Page 99 of Just Another Meet Cute
His fingers played with a couple strands of my hair. “Now I kind of wish I didn’t live so far away. It’ll suck not being able to see each other every day when school starts.”
Hearing him make plans for us made my stomach flutter. I shrugged and tried to play it cool as I reached out to hold his other hand. “We still have another month and a half until that happens. And we could just see how it goes.”
“Yeah, and I’ll come back each weekend.” He nudged the tip of my nose with his. “Maybe I’ll even visit in the middle of the week if you’re nice. For you, I’ll brave the shitty Austin traffic any day of the week.” He hesitated and frowned. “Okay, maybe not game day traffic, but I swear,anyother day and time. So now that we got the introductions out of the way, can we go back to the kissing part?”
Letting out a deep breath, I shrugged. “I guess we could. There’s no point in putting it off.”
His eyebrow rose. “Don’t force yourself if it’s too much trouble.”
By now my cheeks were hurting from smiling so hard. “Eh, I think I can suffer a bit. Since I’m such a nice person.”
“Suffer, my ass.”
He started to tug me in for another kiss, but I pulled away. With a serious expression, I chewed on my lower lip. “But first, can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
This time I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “Can you say ‘Yo, Nina,’ again?”
His laughter seemed to echo through the trees. “Out of everything I just said, all the promises and declarations, you just want to hear the Rocky quote again?”
“Of course. You know, Rocky only calls Adrian that.”
His smile was as slow as his words. “Because she’s the love of his life.”
My heart soared when he said the wordlove, and I couldn’t help tugging his head down for another deep kiss.
This time when our lips touched though, it was different. It wasn’t explosive or desperate like the first time. It wasn’t even sweet and melting like the other ones. This kiss was long and lingering. Full of promises and relief. And the minty freshness on Ian’s breath was addicting. I couldn’t get enough.
As though he read my mind, his hand drifted up toward the back of my neck. His fingers sunk into my hair as he pulled me even closer. Not that he needed to. His touch made me want to sink even more into him. Like butter on toast. A snowball on a hot day. All I wanted to do was wrap my hands into his hair and stroke his shoulders and neck and never let go.
And what made the kiss even more delicious was the fact that we didn’t have to. We could stay like this forever if we wanted to.
Well, maybe not forever, but pretty close to it.
Finally, Ian let out a deep, shuddering breath as his arms tightened around my waist. “You know what? I’ll be here for game day. Hell, I’ll come running back anytime you want as long as you kiss me like that every time.”
“Deal.” I happily wrapped my arms around his neck. “I told you I don’t play fair.”
His hand lifted to my face and slowly stroked the side, from the top curve of my cheek down to my chin. And then back up my neck to my earlobe. Like he couldn’t stop touching me. “Oh, I’ve noticed. Guess it’s a good thing, then.”
“What is?”
Ian bent down until his lips were covering mine again. Just barely. I could feel his smile curve against my mouth, teasing me. My eyes fluttered closed and I shivered. “That I’m not going to play fair either. I’m in this to win.”
“Me too.” I tilted my head back so I could give him a slow wink. “It’s a good thing that we’re such an awesome team.”
“Oh, definitely. We’re the best.”
It feels so surreal every time I sit down to write an acknowledgments page because I cannot believe I’m at that point. How what had been this tiny little idea in my head is actually going to be a full-fledged novel in my hands. My very own book that I can stare at lovingly all day like Gollum inThe Lord of the Rings.In a very non-creepy way.
… my precious.
But of course, none of this would ever be possible if it weren’t for certain wonderful people in my life.
First and foremost, thank you to my editor, Jennifer Thompson, for helping me makeJust Another Meet Cutemore than I could have ever imagined it to be. I thought my book was good, and then you made it great. Not to toot my own horn, I’m just being honest. To my copy editor and proofreader, Beka Wallin and Emily Heddleson, for catching all my comma mistakes and inaccuracies and helping me learn that em dashes—annoying as they are—are still my nemesis. My eternal gratitude for the entire team at Scholastic, including Stephanie Yang, Nicko Tumamak, Janell Harris, and Victoria Velez for helping to make my dream come true.
A special thank-you for Natascha Morris and Sarah Fisk: Working with both of you has been amazing. Thank you for believing in me, and I hope I’ll always have you in my corner for the rest of my writing journey. Guacamole for everyone!
