Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow, #3)

by Rainbow Rowell

Nicks and Slick, I’ve been wrong about everything. Wrong about love. Wrong about kissing, for certain. Wrong about Shepard—I was frightfully wrong about Shepard. And I’m so glad. What else could I have been wrong about? I hope he shows me. I want him to show me. I’ve been sitting in his lap for what feels like hours. We’re still kissing, and it’s still so soft. And he’s still smiling. I’m not sure he’s stopped smiling. I’m smiling, too. Shepard looks different without his glasses—even more open, even more vulnerable. His eyes are smaller, his face has more space. I kiss the spot between his eyebrows, and he laughs. My glasses are gone, too—Shepard took them off and set them somewhere. He tracks his thumbs along my eyebrows, down, over my cheekbones, and his smile fades. “Penelope . . . I need to ask you something.” I sit back a little on his thighs. “Okay.” He brings his hands to my waist, like he’s holding me steady. “Are you going to regret this?” “How would I know that now?” I ask. Shepard bites his lip. His bottom lip is even pinker than before. “I guess that’s fair.” “Are you?” “No,” he says. “Well, you don’t know that either . . .” He sits up a little. “No, I do. Without a doubt. I am never going to regret kissing you. I’m never going to regret a moment we’ve spent together, even though I regret the mistakes I’ve made . . .” “Oh,” I say. He pushes my hair out of my face. It falls back immediately. My ponytail must be nearly dead. “I need to tell you something,” he sa...