Page 28 of Heartless Pucker in Love

Her brows drew together. “How do you figure?”

“Because you’re talking to me. You even came closer.”

As if just realizing that she had moved closer, she blinked and shifted, leaning away from me. My laughter filled the jet’s cabin. We were back in the air, flying from LA to New York.

“Shut up,” she huffed. “Alright, I am bored. I’m not used to going so long without talking to somebody. I mean, I have five sisters. Privacy and silence was never a thing growing up.”

“I can imagine.”

She smiled. “It’s Friday night. If I was home, I’d be at one of my sisters’ places, or we’d all be at mine. We get together every Friday night to eat, drink and have girl talk. I love it.”

I was taken aback by her sharing. “Hmm. Five Bennet sisters in one room. Sounds like something I’d want to be in the middle of.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

She nudged my shoulder with hers. “Don’t make this weird.”

My lips spread into a huge stupid grin. “Don’t expect me to feel guilty. You Bennets are super-hot.”

“Julian.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”

April blinked. “All of us?”

“I thought you wanted me to stop.”

“Yeah…but I mean...even me?”

The cabin went quiet. Especially you was what I wanted to say. I always knew I had a little something for April back in the day but it was easily hidden. No big deal. Now that something had grown to epic proportions and I couldn’t fully understand why. Two weeks in her constant company, and I developed the hots for her so much so that even when I caught a whiff of her perfume, I got a hard-on. It was ridiculous. She was just so...April. My gaze dropped to take in her bohemian-style dress that gave me an enticing peep of cleavage. She wore big, dangling daisy earrings and her full lips were painted in her signature pink. She was the hottest little hippie I’d ever met.

“Sure. You’re included in the hot category.” Her eyes widened and I frowned. “You’re surprised? Why?”

April stared at me for so long I started to shift uneasily in my seat. Finally, she said, “In the ninth grade, I caught you looking at me in class and asked what you were staring at.”

My brows dipped. “What did I say?”

“Not to get too excited. I was a peculiar creature and not your type.”

I racked my brain for that memory but got nothing. I bet I said that to throw her off because I was checking her out and was embarrassed when I got caught. Yeah, she was a peculiar girl but that wasn’t a bad thing. That was her appeal. Scratching my chin, I sighed. “I was fourteen. Stupid boys say stupid things. I can’t believe you remember that.”

She shrugged. “Certain things stick with a girl.”

Feeling uncomfortable with the direction of our conversation, I cleared my throat and diverted. I didn't want to be reminded of what an ass I was to her in school. “So, it must have been nice to have four sisters around. One big party at home, I bet.”

“Not so much.” Her eyes skated away from mine, but I caught a hint of sadness in them. She gazed out the window. “Things got pretty rough after my dad left. He disappeared when I was seven.”

I studied her profile. The entire town knew that Henry Bennet skipped out on his wife. At the time, I’d been too young to give it a second thought. I can only imagine what something like that does to a seven-year-old.

She turned to me with a sad smile. “Do you remember when we met? The first day of kindergarten?”

I grinned. That I remembered. She’d been sobbing and I held her hand. My dad always told me to treat girls kindly so I’d thought nothing of it. “Yeah.”

“I wasn’t crying because I was scared about starting school. I was terrified because things at home weren’t so great between my parents. Then two years later, he vanished. After that things got worse. Mom went completely mental and developed a whole vendetta against the male population. She tried to pull all of us into her war against men.” She chuckled, but I heard her pain. “I was taught that men were the worst, and I should stay away. I hated it because I couldn’t even date like everyone else when I was a teenager. I was terrified to even say yes to you about prom, and I was even more scared to have you pick me up at home. But I’d been so excited about finally going out with a guy that I threw caution to the wind and risked my mom’s wrath.”

I continued to stare, feeling horrible. I fucked up the one night that she was so excited about. Eighteen-year-old me deserved a hard kick in the ass. I’d never be able to make it up to her as much as I wanted to.

I closed my laptop, with the contract of yet another endorsement deal on the screen, and put it aside. “Your mother’s view on men aside, what are your views?”

She turned me, her brows elevated as if she was surprised by the question. Hell, I wasn’t even sure why I was interested.

---