Senior Week Kiss

by Maggie Dallen

  So that’s how I ended up being a stowaway. Actually, since we hadn’t paid, I guess I’d been a stowaway all along, but now I actually felt like it. “We shouldn’t be up here,” I hissed.

  His smirk made my stomach leap. “What do you think they’ll do if they find us? Make us walk the plank?”

  “This isn’t funny,” I said, although some of my self-righteous anger might have been ruined by the smile that was trying to make its way across my face.

  I couldn’t help it. Jax was flashing me that mischievous little grin that gave him a dimple. How was I supposed to fight that?

  I’d gotten so used to that flat, expressionless Jax last night, seeing this side of him felt like getting a glimpse behind the curtain. The wizard was revealed, and he was…funny. Odd, but funny.

  His gaze turned darker, his grin outrageously sexy.

  No, he wasn’t just funny. He was wicked.

  “Lie down,” he commanded.

  Um…what? Before I could freak out, he pointed to a non-Willie employee who was walking on the level below us and would spot us if he turned his head.

  I dropped to the floor in an instant and Jax crouched down beside me far more gracefully.

  “Are we going to get in trouble?” I asked in a low voice.

  He shrugged. “Not if he doesn’t spot us.” He took one look at my panicked faced and laughed. “Come on.” He nodded toward the side where there was an edge we could lean back against and I did a super graceful slither-crawl to reach his side. Once there I flopped back beside him, oddly exhilarated at the fact that I was doing something illegal.

  Okay, probably not illegal. But I definitely should not have been up there.

  “Now this is better,” Jax said, crossing his legs and leaning back to enjoy the unobstructed view of the ocean before us.

  “It’s perfect,” I said on a long breath.

  I felt his gaze on the side of my face. “The Ferris wheel was perfect, and now this is perfect…” His voice was teasing. “That seems to be the word of the day.”

  He was probing—gently and nicely trying to figure out why I was such a lunatic.

  It worked.

  I smoothed my hands over the skirt of my dress and turned to face him. “I have a plan,” I started.

  He nodded, his lips twitching with barely concealed amusement. “I’ve noticed you’re big on the plans.”

  I swallowed down a nervous flutter that warned me to shut the heck up, but another part of me knew I had to say it. I hadn’t actually been thinking about Ted when I’d said this spot was perfect, but Jax’s mention of the Ferris wheel made my gut churn with guilt. The weird part was, I wasn’t sure who I felt guilt about—Ted or Jax. I mean, I shouldn’t be here with Jax when I was trying to win Ted back. It wasn’t fair to Ted.

  But also… Jax was being so nice, and it was impossible to ignore the fact that he’d been flirting with me all morning. It wasn’t fair to him to let him think that I truly didn’t have a boyfriend, when I sort of did. Kind of.

  So, I ignored the voice that was telling me to stay quiet and enjoy the sexy smiles and the flirty teasing and I blurted out the first words to pop into my head. “I’m looking for the perfect place for a romantic kiss.”

  Those ridiculously hypnotic gray eyes widened a bit before narrowing in on me, his gaze growing darker. “Oh yeah?”

  I nodded, looking away quickly. “I need to remind my ex that we belong together,” I continued. Why did my voice sound so weird? So…flat?

  “I see,” he said.

  Was that disappointment I’d heard? My heart started to race. No, that couldn’t be right. I was being stupidly optimistic. No, not optimistic.

  Oh heck, where was I?

  I was talking about my plans. The Plan.

  “And this is the last chance my friends will all have to be together.” I’d started babbling to fill the silence. “Some of them are leaving to visit family, and a couple are camp counselors, and this is our last chance to have the perfect week together.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Yes, this was good. No more talk of kissing. Talk about your friends and all the fun plans you have in store for them. Talk about the amusement park scavenger hunt and the fancy dinner you set up at Chez Jaques.

  I looked over at him. Just do not talk about kissing. That mental command made my brain think about kissing, obviously, and my eyes acted of their own volition as they dropped down to his lips.

  Oh shoot. Do not think about kissing, and especially do not think about kissing Jax.

  He was a stranger…almost. Basically.

  Though he didn’t feel like a stranger anymore, really.

  “Tell me more about this perfect kiss,” he said.

  I swallowed air. Oh shoot.

  “Uh…”

  Here’s the thing. My eyes might have slipped a couple times to look at his lips, but his gaze was firmly fixed on my mouth. So much so I forgot how to breath. I licked my lips as a nervous habit and that only made his eyes grow more intense.

  Oh wow. Um…

  The kiss. I was supposed to talk about a kiss. With Jax.

  I clamped my mouth shut. Nope. Couldn’t do it.

  His lips curved up on one side as if he’d heard my answer. “Okay, let’s start with this ex-boyfriend of yours. When did you break up?”

  “Two months ago,” I said promptly. Direct questions I could answer. “Shortly before the prom.”

  He winced a little. “Ouch.”

  I nodded. “But it’s fine, he’s just going through something.”

  “Something,” he repeated with so much doubt I wanted to smack him. He didn’t know Ted, I did.

  “Yes, he’s…” I flailed a hand. “He’s panicking.”

  He nodded slowly. “I see.”

  I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t see. He sounded way too condescending. “When did you graduate high school?”

  “Last year,” he said.

  I blinked a couple times. Maybe it was the tattoos or the tough-guy vibe but I’d thought he was older. “Oh.”

  We stared at one another for a while.

  “What was your plan?” I asked.

  His grin was quick and sudden. “You and your plans.”

  I shrugged. “It’s an honest question. Most people have some sort of plan when they graduate.”

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I had a plan. I went to college like I was supposed to. Near my girlfriend, like I was supposed to…” His gaze met mine and I said a little prayer that he hadn’t seen my weird flinch at the mention of a girlfriend.

  He shifted so he was leaning forward a bit. “Here’s the thing people never tell you about plans. They rarely turn out the way you think they will.”

  I narrowed my eyes teasingly. “If you’re about to say how plans were meant to be broken, you’ll lose approximately twenty cool points for saying something so cliché.”

  There was that slow smile that made my heart race. But it was the way those dark eyes lit up with amusement. “Actually, I was going to quote John Lennon. You know, ‘life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’”

  My smile was a mirror image of his. “That’s better,” I said. “I mean, equally cliché but at least quoting a musician fits in with your whole rock star vibe.”

  He shifted suddenly and leaned forward so he was so close I forgot where we were. His proximity was so overwhelming it drowned out the freakin’ ocean. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned my rock star quality. What’s that about?” His smile turned cocky, and somehow that upped the sexy quotient a million times over.

  I was surrounded by fresh air and gusts of wind and yet there didn’t seem to be enough oxygen at my disposal. I struggled for nonchalance and missed by a mile. “It’s the hair.”

  He reached up and ran a hand through it which only made it more tousled. “You dig the hair?” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes and waved a hand in his general direction. “It�
�s a combination of the hair and the tattoos—”

  “And the accent, am I right?” His British accent seemed to intensify exponentially as he arched his brows knowingly.

  I pressed my lips together but he apparently took that as an affirmative because he leaned forward even more and lowered his voice. “I knew it.”

  I couldn’t respond. I should tease him for being so cocky or roll my eyes at the very least, but I just sat there, staring into those dark fathomless eyes. I waited breathlessly because I didn’t know what was going to happen. He was close. So close. And that awareness between us had been building steadily as if the gravity in our direct vicinity had grown significantly more intense and was trying to drag us together.

  “So,” he said shifting slightly. “You think this is the perfect place for a romantic kiss, huh?”

  I blinked a few times at the change in conversation. Okay, maybe it was the word kiss that had my brain shorting out. “Umm…” Words, please don’t fail me now.

  Too late. They totally failed me. All I could do was stare into those bottomless eyes and try to remember to breathe.

  His lips curved up oh so slowly. “Should we test your theory?”

  Those dark eyes sparked with wicked mischief and…something else. Something so intense it made my heart flip over in my chest. He waited for a second, his gaze moving over my face before returning to my eyes.

  He was waiting for me to protest, to pull away. But I couldn’t if I’d tried.

  Kiss me! Where had that voice even come from? Jax seemed to hear it. He stopped waiting and leaned forward. Slowly, slowly…so slowly I nearly whimpered in frustration.

  But then his lips slid over mine, hot and firm, in a kiss that wiped my mind of all thoughts.

  The kiss was gentle, tender even. He slid a hand into my hair and held me to him, gently tilting my head for better access as he teased my lips and his tongue slid inside my mouth.

  He felt so good I couldn’t hold back the little moan in the back of my throat.

  That seemed to undo him. The temperature in the air shot up a hundred degrees as he intensified the kiss instantly. He was still tender but there was an urgency in the way he kissed me, and in the way I kissed him back.

  Like this was it, our moment. He teased my tongue and tasted every inch of my mouth, his hands buried in my hair as he tried to tell me something with that kiss.

  I was lost in it, kissing him back feverishly as some sort of force took possession of my body. For the first time in forever, I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t planning, I wasn’t using my brain at all.

  And it was exhilarating.

  He was the first to pull away, slowly and gently easing the frantic nature of the kiss with soft, sweet kisses on my lips and then at the corners of my mouth. And then finally he leaned his forehead against mine.

  I panted for air for a moment and it was everything I could do not to lean in once more. Just one more taste…

  God, what was wrong with me? Reality came back with a vengeance as I remembered where I was and why. I could feel his gaze on me, heavy and searching as I pulled back and turned to face the ocean view once more.

  When I couldn’t take the silence any more I tried for a joking tone. “Well, I guess you proved me right.” I snuck a glance in his direction. “That was a great place for a kiss.”

  I was rewarded with a small smile, but his eyes didn’t lose that searching look like he was trying to see through the joking and past the smiles. The most unsettling part was, I felt like he could. He could see right through me.

  I rubbed my palms on my sundress again, this time with more than a hint of panic. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Why not?”

  When I glanced back I was irritated to see that he was once again leaning back against the railing taking in the view—including me—without so much a hint of angst over the fact that we’d just kissed.

  We’d kissed. He’d kissed me. I’d kissed him back.

  The oxygen in the air grew sparse. Oh God, this could not be happening.

  “Why not?” he asked again, nudging my knee with his.

  “Huh?” I couldn’t breathe and he was quizzing me?

  His look was unreadable but not unkind. His eyes were gentle. “Why is it such a big deal that you kissed me?”

  “You kissed me.” I felt stupid as soon as the words came out but it felt important that I clarify that, as though that reasoning would make me feel less guilty about the fact that I’d basically cheated on Ted.

  “You don’t have a boyfriend so there’s no reason to feel guilty, right?” Jax pointed out.

  I glared at him. It was the truth, but it was still a rude reminder. Besides, whether Ted and I were currently together wasn’t the point. I wanted him back, that was the point. We would get back together in the very near future—that was the point.

  But we wouldn’t if I didn’t get my head on straight. I was wasting precious prep time with some guy I’d never see after this week rather than working on a game plan to convince Ted that we deserved another chance.

  What was I doing? For a second I didn’t recognize myself. I wasn’t the type who kissed random guys. I kissed my boyfriend, that was it. I didn’t do vacation flings or casual hookups, and that’s all this could ever be.

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to think logically for once. I’d let this day get entirely off course—I’d let myself get caught up in the newness of the beach scene. I’d let myself get distracted by a hot stranger and his flirtatiousness, but none of that was real and it was time to get back to reality.

  I sat up straighter and looked around, in the back of my mind I was coming up with farfetched plans for how to get off this ship.

  “How long is this thing again?”

  “Three hours.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice. I whipped around to face him. Oh, he’d better not be laughing at me right now.

  He was. A little smirk hovered over his lips as he sang, “Three-hour tour” to the Gilligan’s Island tune in the face of my horror.

  I was stranded on a ship with a stranger who I’d mistakenly kissed and he thought this was funny?

  He stopped singing when I moaned softly and dropped my head into my hands. I stiffened at the feel of his hand on my back but then he started stroking up and down in a friendly gesture to relax me.

  It worked. I started to feel a little better.

  “Look, I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t mean to move so quickly.” When I didn’t immediately respond I heard his exasperated sigh. “Would it help if I promised not to kiss you again?”

  My head shot up as I looked at him. No! Something deep down inside me hated that he’d offered that. I hated it even more when he continued in that calm, unemotional voice. “We’ll make a deal, all right? No more kissing.”

  Our gazes met and clashed. I swear a saw a flash of pure wicked before he lowered his voice to that ultra-sexy register. “Not unless you kiss me.”

  Oh dear. I drew in a shaky breath. There was that crazy gravitational pull again. His lips hitched up in that lopsided grin I loved so much as if to tempt me.

  Kiss him. Do it.

  What? No! Of course I wouldn’t kiss him. I cleared my throat and broke the staring contest. “Great. That sounds like a good plan.”

  He chuckled softly. “You and your plans.”

  I shrugged. “What? I like to have a plan.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re Type-A?”

  I tossed him a rueful smile. “Only every day.”

  He surprised me with a big grin. “I like it.”

  I found myself blinking in surprise. “You do?” I shook my head. “I mean…really? You do? Most people don’t like that about me.”

  “Most people are stupid.” He said it so simply, as if it was a known fact.

  It made me laugh despite the situation. “You’re odd,” I said, but without any malice.

  He arched his brows. “And?” At my questioning l
ook, he added, “You’re supposed to say that you like that about me.”

  I laughed again as I thought about it. Then I gave one short nod. “I do,” I said. “I like that you’re odd.”

  His smile made my heart pound painfully but then he reached out and pulled me back so I was leaning back beside him, my head nestled on his shoulder and his arm slung around me. It wasn’t sexual, but it was familiar.

  Probably too familiar for a guy I’d known for less than twenty-four hours but I let myself relax into it and unlike the last time when all I could do was focus on the feel of his arm, this time I found it a comfort. Maybe the kiss had served its purpose in making a simple friendly touch less terrifying.

  I mean, it was still electric, but it no longer scared me.

  Maybe I was just getting used to it.

  “So,” Jax drawled lazily, crossing one of his outstretched legs over the other. “Tell me about these plans of yours.”

  I snuck a peek at his face but he had his eyes closed and his head tipped back to soak in the sun. I drew in a deep breath. Actually, it kind of sounded nice to have a friend to bounce ideas off of, and Jax wasn’t just a new friend—hopefully, maybe—he was also a Wildwood insider.

  So I laid out the itinerary for him, answering his occasional question about reservations and timelines.

  He let out a snort of amusement when I told him about the big dinner at Chez Jacques. Most of our class would be there and I’d reserved a room for us, along with a family style meal and—

  I stopped when I felt his chest shaking with laughter beneath my head. “What’s so funny?”

  I felt his jaw brush the top of my head as he gave his a little shake. “Nothing. Just finally figured out why I got asked to pick up extra shifts at Chez Jacques that night.”

  I sat up straight and turned to face him. “You work there?”

  He nodded, his eyes still dancing with laughter. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, am I right?”

  I let out a little laugh at his Casablanca quote. “More like of all the hotel lobbies,” I amended.

  “Fair enough. I wasn’t even supposed to be working last night, I’ll have you know. I got called in to cover for Bob. And now I’ll be cooking for you and your friends. Small world, huh?” His mouth said “small world” like this was all some big coincidence but his eyes said something else entirely.