Page 51 of Second Chance Savior

The sky had darkened to steel gray. Thunder rolled, and it smelled like rain and pine needles. Tiny raindrops pricked my skin. But River didn’t seem to care about the weather. Hestood with his back to the house, looking out over the forest. Our house was on the high ground, with a slope leading down to the creek that Ross and I had visited on their first day here.

“I’m going to join the Navy after I graduate in a year,” River said. “I’ve already talked to a recruiter.”

“The Navy. Wow. That’s serious. You’d get deployed to war zones, right?”

“That’s the idea. Worried about me?”

“Maybe. Just a little.” And impressed, though I wasn’t going to admit that out loud. “I thought you’d go to an Ivy League or something.”

“That’s what my dad wants. He’ll be furious when he finds out. Won’t be able to stop me though.”

I’d always wondered what daily life was like for Ross and River during the rest of the year. Did people recognize them on the street? Their dad used a stage name, Dash Park. Whenever Dash had a new movie coming out, the ads were everywhere on the internet. TV commercials. He was known as one of the handsomest men in Hollywood. That trademark smile. The same shape as River’s.

I knew their mom had kept them out of the public eye as much as possible. Unlike the kids of other movie stars, the Kwon brothers weren’t hounded by photographers. After I’d learned about their dad’s job, I’d done some online searches, and never found anything about the boys. But I’d still assumed that River’s obnoxious attitude came from a sense of superiority.

“You don’t want to be famous?” I asked.

He huffed, though his smirk didn’t budge. “Hell no. I’d much rather be anonymous. Known only for what I can do. A name doesn’t capture everything about who a person is.”

“Yeah, I guess not.”

“Would you want to be famous? People thinking they know you, but they don’t?”

“Maybe, if I’m famous for making the world better.” I scuffed my shoe against the grass. “As long as people don’t call me Grumpy Charlie.”

He turned enough that I saw him smiling in profile. His smile was like a lightbulb over my head, hitting me with inspiration. I hated his smirk, but this, I wouldn’t mind getting more of.

“Race you to the creek,” I said.

“Are youtryingto get us in trouble again?”

“Think about it. We’re both competitive by nature, so we have to practice being good sports no matter who comes out ahead.”

“Sure, you say that because you know I’ll win. I am way faster than you.”

“You might think that, but—” I sprinted into the trees mid sentence, smiling so big my face hurt.

Behind me, River cursed. His footsteps pounded the ground a split second later. “If you win, it’s only because you cheated!”

“Whatever it takes! Loser scrubs the toilets!” I careened downhill, jumping over fallen logs and dodging branches. My stomach cramped from holding in laughter.

“You’re going down!”

River had nearly caught up. His fingers swiped the back of my shirt, and I screamed, dissolving into giggles.

The bank of the creek was just yards away when River grabbed me around the waist. We went sprawling in the long grass, which cushioned our fall. I fell on top of River, but he rolled us immediately, winding up above me. We both panted to catch our breath.

Our skin and hair were damp from the gentle rain. He was really close.

I want him to kiss me.

Just as I made that realization, I sucked in a ragged breath, glancing down at the minuscule gap that separated us. River hovered over me, but if he’d lowered his body by an inch, he would’ve been lying right on top of me. Pinning me to the ground with his weight.

As if he’d realized the same thing, River threw himself onto his back beside me.

We both stared up into the clouds as raindrops continued to fall.

I’d had a boyfriend earlier that year, a guy who volunteered at the animal shelter with me. It had fizzled out. I had never thought about River that way, but now I couldn’t seem to stop.

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