Page 45 of Adorkable

“I’m out a few days with Mono and come back to find you and Spitz are hooking up. I don’t believe it.” Roxy gestured in my direction. “You can’t be serious, Becks. Look at her. She’s not even pretty.”

It was amazing how statements like that said by beautiful girls like Roxy could slice right through a person. I didn’t even like the girl, and I still felt gutted.

“You’re right,” Becks said, bringing a hand to my cheek. My head snapped up in reflex. “She’s not pretty.”

He was speaking to her but looking at me. Though his words were insulting, the heat in his eyes made me flush and not from humiliation. How could he look at me like that in front of someone like Roxy? It defied logic.

“She’s so much more than pretty,” he breathed, running his thumb along my cheekbone before giving me another below-the-ear kiss.

I was vaguely aware of Roxy stomping away but wasn’t sure of anything at the moment. Becks had done it again. His words were engraved in my mind. I would never forget what he said.

He was just acting, I reminded myself.

But he’d sounded sincere, my heart insisted. And that kiss…

Yeah, my brain responded, but it wasn’t real.

But it felt real.

Yeah, but it wasn’t.

This back and forth between heart and mind was so jarring; I felt completely off kilter.

“Why do you do that?” My voice was little more than a whisper.

He seemed to understand I was referring to the kiss.

“Because I can tell you like it.” He paused, an odd look to his face, while I held my breath. “And you have a birthmark—” He brushed the place with the tip of his finger. “—right here.”

Eyes wide, my hand flew up without my telling it to. “I do?”

He nodded. “You didn’t know?”

I shook my head.

My heart was set to burst when he grinned and added, “Plus, girls have told me it’s one of their favorite places to be kissed.”

I let out a shaky breath. Naturally, Becks had kissed other girls that way before. I was stupid to have thought it was something special, something he did just for me.

Stepping back to put a little space between us, I said, “Well, it’s very effective.”

“You okay, Sal?”

I forced myself to look him in the eye, burying my emotions down deep. “‘Course I am.”

He studied me a moment. “Alright then,” he said. “I’ll see you same time this Saturday?”

“What for?” I asked.

“Lesson two,” he smiled.

I gulped. “What’s lesson two?”

“It’s the next step in your training, Sally-san.” Becks laughed. “Just be there, okay?”

I wanted to tell him there was no need. We’d already won everyone over, but instead I nodded incapable of speech. Oh Lord, I wasn’t sure I was ready for lesson two. In fact, I knew I wasn’t, but as Becks sauntered down the hall, I also knew I’d do just about anything for another one of those kisses.

I was a total schmuck.

---