The Make Up (Falling for Franklin, #2)

by Hailey Gardiner

Because the closest I’ll ever get to kissing Chloe is drinking after her from the same glass or taking a bite from a fork she used.

“It’s about the make up.” I roll my eyes. “Everything’s about the make up in my world.”

We parry back and forth for a few minutes until a rogue glance down at her legs results in me getting clocked in the side of the face with the tetherball. “HA-HA!” Chloe laughs, her hands tangling in the rope as she reels the ball back in. She lets out another wild laugh. “I’m sorry. It’s so rude of me to laugh at you…but that was impeccable.” I rub my hand over my jaw. “You’re ruthless.” “I didn’t hit you on purpose! You were too busy staring at me to see the ball coming.” “I was trying to be subtle.” She rolls her eyes, swinging around the pole to join me on my side of the court. “You’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer.”

He’s still got that perfectly swooped dark hair and wire-rimmed glasses that have always invited fantasies of kissing him in a library or bookstore—ones where he’s got me pressed up against a bookshelf and proceeds to kiss me into oblivion. Hi, everyone, my name is Chloe (“Hiiii, Chloe.”), and I’m a self-diagnosed book nerd.

“What?” His breath skitters across my skin, warming my cheeks. “A man can’t compare his lover’s lips to his favorite fruit?”

“What did you just call me?” I ask coyly, toying with one of the buttons on his shirt. “Lover,” he says softly, his lips slanting into a smile. I’m full on burning now, set alight from the inside out. “To be honest,” I counter, “I’d prefer you to refer to me as your highness, or perhaps goddess divine.” “I’ll call you whatever you want, as long as I get to call you mine.”

“Hermoine and Draco? How scandalous.” She grabs my tie, pulling me closer. “Terribly scandalous.”