Page 65 of The Love Dare
That earns a giggle from Charlotte. “They’re hydrating sheet masks.”
“They’re fucking terrifying.”
“Maybe ours just weren’t the faces you were hoping to find…?” Harper croons.
“I, uh—” Tyler swallows, his throat suddenly tight. “Well, um?—”
“You’re so bad,” Charlotte mutters with an amused grin.
Cynthia elbows her way to the front of the window. “Winnie is in the bathroom. We’ll go get her. Don’t pay attention to anything this one says while we’re gone.”
“Me?” Harper asks her friends with mock offense as they retreat back into the room. When she turns toward him again, though, the humor on her face is gone, as if it walked off with the others. Her expression shifts to something more thoughtful. “It’s obvious, you know.”
“What?”
“That you’re completely and totally in love with her.”
Tyler remains silent, no urge to deny it.
“That’s what I thought.” Harper nods, a smile passing fleetingly over her lips before a quiver of worry pinches her brows. “From one friend to another, you might not want to be so obvious.”
“What—”
He loses his train of thought the moment Winnie pokes her head through the window, laughter on her rosy lips and asparkle more brilliant than the stars in her eyes. The questions and concerns vanish in a blink, her infectious smile like a beacon, chasing all his inner demons away. Nothing bad ever permeates the aura she creates. It’s like her special superpower—making him feel as if no matter what, everything will be okay. Whenever she’s close, his negativity loses its choke hold and he can finally breathe.
As her luscious mouth twists into a smirk, his own follows suit. She crosses her arms over her chest and arches a brow. “Don’t you think you might be taking this Shakespeare thing a little too far?”
“Get your ass down here, Juliet.”
“I’m on the second floor.”
“It’s like twelve feet.” He shrugs. “I’ll catch you.”
“I don’t know…” She pulls her lower lip between her teeth, eying the drop.
“Come on.” He holds his arms out, ready and waiting. “I overheard the lady at the front desk say there’s supposed to be a meteor shower tonight.”
“Yeah, we heard that, too.”
“You’ve got to come down and watch with me.”
“I want to, but…” She trails off, unsure.
“Who’s the scared one now?”
She rolls her eyes at him with a frown, then turns away as her friends mumble something he can’t quite hear. She whispers hastily back. A jacket gets thrown in her arms, and she stumbles toward the window as if shoved.
“You promise you’ll catch me?”
“I promise.”
She carefully ambles up onto the sill while her friends support her from behind, then hovers. One second turns to two.
“Win,” he goads.
“Ugh. Fine.”
She squeezes her eyes shut and falls…right into his arms.
