Page 124 of Sweet Temptation

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Isn’t there? Because him buying all the tickets wasn’t even the worst part. Did you see the way he was dressed?”

I slowly shook my head. I’d been so caught up in their argument I hadn’t noticed what he was wearing. “No, how is he dressed?”

“He’s dressed as Draco Malfoy,” she said. Her eyes were wide, and I could see she was fighting some kind of internal battle. “And you know how I feel about Draco…”

“Like you want him toslither-in?” Amber guessed.

“Ha, that’s a good one, and exactly,” Anna said. “Man, my head is so messed up with all this. How did he even know I’m obsessed with Malfoy? I swear, he dressed up that way because he knew it would get me all confused.”

“So, you’re feeling confused about Luther?” I asked.

“No!” She shuddered. “Please let’s just pretend this conversation never happened. I’m planning to wipe this entire night from my mind.”

“Okay, from now on, this conversation never happened,” I agreed.

“Good.” She drew in a deep breath, which seemed to calm her.

“Why couldn’t Luther have just kissed my hand instead?”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about him,” I said.

“I don’t,” Anna gasped. “I need to get away from here. What are you guys up to?”

“We were just on our way to see the highlight of the carnival,” Amber said. “The soccer team’s dunking booth. That should help take your mind off the kissing booth.”

“Perfect,” Anna said. “Lead the way.”

A large crowd had already formed around the dunking booth by the time we got there. Most of them were girls. Amber wasn’t the only one with the bright idea of standing around watching shirtless soccer players waiting to get dunked.

“They should really charge to watch,” Anna said. “They’d make a killing.”

“I know,” Amber agreed. “I’d probably pay.”

I laughed because the two girls were hopeless. But, when I saw Noah sitting on the collapsing seat, waiting to be dunked, I didn’t find it all so funny. Somehow, I’d forgotten just how gorgeous he was, but it was impossible to deny when he was sitting there in all his shirtless glory.

The crowd was wolf whistling him and cheering as people took turns throwing a ball at the target. A direct hit would plunge Noah into the water. As he sat there, watching balls fly at the target, he was smiling along with everyone else. It felt like such a long time since I’d seen him smile that way. It might have been as long ago as the beach in Rapid Bay, when he flew me home to see my mom. Or maybe as we danced at the White Ball.

“I can’t believe you’ve kissed him.” I turned to find Veronica walking past us. She was with one of her friends, who was talking far too loudly to her. “Noah is so hot.”

Veronica’s eyes narrowed on the girl. “Sylvie, you’re staring.…”

Sylvie stopped talking and looked a little embarrassed, but Veronica didn’t notice because her focus was also on Noah as she gave him a small wave.

“Did Veronica come dressed as Paris Hilton?” Amber asked. I was guessing she’d heard Sylvie’s comment about Noah too.

“Looks like it,” I said. Veronica was dressed in a pink Juicy Couture velour tracksuit with a long blonde wig. She even had a small, yapping dog in the purse she wore over her shoulder.

“If she was going to use a dog as an accessory, I would have thought she’d come as Cruella de Vil,” Anna said, making us laugh.

A huge cheer erupted from the crowd, and we turned back to the booth just in time to see Noah dropping into the tank of water. The guy who had struck the target bowed with pride, and the applause increased, especially from the girls in the front row, when Noah emerged from the water dripping wet.

Veronica was the first one over to him, and she offered him a towel. It was harder to watch than I thought it would be. Noah had told me before he wasn’t interested in her, but I wasn’t sure if that was true when I saw him thank her and they shared a smile.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough shirtless fun for one evening. I’m going to go find my mom,” I said to the girls. “I’ll catch you all later.”

I didn’t stick around to see what else Noah and Veronica might share.

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