He blew out a long breath. “I shouldn’t have let Corey talk me into having this party, and I definitely shouldn’t have let them play Truth or Dare. Nothing good happens with that game. My mother is going to flip her lid if she finds out about tonight.”
As he talked, she smelled the scent of mint-flavored gum. Fresh, as if he’d recently started a new stick. She was surprised he’d had to be persuaded to have the party. He was one of the popular kids and had a lot of friends. She had assumed he partied all the time like they did.
“I’ve learned my lesson,” he continued. “Hopefully not the hard way.” Another pause. “I was surprised to see you here.”
“You invited me, remember?”
“Uh, yeah. I didn’t think you’d actually come, though.”
So he had invited her out of politeness. She should have known that at the time. Then again, she was always slow on picking up cues. “I’m sorry,” she said, hugging his jacket.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying this isn’t exactly your type of scene.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know.” He shifted away from her, giving them a little more space from each other. “Parties.”
“I’ve been to a party before,” she said, forgetting to whisper.
“Like this one? Do your parents know you’re here?”
She was about to tell him they did but stopped herself. Everyone in town knew her father, who was a cardiologist, and her mother, who was a therapist. Both of them worked in Hot Springs, and they, along with her and her brother, Kingston, and sister, Paisley, never missed a church service. They were paragons of the community, and Tanner would never believe they’d let Anita go out past curfew. “No. They don’t.”
“You snuck out, then.”
Anita nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her in the dark closet. “Yes.”
“Enough talking!” A sharp banging sound rattled the door.
Anita jumped and lost her balance again, Tanner’s jacket slipping from her grasp. Instantly his arms went around her waist.
“You okay?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes.” The butterflies were now a whirlwind in her stomach. He was at least five inches taller than she, and if she wanted to—and she definitely wanted to—she could lean her head against his chest.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” The kids outside banged on the door again.
“Just ignore them.”
How was she supposed to ignore them? They were chanting so loudly it was like they were in the closet too.
“Don’t worry, we don’t have to kiss,” he said, letting her go. “If we both stay quiet, they’ll eventually shut up.”
Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Oh. Okay.”
“Huh,” he said.
“What?”
“You sound disappointed.”
So much for hiding her feelings. And since she was honest to a fault, she had to make things worse by saying, “I’ve, uh, never been kissed before.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. A long moment. Then he finally spoke. “Would you like...” He cleared his throat. “Would you like to be kissed?”
Her heart nearly exploded in her chest. Ever since he had started tutoring her three months ago when she signed up for the after-school tutoring program—on top of the tutor her parents had already hired—she had thought about kissing him. She’d always thought he was cute, and over the time he had tutored her, she had developed a secret crush on him. She wasn’t the only girl at Maple Falls High School who was enamored with him. He was easy to crush on. He was smart, nice, and patient, something every tutor who worked with Anita had to be. On top of everything else, he always looked and smelled good. He was the complete package.
“Uh,” he said. “Forget I brought it up—”
