Page 110 of Say You'll Stay

She towers over me just a little, and I’m not complaining, honestly. It’s maybe an inch or two and I am that much closer to her chest. “Come on, I got you a present.”

Her eyes light up as we make our way to my car. Yes, car. The one we were in on her birthday and the one from the night we met. I’m thinking this car is good luck for me. For us, rather.

“What did you get me?”

“You’ll see.”

Chapter44

Allie

Lucas Kennedy is…

Handsome. A dream.

He should dress up more often if he’s going to look like one of those supermodel guys that wear suits in the perfume commercials.

We all know the ones.

He even tamed his usually messy hair. The kind that takes zero effort on his part and somehow forces women’s bras—I’m certain—to magically fall from their bodies along with their panties. All because of his sexy bedhead. Sex head? No, that doesn’t sound right. The hairstyle completed by his pillow. He messes up my hair all the time, and it certainly doesn’t look good after he does it—even if he says otherwise.

“Is that gel in your hair?” He swats my hand away from his head. I’m pretty sure that’s hair gel. He put in an effortfor once.

He urges me forward at my lower back toward his car. I’m not so against his actual car these days. If anything, I cringe a little, thinking about that first time I was in it, but maybe there will be better memories in it.

He seems kind of funny. “Are you feeling okay? Your hand is shaking.”

“Oh stop,” he snorts. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”

Well, yeah. I have a nice dress on, I’m going to eat free food with a handsome man that makes me laugh, and I’m going to spend the night with him knowing he’s going to do everything in his power to convince me to live with him when I already started packing my things days ago.

I’d say I am more than okay.

“I’m great, so what did you get me?”

He helps me sit in the car with a kind of grin I know promises trouble. He reaches into the back seat to grab something. I’ll bet it’s something to make me uncomfortable. Probably something like—

Yep. That’s a definite nope from me.

He holds it up and my eyes immediately shoot to the front of the house to make sureour childis not seeing this.

“No.”

Lucas’ grin spreads across his face. “Yes.”

“Absolutely not.” I’m stepping out of my comfortable little zone with him with a lot of things, but no. I draw the line at that.

“Allie,” he bites his lip because he knows I think it’s cute and he could convince me to do just about anything, like have sex in a classroom. “Come on, you’ll like it.”

What kind of sixty-nine shades business is this?

I can read the package clearly, and no. I know he likes to push my buttons—andpush my buttons. This is literal power in his hands at the push of an actual button.

“If you mean later, sure. Maybe.” Hell no.

Lucas shakes his head. “I mean now. During dinner.”

“Lucas!”

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