Page 23 of The Usual Family Mayhem

His sigh telegraphed his frustration. “You were sixteen. In tenth grade.”

“And?”

He clenched his jaw to the point of snapping. “The distance between sixteen and twenty-three is huge, not to mention obviously inappropriate and illegal.”

Our ages? Okay, but we weren’t doing anything gross. “Jackson, we—”

“I was in law school. You were in high school.” He shook his head. “I thought the problem with the kiss was obvious.”

Now that he said it, sure, the issue should have been obvious. Still, the way he’d reacted sucked. A little tact would have spared my teen heart and wouldn’t have killed him. “It was just a kiss.”

“Just a...” He blew out a long breath. Looked ten seconds away from delivering a scorching lecture. “Okay, let’s try this for comparison. When I was sixteen you were nine.”

More math.Great. “We can run these calculations all day.”

“I was kissing girls by the time I was sixteen. Not you. You were totally off-limits and I had zero romantic interest in a child.”

To be fair, I couldn’t argue with that.

He put his hand on the table right near mine but didn’t go the extra few inches so that our fingers touched. “You kissed me, and I panicked. We were in the big brother, annoying little sister phase of our relationship. No thoughts of anything else. No kissing allowed.”

He’d said a few important things, but one line stuck out. “You think of me as a sister?”

“Not anymore.”

Tension snapped around us. “Oh...”

“Not for years.”

Chapter Twelve

“Have you really been upset all these years because I broke off the kiss and left that day?” Jackson sounded astounded by the possibility.

“That’s not what I said.” But it’s what happened. Only Whitney, my best friend back in the office and miles away, knew about my unrequited and persistent crush on a guy who was totally not my type... and annoying... but adorable.

“Are you sure? Because that’s basically what you said.”

Be cool. “‘Upset’ is a strong word.”

“Apparently it fits the situation.”

“Fine. Yes. Over the years I’ve thought about what happened between us and how poorly you handled it.” Too far? I made it sound like I was pining away for him, so I added a shrug because it fit with theno big dealvibe I wanted to send. “None of that matters now. It’s long over. Of course.”

He smiled for the first time since we sat down. “It sounds like you thought the kiss and my reaction to it amounted to a big deal.”

His damn eye sparkle returned. The way his smile lit up his face made him seem less starched and serious. His smooth voice. I hated that the long-ignored crush popped up when I least expected it. Now happened to be a terrible time.

Fall back on joking. Keep things light. That was my safe space with him. “Has your ego always been this big or did that come with the law firm partnership?”

“You’re trying to change the subject.”

Yes. Definitely. “You’re the one with the attitude.”

“You’re the one who’s been carrying around a big secret.” He took a sip of water and managed to look pretty hot doing it.

How did he make that sexy?

“I thought you wanted to eat.” Suddenly, I didn’t.

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