Page 35 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

Jimmy’s face darkened. “Who is this clown?”

Katie was happy to see Chase and kept her gaze on him while she made introductions. “Jimmy, this is Chase. Chase, this is my ex.”

Chase didn’t even look at Jimmy, just kissed her forehead and said, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Hey, man, we were having a conversation,” Jimmy said.

Selena came up alongside Jimmy and slipped her arm through his. “Everything okay, honey bear?”

Jimmy mumbled something Katie couldn’t hear as Chase led her past them.

“Where are we going? What about your booth?” she asked.

“Eric’s watching it for me. Thought you might need to go somewhere quiet to cool off.” Chase squeezed her waist and she felt better just having him near.

“Can you believe he just acted like it was no big deal? Like we had just been classmates or something?”

He took her around the side of the bathrooms and leaned back against the stone building. “I told you he was a douche.”

“Serious douche,” she agreed.

“King of the douche nerds.”

She gave a little laugh and looked at her cell phone. “Ugh, I have to be at the kissing booth in thirty minutes.”

He grinned and set her new hat on top of her head, to her surprise. She had forgotten she was still gripping it. Bending his head down under the brim, he waggled his eyebrows and asked, “Don’t suppose you want to practice a little?”

She laughed as she leaned against him, her anger ebbing away as they kissed. Chase made her laugh. Made her feel good about herself. And both of those things were going to become very addicting.

CHASE DIDN’T WANT to let Katie go. They leaned against the concrete building, oblivious to the titters and whispers. Eventually, Chase had been the one to pull back, knowing if he made her late, there’d be hell to pay. Katie seemed to be one of those rare souls who kept her word.

It was an admirable quality in most instances, but being punctual so she could kiss a bunch of other dudes was not one of them.

“We better get going if you don’t want to be late.”

She looked disappointed, but said, “Yeah, you’re right. Everyone’s going to want to kiss the soon-to-be former Canyon Queen.”

He knew she was making a joke out of it, but he didn’t smile. He didn’t want anyone else getting a taste of Katie’s sweet lips.

Walking her to the booth, Chase said hi to Gracie McAllister, who owned The Local Bean Coffee Shop and currently occupied the kissing booth. The petite blonde gave one of the Rock Canyon High School football players a little kiss and waved him off. “That’s it, Jake, move on.”

The next kid moved up and said, “Ready to rock my world?”

“No, Tommy, you’re too young for me to rock.” Peck. “Okay, shoo.”

Just watching it, putting Katie in Gracie’s place, made Chase growl. “I’m right next door.”

Katie smiled up at him so sweetly it hurt his chest and he wasn’t sure why. He walked back into his booth and said to Eric, “Thanks for watching my booth.”

Eric grinned. “Anytime, buddy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can get in a last-minute kiss with Miss Gracie Lou.”

Chase laughed. It was a well-known fact that Eric had been carrying a big, flaming torch for Gracie since he had carried her out of the Valentine’s Day singles’ auction over his shoulder. No one knew what had happened that night and neither of them had talked about it, but Eric hadn’t stopped looking for ways to antagonize Gracie ever since. The two acted like arch-nemeses in public, but sometimes Chase wondered if they didn’t have something going on they didn’t want anyone to know about.

Like you and Katie?

Chase kept checking his watch until it reached three and Gracie’s voice pealed out over the megaphone. “Changing of the lips! Changing of the lips! Come give your Canyon Queen, Miss Katie Connors, a smooch! Only a dollar!”

Chase glared when he saw the kid who had delivered their pizza walk by and turn right.

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