Page 4 of Win Some Love Some
I’d wanted to be seen and this dress made me feel like that.
Nick pulled his hand back. “Since when do you have a problem with a little engine grease?”
“If you mess up my new dress, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”
“Okay,” he stepped back and looked me up and down in a way that made me feel breathless. When he looked at me like that, I could only believe that he felt what I felt. That he’d been waiting, just like me, for this night. “You look beautiful, Nora.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a blush burn over my skin. “You look nice too.”
“Well,” he said with a smile. “I showered.”
“You know how to make a girl feel special,” I joked. But he pulled me back in for a hug and I breathed in the soapy clean smell of his skin and the fresh laundry scent of his clothes. I could have just spent the night right there, tucked under his arm.
“You are special,” he said and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t forget about me when you go off to school, yeah?”
“Never,” I whispered.
I had one hand on his rock-hard stomach, the other one on his back. I could feel the muscles along his spine and it took everything in me not to run my hand across them. I was hyper aware of his hand against the back of my dress. Could he tell it was so tight I didn’t wear a bra under it? Could he feel my heart beating?
I shook myself away from him so I could be reasonable.
“Soooo…” I said.
“So what?” he said.
“Do not tease me, Nicky.”
He winced. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll stop calling you kiddo if you stop calling me Nicky.”
“That doesn’t seem fair. I’m giving up two nicknames and you’re only giving up one.”
“I’ll stop ruffling your hair.”
“Deal,” I squealed.
We reached for each others hands to shake on it.
Did he notice how our palms slid into place like a key into a lock? His fingers folding perfectly over mine. We didn’t shake hands, we joined them. A moment in time.
“So? Where is it?”
He genuinely looked confused. “Where is what?”
I rolled my eyes, my cousins ran past and jostled me back into his body. “We’re seriously going to play this game every year?”
He shoved his hands into his front jean pockets and checked out the ceiling. A sure sign he was lying. Nick could never lie to my face.
“Nor, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“My birthday present.”
“That’s pretty presumptuous of you.”
“Not when you get me a present every year. Now, how about we don’t do the thing where you pretend you didn’t get me a present and just…gimme, gimme, gimme.” I did a little gimme dance like I was my four-year-old sister and he smiled his full smile. Showed off his teeth and everything. It felt like I won the lottery.
“I don’t know. I figured you were eighteen now, so you were too grown up for all that kid stuff.”
“Presents aren’t kid stuff!”
