“That I need to leave my door open if you’re in my room again.”
I laughed. “What did he think he almost walked in on?”
“He probably thought I was about to kiss you.”
Uncle Matt had apparently started taking notes from my dad, I guess.
Jacob’s fingers tightened on my waist.
I looked up at him as his words spun around in my head.Wait.Was he saying that he had been about to kiss me? It felt like every time we were close, something got in the way. And it suddenly felt like I’d been waiting a lifetime to be kissed by him.
We both just stared at each other. I was pretty sure the song had changed but we kept dancing close. I’d never danced like this here before, that was for sure. We were usually hopping around and laughing like the rest of Jacob’s siblings. But today felt different. The air had shifted around us.
Uncle Matt cleared his throat. “Time for dinner.”
Scarlett and the Kiss Thief - Chapter 32 – The OG Kiss Thief
Monday
I carried the bowl of salad that Chloe had finished preparing over to their kitchen table. I’d eaten at Jacob’s house a million times. But for some reason tonight felt different. And I just stood there, not sure of where to sit. Normally I’d just plop down wherever. But nothing about tonight felt normal. It felt monumental.
Jacob pulled over an extra chair for me.
I quickly sat down and was happy that he sat down next to me. I smiled as he served me some chicken pot pie. And then I helped myself to some salad.
His hand fell casually to my thigh. “This looks great,” he said to his mom.
“Just wait until dessert. Scarlett, I have a new cupcake recipe I’m trying out and I can’t wait to see what you think of it.”
“It’s amazing,” Jacob said.
I tried to focus on Aunt Brooklyn instead of Jacob’s hand on my thigh. But his touch was very distracting. “What flavor?” I asked.
“I think I’ve finally captured the perfect mint chocolate chip cupcake.”
“It tastes just like the ice cream,” Max said. He seemed very excited about this.
“Can I have ice cream for dinner?” Alora asked.
“No,” Uncle Matt and Aunt Brooklyn said at the same time.
I laughed. I was excited to try the new cupcake recipe. But this pot pie was pretty amazing too.
Jacob started tracing slow circles on my thigh with his thumb. It made my skin tingle. And it was a little hard to focus on anything else. My skin tingled when the kiss thief touched me too. That had to be a sign. I knew I still had six other guys on my list. But I doubted any of those guys could make me feel like this. And surely a drifter couldn’t. And surely Mr. Halifax couldn’t. I tried to shake away the thought.
“Scarlett,” Jacob said. “Did you hear the question?”
“What?” I said around a mouthful of pot pie.
He laughed. “Coach asked you how the yearbook committee was going. I didn’t realize you’d joined the yearbook committee.”
Crap.I’d completely forgotten about the lie we’d told Uncle Matt in order to get the football roster. I took forever to swallow my bite as I tried to think of what to say. “Yeah, Sophie wanted to. But it was short lived. We went to like two meetings and then quit. It definitely wasn’t for us.”
Jacob laughed.
I smiled up at him.
“What’s going on here exactly?” Uncle Matt asked as he looked back and forth between us.