I Kissed The Boy Next Door Read Free Page A

guys in this town blind?
    She placed one hand on the bedpost, seem ing to pause and think because her brow wrinkled and her eyebrows drew together. “No one’s knocking down my door. But there was a boy who I caught watching me from his window.”
    He grinned. “Oh? And what did you think of that?”
    “I thought he looked familiar, yet he didn’ t,” she said.
    Jackson traced the curve of her waist with his eyes. “What wasn’t familiar about him?”
    “He’s older, more serious, and super tall.”
    His pulse th robbed steady in his fingertips. “And what was familiar?”
    She approached him, and he gazed up at her. “He has beautiful eyes and great lips.”
    At that, Jackson peeled himself from the bed, standing so close the heat from her still damp skin kissed his. “Why do I think this will be the best summer ever?” he asked. “At least, the best since a pretty girl kissed me.”
    She licked her lips, and he followed the flick of her tongue.
    “And why,” she began, “do I feel like I’m going to really like the boy next door?”

CHAPTER 3

    When Jackson sent his third text and received no response, he rechecked the time. What was she doing? Pocketing his phone, he climbed out the window and crossed the lawn, the dewy grass moistening his feet.
    He stopped at the base of her window. Her drapes were drawn. Maybe she wasn’t in her room. She could be somewhere else. But if that was the case, why was she ignoring his texts?
    He gave a peremptory knock on the glass and after a few minutes, the drapes quivered and the window slid up.
    Lucy covered a yawn with her hand.
    “You’re sleeping?” he asked. She’d definitely been sleeping. Her hair was mussed and a red mark trailed down her left cheek.
    She blinked through sleep-thickened lashes. “Yes, I was.”
    “But it’s nine o’clock.”
    Nine o’clock, and he’d been up since six. He’d waited until eight to text her.
    She stared at him, her mind evidently befuddled, then a sudden light came to her pupils. “Didn’t I say my summer plans involved sleeping in?”
    “Yes,” he said. “B ut I’m bored.”
    “Bored.” Repeating the word, she gathered her hair in her right hand and lifted it off her neck. The edge of her pajama top rose in his view.
    “Yes, and when I’m bored I …”
    She cut him off. “Do I want to know this? Or were you going to say ‘annoy the neighbor’?”
    He grinned. “That too.”
    She rubbed at her eyes. “How ‘bout you go to the front door and I’ll let you in. Don’t think my mom or brother would appreciate you climbing in the window.”
    No. Probably not. He gave a nod and headed toward the front of the house.
    She arrived at the front door dressed in a ratty pair of cut-off blue jeans and an extremely tight tank top. She looked down at herself when his gaze traveled. “What? It was the first thing I could find.”
    “I’m not complaining,” he said.
    She blew out a puff of air and sank onto one hip. “Do you ever think of anything else?”
    He leaned over her, an action that seemed to throw her sense of balance off. “Let’s see. I’m an eighteen-year-old male. No. Not really.”
    She laughed then and whirlin g around, moved into the house, leaving him to follow.
    The living room was homey. A well-loved couch and matching set of chairs sat before a brick fireplace and white wooden mantel lined with photographs – mostly of Lucy and her brother at various ages. However, there was a family picture on the end. Lucy looked to be about four.
    “I was cute,” she said.
    He took in her blonde pigtails and thigh-high dress. “And still are.”
    This brought a playful smack on his arm. He laughed and looked back at the image. Her father stood to her mother’s right. He’d heard her father died when she was ten.
    “You miss him?” he asked.
    She stepped up beside him, her head level with his shoulder. “All the time. Still sometimes I think he’ll come walking down the hall, lift me up in