Kindle Notes & Highlights
She smiles, revealing a dimple in her cheek. Without thinking, I stick my finger in it. “Cute.” “Ow.” She laughs and rubs the spot on her face that I just assaulted. My fingers are blunt, my hands beat up from hockey. I should have gone in a little softer. Hell, I shouldn’t have gone in at all.
Just as boys are born with the asshole gene, girls are born with the drama gene.” She shrugs, smothering a little grin. “It’s science.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how science works.” “Are you a science major?” “No.” “Then you don’t know shit,”
“Bye ladies, behave yourselves,” Benny calls after us as I will myself not to turn back and look. But I do it anyway. In the middle of the sidewalk in the warm Phoenix sun, hands planted on his hips, bare chest glistening in all its sweaty, muscled glory, he stands there staring at my ass. I don’t know whether to be pissed off, flattered, or turned on. I think I might be all three. And also in trouble.
“You can just stay on that side of the pool!” she calls to me. With a laugh and a shake of my head, I dip back under the warm water and glide over to where she’s sitting. Breaking the surface right in front of where she sits on the built-in ledge. Water dripping down my face, I smooth my hair back from my eyes, dragging the water with the wet strands. I step into the space between her knees and brace my hands on the concrete deck on either side of her.
“I don’t know about you, Smalls, but this feels right. This feels like you’re mine,”
“Shhhh, I promise to keep you safe. I just want to feel you against me.”
“I’ll have you back to your room before practice in the morning, Maeve. I’m not nearly done with you. Especially not after that bomb you dropped on me.” Benny shakes his head. “If you think I’m sending you back to your room thinking that you know what a real orgasm feels like after that half-assed shit in the pool,” he says, jerking his thumb back the way we came, “you’re crazy, baby.”
“Benn—” “Smalls, if you do it right, fucking is a sport, and I’m an athlete. A goddamn gold star type. That was only the first period. We still have two periods and an intermission left before the night is over.”
We’re all watching her now, waiting for an answer. I am not prepared for what tumbles out of her mouth in a rushed ramble, and neither is anyone else. “I stayed with Benny in his room and let him do filthy things to me, and if any of you tell Levi, I’ll never talk to you again. I mean it!” Not waiting for a response, she stalks off in the direction of the coffee shop, head held high with a swish in her hips. I can’t hide the smile that slips over my lips as I watch her go. At the silence behind me, I turn to see Lakyn, Kenna, and Millie all three standing there dumbfounded. With a shrug, I set
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And I wonder, not for the first time, how am I going to quit her when we got back home?
“What if I’m not done?” Benny asks, his thumb sweeping over the sensitive skin at the bend of my arm. “What if this is more than just fun for me?” I shake my head. I don’t need a bullshit line from him. I can’t handle it. Because I want what I think he’s offering, and I know I shouldn’t.
“What if I say fuck Levi? I’ll take the ass beating. I want to date you, Maeve Sexton, and I’m willing to fight your brother if that’s what it takes to do it.”
“Not in secret and not behind anyone’s back. I will go back home and walk right into my house and tell your brother that whether he likes it or not, I’m going to see where this thing between us goes.” He shifts, pulling me closer to him, the clean scent of his cologne clinging to him and enveloping me. “He will undoubtedly try to kick my ass, and I will let him if it means you’ll kiss me all better and nurse me back to health.”
“Don’t cry. He won’t actually kill me. He’ll just hurt me a little. I promise. It’ll be worth it, though.” I can’t help but laugh at him, glad that he doesn’t seem fazed by my tears. “Levi might kill you.” I’m not entirely convinced he won’t. “He can try,” Benny says, winking, his smirk reckless.
Benny lifts me up, and I curl around him, my hands in his hair and my ankles locked at his waist. My heart feels as light as he makes the rest of me seem. “True. I’m better at the dirty part, though. Let me show you.” “Maybe I should show you.” I can’t contain the silly grin on my face. Instead of trying, I pull his head down for the kiss he’s been teasing me with. When he raises his chin, my sigh is audible when our lips finally meet, and he murmurs against my mouth, “Maybe you should.”
“Hey, short stack,” Levi says to his sister, grinning at her not giving a shit about Nora or her outburst. He typically doesn’t pay her any attention unless she’s naked. “Hi, Le—” Levi cuts her off abruptly. “Why are you holding my sister’s hand, Benny?” He tilts his head like he’s trying to piece together a puzzle and can’t quite figure it out, his eyes boring into mine.
