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Or…maybe not.Maybe I’d just get it out of Neil.
He walked up to my cash register and set his palms down on the counter, eyes darting around the concession stand suspiciously, before leaning forward and stealing a kiss.
It was… unexpected. To say the least.
I didn’t even have a second to respond by the time the whole thing was over. If it weren’t for the lingering suggestion of his lips on mine, I wouldn’t even be sure it happened.
When I settled my gaze on his with a soft smile, he was looking at me with a secretive smile of his own. It was the kind of smile that spurred a whole bunch of butterflies to life.
Because yes, there were still butterflies.
Ugh.
No, I took it back. I liked the butterflies. They were just new, and they’d taken some getting used to, but I liked them.
Who evenwasI?
Neil was still staring at me as his smile stretched wider.
“What?” I asked. The words felt a little self-conscious, if self-conscious was a thing I did.Which it was not.
“Are you blushing?” His fingers skimmed over my cheek, his smile still anchored in place.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No,” I lied.
“Okay,” he offered, clearly amused.
I wanted to lean over the counter and kiss him again, if only to know what the curve of that smile would feel like against my mouth. I had half a mind to do it, but I shook off the urge. “Anyway. What can I get for you?” I feigned nonchalance.
Even though I now mostly worked upstairs in the projection room, I’d gotten stuck in concessions for two shifts this week.
Oh well.Sucks to suck.
“Nothing,” Neil quipped. “Just wanted to see you.” His brown eyes liquified, melting into mine. Mocha, and caramel, and honey, and I wasn’t even embarrassed about thinking it this time.
I was changing my mind about the suffocating butterflies, though. They were currently stealing the oxygen from my lungs, and it was kind of annoying.
Lies.
It was Neil, obviously. Neil was stealing my oxygen.
How he managed to take me by surprise time and time again was lost on me. But full honesty, I loved it.
“Okay, then.” I smiled against my will, giving in to all the mushy, gushy (slightly terrifying) feelings I felt when I looked at him.
“Okay, then.” He smiled again, too. More of a smirk, really.
With a quick look around, I pushed forward and managed to steal it from his lips that time.
“Paintball? Seriously?!” I shouted as we pulled up to an outdoor paintball course. “Hell yeah!” I’d always wanted to try paintballing. It wouldn’t hurt that much, right? No way.
Neil chuckled in his seat next to me, his hand curving over my knee. I wasn’t even going to go there—the multitude of things it made me feel.
“Paintball!” Jax confirmed.
“Oh, you’re thebest!I’m going to kick your ass so hard.” I unbuckled and hopped out of Jax’s car, practically bouncing in place on the balls of my feet. I saw it from an outside vantage point for a second there, mentally bitch-slapped myself for it, and fell back down onto my heels. I was getting way too comfortable around Neil.
Or he was getting way too good at washing out all the asshole in me and replacing it with… I didn’t know. Something opposite of asshole. Something giddy and smiley and gag-worthy.