His voice became softer as he loomed nearer. Sarah’s heart ricocheted in her chest.
“Oh?” She was just full of eloquence tonight. She bit her lip to stop herself from kissing him.
He smelled like soap and something spicy. Her mom would have known what it was.
“Yeah. Like this.” His lips closed over hers with a tenderness that had been missing the first time.
He didn’t kiss her so much as he savored her like something sweet and delicious. She didn’t bother trying to make things happen faster. To do anything else besides sit still and enjoy it would take away from the incredible kiss.
When he pulled back, it took her a moment to open her eyes.
He watched her and she wondered what he saw. A girl who was falling for him? He’d be surprised when she told him she had to leave town tonight.
“I heard you had a girlfriend,” she blurted out with zero forethought.
“I did. But since I knew you were more of a troublemaker than me, I thought I’d better break up with her before I saw you again.” His breath was warm and minty against her lips.
“You’re blaming me for your breakup?” She wanted to kiss him more, not talk about some other girl so why had she brought it up?
But it bugged her that he’d avoided her the past few days.
“I’m saying I couldn’t stay away from you and I’m too much of a nice guy to hurt her.” He straightened and held out a hand to help her up.
“I don’t know about the nice-guy part. Rumor has ityou’ve got a reputation around town.” Wrapping her fingers around his, she tucked her phone in her purse.
“One mistake shouldn’t be a black mark against me forever,” he muttered darkly.
“Sorry—”
“No. It’s not your fault. People talk.” He kept her hand in his as they walked down the steps and onto the cool, damp grass. “I’m trying to do better. Be better.”
“So what are you hanging around a troublemaker for if you’ve reformed?” She pulled on his hand enough to stop him. The hillside was quiet, the last car pulling out of the parking lot in a disappearing trail of red taillights.
In the distance, country music played and kids laughed, but it seemed so far away.
Lucas, on the other hand, felt very real.
“I told you. I couldn’t stay away. I remember what it’s like to feel like you’re teetering on the edge of running wild all the time.” His words were surprisingly serious after how much they’d teased each other. “Maybe I know what it’s like to need someone to—hold you steady.”
Sarah’s chest squeezed.
“What if we just end up making each other wilder?” She shouldn’t have let him break up with some nice girl for her, especially when her father was forcing her to go home.
How upset would Lucas be—rightfully so—when she disappeared after this?
“You let me worry about that.” He slid his hands along her hips, his touch leaving a path of warmth wherever they went. “MaybeI’llreformyou.”
She knew he was teasing again. Kind of.
But part of her worried. It wasn’t Lucas’s job to change her—to make her into the kind of person she wished she could be. Her counselor had told her that was Sarah’s job.
Right. Easy for her to say.
She squeezed Lucas’s hand tighter as they quickly climbed up the hill to the party. Sometimes, if you ran fast enough, trouble couldn’t catch up.
“I’m going with you.”
Erin pulled a sweatshirt off a hook near the back door and threw it on after Remy’s terse explanation. He planned to go looking for Sarah at her party since she wasn’t answering her phone. He was worried.
