When I don’t respond, he repeats his question. “What are you doing here, Willa?”
“Having fun,” I say, the words coming out as an almost-whisper, and even in the dim moonlight, I see his eyes widen in shock and disbelief.
“I told you to stay out of trouble,” he says.
That familiar irritation rolls through me, and I speak without thinking.
“You can't tell me what to do.”
His face changes again, and part of me says to run. He’s not holding me tight, and it wouldn’t be too hard to slip out of his hold and book it towards Hallie and Nat. I tell myself that I’m not so Hallie and Nat can get away, but I don’t even know if I’m buying that right now.
“Well, someone has to.”
My heart rate speeds up, my gaze dropping to his full lips without my mind’s permission.
“And you thinkyou’rethe man for the job?”
He seems to be just as shocked as I am, but it doesn’t last long before he volleys back at me. I fight a smile. This…thisis what it felt like in that coffee shop all those years ago, the ease of it, the humor, the banter. This is why I was so torn up when he didn’t even notice me.
“I can’t think of anyone else better for the job,” he says, his voice low, and my pulse starts to pound in a way that has nothing to do with the adrenaline coursing through me from our sprint. His eyes are burning in a way I’ve never seen directed at me, and my breathing goes shallow. His veiled threat settles low in my belly, churning up ideas that I thought I’d long, long buried.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I murmur.
“You’re such a brat.” He smiles when he says it, like he thinks he’s winning this battle, like he thinks he’s caught me off my guard.
“What are you going to do about it, Leo?” My words are loaded with innuendo, and when his eyes widen and his lips part, I’m pretty sure each one landed.
We stand like that for a moment, both of us stunned into silence, and he shakes his head.
His eyes drop, moving from my eyes to my lips, then down my body, scanning and assessing, before coming right back up. Each inch he covers, my pulse pounds harder. It feels like some Wild West showdown, and I don’t know whether I want to win or lose.
“GET ON!” a voice calls, snapping me back to the here and now, and I whip my head to the side to see Hallie and Nat coming our way on the UTV. She stops, reaches over, grabs my wrist, and tugs until I’m sliding my ass onto the seat as she hits the gas and we’re moving. “Later, Leo!” she says with a laugh. Looking over my shoulder, I catch Leo watching us drive off, the same shocked and confused look on his face as before,but there’s no irritation there anymore. Instead, just a hint of amusement.
“What the hell was that?!” Hallie yells, a wide, excited smile on her lips as she drives through the woods, Nat laughing as we go. “With Leo?”
“I….” I say, still dazed now that the high of battling with him has worn off, confusion taking its place. “I have no idea.”
“Told you,” Nat says with a laugh. “I’ll make sure to get the popcorn ready.” This time, I don’t ask what she means. Instead, I play the look he gave me over and over in my mind, dissecting it, trying to find excuses and meanings that fit my previous understandings and experiences, and somehow missing a piece.
That night, I don’t go to bed at my normal early hour.
That night, I throw my entire routine out of whack, and I stay up late, basking in the glory of getting one over on Leo, of a night of chaos with my friends.
But most importantly, I stay up late, eagerly writing down lyrics and lines, snippets of a new song. It comes easily, as if my muse has returned with a vengeance, and when I finally pull my exhausted body into bed, I think that moving to Holly Ridge just might have been the best first choice I’ve ever made.
ELEVEN
LEO
There are a million reasons I’ve kept my distance from Willa Stone.
She’s a client.
She’sWilla Stoneand absolutely untouchable.
But tonight, I held her in my arms while she wore a sweatshirt I gave her years ago, and I nearly forgot each and every one of those million reasons.
I am so completely fucked.
