hers, he took out his phone and opened A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  Her heart sank, but she didn’t let her disappointment show on her expression. She smiled then sipped the soda like everything was cool. Because it was. Damon was about to read to her again. Probably even rest his hand on her knee or put his arm around her. Then kiss her. Maybe when she least expected it.

  He started reading where he left off. Laughter and footsteps sounded not far away. She tried to ignore the noise and focus on the soothing sound of Damon’s voice.

  Then all of a sudden, a soccer ball flew toward them. She reached out to block it, but reacted too slowly. It grazed her finger then crashed against Damon, knocking his Italian soda down. The lid flew off and splashed bright blue liquid across his white shirt.

  Ariana yanked the ball from his lap, jumped to her feet, and chucked it at one of the kids, a boy who looked about her age. “Watch it, you jerk!”

  “It’s okay.” Damon leaped up. “They’re just kids.”

  Her face flamed. Just kids? They were her age.

  “Thanks for standing up for me, though.”

  “Your shirt’s ruined! They can’t just get away with that.”

  “It’ll bleach out.” Damon reached for the bottom of the shirt and pulled up.

  Ariana’s heart stopped. Skipped at least three beats. Was he taking off his shirt?

  He pulled it up and over his head. Threw it on the blanket.

  She stared, unblinking, heart now thundering. He had a six-pack and no tan line. The entire top of his body was tanned exactly the same shade. Other than a scar that ran just over his waist on his back, he was flawless.

  Damon motioned toward where they’d been sitting, like everything was normal. Like he wasn’t standing there with his shirt off. “Should we pick up where we left off?”

  “I … I … Don’t you want to get another shirt from your car? I can go get it if you want.”

  “Nah. It’s fine.” He sat and patted the blanket next to him.

  She forced a smile and sat. No way she would be able to pay attention to a word he read now.

  Cozy

  Ariana couldn’t focus on anything other than Damon’s bare arm around her and his bare side pressed against her. No, that wasn’t true. She was also taken in by his rugged sandalwood scent and the way his muscles flexed whenever he so much as moved.

  She definitely didn’t have any idea what was happening in the story. He was reading, but she couldn’t make out a single word he said—and not because of the old English. He could be talking about anything using normal speech.

  Was something wrong with her? Would a girl his age be able to focus? Probably. She took a deep breath—he smelled so good—and tried to focus on the story. It was just a shirt. Guys removed them all the time. Well, not at school or restaurants, but they were at the beach. Lots of guys ran around shirtless there. It was practically expected.

  So, why was she having such a hard time with Damon? They were at the beach. No
t like they were somewhere else. And it’s not like he just took it off for some random reason. Those kids made him spill his soda all over his shirt.

  She was such a baby. It was a good thing he couldn’t read her thoughts. He’d think she was too young, for sure.

  Damon stretched. “Seems like a good place to stop, don’t you think?”

  Ariana glanced at his screen to figure out where he was. She’d have to read at home when she didn’t have such a big distraction. “Yeah, sure.”

  He leaned back and scratched his scruff. “How do you think our tutoring is going?”

  “I …” She struggled to look at his face. He was so much more muscular than the boys her age. Ripped was the right word. Manly.

  “Besides my shirt.” He laughed. “Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. Those kids were being careless.”

  “They probably didn’t even see us sitting here with the branches so low. Anyway, is there anything else I can do to help you?”

  Plant those lips on hers. She cleared her throat. “I think it’s going well. What do you think?”

  “I’m enjoying it, but I’m not the one in Mrs. Kellerman’s class. Did it seem to help today after yesterday? Or should we spend more time discussing the deeper meanings of the story?”

  She swallowed. Did they discuss that the day before? “It would probably help.”

  He nodded. “Good feedback. Why don’t you tell me what you think about today’s reading?”

  Right. When she hadn’t even been paying attention. “Can I do that tomorrow? I’m still, uh, processing it. Not used to that style, you know.”

  “Who is?” He grinned. “But we should talk about what we read because I’m sure you’ll be discussing it in class.”

  Ari nodded. “Can you tell me your thoughts, or would that be cheating?”

  He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. “Not at all. That’s what I’m here for. To help you do your best in class.”