Page 101 of Stealing Sunshine

“Have you felt that way for long?” she asks, the apples of her cheeks burning a bright red.

I hesitate to tell her the full truth. It’s never stopped making me feel guilty, and right now, if I admitted that I’ve been interested in her for years instead of the weeks she’s expecting to hear, I won’t be able to handle it ruining anything. I’ve come so close to making her mine, and it feels too good to be true to take even just one more risk.

“A couple of weeks,” I say instead.

“So, from before we kissed the first time?”

I turn my face inward and press my lips to her thigh a final time while moving her panties back in place. With a hold on both her knees, I push to my feet. Her skirt is soft in my hands as I lower it over her legs.

She watches with a wide grin as I fuss over her, going as far as to smooth down her hair and wipe away the smudge of mascara below her wet lashes.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while, Daisy. Before youbrought up the idea of practicing. I’m sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t want you.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. I let myself overthink and, like you said earlier, convinced myself of something completely off base. Clearly, I’m lacking in relationship knowledge after so long without one.”

“So am I. My last one was a total sham, so I guess we both have to relearn everything.”

“We’re a mess,” she teases, reaching for my hand and yanking me onto the bed beside her.

“What happens now?” It’s a blunt question, but after waiting so long for this, I don’t want to spend any more time wondering.

“We keep doing what we’re doing. Nobody will know anything we don’t want them to. I’d really like to take the time to get to know you more, Bryce,” she murmurs, leaning her head against my shoulder and holding on to my arm.

“Is that your way of saying that you feel the same way I do?”

Her smile is wide enough I feel it against my shoulder. “You mean in the keeping you in my bed for hours and kissing you until your lips are swollen and sore way?”

I breathe a laugh and kiss her hair. “Exactly.”

“Yes, Frosty, I do,” she admits gently.

“No more disappearing, then.”

“That goes for you too.”

“I haven’t bothered with disappearing in a while.”

Her nails dig into my arm as she tightens her hold. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just don’t do it again unless you want me to shout your name all over town looking for you.”

“I was with Kiki. It’s the place I go when I need to think.”

“Not your parents’ place?”

“Sometimes. But not with this. I needed them to see us together like they did in the yard for them to believe it. If I had shown up here with the way I was feeling before, Mama wouldhave read right through the fake status, and I would have had to tell her the truth.”

“You could tell her the truth. If it upsets you to lie.”

She drapes her legs over my lap, and my eyebrows jump at the surprisingly confident move. “No, it’s okay. If I tell one of my moms, they’ll tell the other, and then before we know it, my sisters know, and Johnny’s plowing your door down to tell the both of us off for deceiving him.”

“Your brother doesn’t scare me, Daisy.”

“That’s because nothing scares you.”

I choke on a scoff. “Plenty of things scare me.”

“Like what? Don’t tease me with this! I’m desperate to know what makes the ice queen shiver in fear.”

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