I inch toward him, stealing what little space there is remaining between us. ‘Of what?’
‘That I would like it, that it would be wrong because I had a girlfriend, that I wasn’t good enough for you.’ He wets his lips with his tongue, his attention fixed on my lips. ‘Should we have a do-over?’
I nod enthusiastically and without any hesitation, his mouth collides with mine so forcefully I wonder if the impact will leave a bruise. But I don’t care. Let me bruise. All I can concentrate on now is his tongue parting my lips as he consumes me. The force sends me backward and I slam into the shelf behind me, another bruise perhaps, but again, it doesn’t matter. I don’t plan on breaking this kiss for anything.
But the shelf is lined with cans of spray paint and when we ram into it, a row of them tip over and fall onto the floor, making a lot of noise.
I sputter a laugh as we break the kiss and stare down at the mess we just made. ‘Holy crap,’ I say. ‘We’re cursed.’
‘No way,’ he breathes, his palms splayed on my back beneath my shirt. ‘It’s destiny, letting us have a second chance at the night I should have kissed you.’
His words sweep me away from reality and I grab the front of his shirt to pull him in for another kiss. Right as our lips reunite, someone yells, ‘What the hell is going on?’
Our heads snap in the direction the voice came from. At the end of the aisle, the clerk is there, red-faced and angry as he stares at the mess we just made. He’s about thirty or so, with shoulder-length hair, and wearing a name tag on his tie dye shirt that says Ed.
‘We’ll clean it up,’ I say, but Ed comes storming toward us.
‘I’m so sick of you little shits coming in here and thinking it’s funny to trash my store.’ As Ed strides toward us, he presses his finger to his chest as he repeats, ‘My store. Not yours. Mine. I’m going to make you pay for every damn one of those spray paint cans.’
I’m not sure what to do. The guy has this creepy look on his face like he’s out of his mind and it’s frightening but funny at the same time. A nervous laugh leaves my lips as Kayden grabs my hand and tugs me with him as he takes off in the other direction.
The clerk shouts at us to, ‘Get your punk asses back here now!’ but that only makes us move faster and laugh harder.
We don’t stop until we’re safely in the car and driving down the road toward the mountains, the headlights of Kayden’s car lighting the way. I’m still the driver, despite Kayden’s protests, because I want to be the one taking him on this journey.
‘So where are you taking me now?’ he asks as we head up toward the foothills.
‘You don’t know?’ I ask, wondering if he’s serious. Considering the direction we’re going in, it has to be obvious. And besides, we’ve had a few good moments up at this place, which makes it a super important part of our past.
He glances at me with a devious look on his face as he lifts his hand. ‘Actually, I do.’ In his hand, is a can of spray paint, which means he knew where we were going before we even got in the car. I’d be happy about this, and I am, except … ‘Did you shoplift that can of paint?’
‘The guy was a stoned asshole; I couldn’t very well pay for it with him about ready to attack us,’ he says, and when I sigh, he laughs. ‘Relax, Callie. I threw a few bucks down on the floor before we left.’ He draws a line down my cheekbone with his fingertip, eliciting an eye flutter from me. ‘I know you’re too nice to condone shoplifting.’
‘Hey, I can be a rebel,’ I say, half joking, half serious. ‘I’ve drank underage.’
He chuckles at my lame statement. ‘You’re so adorable.’
Gripping onto the wheel with one hand, I aim a finger at him. ‘Hey, mister, I am not always adorable. And I’m going to prove it to you.’ I am?
That gets him to smile, which makes me smile, too, even though I have no clue how to back up my words. Still, I rack my brain for a way to show him the daredevil side of me that I’m not sure I’ve discovered yet.
The idea only comes to me when I pull up to the parking spot at the bottom of the hill. I remember Seth always making jokes about how people would come up here and have sex. I used to blush like crazy when he’d joke about it and then told me Greyson and him came up here once.
I’m not even sure I can go through with it. Yeah, I’m a different person than I used to be. Much stronger and blush less. Plus, there’s no one else up here tonight, so we’ve got the whole place to ourselves.
‘What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?’ Kayden asks, interrupting my dazedness.
I tear my attention from the trees in front of the car and turn in my seat to face him. The headlights are still on and between that and the moonlight I can make out his firm jawline, soft lips, and wonderfully familiar eyes.
‘Callie.’ He starts to squirm under the weight of my gaze. ‘What’s going on? Is something wrong?’
Shaking my head, I swallow my nerves and click the headlights off. We’re smothered by darkness, which makes it easier to do what I’m about to. Or maybe it’s the costume making me feel like someone else, someone who can take risks, be a daredevil. I really don’t care where the feeling’s coming from; I just do what Seth’s always saying and roll with it, leaning over the console and kissing Kayden without any warning. He sucks in a sharp breath as my lips brush his and then he laughs softly when my tongue sweeps across his lip, signaling that I want him to open up.
‘I feel like you’re about ready to show me just how unadorable you are,’ he says in this low, husky voice that sends a thrill through me.
‘You’re completely right,’ I tell him as I tug off my boots then climb over the console and onto his lap. I put a knee on each side of him then crash my lips against his. This time he opens right up, sucking my tongue into his mouth and kissing me back with equal intensity. He nips at my bottom lip as he wraps his fingers around the back of my head and guides me closer, until there’s no room left between our bodies.
We’ve started to fog up the windows as I start to unbutton his shirt, but he catches my hand in his. ‘Callie, wait. We don’t have to do this,’ he pants against my lips, sounding as if stopping is the last thing he wants to do. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you with the adorable comment.’
‘You didn’t upset me. I promise.’ And it’s the truth. Right now, my mind is moving a million miles an hour, my body totally running on some sort of adrenaline high and I want to keep going, keep doing new things with Kayden, make every moment count, just like I’m always saying.