Page 56 of A Little Complicated

“What was that?” I ask.

“Cinnamon bears.”

“What for?”

“In case your mom catches me sneaking into your bedroom,” he grunts. With his hands pressed against my window sill, Mav pushes himself up and climbs through the window. His biceps flex with the movement, his corded forearms on full display in his Broken Vows T-shirt. Not gonna lie. The sight toys with my libido, and I fold my arms, hiding my nipples from giving Maverick a full-blown salute as his feet hit the carpet in my bedroom and he slides my window shut again.

“So you bring my mom a present, but not me?” I quip, keeping my voice low. Not bothering to answer me, he slowly stalks toward me, and I take a step back, enjoying the chase. “What are you doing here?”

When my back hits my bedroom door with a quiet thud, he grabs my waist, pressing himself against me. “I came to see you.”

“Duh,” I reply with a smile. “The question is, why? Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“First class doesn’t start ‘til noon. I can make it back in time. I missed you,” he adds, bending closer. His navy blue eyes skim my face as if I’m the most fascinating thing in the world.

“You missed me so much you had to sneak into my room on a school night?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“If my parents catch you in here, they’ll kill us.”

“That’s why I brought the cinnamon bears,” he murmurs.

With a quiet laugh, I lift my chin, and he kisses me, making me melt in a matter of seconds. My fingers find the edge of his shirt. I twist the soft, gray fabric in my hand and attempt to memorize this. The feel of Maverick Buchanan’s mouth on mine. His weight holding me to the door. His hot, cinnamon breath proving he stole a gummy or two before showing up at my window.

He’s right. They’re my mom’s favorite. They’ve always been her favorite.

When he ends the kiss, I lick my bottom lip, tasting the cinnamon flavor one more time. “And how would you bribe my dad if he caught you in here with me?”

Maverick shivers. “There’s no bribing the man. If he catches us, I’m diving back through the window and booking it to my car parked around the corner. Don’t worry. I’ll text you to let you know I made it out alive.”

“Classy,” I note.

“Never claimed to be the classy twin,” he jokes. “Although…” Giving me a bit of space, he boops my nose, threads his fingers with mine, and tugs me toward my bed. “Rory’s been on a 2000’s chick-flick kick lately, and—”

“A chick-flick kick?” I repeat with a laugh. “Try saying that three times fast.”

“Will you focus?” he demands, but I don’t miss the crinkles of amusement around his eyes, and they only make my heart flutter more. “I’m trying to prove I can be classy.”

I clear my throat. “Sorry, go on. Rory’s been on a 2000’s chick-flick kick lately, and…”

“My mom’s been showing her a bunch of them,” he explains, sitting on my bed. “And it reminded me of something.”

“What something?”

He tugs me closer. “Prom.”

With a laugh, I collapse on the edge of the mattress beside Mav. “What about prom?”

“Yours is coming up.”

“And?”

“And I wanna take you,” he clarifies.

A heady concoction of exhilaration and anticipation and excitement and…wariness hits me in an instant. Maverick’s never asked anyone to a dance, especially not one two months away. And the fact that he’s here contradicts the boy I’ve known since we were little and the charismatic guy I’ve been secretly hooking up with since Thanksgiving.

It’s just a school dance, and saying yes should be simple, but since we haven’t told anyone we’ve been hooking up, and Mav doesn’t seem like a guy who would normally be interested in settling down, it isn’t.

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