“You did,” I say with a nod. “Afteryou went to the dangerous situation.”
“Well, it’s not like I could just go sit at home, either,” she says, fisting her hands on her hips as some of that spark returns to her eyes. “And it’s not like I was going to go around asking people stupid questions. I’m not dumb. I have a well-developed sense of self-preservation. Thus”—she gestures at our surroundings—“the library. So don’t be a jerk.”
I swallow, my eyes dropping to her lips. “I want to kiss you again.”
She blinks in surprise.
“Except…” I say slowly, and now my heart is starting to pound for a different reason. “There are things we need to talk about first.”
Juniper sighs. “Just one more, then, before you overthink everything.” And before I can respond, she goes up on her tiptoes and presses her lips firmly to mine.
And it’s so tempting. It’s so tempting to forget about all the things she needs to know, to just be with her and forget the rest. But?—
“Goodness gracious!” a voice gasps from our left. I start, and pressed against me, Juniper does the same. We break our kiss as our heads swivel to look at our intruder. It’s the librarian, her glasses perched at the end of her long nose, her hands disapproving on her hips as she marches toward us from the end of the row. “Students kissing in the library after school?—”
“Not students,” I say quickly. Juniper moves to pull away from me, but I hold onto her with tight hands until gradually she relaxes against me once more. “A teacher and his legal,non-student—” Crap. His…girlfriend? Friend? Roommate?
A deafening silence falls between Juniper and me as I search for the right term. I look at her quickly, only to find that she’sturned her gaze back to me too.
“Gonna finish that sentence?” she says, arching her brow at me.
I shrug helplessly. “I am not capable of kissing you like this one time and never doing it again.” I hesitate. “I also am not capable of casual relationships. Sofriendandroommateboth feel wrong. But…” I can’t date her. Not yet, anyway.
I sigh internally as our little bubble of bliss pops, thanks to the librarian and also thanks to the reminder that Juniper and I have things to talk about if we want any sort of romantic relationship. “Let’s go,” I say, finally releasing her and stepping away. I hold out my hand for her to take. I don’t want to forfeit contact completely. “I guess we’ve got things to figure out.”
* For this chapter, listen toYou Are The Oneby Shiny Toy Guns!
* I love them I love them I love them!
24
IN WHICH AIDEN TELLS THE TRUTH
“Tell me.”
It’s the first thing I say when Juniper slides into the driver’s seat of her car, closing the door quietly. She’s jumpy, looking around with a tight, nervous expression, and that’s part of why I chose to get in her car instead of going to my own. We can come back and get mine later sometime. Right now I just want to stay close to her.
She’s silent for a moment as she buckles, the belt snapping into place with aclickthat somehow seems too loud.
“Juniper,” I say when the silence stretches on. “Just tell me.” I’m well aware that the next words out of her mouth will be shocking, but that just makes the anticipation worse.
It’s a relief when she finally turns to me. “How well do you know Rocco?” she says.
In my head, my brain produces the same sound you see in cheesy comedies—that sound like a record scratching that happens when a character is taken aback or when something unexpected turns up.
How well do I know Rocco?
How well do I—how well—Rocco—what?
She must be able to tell that this one question has reduced my intelligence to a pile of scrambled eggs, because she sighs, and the look she gives me is almost pitying.
“Rocco Astor,” she says, her voice betraying a slight tremor. “I think it’s possible he’s the man Sandra was seeing.”
I blink once. Twice. “Explain,” I finally say.
She sighs again, starting the car. “I’m not sure I can,” she admits. “Not properly, anyway.” She looks over her shoulder as she backs out of her parking spot. “It seems sort of…I don’t know. Sort of nebulous, I guess, in my mind.”
“Try,” I say. It comes out as more of a croak.
