“I’d sneak you into my room but then there’d be cops knocking on the front door at daybreak.”
“Your dad might not appreciate that. How ‘bout we just sit out on the porch a minute.”
“Isn’t this past curfew?”
“My parents pretend not to notice these days.”
“Why?”
“Good grades. Record-breaking season. Admission into Notre Dame. And, ah, what’s the other one? Oh, yeah. They know I’m in love with a girl I can’t get pregnant.”
Vivi burst out laughing.
Lane pulled her into his arms, and man, oh, man, she went with it, folding him up in her own. “That feels good,” he whispered into her hair. “I’ve missed you touching me. Even like this.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t trust myself.”
“Aren’t I supposed to be the horny teenager?”
“From the moment I saw you, I went weak in the knees.”
“Because you hadn’t slept or eaten, and there was that heat stroke thing.”
“I just blamed it on that. I’m pretty sure it was you. You were the shock to my system.”
“It’s been just about eleven months since I found Sleeping Beauty and her bare ass on the beach. Mmm, I do miss you without clothes.”
“So I can pack that swimsuit when we go? The one with the bow?”
He growled against her head, rocking her gently in his arms. “For my personal enjoyment, yes. Though I’m not sure I can handle all the attention it’s going to attract on the beach.”
“Ha. As if. And like you’d have anything to worry about anyway. You know how I feel.”
“That didn’t stop me from wanting to rip Hollywood’s head off on New Year’s Eve.”
“Yeah. I got a little taste of that this afternoon when Tinley kissed you.”
“That’s why I came by. Hoping to coax you out here in the dark. So I could apologize. Maybe erase that from your memory.”
She pulled away and smiled her shy little Sleeping Beauty smile. “How’re you gonna do that?” she teased.
“Well, I’m gonna kiss you like I kiss my grandmother, of course. But while I’m doing that, I want you to think about that last night we spent together at the beach.”
“Hmm,” she sighed as he kissed her forehead.
“That was some kind of night,” he said as he kissed her nose.
“Refresh my memory,” she said against his lips.
Challenge accepted.
His arms slid up under her nightshirt and stroked over her bare back as they kissed. Lane tried to focus on the feel of her skin under his fingertips and the smell of her soft, sleepy body in his nostrils, distracting himself from how sinfully decadent her mouth felt under his. His tongue, however, started marching to its own beat. A very sensual beat pounding down on him from afar. Lane answered that call by coaxing Vivi to open her mouth and slipping his tongue inside. The fallout from how good that felt shot straight to his groin. And then he wasn’t thinking at all. He was taking.
He took Vivi’s hand from around his neck and slid it over his shorts, up against his hard-on, holding it there. When she didn’t pull away, he slid her hand up and down the length of him, slowly, firmly, just like he’d shown her how he liked it their last night together.
“I remember,” she whispered against his lips.
He just moaned into her mouth, thinking about how hot it had been. How hot it was going to be with them again. How hot kissing her was right now.
It took everything he had to drop her hand and end the kiss.
Chapter Twenty Five
“Mr. Liskey invited Miss DuVal to our prom!” Stacey Collins shouted, giddy and out of breath. She’d practically skidded into the pack of cheerleaders leaving the cafeteria.
Lane’s head, along with Lam’s, snapped to attention at the news. They looked over at each other and then immediately forced their way into the mass of short skirts and saddle shoes as the story was spilling from Stacey’s mouth.
“In the middle of calculus class, there was this knock on the door and Mr. Liskey walks in dressed as Prince Charming. He had this big gold crown on his head, wore some kind of fancy white jacket with a red sash running across it from shoulder to hip. He had on white gloves and was carrying a boatload of red roses-way more than a dozen-all wrapped up with a big red and black striped bow. He got down on one knee in front of the whole class and makes like it’s a proposal. I mean, for a minute, we all thought he was asking her to marry him! We were all squealing and dying, and then it turns out he asked her to be his date for the prom.”
“And what the hell did she say?” Lane barked.
“What could she say? I mean, at first she just stood there, shocked, not saying anything. And the class was oohing and aahing and shouting for her to accept. And then Mr. Liskey sort of motioned the class to egg her on, so finally everybody is shouting “Say, yes. Say, yes,” over and over until she finally nodded her head and said she’d go.”
“And then what happened?” Lam asked.
“Then he sort of bowed as he gave her all those roses, and once she took them, he stood up with his hands in the air and danced around like he had just won a prize fight. The whole class cheered. It was fantastic.”
Lane looked over at Lam. He did not think this was fantastic. He thought this was bullshit. Lam pulled him out of the group and pushed him into a wall.
“You cannot be upset over this.”
“Too late for that.”
“I mean, you can’t be upset with Miss DuVal.”
“Really? Because right now I’m very upset with Miss DuVal.”
“Says the guy who is taking a girl with enormous tits to the prom.”
“It’s my prom. And that’s a fake date,” Lane scowled.
“And you think Miss DuVal going with Liskey is real? Why do you think the asshole went to all the trouble of the big, public invite? So she couldn’t say no.”
“She could have said no.”
“With the whole class cheering like that? Face it, man, she didn’t have a choice.”
“She had a choice.”
“Dude. Do not let this be your Kryptonite. And definitely do not bust her chops about this during school hours.”
“Oh my God,” a shrill voice came from down the hall. “Did you hear Mr. Liskey invited Miss DuVal to the prom?”
“Perfect,” Lane said. “It’s going to be all over the school and in my face all day.”
“Suck it up, Irish. This is not her fault. Besides, it’s not like old Liskey can compete with Notre Dame’s new running back.”
“How old is Liskey, anyway?” Lane asked, his eyes squinty like he couldn’t imagine Vivi going out with such a lech.
“Old. Probably can’t even get it up. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I’m not worried, I’m pissed. I’m pissed he gets to go with Vivi and I can’t. And I’m tired of this shit. I’m tired of acting like I’m okay with the way things are, when I’m not. And I tell you. I’m scared to death she’s on the verge of asking me to continue this charade so she can come back and teach here next year. With Liskey.”
“Liskey isn’t your problem.”
“You’re wrong,” Lane said as he shoved himself off the wall. “He’s the newest addition to a long list of problems. Problems I’m starting to drown in.”
“But she’s worth it, right?” Lam asked as he dogged after Lane. “You’ve always said that. You’ve always told me she was worth it.”
“I don’t know,” Lane said. “She’s a teacher. I’m a student. She’s already finished college. I haven’t even started. I can’t change that. I tried to change that.”
It was the argument Lane had suffered with the day Vivi became his statistics teacher. But he’d pushed it out of his mind, not wanting to give it too much attention. They’d worked hard to find their way around it, but facts were facts. And right now, circumstances were not helping them modify those facts.
“Look, I’m getting
out of here. I’ve got to be over in Henderson for the ball game this afternoon anyway. Lock in my prom date with the big tits. Tell Vivi if she wants to talk, she can meet me over there. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise what?”
“Otherwise, tell her we can take a break.”
“I’m not telling her that,” Lam said.
“Fine.” Lane pulled out his notebook and scribbled a note. He ripped it out, folded it up and gave it to Lam. “Give her this.”
“What’s it say?”
“None of your business,” Lane said as he turned and headed for the door.
Chapter Twenty Six
“So I assume he heard,” Vivi said to Lam as he approached her at the end of class.
“There is nobody from here to Henderson who has not heard about Prince Charming, the seven dozen roses, and you going with Liskey to the prom.”
“And Lane thought cutting class would help the situation?”
“He thought if he didn’t, things might get ugly.”
“So he’s upset.”
“That’s an understatement. He said he had to be over at the Henderson ball game this afternoon, and if you wanted to talk you should meet him there.”
“I guess I deserve having to watch him ask Tinley to the prom after this Prince Charming incident.”
“I don’t think either one of you deserves what you’re putting yourselves through. It seems like things have gotten a little complicated.”
“Ya think?” She smiled.
“He wrote you a note. But it was while he was severely pissed off. So I’m going to do the two of you a favor and not let you read it.”
Vivi’s heart fell. “What’s it say?”
“I don’t read them. Ever. Not even today. What’s between the two of you is between the two of you. Still, I’m guessing once he cools off about this Liskey prom date business, he might regret what he’s written. So I’m gonna look out for my boy and not give it to you.”
She held out her hand.
Lam looked from her hand to her face. “Did you not hear what I just said?”
“I heard it, Lam,” she said in her bossy-teacher voice. “You’re a good friend. And I appreciate that. I also understand that note was written in the moment. I want to know how he felt, in the moment.”
“He felt defeated.”
“I can definitely relate.”
“He was pissed off you agreed to go to the prom with Liskey.”
“I’m not too happy about him taking Tinley.”
“See, so this is not heading in a good direction right now.”
“Lam. I’m the adult. The buck stops with me. Hand the note over. Please.”
Lam hesitated. “This is a really bad idea,” he said, capitulating. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the note.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Aren’t you going to read it? Write a response?”
“Not while you’re standing here.”
“I think I ought to stand here.”
“Lam. Trust me. All is well.”
“Miss DuVal,” he said, laughing. “I’d like to believe that. So, okay. I’m going. I’m going and I’m trusting that you-as the adult-will take care of this situation for my boy. Who was pissed. Really pissed. And at the end of his rope. Hanging by a thread.”
“Lam.”
“I’m going.”
“See you Monday.”
Vivi watched him leave. Took a deep breath. Then unfolded the note.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Lane wished he’d been in the right frame of mind for the big invite he laid on Tinley. Because Josh McCourt had done a job messing with the scoreboard. He had it flashing during the game, little things lighting up here and there like there was a problem. It definitely caught the crowd’s attention with some sparks and colors and the screen going blank a few times, flashing on and off. So when it finally did go blank, during the seventh-inning stretch, and then flashed Tinley’s name over and over and over again, no one who was attending the game could possibly miss it. Then came the big PROM??? flashing over and over and over again, changing colors each time. Then, and Lane really could have done without this part, it flashed a video of him in his football uniform running in for several touchdowns. Yep, no doubt about who was asking whom to the prom. The crowd all started to look around, so he made his move, took his bouquet of roses-thank you, Mr. Liskey-and moved down in front of the center of the stands waiting for Tinley to come out of the crowd and give him her answer.
And right on cue, there she was. Pretty as he’d ever seen her. All dolled up in a pink sundress, coming out of the stands to a round of applause. He plastered a smile on his face, gave her the roses-which she held high in the air to the cheers of the crowd-and then pulled her by the hand off the field and over to the side of the stands where he gave her a quick kiss to make it all look legit.
“That was nice,” she said quietly, as the crowd shouted funny things at them. Lane smiled at all the well-wishers, wishing he were with a different DuVal cousin. Then he smiled at his prom date, resigned.
“I’m glad it met your approval.”
“It was perfect. Best prom invite ever. I had my friends videotape it. I’m going to put it on Facebook.”
“Of course you are. Don’t you think that might piss off Hollywood?”
“He’s not on Facebook. He says he’s too old for Facebook. He’s on LinkedIn or something boring.”
“That means he’s probably a little old for you.”
“People who live in glass houses,” she said.
“Shouldn’t throw stones,” he finished. “Come on. Let’s watch the rest of the game.”
They scooted into the first row, her all snuggled up on him just like Vivi used to do.
Vivi.
He was probably being an ass about this Liskey thing. If Tinley had hung him out to dry while he stood there in front of this entire crowd holding out roses, he would have been mortified. And Vivi was too sweet, too kind to do that to anybody. Especially a coworker, in front of a bunch of unforgiving teenagers. It would have embarrassed everybody in that classroom and word would have spread just as quickly about that nightmare as it did about what actually happened.
So okay. Like Lam said. She had no choice. Just like he didn’t have a choice with Tinley.
“Would you mind if I texted Vivi? Something happened at school today.”
“What?”
“Another math teacher asked her to go to the prom.”
Tinley thought that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Her laughter busted right through Lane’s dismal mood and got him laughing about it too. He told her the whole story and didn’t leave out how pissed off he was.
“Is the teacher cute?”
Lane stared at her like she had lost her mind.
“Text her. Tell her I’ll be happy to do a big switch at just the right moment. Like we did on New Year’s.”
“Maybe we can just double date, being as you’re her cousin and all,” Lane joked.
“It will certainly make the night interesting,” Tinley said.
Lane texted Vivi. “Sorry I skipped class. Are you here at Henderson?”
The text came in, “No.”
No? Just, no? He texted, “Are you coming to Henderson?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“WHY NOT??”
Uh-oh.
“Did Lam give you my note?”
When there was no response, Lane was pretty sure Lam had given her his note.
“Ah, Tinley? Can we do a big smoochy goodbye so I can get the hell out of here and go put out a big freaking fire with your cousin?”
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“I really appreciate this,” he said as they left the stands. “Your cousin is being a whole lot less cooperative.”
“Lane, when you and Vivi are all done mooning over each other, call me up and ask me out for real,” Tinley
said as Lane got into his car.
“Tinley,” Lane said chuckling. “If I can’t handle the soft, sweet, shy one, there is no hope for me ever being able to handle you.”
“Oh, don’t sell yourself short, Lane Kettering. Love can’t be any harder than football. Throw a pass. Catch a pass. Dodge any obstacles.” Then she leaned in and whispered. “And don’t forget how good it feels when you finally do score.”
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Oh, thank God you’re still here.”
Lane could hardly breathe. He’d sprinted in from the parking lot and raced down the hall, worried he wouldn’t find Vivi in her classroom. He panted as he strode forward, collapsing into the chair where he regularly sat.
“I’m sorry,” he gasped. “I didn’t get it. This Liskey thing. Until I was standing there with roses, asking Tinley to prom in front of hundreds of people, I didn’t get it,” he panted. “You couldn’t say no.”
“Well, Mr. Kettering,” came a voice from behind him, “that is the point, isn’t it? Making sure you don’t get turned down.”
Shit.
Lane turned to watch Liskey in all his prepped-out preppiness stride forward and pass him, eyes locked on Vivi.
His Vivi.
“Yeah,” Lane sneered. “But then I realized, it’s kind of an asshole move, don’t you think?”
Vivi gasped.
Liskey chuckled. “And here you’ve just pulled the very same asshole move.”
“My date had prior warning.”
“Well, I’m sure this didn’t come out of the blue for Miss DuVal. I’ve been trying to take her out since September.”
“She has a boyfriend.”
“So she says. Although there is zero evidence. I’ve asked around. So I’ve come to the conclusion she’s playing hard to get.”
“Are you?” Lane asked Vivi pointedly.
“Am I what?” Vivi asked, startled.
Yep, she definitely had that deer in the headlights look. Crap. Lane sighed. He needed to stand down. They had made it all the way to prom. Just a few more weeks to graduation. He was not going to let this blow up on her now.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “My bad.” He stood and held out his hand to Mr. Liskey. “I apologize,” he said as Liskey shook it. “I’m dating Miss DuVal’s cousin, Tinley. Have been since New Year’s. So I’ve gotten to know Miss DuVal outside of class. She’s only twenty-one, you know. I’m turning twenty soon, so most of the time it seems Miss DuVal is more of a friend than a teacher. Anyway, it’s all good. I’ll head out and let you two talk prom.” As Lane walked away he said, “And if you want to double date, Mr. Liskey, Tinley and I are available.”
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 76
