Page 100 of Wanted You More

The face he makes is comical.

“See?” I tease, nudging his arm playfully. “Now our age gap doesn’t seem so weird to you, right?”

He gives me a terse look. “That’s not funny. We’re not talking about us.”

Us.I hate how that jumpstarts my heart.

Lifting my shoulders, I watch as Dad reaches for Kamala’s hand. “He deserves this,” I tell Noah, voice quiet. There’s a lightness in my chest that makes me smile.

When I look back at my friends, I see them laughing too. It makes me feel like I managed to accomplish something today.

“Want to go for a drive?” I ask, bumping my shoulder against his. “I know a spot with a pretty view.”

He slides a hand into one of the pockets of his jeans. “You want to ditch your own party?”

That’s exactly what I want to do. “I’ve seen everyone. Said hello. Hugged people. Opened presentsandthanked them for what I’ve gotten. I’ve done my duty here.”

“You’re missing something,” he says, walking over to the cake and taking a plate. “We can’t have the birthday girl not getting any of her own cake. Now we can go. My truck is out front.”

He holds out his free hand for me to take, which I happily slip my palm into, before we sneak out without so much as a second glance behind us.

CHAPTER FORTY

My socked feetare perched on the dashboard as I eat another piece of cake and wiggle at the sweetness that dances along my tongue.

“You’re doing it again,” Noah muses, shaking his head as he watches my happy food dance.

I cut into the cake and stab it with the plastic fork, holding it out to him. When he stares at the offering without biting, I wave it in front of his mouth until he finally opens and leans in to take the delicious dessert.

As he chews, I take another piece for myself. “It’s good cake, I can’t help it. I’m guessing that was your mom’s doing, considering what happened the last time your dad tried getting a birthday cake.”

Noah leans back, swiping some frosting off his lip with a smile. “He was so proud of himself for ordering that cake. I felt bad when he opened it to see he’d picked up the wrong one.”

They took a ton of pictures of the cake that had a giant penis on it, which is shown off at least one time every time the Kingsley clan gets together. Whoever was expecting a bachelorette cake was definitely disappointed when they saw the cookies and cream birthday one that Ben had special ordered for Noah.

Letting out a content sigh, I offer him another piece. He says, “You don’t have to feed me, you know.”

Yet, he still leans into my offering and wraps his lips around the fork. I do my best not to pay too much attention to the way his tongue drags along his bottom lip as he leans back into his seat, but it’s hard. I’ve never fed anyone anything before, but it’s weirdly erotic.

He points toward my socks. “Did you get those for your birthday?”

Wiggling my toes in the socks that have multi-colored presents printed all over them, I smile at the driver of the truck. “Lincoln got them for me. They came with a matching shirt that saysI’m the gift, but I decided not to wear it. It seemed a little extra, even for me.”

His eyes focus on the socks for a minute or two before he drapes an arm along the back of the seats. “Seems like he knows you well.”

“Linc?” I make a face in contemplation. “I guess. We don’t hang out that much anymore, but we used to go to parties a lot when we weren’t in class together. After he and Kennedy started seeing each other, I stopped third-wheeling it like I used to because I wanted to give them space.”

He turns down the radio playing a popular country song. “Do you think you’ll all hang out again now that you’ve patched things up between them?”

I’m curious as to why he wants to know because his face doesn’t give much away. “It’d be nice if we could all get along. They’re my friends, Noah. You know how much I’ve always wanted to fit in with people. They’re mine.”

A thoughtful noise rises from him as he turns from me to the windshield. The view laid out in front of us is beautiful. Usually, you can’t drive to Meyer’s Peak this time of year because there’s still snow everywhere. But it’s been a light winter so far, so it was easy to get to the top and park.

“How often do you come here?” he asks, watching as the wind moves the tree limbs. “It’s pretty isolated from everything else.”

I can tell he doesn’t approve of that. “It’s my favorite place to think. There were times I’d come here and sit for hours. I’d soak up the breeze. The sounds. The scents.” Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and smile. “I’ve never taken anyone here before.”

The last thing I’m going to tell him is that I haveseenpeople here. I’ve never said anything about what I did with Nick that night because it’s not something I like to think about. It wasn’t the worst choice I’ve made in life, but it hasn’t been my favorite one either. Thankfully, college has put the necessary distance between Nick and me, so I finally stopped hearing from him about a repeat.

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