He shook his head. “I’ll make do, singing for tips while you get a full ride somewhere warm.”
A ridiculous giggle pulled from my throat. “A full ride for what?”
“For swimming.” He paused on my eyes, revealing he knew more than I thought he did.
I narrowed my eyes. “What makes you say that?”
He shrugged, breaking his warm gaze away from mine and giving my heart the tiniest of chills. “Saw the sports section of theMorning Star, Augusta Belle. You’ve broken all the state records. You’re a star.”
The lump in my throat had turned to molten lead, landing in the pit of my stomach and stealing the air from my lungs in the span of a single moment.
“It’s just a hobby.” I supposed he was going to find out my age at some point, find out I wasn’t even a senior in high school. I’d refused to tell him my age when we met because I was only fifteen then, and he was older, much older. At least nineteen, if I would have guessed. Fortunately, at least back then, on the off chance my parents had caught me hanging out with Fallon, he looked younger. The clean-shaven face had helped, but lately…
Well, lately he was just a stone-cold fox.
“State-record holders aren’t just practicing a hobby. Why didn’t you tell me?” His eyes were trained on my lips, the pad of his thumbs stroking the ridge of my cheekbone.
“Because it’s not a big deal.”
“Everything about you is a big deal to me.”
I chomped down on my bottom lip, wishing like hell he’d just touch me already. Push his hands between my thighs and make me his in all the ways. “What’s on your mind, Augusta Belle?”
He trailed his nose along my hairline as he invaded every breath of my personal space and had me craving more.
“That you owe me one more birthday kiss.”
His grin tipped up, fingers weaving into the mess of my hair at my neck before he pulled me closer, caging me against his heavenly body. “So I do.”
Our lips connected, tongues pushing past all boundaries before he was hauling me onto him, my knees straddling his waist and our chests melding as he kissed me senseless and gave me the very best birthday of my life.
“I love you, Fallon.”
“Love you more, Augusta Belle, even if you do drive me crazy most days.” He tucked me into the crook of his shoulder, and I sucked in a heady breath of his scent.
“Thanks for being my friend.”
He hushed me, fingertips trailing through the waves of my hair. “As I recall, you forced me up on that bridge that day.”
I grinned, always grateful when he eased the heartache inside me with his characteristic levity. “So I did.”
“That was the best day of my life.”
“The day you almost sorta saved me?”
“The day I found the girl of my dreams.” He hugged me closer, urging my eyes closed as I burrowed into the cotton of his t-shirt. “Happy birthday, Augusta Belle.”
ELEVEN
Fallon
“Why would he leave the house to me?” I cleared my throat, trying to channel my insane sense of exasperation.
She shrugged, dipping a homemade French fry into her vanilla milk shake. “Dunno.”
“Well, that just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, Augusta Belle. So you’re gonna have to do a little more explainin’ than that.” I yanked the milk shake out of her hands and sucked on it myself.
She arched an eyebrow in challenge before swiping another fry through the creamy concoction and dotting some of it on my nose. “He changed a lot the last few years. Started opening up to me after Mom passed. She was diagnosed the same month I was supposed to graduate college.”
