Dating: For the Assist

by Stephanie Street

  What was happening to me?

  Forget sparklers. This was the whole deal, a thousand dollars worth of booming fireworks that exploded into a million bursts of light.

  “Luke,” she murmured against my lips. But she was just as frenzied as me. Her mouth captured mine, tugging, pulling.

  No talking.

  Only kissing.

  More. I needed more.

  Reaching down, I gripped the backs of her thighs and pulled her up until her legs wrapped around my waist. Once she was settled on my hips, I let my hands roam. Over her back. Into her hair. Down her hips.

  She arched against me-

  The door burst open.

  “Whoa! Dude!” The sound of my best friend’s voice was like a bucket of ice water. I stilled, becoming fully aware of what I was doing. Who I was with. And where exactly my hands had strayed.

  “I’m sorry!” I put my hands up leaving Danni hanging from my body like a koala.

  Slowly, her legs slid down mine until her feet hit the floor. “For heaven’s sake, Luke. You’re not under arrest.” She took a step back, smoothing her hands over her face and hair.

  Holy-

  “Wow, dude. I didn’t think you’d do it.” Jared slapped my shoulder, but I couldn’t look away from Dannika.

  “Back off, man.” Good grief! What now? “Danni-” I reached for her, then stopped myself. I just made out with my sister’s best friend. I didn’t even like Dannika. I mean, I did. We were friends. Weren’t we? But friends didn’t make out like we just did. Friends didn’t produce fireworks like we’d just done. Did they?

  Holy cow. I had no idea what to say. And we were still standing in the middle of a dark closet with Jared in the doorway waiting for us to get out.

  “Come on, you guys. Kyle and Gemma are next.” Jared pumped his eyebrows and grinned.

  Dannika recovered first. “Right. I think I’ll go find Piper.”

  Wait. That was it? She was just going to leave? After a kiss like that? Kisses like those!

  Dannika brushed passed me, her long brown hair flowing over my shoulder as she went. I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted to talk about what just happened.

  Pushing passed Jared, I caught her hand. She swung around to face me. I wasn’t prepared for the look in her eyes. Suddenly, I felt like a huge jerk, and I didn’t even know why. It wasn’t like I forced myself on her. She invited me to kiss her. Didn’t she?

  “Where are you going?” I was an idiot. She just said where she was going. What I really wanted to know was why she was going.

  Danni shook her hand free. “I don’t want to play anymore.”

  That made two of us. One unexpected, mind-blowing kiss was enough for one night. “Danni, I think we should-”

  “Oh, my gosh! Luke, you’re here.”

  I’d know that voice anywhere. It was the same one I’d been hearing everyday for the last eight months and the sound of it had never failed to make my heart race. Until now.

  I frowned. That was weird. But not the point at the moment. First, I needed to address the girl who’d broken my heart. Turning, I forced a smile and faced the one who’d been mine only two days ago. She looked stunning as usual. She sure knew how to dress to get a guy’s attention.

  She sure had Aiden’s.

  I clenched my fists at my side to keep from punching him.

  “Of course, I’m here. Why wouldn’t I be?” Because you dumped me for a wimpy baseball player? What did she expect me to do? Sit in my room and cry like a big, fat baby? Not a chance.

  Abby’s eyes widened a little like she expected me to be more upset about our break up than I appeared. And I was upset. I just wasn’t going to let her know how much.

  “Oh,” she squeaked. But she recovered quickly, stepping closer to Aiden, giving him an adoring look.

  Gag.

  “I guess, I just thought you might still be upset.” Abby tore her gaze away from Aiden long enough to give me a pitying look. “You know, I never meant to hurt you, Luke. I just couldn’t seem to stay away from Aiden.” She rose onto her toes and kissed his lips.

  Narrowing my gaze, I fought down the desire to rip my girl from that jerk’s arms, but that was probably exactly what Abby wanted me to do. She always used loved it when I acted all possessive over her. I was determined not to give her the satisfaction. My time would come. I would win her back.

  “Whatever. I’m just glad you’re happy.” I tried not to choke on the words. I did want Abby to be happy. I just wanted her to be happy with me.

  “Oh, I am.” She gave Aiden another one of her looks before turning back to me. “I hope you were able to find someone to go to prom with. I know I left you without a date and everything.”

  Prom?

  Prom wasn’t even on my radar. Even before Abby broke up with me. I didn’t even know the day of prom.

  As if she could read my mind, Abby said, “It’s only a week away, you know. Did you find a date yet?”

  A date.

  To prom.

  Next weekend.

  Who in the world would I have asked to prom, which was apparently next weekend, when my girlfriend had only broken up with me thirty-six hours ago? Yeah, that’s right. I was counting.

  A body shuffled beside me and it was only then that I realized Dannika was still there…listening to one of my most humiliating moments, when I had to admit to my ex-girlfriend that I hadn’t found a date to prom and likely wouldn’t.

  Unless.

  I glanced at Dannika. She was looking at me, her eyes filled with sympathy. As much as I hated that, I was somewhat grateful to have someone on my team. And I desperately hoped that sympathy extended to her going along with the words about to come out of my mouth.

  I took her hand in mine and laced our fingers together. Immediately, my pulse raced and these little zings overtook my body.

  What in the world was wrong with me?

  I didn’t have time to worry about it. I had an ego to save.

  “Of course, I have a date.” I gave Danni’s hand a squeeze while offering a silent prayer that she wouldn’t contradict me.

  Or kill me.

  Looking Abby, the girl who’d broken my heart, dead in the eye, I said, “I’m going with Dannika.”

  5

  Dannika

  “Are you crazy? How could you tell her that?” I couldn’t believe it. If I hadn’t been standing there with my fingers laced through Luke’s while the words came out of his mouth, I wouldn’t have. But I had been there. And he did say the words.

  And I heard them!

  Luke’s eyes widened as he shushed me. Abby had stuttered through some kind of response before shuffling off with Aiden in tow leaving me to deal with the big liar who’d just moments ago kissed my lips off in a dark closet.

  “Would you be quiet?” he said, pulling on my arm and dragging me toward the stairs. “Do you want her to hear you?”

  Pulling back just as hard, I resisted. “Why should I care? I’m not the one who just lied.” I tried to process the fact that Luke Hines had just told his ex-girlfriend we were going to prom together. And not only that, he’d kissed me.

  Okay, he didn’t kiss me, he completely devoured my mouth in the most encompassing kiss I’d ever experienced in my entire life. Not that I had much experience with kisses. But, sweet cornbread pudding! That kiss had been one for the books and I didn’t care who you were, I’d lay money down Luke Hines was the best kisser on the planet.

  And he’d kissed me!

  After quickly glancing around, probably to make sure his ex-girlfriend wasn’t listening, Luke’s eyes met mine. For a split second, I was lost. This beautiful person had kissed me. Our lips had touched. Our tongues had tangled. I knew how his mouth tasted. He’d bitten my bottom lip!

  His hands had gripped my- well, you know, my butt. For heaven’s sake, I’d wrapped my legs around his waist!

  How did one go back from that?

  “Dannika!” His exasperated tone brought me out o
f my trance and I transferred my gaze from his lips to his eyes. Was it possible they looked just as confused as I felt?

  “What?” I wanted to strangle him. How could he kiss me like that and then act as if nothing was at all wrong while he lied to his ex-girlfriend and roped me into being his date to prom?

  “Can we at least talk about this?” He glanced around again. “Someplace other than here?”

  I stared at him for what must have been a solid five seconds. That might not seem like long, but it was long enough to make him squirm.

  Good.

  But he was right. We did need to talk. Maybe not about that kiss, because how embarrassing! But we definitely needed to talk about his lying mouth and our supposed prom date.

  “Fine. Let’s go.” I didn’t let him keep hold of my hand even though I’d been thoroughly enjoying the sparks zapping between us. It was obvious I was the only one experiencing any kind of reaction and I wasn’t into torturing myself.

  Usually.

  Marching out in front, I led the way up the stairs. The party was still in full swing. People filled Drew’s house to capacity and then spilled out into the yard and pool. I had no idea where I was going, but the last thing I wanted was to discuss what just happened in front of an audience.

  I knew where to go.

  I’d spent some time at Drew’s house as Piper’s best friend. Hurrying through a couple of doors and down a long hall, we soon reached a bedroom. It was a spare room that Piper and I often used to change clothes when we came here to swim. But I was headed for the balcony. It was quiet and faced the front of the house so there would be less of a chance of being overheard.

  I opened the door and headed inside the room. The balcony was on the other side through a set of French doors.

  “Wow,” Luke breathed once we stepped outside. “This place is amazing, isn’t it?” He leaned against the stone wall enclosing the area and looked out over the front and side yards visible from where we stood.

  “It really is.” The house and grounds were incredible. I’d never seen anything like it and I spent two months out of the year in California. My dad wasn’t super rich or anything, but there were a lot of wealthy people around where he lived. Still, this place was unique.

  “It’s kind of surprising, you know. How chill Drew is with all of this around him.” Luke gestured with his chin to the view in front of us.

  “I know, right? I was a little intimidated when I found out about him and Piper. She’s just so-” I couldn’t think of the word. But she wasn’t the type to like or even attract someone Drew. The guy had star power and it wasn’t just because of his family’s money. It was him.

  Luke nodded. “I know what you mean. But Drew-,” he stopped, his eyes squinting as he thought. “Drew’s not like his family. And I think he really loves Piper. I think he’s saved her.”

  I knew what he meant. After the incident with Jack Fawcett, Piper sort of turned in on herself. We were all so worried about her. She went to counseling and it had been a struggle for her to deal with the aftermath, but Drew was her rock. Not that everyone else wasn’t there for her too, but Drew was different. Their relationship was different. Piper told me she couldn’t sleep sometimes without Drew with her. I knew he snuck into her room a lot and they took long naps together on the weekends. I wondered what they would do once we graduated. Drew hadn’t declared where he was going to go to play his one season of college ball before declaring his eligibility for the draft. Piper had been offered scholarships to a couple of different schools to play basketball. She was really good and I knew her goal was to play professionally as well. How would they manage to reach their goals and still be together?

  “Piper is stronger than we give her credit for.”

  Luke faced me, resting his hip on the short wall. “I know she’s strong. But she needs him. It makes me worry about her. I’ve been holding off on making my own plans to see what she’s going to do. If I can, I’ll go with her.”

  I hadn’t known that. It made me respect Luke even more. He was one of the good ones. He loved his sister. I knew he’d do anything for her. What would it be like to have someone care about me like that? I knew my mom loved me. And my dad. Even my step-mom was a nice lady and she loved me too in her way. I didn’t have any full siblings, but my dad and Angela had three kids. They were cute and a lot younger than me. When I visited it was like I was their favorite aunt or something. We just didn’t have the kind of relationship Piper and Luke had. Plus, they were twins. They were closer than most siblings because of that.

  I had to laugh, though, because Luke wasn’t the only one putting his plans on hold. “I’m doing the same thing. My parents told me I could go wherever I wanted. Payback, I guess, for making me practically raise myself all these years. There’s a healthy college fund sitting in the bank with my name on it.” My parents weren’t horrible, they just were not present in my life. My mother was driven and worked hard to be as successful as she was at her real estate business. She was gone most of the time at work or on business trips to different places around the country. She made obscene amounts of money, but it never seemed to be enough.

  Nothing was ever enough for her. Heaven only knew I wasn’t enough. Thank goodness for Piper and her family.

  But that wasn’t what we were out here to talk about.

  “Okay, enough stalling, Hines. What the heck was that all about in there?” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder.

  Luke stepped closer, his eyes dropping seductively. “Which part, Danni?” Reaching out, his fingers touched the edge of my ear. “The one where you had your legs wrapped around me? Or maybe it was when you kissed me?”

  I sucked in a breath at his touch and his words. But I wasn’t going to take all the blame, or was it credit, for what had happened. I placed my hands on his chest. “I kissed you, huh? That isn’t quite how I remember things.” Being so close to him, I wanted another one of those kisses. In fact, I could have kissed him all day. All night. For the rest of forever. The thought of not ever again experiencing a kiss like the one we’d shared earlier made my chest ache.

  But Luke wasn’t mine. At least, I didn’t think he was.

  “Hmm,” Luke hummed deep in his throat making his chest rumble under my palms. “Maybe I can refresh your memory.” He set his hands on my hips.

  I felt faint. I wanted him to kiss me again. But kissing wasn’t all I wanted. Everything that had happened that night could easily be written off as a hormonal response to circumstances. Maybe Luke would have kissed anyone in that closet the way he’d kissed me. Just because I felt sparks that could have set the world on fire didn’t mean he’d felt the same way. I didn’t want hormones. I wanted the real deal. Feelings. A relationship. I wanted Luke to love me. Kissing him was just supposed to make him think about it, not invite him to kiss me just because I was there and available. That wasn’t what I wanted at all.

  With my hands on his chest, I stopped his progress toward me. “Hold on right there, mister. We kissed, but that doesn’t mean you can just kiss me whenever you want.”

  Luke frowned but it quickly turned into a grin. “Fine. But just so you know, you can kiss me anytime you want. You don’t even have to ask.”

  I didn’t want it to happen, but his words made my heart race and my breathing go ragged. The thought of kissing Luke whenever I wanted sounded like a dream come true. But only if that dream was complete with some kind of promise between us. I was certain that wasn’t what Luke was offering. That meant we needed to discuss the other thing that had happened that evening.

  “Why on earth did you tell Abby we were going to prom together?”

  That wiped the grin off his face.

  Luke stepped away from me and ran his fingers through his dark hair making it stand on end in the adorable way I loved.

  “I had to say something. Did you see the way she was hanging all over Aiden? She broke up with me less than forty-eight hours ago.” His pain radiated in the space between us and
I felt bad. Luke didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Suddenly, I really hated Abby.

  “I’m sorry, Luke. I know that must hurt, but seriously, did you even stop to think I might already have a date to prom?”

  Luke froze, his eyes frantically searching mine. “You don’t, do you? Because I haven’t heard you say anything to Piper about having a date.” He pulled back his chin and frowned. “Are you dating someone? Because you were just downstairs playing Spin the Bottle. You wouldn’t have done that if you had a boyfriend, would you? And wouldn’t I have heard if you were dating someone?”

  Shaking my head, I fought down the urge to roll my eyes. He was being ridiculous. “Of course, I’m not dating someone, you spaz,” I hissed. Luke’s shoulders dropped with apparent relief making me want to punch him.

  Actually, why hold back?

  I hit his arm once. Twice. Before I could hit him a third time, he caught my hand.

  “Stop that! Why are you hitting me?”

  Ripping my hand out of his grasp, I hit him one more time for good measure. “Because you’re stupid, that’s why. Are you having a brain fart or something?”

  Luke paused. “Did you just say ‘brain fart’? And you didn’t answer me. Do you have a date to prom or not?”

  “No, I don’t have a date to prom. But that isn’t the point. You can’t just Shanghai my prom to save face in front of the girl that dumped you!”

  6

  Luke

  Wow.

  I didn’t even know what to say. She was right, but it still hurt. And I was so confused. The whole last forty-eight hours had thrown me for a loop, but that was nothing compared to the last one and a half since I’d arrived at this party. I would almost swear I’d been dropped into an alternate reality. One where I kissed my sister’s best friend and liked it. And then, got into a pissing match with my ex, dragging Dannika down with me.

  And what did I even expect? That Danni would be jumping up and down at the chance to be my date to prom so she could help me make my ex jealous?