Page 15 of Summer Ever After
His lips part into a smile as his blue eyes gaze at me. “You’re just the same, Jane. No matter how hard I try, I can never get you to flirt back.”
“And you never will. You’re like a brother to me.”
That’s the story I keep telling myself.
I grab my purse, pulling out my wallet. The folded pink papers of tropes and single men fall to the ground. Walkerbends like he’ll pick it up for me. All I can think about is how mortified I’d be if he saw what was on those papers.
“I got it!” I quickly lower to grab them first, but before I can get there, my forehead smacks into the top of his head.
“Ouch!”
We both stay crouched, grabbing our heads, abandoning the papers altogether.
“Am I bleeding?” I wince in pain as I lift my fingers to show him the spot.
“No, but I think you’ll have a bump there.”
His eyes stay on me, glancing over my face. We’re inches apart, thanks to the events of the last five seconds, but neither one of us moves. I should move. Iwillmove. But for one split second, I stay and stare back. It’s been years since I’ve had feelings for him. Even then, it was just the typical teenage crush driven by my obsession with romance, but there will always be a corner of my heart that’s affected by Walker Collins.
He’s my first and only love.
His lips lift, and then he does the unexpected.
He reaches for me, a slow movement that kicks my heart into a full-blown pounding. His knuckles graze the side of my cheek. It’s just his knuckles, but it’s a powerful thing. He takes my hair in between his fingers and pulls. I hold still, paralyzed as I watch.
“You have a piece of rice stuck in your hair.” He frees it from the strands and holds it up so I can see.
I’m dumbfounded, weakly blinking back at him with no response. The force of that trope in real life is even better than the books and movies.
“It must’ve gotten caught while you were choking.”
“Yeah, must’ve.” The words come out breathy—it’s a miracle they made it out at all.
He grabs my folded papers and stands, tugging me out of the moment.
“I’ll take that.” I jump to my feet and yank the lists out of his hands, shoving them back into my purse, safe and sound.
“Whoa.” His smile widens. “Is that some kind of love letter to Beau you don’t want anyone to read?”
“A love letter to Beau?” I force a crazy laugh while shaking my head profusely. “Yeah, right.”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“No!” I spurt, unsure why I feel embarrassed.
His dark brows lift. “But you want him to be?”
“No,” I scoff.
Walker eyes my cocktail dress as if he’s on to my plan.
“We’re just friends.” He doesn’t need to know the details of the Summer of Jane Hayes. Talk about embarrassing. “Anyway, thank you for the Heimlich.”A phrase I never thought I’d say.“It was good to see you again.” I put some money on the table and back away.
“That’s it? You’re just leaving?”
“I’ve choked and almost split my head open. I think I’ve done enough damage for one night.”
“I’m leaving too. I’ll walk you out.”
