Page 74 of Choosing You

“Okay. I’ll tell you.” I can barely get the words out.

He doesn’t stop the tickling. “I’m waiting.”

“The box. I swear.”

“I already looked in there.”

“Just let me up.”

He moves aside. I get up and pick the movie up from behind the box.

“It was sitting on the floornextto the box.” I plop back down on the chair, trying to catch my breath. “Here.” I hand it to him.

“See? Was that so hard? A simple answer would have been so much easier.”

“Yeah. But not as fun.” I smile.

He looks at me, figuring out what that means. But he doesn’t take the bait.

“You want your food back now?” he asks.

“No. I need a minute to breathe. That was a workout.”

The cartoon dogs start howling again. I burst out laughing. That howling is too damn funny.

Garret reaches over me for the remote and turns the TV off. He tosses the remote on the floor and pins me to the chair again. “Jade, are you making fun of my movie?”

“No.” It comes out as a laugh. “I love it.”

He’s working hard to hold back his own laughter. “Jade?”

“Garret?” I say in the same tone.

“You’re a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Just sometimes? I’ll have to work on that.”

Our eyes meet and I see that look on his face. He wants to kiss me but won’t because of our strict friend agreement. To hell with the agreement. I can’t take it anymore. I reach up to pull him toward me but he’s already closed the distance between us and moved in for the kiss.

His lips just barely touch mine, waiting for my response. I kiss him back, making it clear that I want this. He shifts his body so that he’s sitting next to me, taking me with him so that I’m on top of him. I straddle him and see a slight smile as he reaches behind my head and brings me in for a kiss. It’s a slow, deep, intense kiss that is quickly moving us out of the friend category. His other hand reaches around my back and presses me into him.

It’s just like that time in the pool. Only this time I won’t let the voices interfere. I can’t. I like this way too much and I won’t let her ruin it for me.

CHAPTERTWENTY

After several minutesI wonder why Garret’s not taking this any farther. I love what he’s doing, but I’m dying for more and he won’t even go to second base. I guide his hand under the hem of my shirt and place it at the side of my waist, but he just leaves it there. He doesn’t even attempt to make a move.

Finally I pull away from the kiss. “What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not saying to go all the way, but we can do more than this.”

“I didn’t think I should after what happened, you know, the last time.”

I look down. “Oh. Well, don’t worry about that. I’m fine.”

His hand moves up to the side of my face, brushing my hair aside. “Something happened that night in the pool and it scared me. I felt like I hurt you or something. You started screaming and kicking me.”

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