“Winning,” we said in unison, falling into fits of laughter.
Max kissed my forehead and helped me off his lap.
“Max?”
“Hmm?” He put his arm around me.
“You’re not going to like . . .” I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I mean you won’t . . .”
“Spit it out, Milo.”
“Fall in love with me.”
“Damn.” Max pulled away, his face pinched. “It’s like you can read minds! I love you, okay? I’ve loved you for years! I just want to be in your life. God, don’t shut me out! Don’t love him! Love me instead! The plant, Milo! The aloe vera! How can you deny me?”
Somehow in the middle of his speech he’d adopted a British accent.
“Shakespeare theater camp?” I crossed my arms.
“I was the best damn Hamlet they’d ever seen.” Max’s grin spread across his face, his dimples damn near making me want to let out a girlish sigh. “And sorry, I may be a great kisser, and yeah, you turn me on—you’re hot, so what else is new? But love? Yeah, I don’t do that. I’m like one of those guys who girls write about. The rogue.”
“Rake?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Awesome.”
“I’m probably going to die alone.” Max exhaled and put on what I can only imagine was supposed to be a brave face. “But I’ll always have memories of us.”
I pulled him in for a hug and giggled. “We should probably make one of those pacts that if both of us aren’t married before we’re thirty we walk down the aisle hand in hand.”
“Deal.” He shrugged. “I could totally wake up to you for the rest of my life, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t happen.”
“Oh, yeah?” I rolled my eyes. “What makes you so certain?”
Max pulled me in for a tight hug, then whispered in my ear, “Because Colton’s been watching you from the upstairs window for the past twenty minutes.”
CHAPTER TEN
COLTON
“What are you doing?” Jason asked, scaring the shit out of me. I cursed and banged my forehead against the window, then pulled back, elbowing him in the jaw.
“What the f—”
“Jason!”
Mrs. Caro, his mom, came around the corner and folded her arms. “That is terrible language!”
“I was going to say fu—”
“Fudge. Yes, I know. Been using that excuse since you were in middle school. What happened to your face?”
“Black eye from last night.” Jason shrugged.
“No, no.” Mrs. Caro leaned forward and placed her hands on his jaw. “Your chin, it looks like you’re bleeding.”
“Son of a—”
Mrs. Caro frowned.
“Whore.”
“Better.” Mrs. Caro grunted and held out her hand. “Now let’s go get you cleaned up.”
“Better not,” Jason grumbled under his breath. “I swear at the rate I’m going I’m probably going to get hit by a car before I get married.”
“One can only hope,” Mrs. Caro mumbled under her breath.
“What was that?” Jason asked.
“I hope we have Dial soap.” She winked at me and then patted Jason’s back. “It disinfects.”
“Oh.” Jason followed her down the hall, so I was able to return to my stalking post. Why the hell did she and Max look so damn happy? I could have sworn I almost ripped the guy’s head off when he kissed her again.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. They weren’t on the lawn anymore. I leaned in closer and tried to peer to the left to see if they’d walked around the house.
“Bird-watching?” Milo’s mocking voice invaded my ridiculous stalking session.
“Yup.” I didn’t move. “Early spring, lots of . . . birds returning from . . . Florida.”
“Oh, yeah?” Milo stepped right next to me and pressed her face against the glass. Damn, she smelled good. “Wow, look at all of them, it’s like a freaking Hitchcock movie out there.”
Yeah. No birds. None. Not even the fake kind people put on their lawns. Awesome.
“They left.” I cleared my throat. “You probably scared them off with your loud walking.”
“My loud walking didn’t seem to scare you off.”
Damn, she had me there.
“So.” I moved away from the window. “Where’s Max?”
“Eating. He’s hungry all the time. It’s incredible the amount of food that guy puts away.”
“Cool.”
Cool? Wow, I’d just made things so much more awkward. I shoved my hands in my pockets and waited for her to say something to break the silence. I didn’t know how to act normal or how to act interested without first scaring her and second ruining everything. Then again, acting interested wouldn’t be right. What was I thinking? I had to act indifferent but not so much that she thought I was an ass.
Which left me looking like a complete loser as I watched her smile grow.
“Colt . . .”
“Yeah.”
“You sure you’re doing okay?”
“Course!” I laughed it off. “I just didn’t sleep that well last night.” Visions of your best friend’s little sister dancing through your head didn’t exactly scream R and R. “Tired.”
“Me too. I wish we didn’t have to work.”
I nodded.
Milo’s head jerked upright. “Holy crap! I know what to do!”
“Huh?”
She grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hall to the guest bedroom that led into the attic. “Uh, Milo?”
“Shh!” She pressed her fingers against my lips.
That shut me up.
It also shut off all functioning systems of my body except for the one that screamed, Kiss her senseless and lock her in the attic for a few days.
“We’re hiding until break time. By the looks of it, Mom is going to let us have coffee and doughnuts at nine.”
“So we’re going to hide in the guest room?” I looked around the empty room.
“Nope.” She grinned. “Attic time. Up you go!” With a grunt she pulled open the door to the attic and turned on the light.
And immediately I was transported back to my childhood. Milo always made me play dragon slayer. I had to be both the dragon and the slayer, which usually proved a problem when at the end of our playtime I had to die, but she hadn’t cared. The only mission I’d had, as one of her best friends, was to kill the dragon, save the princess, make it to the castle (aka the top of the stairs) in time, and offer her my sword. In reality, it had been a wooden sword. She’d then knight me and we’d sit at a table that was square instead of round, and we’d make Jason King Arthur.
“Come on.” She tugged my hand, leading me up the stairs. Funny, when I was little I couldn’t care less about being the guy who got knighted.
Now? Now I’d kill just to be a contender.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MILO
Colton’s face fell as he made his way slowly up the stairs. Funny how life happened. I spent half my childhood waiting for him at the top of the stairs.
And now? Now I was waiting for him again.
Not to slay the dragon, but to do something more heroic.
“It’s smaller than I remember,” he mused once he reached the top; his green eyes took in the room. The toy trunk was still in the corner along with my princess gowns and the giant family portrait from when I was born. My parents held me up between them like I was freaking Simba from The Lion King while an irritated Jason made a face at the camera. Priceless.
Dusty boxes lined the walls. The boxes had been there since I could remember. We used to build castles out of them.
The dragon always—and I do mean always—got slain before he reached the box castle. Colton was good like that.
I shrugged. “You’re just bigger.”
“Guess so.” Colton walked around to the tiny window and took a seat on the toy box. “So we’re just going to hide out until break time
?”
“You have any better ideas?” I teased, wiping my hand across the dusty surface of one of the boxes. “My mom’s losing her head over this wedding—don’t shake your head, you know it’s true. It’s not even like she likes Jayne anyway!”
“No.” Colton patted the spot next to him. “But she loves Jason and if Jason loves Jayne, then your mom loves Jayne, which means she wants everything to be perfect.”
“You’re right.”
“Sorry, I didn’t quite get that.” He grinned, making my stomach drop to my feet.
“I’m not saying it again for your benefit, Colt.”
“Fine.” He sighed and picked up the wooden sword by his feet. “Tell me, how badass of a dragon was I?”
Laughing, I took the sword. “You always got the dragon. Meaning you did a really good job of killing yourself and then turning back into the knight. And I must admit the dragon always made really cool dying noises.”
“Why’d we stop?”
“Hmm?” I was too busy watching his mouth to pay attention to the words actually coming out of it.
“Playing dragons and knights.”
“Um, I got boobs?”
Colton dropped the sword and swore.
“Sorry, but it’s true.”
“You had . . .” He pointed and looked away. “You’ve always been a girl.” The tips of his ears burned a bit pink. Was it possible that the great Colton Mathews was embarrassed?
“Right,” I said slowly. “But the minute you realized I wasn’t just a girl, that I was turning into a young woman, you went from playing and slaying the dragon to slaying all my friends.”
Colton glared with disapproval. “I did not slay your friends. And by slay I’m assuming you mean lay because it rhymes and you’re ridiculous like that.”
My stomach clenched. I could still remember what it had felt like to go to Jason’s and his graduation party and see Colton locking lips with Jenna. They’d been behind the garage, kissing in the shadows. When Colton saw me, he tried to run after me, but I went and hid like a total loser. My heart had been broken. After all, Jenna and I were in the same exact class, which meant he was interested in girls my age. Just not me.
“There weren’t that many girls, Milo. I think you’re exaggerating. Besides, I’m reformed. I haven’t dated seriously in . . .”
“What?” I interrupted, folding my arms across my chest. “Thirty days? Having problems counting that high?”
“It’s been a while.”
“Look . . .” I stood. “It’s not like it’s any of my business.”
The attic fell silent.
“Isn’t it, though?” he whispered, his eyes searching mine. When I didn’t say anything, he stood and pulled me into his arms. “Tell me it’s not your business.”
“It’s—”
“Jayne, seriously, back off!” Max yelled.
Colton and I froze, then silently padded down the stairs to the door and listened.
“What?” Jayne whined.
I made a face at Colton while he put a pretend gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
“Come on, nobody has to know . . . for old times’ sake.”
“Run away!” I whispered. “Run!”
“No, no, I’m good. Thanks for the really inappropriate offer, though,” Max said in a stern voice.
Cursing, she walked off and slammed the door.
I pushed open the attic door and yelled, “What the hell, Max?”
Whoops! Now I looked like a lover scorned.
“She came on to me!” Max held up his hands. “And you heard what I said! The bitch has got to go! I’m serious, guys. She tried grabbing me under the table! And when I swatted her hand away she took it as an invitation to get more aggressive.” He groaned and closed his eyes. “All I kept thinking was if I can just spill orange juice on her shirt then she’ll freak. Instead she thought it was an excuse for us to go somewhere private.”
I walked over and put my arm on his shoulder.
“Wait a second . . .” Max looked between me and Colton. “What were you guys doing in the closet?”
“Attic,” Colton said quickly. “Just looking for . . .”
Oh, hell, if he said birds again we were done for.
“Something old, for Jayne, for the wedding.”
I nodded and winked at Max.
“It’s almost break time, I’ll just . . .” Colton walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Max.
I smacked him on the chest. “You ruined our moment.”
“I almost ended up on a milk carton!” Max shouted. “She wasn’t taking no for an answer!”
“You’re a man, make her!”
“I may be a man, but she terrifies me. Yeah, she broke my heart, but holy shit, it’s like she got a brain transplant. She asked how much money engineers make!”
I laughed. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her I was going to be a lifer. You know, go to school and just keep learning because learning was the foundation of life and I wanted to give life back into the world.”
I tilted my head and squinted at him. “You come up with that crap ahead of time or does it just pour forth out of those wise lips of yours?”
“It’s a gift.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately I grossly miscalculated her ability to understand complicated sentences and big words, so from that lovely explanation she took that I had enough money to just go to school for the rest of my life.”
“Damn.”
Max sighed. “Thus the milk carton theory. No doubt she would have kidnapped me and you would have dreamed of my kisses for an eternity.”
“No doubt.”
“You should tell Jason.”
“You tell Jason!”
“Okay.” Max held up his hands. “We’re not doing this. I refuse to engage.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I blocked his way to the door.
“This!” He held up his hands. “This is what you do. You’re picking a fight because you’re frustrated, albeit sexually. A little hint, take off your shirt and stare him down, works nine times out of ten.”
“And the one time it doesn’t?”
“You may have a repeat of your sixteenth birthday and get laughed at.”
“Are you saying I have a bad chest?”
“Aw, shit. There you go picking fights again.” Max went over to the bed and took a seat. “Let’s get this over with.”
“What?” I looked around the room. “What are we getting over with?”
“Let’s have a look.” He motioned to my shirt with his hand and sighed impatiently. “Come on, we don’t have all day. It’s like prison, your mom expects us to be back at work in fifteen minutes.”
“Fine.” I fidgeted with my shirt. “Just, don’t laugh, and be honest. I want to know if I’m going to be that ten percent or the ninety, all right?”
“Okay.”
I lifted a bit of the shirt, and stopped. “And if it’s bad, maybe just . . . let me down slowly, like say something like, ‘Oh, wow, at least you have really pretty lingerie.’ ”
“Fine.”
Lifting the shirt higher, I almost punked out when Max groaned and shouted, “Damn it, Milo, take off your clothes!”
Irritated, I lifted the shirt all the way up to my head.
When the door opened.
“Hey guys, Mrs. Caro wants—”
The shirt was still over my head. Max was probably staring, and that was Colton’s voice.
“Er, I mean when you’re, um, finished . . .”
“This isn’t what it looks like!” I turned toward the door and barreled in the general direction as I tried jerking my shirt down.
When the shirt was finally dislodged, I stumbled into Colton’s arms, sending him crashing against the door, and my shirt fell enough for me to see that he’d banged his cheekbone.
“Shit!” He pulled away from me, but my shirt was still slightly up around my bra, so his hands went directly to my naked s
tomach. “Shhhit!” He pushed me away and tried to turn around but was clearly disoriented because this time he ran into the other side of the door, stumbled, and then hobbled down the hall holding one hand to his cheek.
After a few moments of silence, during which I prayed someone from the future had created time travel and was coming back to save my sorry ass, Max finally clapped. “Or you could just take off your top, give him two head wounds, and chase him down the hall. Yeah, that works too.”
“Oh, no.” My eyes filled with tears.
“Hey, hey.” Max came up behind me and helped me pull my shirt back down. “If it makes you feel better, your boobs looked awesome.”
“You mean it?”
“Comes from my heart.” He grinned. “Right here.” His grin widened as he placed his hand low on my chest.
I groaned as he fell into fits of laughter.
“All right, little girl, let’s go do damage control and face that drill sergeant mom of yours.”
“He’s never going to want me,” I whispered under my breath.
“Course he will.” Max held me close. “If he doesn’t, I’ll just kill him.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
COLTON
I was so disoriented that I stumbled into the kitchen and just stood there for a few seconds. My head pounded something fierce, and my body? Well, let’s just say that even though nothing below the waist had been hit—that didn’t mean I wasn’t feeling the effects.
Everywhere.
“Damn it!” I pulled out a chair and sat.
Jason walked into the kitchen, took a look at my face, and pointed. “Milo get you too?”
“What the hell is wrong with her?” I blurted.
“Several things.” Jason winced as if remembering the pain of his black eye. “She’s an accident waiting to happen. You need ice or bandages or . . . something?” He examined my jaw and cheek. “Looks like she clocked you good.”
“She didn’t punch me,” I said defensively.
Jason sat down next to me and leaned back in his chair. “Then how’d she hurt you?”
Hah. Right. Um, that’s something I wanted to explain to her older brother, You see she didn’t have her shirt on, I walked in on her, almost shit my pants, walked into the door, almost shit my pants a second time, then stumbled down the hall Hunchback of Notre Dame–style.