Page 87 of While We Waited

She giggles as she squeezes.

I groan and shackle her wrist to pull her away. “We can’t be late, my little temptress. Mom’s freaking out about meeting your family.”

She smiles up at me. “I love how you refer to my friends as my family.”

“Because they are.”

I’m going to show her she can love someone and they won’t die. I never want to witness the terror in Nova’s eyes ever again like when she told me everyone she loves dies and she’s afraid I’m going to die, too.

She didn’t admit it. But she loves me. And I will do everything in my power to show her I’m worthy of her love. She is the one good thing I won’t ruin. Not this time.

I place my hand on her lower back and guide her out of the chalet to my truck. When I help her onto the passenger seat, I can’t stop myself from digging my fingers into her hips. She shivers in response.

I kiss her quickly. “Behave.”

Her eyes widen. “What did I do?”

“You’re tempting me, Sunshine.”

She smirks. “It’s not on purpose.”

“Liar.” I tweak her nose before shutting her door and hurrying around to the driver’s side.

“Why is your mom freaking out?” she asks as I drive toward the town of Smuggler’s Rest.

“She thinks of Jack and Lily as Smuggler’s Hideaway royalty.”

“Sometimes I forget how much money they have. They don’t act the way I expect millionaires to act.”

“Not all millionaires are assholes,” I grumble.

She pats my hand on the steering wheel. “There’s no reason to go into grump mode. I know you’re not an asshole millionaire. Honestly, sometimes I forget how much money you have. And then you close down the swimming pool for us to watch a movie while floating in the water and I remember.”

I frown. “I wasn’t trying to show off my wealth.”

“I didn’t say you were.” She retracts her hand but I grab it. I like touching Nova. Her skin is soft and feels smooth compared to my rough hands.

“Who do you think will be the most trouble? My money’s on Chloe.”

I snort. “Did you forget about my brothers? Logan’s okay as long as he’s not working on some special project in chemistry. But Owen, Sawyer, and Brooks? Any one of them could win the crown for causing the most trouble.”

“I like your brothers.”

“You would. You were a troublemaker in high school, too.”

“I was not. Sophia and Chloe were the troublemakers.”

I raise an eyebrow. “And you didn’t follow their lead?”

She shrugs. “They had good ideas.”

“Good ideas? They stole the pirate mascot from Pirate’s Perch and the raccoon mascot from Rogue’s Landing and then let the animals loose on the football field.”

She giggles. “We didn’t think the parrot would repeat everything the coach said. You have to admit it was hilarious listening to a parrot fly over the field shoutingthere’s a raccoon loose on the field, there’s a raccoon loose on the field, time out, time out.”

It was hilarious. Especially since the opposing team freaked out when they saw the raccoon and ran off the field. We won by default when they refused to return after the raccoon and parrot were caught.

“We’re here.” I park on the street and scan the area. None of Nova’s family is here yet. Good. Mom won’t kill me for being late.

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