Page 60

“I do.” I draw the pad of my thumb along the slope of her foot, and she does it again, the tip of her tongue peeks out to touch the freckle on her mouth.
My freckle.
“There’s the one behind your ear,” I say, wiggling my big toe against her neck and she laughs, batting at it like it’s a fly. “Then there’s the one on the inside of your right wrist—it’s a cluster of them, really—shaped like Mickey Mouse.” I watch while she lifts her arm and turns it to examine the spot I indicated. She frowns.
“But my absolute favorite is the one on your upper lip,” I tell her, lowering my voice. “You lick it every time you think about kissing me.”
Her eyes go wide. “I do not.”
“Yeah, you do.” One corner of my mouth kicks higher than the other. “You just did it.” I’m teasing her. It’s my new favorite thing to do. I love the way she blushes. Pretends to get annoyed. The truth is, we’ve doing this for weeks now and I still haven’t kissed her yet. I want to. I want to do more than just kiss her. That’s the problem.
With girls like Jessica, it was easy. Casual. It didn’t really matter because I didn’t really care.
There’s nothing easy or casual about Henley. The way I feel about her. I want to kiss her so bad, half the time I can’t even see straight, but I want to spend time with her even more. I’m afraid if I try to kiss her, I’ll screw it all up.
Scare her off.
So, I behave. Tread carefully.
For the most part.
Sometimes, like right now, I can’t help myself. Probably because times like this are the only times I can get a good read on how I make her feel.
Her mouth falls open again, her gaze jerks up, landing on mine. Her breath fast and shallow in her chest.
“Hey, Hen, Tess is here looking for you.”
I look up to see Declan standing on the back porch, Tess beside him, mouth hanging open like she just saw Bigfoot.
A second later, Henley is jumping out of the hammock so fast she nearly dumps us both on our asses.
She didn’t tell Tess about us.
I know she doesn’t want people to know, but the fact that she didn’t tell her best friend bothers me.
A secret boyfriend is something a girl would share with her best friend, right?
Before I can even untangle myself and stand up, she’s snagged her beat-up shoes from the grass and is pounding her way up the porch steps. “See you later, Mrs. Gilroy,” she shouts over her shoulder. “Bye,” she adds at the end, her gaze darting in my direction without landing as she’s pushing past Declan to snatch Tess by her wrist. She practically runs into the house, dragging Tess along with her. A few seconds later, I hear the front door slam shut while my brother stands on the porch and laughs at me.
Bye.
That’s what I get.
Bye.
She doesn’t even look at me.
Doesn’t even say my name.