Page 38 of The Prince and the Puck
“No, that was actually the good part.”
“Oh shit. I”m sorry, dude. And you still talk to your parents?”
I realized I’d just implied something totally different from the truth. But maybe that was for the best. “Yeah, they’re good people. I talk to them now and then. We just ended up going really different directions.”
John nodded, staring down into his beer bottle almost sadly.
I was about to say something else, but I paused as Lizzy approached. “Hey you.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close, nuzzling her neck. It was supposed to be just a quick gesture, just a taste.
Only my body didn’t get the memo, and things inside me went haywire. She smelled like heaven, and every nerve inside me was suddenly on overtime.
Lizzy tensed in my grip and then relaxed against me, and I nearly lost it.
“Hey,” she said, pulling back. “I was just gonna ask for the car keys. I left my bag in there and I want to grab my lip gloss.”
“Oh, yeah, I can grab it for you.” I hopped down off the stool and headed for the glass doors.
“I can get my own bag out of the car,” she argued, following me.
“I’ve got it. I’m being gentlemanly,” I said as we crossed the living room.
“You’re being condescending. If we are dating, you need to know that I’m a very independent person,” she argued as we stepped out the front door.
“I’m a very caring guy,” I explained, pulling the keys from my pocket and pointing them at the truck.
“I can get it myself,” she said, grabbing for the keys as I swiped them out of her grasp. I held the keys over my head and Lizzy jumped up and down, trying to wrestle them from my hand. “Give them to me!”
“You’re not being very nice,” I told her.
“You. Are. Not. Being. A. Gentleman.” Each of her words was punctuated by a vertical leap. She was getting good height on each one, but with my arm straight over my head, she didn’t have a chance. “Give me the keys, Declan!” There was something about seeing her exasperated, all flushed and gritty, that I just couldn’t resist.
“Why don’t you make me?” I don’t know what came over me, it wasn’t like me to stand in the front yard refusing to help a woman, but Lizzy had managed to twist this whole situation around until I was suddenly not helping her at all, I was basically keeping her from getting what she wanted.
“You want me to make you give me those keys?” she asked, stepping back and crossing her arms.
A little thrill went through me. “I’d like to see you try.”
Two seconds later, I was flat on my back, Lizzy sitting on my chest and the keys in her hand. “How the hell…?”
“Now you know,” she said, annoyingly proud of herself. She continued to sit on me while she aimed the fob at the car again and pressed unlock.
But this time, the car didn’t merely chirp and unlock.
It.
Exploded.
CHAPTER 22
LIZZY
PIECES OF TRUCK
I threwmy body over the prince as his truck exploded into flames, sending a huge cloud of smoke and debris up into the street and making a horrific noise.
Players came streaming out of the house and through the gates from the back yard, and neighbors were stepping from their houses to watch the burning remains of Declan’s truck at the curb like some kind of neighborhood cookout.
“Holy shit, dude, did you miss a recall notice?” Rock Stevens asked Declan, stepping closer.
