Page 74 of To Have and to Scold

“Hmm. But his leaving right now didn’t have anything to do with what you said?” I ask, taking a step towards him. Oh, how easy it would be to start kissing him, right here, right now.

“If you’re saying he felt like a third wheel, then, yes.”

I click my tongue. “Oh my goodness, Mr. Beck Billingsley. You manipulated your brother into leaving.”

He snorts. “I can’t believe it actually worked.”

I tilt my head to the side. “You were smooth.”

He grasps my waist. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Are you sorry he left?”

“No.” I trap my lip between my teeth. He drags me closer.

He traces my top lip with the tip of his finger. “Hey, I know we haven’t really talked about what’s going on here.”

I’m so distracted by the sear against my lip that I can’t think how to respond. Finally, I open my mouth to speak. “Beck, I like you. I really like you.”

He kisses my jaw, and that’s when I remember. “What about your jaw?”

“It didn’t stop me from enjoying your lips the other night.”

“No, it did not.” I swallow hard as his mouth trails up to just below my ear, placing feathery kisses that are driving me wild.

I bring my hand up to trail it gently along his jaw. “It still feels a little swollen.”

“It’s not. And Dallas?”

“Hmm?”

“I really, really like you. But you have a five-year plan and I’m not in it.”

I ease my cheek away from his lips and look him in the eyes. “Can we talk about this later?”

His gaze darkens and I feel like he’s going to stop, that he’s going to step away from me.

Panic flits through me. I don’t want him to misunderstand. “It’s just that…I want to give this conversation the attention it needs, but with the first wedding nearly here—" I bite my lip, my thoughts a torrent of emotions.

“I guess we’ll have to,” he says. “With all that’s going on.”

I don’t want to leave Willow Cove if it means leaving him.

He must sense the shift of revelation inside of me because he answers it with an urgent, flooding kiss.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Beck

“Leo!” Dallas leans in to pat him on the back when he arrives at the mansion with his date.

His group of friends file in behind them, all in beautiful formal clothing. They look nice, but I do not miss being in high school.

“Cool suit,” I say to Leo as I extend my hand to his date. “I’m Beck Billingsley.”

She shakes it and smiles. She looks like she can’t be older than fifteen.

“Beck, this is Valentina.” Leo gestures to the girl by his side who’s wearing a bright purple dress. He’s beaming and it’s because of her—I’d recognize that look anywhere.

Leo’s resilient, I’ll give him that. To turn things around and ask someone else so quickly after getting dumped is impressive. I should take a page from his book.

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