“Ready to tell me what’s wrong?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Come on, Ava. Something happened. I can tell.”
“I’m not tellingyou.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re… you’re…” Pink seeped into her cheeks, and her eyes darted away from mine.
I stared at her, wanting to know what I was—to her. Was I right to assume she was attracted to me, too?
“It’s embarrassing.”
“You can tell me.”
“My date was a bust, okay.” The way her voice quavered had me on alert.
“What happened?”
More color flooded her cheeks, turning them from light pink to crimson. She could barely meet my gaze. “I went to dinner with Jason Wint. You remember him, right?”
“Yeah.” I went to the same high school Ava did. I was familiar with plenty of folks.
“He got a little aggressive, so I ended the night early.”
A monster that I didn’t even know was buried inside me lifted its head and snarled. “He did what? Tell me where he is. I’ll break his scrawny neck with my bare hands,” I growled like an animal hungry for blood.
“Lincoln,” she gasped, looking up at me through wide eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’ll kill him.”
“You can’t. You’ll go to jail, you fool!”
That cut through my furious haze, and I grunted in amusement. “Yeah, I suppose I would.”
“Since when are you such a hothead?”
“I’m not.” But the thought of Jason or anyone else putting their hands on her in a way she didn’t want made me feel fucking homicidal. I gazed at her, a little concerned about the things I was feeling for her. Those emotions came out of left field tonight.
She sniffed, her lower lip quivering. That shaky lower lip made me want to wreak havoc on Springfield in the name of vengeance. What was happening to me?
“It’s my fault. I haven’t um…” Her eyelashes fluttered down. “I haven’t had my first kiss yet.”
I quirked an eyebrow, my gaze dipping to her mouth.
“I haven’t really been that interested in dating until recently. So, I’ve never kissed a guy. I was hoping to get my first tonight. But I chickened out and sort of swerved Jason’s advance.”
She dropped her face into her hands. “I was just so nervous, and I have no ideahowto kiss. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. He got upset, thinking I didn’t want to kiss him, and then got… pushy. I shoved him away and left. I bet he’s going to tell the whole school I’m a tease or something.”
I gently pried her hands away from her face. Tears hung on her eyelashes, and the sight of them wrenched my heartstrings. “Hey.”
She didn’t look at me, so I tipped her chin up with a finger. “Nothing ever gives a guy the right to get aggressive with you. Do you hear me? You never have to do anything you aren’t ready for.”
She sniffed and nodded. “The thing is, I was ready for my first kiss. At this rate, I’ll never kiss a guy.”
My heart skipped a beat when her eyes zeroed in on my mouth. She wasn’t thinking about kissingme,was she…?
