Page 65 of Unfriend Me
She swallowed hard and kept her hands on my shoulders, now a few inches taller than me. “I’m not a peacock. I know I try for attention way more than I should, but I’m working on it, I promise. And you know I keep my promises.”
I opened my mouth to let her know I accepted her proposal, but she interrupted me in typical Amelia fashion. “When I promised you I’d quit tagging the Welcome to Auburn Hill sign, I kept that promise. Right? So you know you can trust—”
Several gasps interrupted her verbal tirade. Amelia, realizing maybe for the first time that we had an audience, cut her gaze to the crowd. Her eyes got huge.
Jesus Christ. I hadn’t even officially gotten her back as my girlfriend and she incriminated herself in front of the town. I’d be bailing her out of jail before I could freaking kiss her overactive mouth.
A shout broke the charged silence. Reluctant to look away from Amelia even for a second, I saw the mayor push his way to the front of the crowd out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection, his face was a disturbing red, and the vein trying to pulse its way out of his forehead didn’t bode well either.
“How dare you—”
Amelia threw my hands off her and crouched down to whisper something to the mayor, only half of which I caught.
“…evidence…rethink…quiet.”
Mayor Bennett pulled himself up tall and tugged on his suit jacket. Amelia stood back up and looked far more confident than a few moments ago. The mayor turned to the whispering crowd and announced his verdict, like he had any right to pass judgement anyway.
“I think since Amelia has agreed to stop vandalizing the sign, we should grant her immunity. After all, she did help the town gain a fun nickname.” He looked like he wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it rather than admit the nickname of Hell was a good one.
With a final nod, he walked off and disappeared. Amelia cleared her throat and addressed the crowd, which had grown while Amelia laid it all on the line.
“Okay, nothing to see here, folks. Time to move on with your day.”
She looked down at me and whispered, “See? Not an attention whore anymore.”
I chuckled and pulled her to me, slipping the ring onto my left ring finger. As far as I was concerned, it could be my wedding ring. I was as taken as a married man.
“Amelia, I—”
“But we haven’t heard Titus’s answer yet!” Poppy seemed particularly outraged we hadn’t put our entire relationship on display.
I dropped my forehead to Amelia’s shoulder. Only in Hell did we do everything in public where the town gossips could witness every word. Someone needed to stop this appalling trend. My head started bobbing and I realized Amelia was shaking with laughter. There was nothing funny about this whole thing and, yet, it really was so ridiculous as to be funny. I started laughing with her. Knowing she loved me and wanted to make things work made me feel as light as that fluffy donut I’d had earlier.
I had to act fast. If I didn’t, something else would cut us off and I was done with interruptions. Lifting my head, I grabbed Amelia by the waist and swooped her over my arm, smashing my lips to hers in a swoon-worthy kiss. God, it felt so good to feel her against me, the press of her lips as desperate as mine.
The crowd reacted and I couldn’t fuckin’ care less. Let them watch the whole thing. All that mattered was having Amelia back in my arms. For good. The kiss was indecent and sloppy, full of passion not fit for general audiences. Then again, we were on my private property, so they were the ones in the wrong. When my arms started to shake, I brought her upright again, lowering her slowly down my body until her feet hit the dirt.
Keeping my forehead pressed to hers, our labored breath mingling, I gave her my answer. “I will most certainly give you a second chance. A third and fourth and a millionth if needed. You’re it for me, Amelia. You forever hold my heart and if you hadn’t unfriended me, I would have stayed single forever, pining away for you like a sad sack. But this? You loving me back? This is what my dreams are made of.”
The worry left her eyes and she grabbed my neck to kiss me again. “God, I love you. And what did you do to your hair?” she said against my mouth minutes later.
I trailed my lips against her jawline before taking the time to answer. “Stupid dare.”
She flinched and I realized what I’d said.
“No. Not Douchebag. Bain and the guys dared me to shave my head. So I did.” I lifted a shoulder. “And some other things.”
Amelia let out a whoosh of air. “Okay, good. I mean, I hated the mullet, but it kind of grew on me.” Her voice lowered, stirring my blood. “Gave me something to hang on to when you drove me wild with that tongue.”
Fuck. I was going to embarrass myself in front of whomever was still hanging around. Jeans these days weren’t made with enough extra material to cover erections. I grabbed her hand and yanked her behind me. The crowd had dispersed, leaving only our circle of friends, but I had no time for them either. I needed Amelia.
Somebody let out a wolf whistle, probably Rip, the asshole. I flipped him the middle finger and kept marching on. My truck seemed like a mile away. I just needed to get Amelia alone. The last two weeks had felt like an eternity and I just knew getting inside Amelia would soothe this desperation that clawed at me.
The second we hit the driver’s side of my truck, I wrenched the door open and tossed Amelia in. She giggled the whole way, scooting over just enough for me to fit behind the wheel. I fired up the truck and left a strip of rubber on the street tearing out of there and back to the house I shared with Rip. Or anywhere with some goddamn privacy.
“They all know we’re going back to your house to have sex, you know,” she said between giggles.
I shot her a look, making up my mind. “They’d be wrong. We’re going out to the coast. There’s a sea cave with our name on it and we’re getting our second chance.”
