In one quick motion, he lifts me up and turns so I’m pressed against the side of the car. My fingers sink into his hair, finally touching those soft red curls of his.
Just as my brain is starting to short-circuit and my libido is primed and ready to take over, I hear the sound of someone gasp.
I open my eyes, and standing there behind us is my mom.
Her gaze falls on Hollis, and her eyes widen. “Hi, Mom,” I say awkwardly. “Um…surprise!”
Chapter Twenty-One
HOLLIS
I turn to see Presley’s mom staring at me as if she’s just seen a ghost.
Her eyes blink back tears. Apart from a few more laugh lines and gray hairs, she hasn’t aged a day since the last time I saw her. She still has that laid-back West Coast vibe, complete with loose linen pants and a long cardigan to fend off the late-day chill from the ocean. “Hollis?” She steps forward like she’s about to hug me. My fingers dig into Pres’s waist, pleading for an intervention.
It’s not that I don’t want to hug her mom.
It’s just that I don’t want to hug herright now.
Not after I just experienced the most earth-shattering kiss of my life, and I’m suffering the physical consequences of it.
I shift behind her, a futile attempt to adjust myself.
No, definitely no hugs right now.
“Mom, why don’t we go inside and find the others? Then we can get all the reunions done all at once?”
She eyes us suspiciously. “And you’ll explain what I just walked in on?”
“Yes.” Pres laughs. “We’ll explain everything. Promise.”
She takes my hand, and we follow Tilly up the walkway, but I slow my pace so we fall behind a little. “You’re a lifesaver,” I whisper in her ear.
She snorts. “Pretty sure that’s not the introduction you were envisioning.”
“The making out or the boner?” I joke. “Because walking in on us making out looks pretty convincing.” Is it still considered walking in when we’re outside? I’m not sure.
She snickers under her breath. “The boner, you idiot.”
“Oh yeah, that would have been awkward,” I answer, but then add, “Sorry. I may have let things get a little out of hand.”
“It wasn’t just you,” she whispers. “And like you said, it was convincing.”
I swallow, remembering the feel of her body pressed against mine. “Very.”
“What are you two whispering about back there?” Tilly says over her shoulder, a contented smile now replacing her tears.
“Nothing!” we both answer.
“Some things never change,” I hear her say as we all step through the familiar front door.
The foyer is spacious and open. It gives off a California coastal vibe without coming off corny. The walls are light to match the white oak floors and the contemporary art. It feels like I’m stepping back in time. “No, they don’t,” I murmur as memories assault me of the last time I stood in this very spot.
If I have to be miserable, so does he.
After she dragged me out of here, we ended up in some no-name town in some no-name state, where my mother could lick her wounds after being dumped. Again. I never learned the reason he kicked her out, and honestly, I didn’t care. I started making plans to leave as soon as I could.
And I never looked back.
