Page 2 of Crazy for You (Loco, Texas 1)

A few seconds later, the porch and the inside lights were shut off, and Deana was left alone, surrounded by chunks of broken pumpkin.

Deana avoided the library and Miz Velma as much as possible. She was haunted by Miz Velma’s words, which turned out to be very true. The popular girls she had tried to impress had used what happened as new fodder to tease and ridicule her, and she had never become more to them than the butt of their jokes.

So she’d kept quiet, fading into the background at school, and focused on her grades. After that night, though, strange things started happening. Strange, awful accidents. There had been the stage face-plant in eighth grade, when she’d fallen face-first in front of the whole town, breaking her nose just as she was reaching for her diploma. The pale pink dress her mother had spent a month making her had been soaked with blood, and she’d had two black eyes and a swollen nose for the whole month of June.

Freshman year, hoping to change her image again, she’d tried out for the dance team. Despite the other girls snickering at her, she had done pretty well. Even made it into the top three.

Unfortunately, she kicked too wide and sent Becky Jackson flying into Molly Sherman, who ended up with a mild concussion. She hadn’t made the team, so she’d joined the Math Magicians and peer counseling. Neither activity boosted her popularity, but at least it had looked good on her college applications.

Sophomore year. Mr. Wharton had approached her to tutor one of the senior football players. The guy had been failing math, and despite her agreement, she had dreaded it. Her arch nemesis, Leah Paulsen, had come up with the ingenious name, Disaster Deana, and the football players had enjoyed chanting it every time she managed one of her klutz-tastic accidents. The last thing she needed was to spend her time and effort on one of the lack-witted jerks who enjoyed making her life a living hell.

Still, she found herself waiting after school in the bleachers as football practice concluded. After fifteen minutes, she finally got up, deciding that her new pupil wasn’t coming and she was off the hook. As she started down the bleachers, her ankle turned, and she went airborne, her shoulder hitting the hard metal first as she started to tumble. Her whole body rolled once, twice, each twist causing a new sharp, searing pain to shoot from her hip, her arm, her thigh.

She felt hands on her as her fall came to an abrupt halt, and a worried male voice said, “Shit, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

She hadn’t been able to answer before the world tumbled into total darkness.

* * *

Deana woke up groggy and sore. Her mouth was as dry as the Sahara Desert and tasted like mothballs. She opened her eyes, blinking and squinting against the brightness, searching the white walls for any sign of where she was. The steady beep reached her ears, and she looked up next to her bed to find a medical monitor. There were rails along the bed, and she could feel her bare butt against a scratch sheet. She lifted the blanket on her and found she was wearing a cotton hospital gown.

“Hey, you’re awake.”

She jerked her head toward the deep voice, and her head swam a bit.

“My head…”

“Yeah, I think they gave you a dose of something to dull the pain. You took quite a tumble.”

She finally noticed the boy sitting next to her. Actually, boy was not a good description. Hunk of gorgeousness, maybe? Tousled dark hair, green eyes, and a square jaw with the shadow of scruff across his cheeks made him appear older. His accent was pure Texan, yet still she couldn’t place him.

“Who…” She swallowed hard against the dryness, “…are you?”

“Sorry, we didn’t get a chance to officially meet. I’m Finn Meyers.” Warm fingers wrapped around her hand and squeeze gently. “I’m the dummy you were supposed to tutor.”

Her brain had tried to tie things together, but all she had managed was “You were there when I fell?”

“Yeah, scared the hell out of me too,” he said.

Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it was the way his smile blurred into a perfect face, but she squeezed his h

and back, whispering, “My hero.”

And as she fell back into a drug-induced stupor, a rough chuckle followed her down.

* * *

When Deana finally made it back to school, she had developed a Texas-size crush on Finn, whose sweet, good-old-boy attitude made him all the more endearing. He wasn’t Math Magician smart by any means, but he was a lot smarter than the other blockheads she’d found herself tutoring. When they’d made it through his first makeup test, he’d picked her up, twirling her around in his arms, and she had held on tight, taking in the warm, hard planes of his body and the light scent of Irish Spring soap. She’d never wanted him to let her go.

The day Finn had really stolen her heart for good, though, had been a warm November night when she’d been reading a word problem out loud. She’d turned to look at Finn, and her voice had died as his mouth swooped in and took hers. Her first kiss, and it had been sloppy, wet, and perfect. He’d pulled away with a smile, his voice a deep rumble that made every nerve in her body explode.

“I like you, De.”

Deana had been over the moon with happiness, and had spent the whole weekend singing, dancing, and whistling around the house, without a single accident.

Monday morning, though, Deana had quickly realized that Finn was avoiding her. He ducked into the bathroom when she waved or turned his back to talk to someone else when she came out of class. She’d been puzzled and hurt at first. Even during their tutoring sessions, when there was no way to avoid her, he had pulled his arm away from her touch a time or two.

Finally, anger smoldered to the surface, and she slammed the textbook she’d been reading closed. “What is the matter with you?”

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