Page 16 of Like You Know

Now I was the one distracted.

“Do you want to hear a secret?” I blurted out.

“I love secrets.” He turned his head in my direction, and I angled to face him more.

“Nicola’s mom is having an affair with her driver.” I kept my voice low, even though no one could’ve heard me over the sound of the engines.

Jet blinked, and one corner of his mouth quirked up. “That ... was not what I was expecting.”

We both chuckled, then he asked, “Are you going to tell her?”

“Oh, she already knows. She doesn’t like her mom’s third husband, so she doesn’t give a shit, but it would cause a massive scandal if it got out.”

“Right, because she’s a movie star and all that.”

“Yep. And the husband is a producer. Very high-profile divorce if it comes to that.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” He nodded sagely, then bugged his eyes out. “Scandalous.”

“I know, right?” I rolled my eyes.

“I thought you were about to tell me one ofyoursecrets.” He stared at me with those eyes that made me feel naked—and not in a good way.

I leaned back slightly. “I don’t give up my secrets so easily, but I can tell you one about Luke.”

The turbulence only lasted another ten minutes, but Jet relaxed way before that as I chatted about Devilbend gossip. His eyes lost that panicked quality, and his hand no longer gripped mine as if it were the only thing keeping him from plummeting to his death. In fact, his thumb started to rub circles on the back of my hand while we talked. And I let him. It felt good.

The conversation naturally shifted to other topics, and I stayed sitting next to Jet long after the seat belt sign turned off. Once again, he’d lulled me into a sense of security. Maybe he was using some kind of magic to make me keep talking.

I just couldn’t figure him out, and that bugged me.

At a lull in the conversation, I studied his profile. The deep set of his eyes made them look even darker, and his jawline was sharper from the side, dulling that baby face he had front-on.

“I don’t get you,” I said before I’d even decided to say anything.

“What is there to get?” He shrugged and flashed me a smile.

“That’s just it, I don’t know. You know all our secrets ...”

“Because you just spilled them all!”

“... but we hardly know anything about you.”

“What do you want to know?” He looked like an open book, with his expression calm if a bit amused, his body relaxed and angled toward me.

I had a feeling he really would honestly answer any question I asked in that moment.

“What’s with all the dates?”Thatwas the question my stupid brain decided to throw out first? I mentally dragged a hand down my face.

Jet looked as if he was fighting a smile. “You want me to explain the concept of dating? Surely you’ve been on a date before?”

“Shut up, smartass!” I whacked him in the shoulder—his very solid, sculpted shoulder. “You know what I mean. Why are you taking all these girls out but then never on a second date? They all gush about how wonderful you are.” I pretended to faint. “How you’re a perfect gentleman, and so attentive, yet none of them seem to be mad about not getting a second date. You’re obviously not just trying to get laid—the whole school would know you were a man-whore by now if you were. So what’s your deal? What’s the agenda?”

“Agenda?”

“Everyone has an agenda.”

He frowned slightly, not liking or maybe not agreeing with what I’d said. “Maybe I’m just looking for a girlfriend. That’s what dates are for.”

---