Butterface Read Free Page B

Helpless. There wasn’t a villain in sight—how does a guy slay dragons for a girl when they’re all in her head?
     
    He swore to God he never intended to kiss her.
     
    They had been moving slowly down the bleacher, awkward and hindered by the lack of light and powerful emotions swirling around them. He was guiding her, but had no idea where he was leading her to. She trusted him, and that made him feel like a god.
     
    And then she fell into his arms and there was nothing left but to kiss her.
     
     
     
    * * *
     
     
     
    When Beth opened her eyes again, she was startled to find that the world hadn’t changed despite the fact that everything was different.
     
    “I’m sorry,” Lucky said.
     
    “You’re sorry?”
     
    “Not really.” It wasn’t so dark that she couldn’t make out his smile.
     
    “Me either. I wasn’t expecting that.”
     
    Lucky hadn’t let go of her yet. “I’m a little surprised myself.”
     
    “I sort of figured kissing wasn’t in the same equation with the mayonnaise jars and unshaved legs.” Did she really just say that? “If you want to take it back, you can.”
     
    “I can?”
     
    She nodded. Damn it. Way to go Beth .
     
    “I can just take it back like it never happened. You’ll just forget that I kissed you?”
     
    She nodded again. I am the biggest loser ever .
     
    “Then I didn’t do it right.” His mouth covered hers again. This time, he was serious. Insistent. Glorious. Beth trembled as equal parts fear and excitement coursed through her body. The first kiss had been an accident of circumstance and attraction. The second kiss was as far from happenstance as she’d ever been.
     
    When they finally parted, she was delighted to see he was shaking too.
     
    And for the next two days, her cheeks hurt from smiling all the time. She couldn’t study, couldn’t read, and couldn’t keep her orders straight at Bing’s . She’d catch Lucky looking at her, and he’d duck his chin to his chest and pretend he was studying. She barely ate, she hardly slept. She felt consumed.
     
    Thursday night, he kissed her sweetly at her front door and she actually sighed. Like a girl . She wanted to kick her own ass. But something in his eyes changed at that moment, like they caught flame. Suddenly, he kissed her so hard she found herself crushed to the wall and whatever had sparked in his eyes roared to life in that kiss. It wasn’t sweet. It set fire to her blood and melted her bones into molten lava.
     
    At this rate, she was never going to be a lesbian.
     
    When Lucky pushed away, he stared at his hands while he caught his breath. Beth stared at them too. Just a minute before, it seemed like they were everywhere. It was hard to believe there were only just the two.
     
    “I’m sorry,” he rasped.
     
    “Really?”
     
    He chuckled and she felt the tremor low in her belly. “No.” Lucky reached for one of her hands. “Sometimes, you look at me or you sigh, and I just feel invincible. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
     
    She really didn’t have a reply for that. She already thought he was bulletproof, invincible wasn’t such a stretch. “What time are you picking me up tomorrow?” she asked. “For the party?”
     
    His face changed again. “I don’t want to go to the party.”
     
    “Oh.” As the air left her tires, all she could think of was how stupid she was. Of course he didn’t want to take her to the party. If she had invested any thought at all into the last week, she’d have realized that they spent little time in the company of other people. She couldn’t deny he had feelings for her, but showing her off to his friends was something else. She couldn’t blame him. All his friends were soccer gods, just like him. They probably had goddess girlfriends. It would be like parking your 1982 Celica in a Rolls Royce lot.
     
    “Don’t,” he said simply.
     
    “Don’t what?”
     
    “Don’t shrink like I just slapped you.” Lucky