Page 23 of Isabella and the Slipper

Hunger gnawed at her. “Good idea.”

They were back at Chase’s house in no time. He helped her out of the car again, and this time it felt like his hand lingered on hers a bit longer than she thought was necessary. “Let’s go inside and sort through what we bought.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice. He opened the door for her and let her walk ahead of him to his bedroom. She sat down on his chair, and he tossed the sack on his desk. The first thing he fished out was the package of Skittles. He ripped them open and dumped a pile onto the table.

Her stomach rumbled, and he laughed. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” she admitted.

He motioned to the candy. “Have some.”

She grabbed a handful and tossed them into her mouth.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” He sat down on his bed and leaned forward so he could reach the desk.

She chewed enough so she could answer him. “Eating candy?”

“No. That’s not how you eat Skittles.” He separated the colors on the desk into small piles. “You have to sort the flavors.”

She giggled and pushed her glasses up. “Then why is their slogan ‘Taste the rainbow’? How do you taste a rainbow if you only eat one flavor at a time?”

He smiled and popped a red one in his mouth. “You taste the rainbow slowly.”

She picked up one from the orange pile and one from the green pile. He made a face. She put them in her mouth, and he groaned.

“Why you gotta ruin eating Skittles?” he asked.

“It’s good! Try it.”

He shook his head.

She grabbed a few and held them out to him. “I dare you.”

He clamped his lips together and shook his head again.

“Oh, you’re being a baby. Come on.” She leaned over and tried to shove them in his mouth. He grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away. She hopped up from the chair and tried to get them to his mouth, but she lost her footing and fell on him, pushing him backward on the bed. He squirmed under her but ended up laughing and opening his mouth. The Skittles went in.

He chewed, then smiled. “Okay, you’re right. The rainbow is good,” he said, his voice a little husky.

“Ha. Told you.”

He sobered, and she realized his arms were around her. Her heart pounded in her chest.

“Eh ... ahem,” his mother said from the doorway.

Chase stood so fast Isabella almost ended up on the floor, but he caught her and pulled her upright. His face turned red. “Mom. We were just working on our science project.”

Heat flooded Isabella’s face. Now would be a great time to be invisible. She couldn’t look his mother in the eye.

“Right. It’s almost nine. You’d better finish up.”

Chase cleared his throat. “Yes. We will.”

His mother gave him one last pointed look, then left.

Chase sank down on the bed and exhaled, his head in his hands. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

Isabella giggled then clamped her hand over her mouth. Since when was she such a flirt? And why was her heart beating like she’d just run a mile?

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