Father always said I was too serious, and Mother promised me that no guy was ever going to dare approach me if I looked at them like I contemplated ways of murder in my free time.
Ridiculous—Idid not.
“Yes, you do.” March pulled me against his chest just a little tighter. “And you also walk like the ground owes you something, too.”
My mouth was wide open, and I tried to push him away, but he didn’t let me. Instead, he pulled me even closer, until it got almost difficult to breathe—but I was breathing.
I was trying to pretend I was irritated, too. “Maybe I no longer like dancing tonight,” I said—a total lie, and he could tell just fine.
Throwing his head back, he laughed, then squeezed my hand over his chest a little bit.
“That glare isn’t nearly as terrifying as you think, I’m afraid,” he told me. “I’ve seen you smile. It ruined whatever tough act you were planning to keep up in the future.”
Oh, the nerve of him.
The fact that I waslaughinginstead of being angry—or at least pretending!
“You’re one to talk,” I said, only halfheartedly. “Yourexterior doesnotmatch that smile you have on all the time.” Lame, but it was the best I had. He really was too big and toomean-lookingto be smiling so much. Kind of.
“Believe it or not, I was never one to smile much,” he said without missing a beat.
“Except youneverstop!” I saw it since we met—and I was looking at his stupid, perfect smile right now.
“Maybe I just have something to smile about.”
Oh, the mouth on him…
“Maybe I have something to be mean about, too.” I leaned back—this time knowing full well he wouldn’t let me, and that was exactlywhyI did it.
I didn’t recognize myself at all in those moments. Must have been another Ora.
March didn’tlet me move away a single inch. “Would it help if I said I keep hoping you’ll come punchmein the throat just so I get to touch you, or that I’d agree to be your ground any time you please, or that I’m pretty sure I adore your smile much more than you adore this music?”
My mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
A loud, long sigh escaped me. How was he…like this?
I’d had crushes before. Boys didn’t talk like this. Nobody was ever thisopen.
“What—no answer?” he said, leaning his head down a little bit so my heart nearly broke my ribcage.
Kiss-kiss-kiss!screamed every single part of me, and I was terrified that he’d hear it somehow.
“One day I will have the perfect comeback to take that smile off your face, Heartling,” I said for now. “One day.”
He pulled. I didn’t resist—not even a little bit. My eyes were closed until I felt his lips on my temple, just a peck that sent charges of electricity throughout me.
“Until that day, then, I need the answer to a very important question,” he whispered in my ear.
Mind you, we were stilldancing.We were still in the junkyard that wasn’t a yard, and we were still surrounded by the other Hands, who were screaming and laughing, throwing things at one another—yet somehow, we were secluded.
“What’s that?” I asked, perfectly breathless.
“What’s your favorite color?”
His eyes. His hair. The flavor of his breath.
“Red.”
