Never Let Me Forget (Summer of First Kisses Book 2) Page 9

  “Nevermind. You are crying. Come here.”

  When he held his hands down to me, I didn’t even hesitate to reach for them and let him pull me up. With something like a lunge, I fell into his arms and then I really did cry. He felt so strong and safe as we stood there. His broad hands ran in soothing circles across my back, and he murmured gentle words I couldn’t understand but which helped me calm down.

  “I can’t believe he did that,” I said in a stuttering voice. Dante probably wouldn’t be able to understand me either.

  “I can. Doesn’t make it okay though. He’s a rat.” Dante sighed. “At least he lost his job too.”

  “Too? Did I get fired?”

  “You? No way. I did.”

  “For what?”

  He shrugged. “For beating the crap out of him.”

  My mouth literally fell open. “What?”

  “Yeah. You shouldn’t have run out so fast. You missed all the fun.”

  Now I felt even worse. “No. That’s awful. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen. And I told him that I didn’t want his help to make you jealous.”

  “Make me jealous? Is that what that was.”

  “It was his idea. And well, Piper’s too. And a lot of other people too. I sort of tried because I kind of hoped you already were. And that would mean you liked me too. But it didn’t feel right so I told Jeremy I couldn’t take him up on his offer.”

  “His offer.” His words came out like a sarcastic curse.

  “Yeah. But Kat said I needed to just go up to you and ask you to kiss me. So I was going to, but you kept being mean to me.”

  Dante’s hands moved to my hips and pushed me slightly away. “Okay. Slow down. You’re throwing a whole lot of big things at me right now and I’m trying to process it all.” Then he shook his head. “I’m getting the idea that you like me and want to kiss me. Am I right?”

  “Yes. Completely.”

  “So, just to clarify…really, really well because I saw what you did to Jeremy, you want me to kiss you?”

  I nodded because that was all I could do. My lungs were completely frozen as I held my breath waiting to see if this was actually going to happen.

  “Right here? Right now?”

  “Dang it, Dante!” I threw my arms around his neck and pulled his head down as I rose up on my tiptoes. Then I kissed him.

  Oh, what a difference it makes to kiss someone you want so much. The simple kiss—because that was all I knew how to do—sent shivers of light shooting through me. How could two sets of lips have such opposite effects?

  That’s how I knew. It wasn’t just about the kiss. It was about the soaring sensation of knowing that someone returns your feelings. That you are special to them above all others. That you matter and you’re beautiful to them. Because as Dante took over the kiss, pulling me up against him with his strong arms locked around my waist, he communicated all those things to me. It was in the way his thumb stroked my spine and his head tilted to deepen the kiss. I felt his attraction for me in the urgent thrum of his heartbeat when my hands slid down to grip the front of his shirt. And nothing could have convinced me more that I was beautiful to him than the way his arms relaxed as his hands explored the lines of my back and the curve of my hips.

  When his kisses gentled and slowed, he lingered over them as he tried to catch his breath. “Oh man, Sadie. That was even better than I dreamed it would be.” His voice was rough and lethargic, which sent a thrill through me at this further sign that I affected him as much as he did me. “Why couldn’t that have been my first kiss?”

  His arms tightened around me again. “I should have decked that guy one more time. But Sadie, does the first kiss even matter? And really, it wasn’t your first kiss because you didn’t do any of the kissing.”

  I gasped. “You’re right! I didn’t. You don’t think I need to count it?”

  “No way. This was your first kiss because you chose me.” His voice tightened. “And I can’t tell you what that means to me. I wish I could go back and make you my first kiss, but hopefully, it matters as much that this is the first one that has been given out of love. Or at least, I think that’s what’s been making me crazy for the last week or so. It kind of came out of nowhere.”

  “Love?”

  “Shoot. Too fast? Sorry, Sadie, I just don’t know what else to call this. It’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced before. I told you, you’re the forever kind of girl. I knew it then, but I didn’t know I was already doomed. All I knew then was that you were dangerous.”

  “Me? Dangerous?”

  “Oh man. You don’t even know. I’ve been trying for a long time to just see you as a friend, but it just kept getting more and more impossible.”

  “But why fight it? Why not just go for it?”

  “Because you’re leaving for Columbia in a month. What then?”

  My hear felt like a wishing well and Dante had just dropped a rock in it. “I don’t know. But now that we’ve come this far, I’m not willing to go back.

  “Me either. One thing you can be sure of. I’m never going to let you forget that you belong with me.” He ran his hand up my cheek and threaded his fingers into my hair, loosening my ponytail. But I didn’t care, because he kissed me then and the second kiss was every bit as good as my first true kiss.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It turns out that having a boyfriend is bad for sleeping.

  After Dante took me inside to get my things and say goodnight to Tyra, Anthony, and Calvin, he walked me to my car where we, ahem, said a long goodnight. And once I was home in bed, he kept texting me. Sappy things. Teasing things.

  Articles about how long-distance relationships really can work out.

  Suffice it to say that when my mom knocked on my door to come babysit Madison the next morning, I was not ready to wake up.

  Which was why I did the bare minimum to get dressed before I went out to the living room. That and because London was mewling insistently that I feed her.

  “Morning, Madi,” I called as I got London her food and new water.

  She was laying on the couch watching some cartoon with too many neon colors and high pitched character voices.

  “Hi! What are we going to do today?”

  “Take naps?”

  She scrunched up her face. “No way. Let’s do something fun. You were so grumpy yesterday. You’ve been grumpy a lot.”

  I probably had been. “Sorry.” But I smiled as I took a gallon of milk out of the fridge. “I won’t be any more… promise.”

  Just as I pulled out a box of cereal, someone rang the doorbell.

  “I’ll get it,” Madison said, jumping off the couch and streaking across the room like lightning.

  Too late, the thought crossed my mind that it might be Dante. “Madi, wait,”

  “Dante!” Madi squealed.

  “Hey there,” he said.

  “What happened to your eye?”

  “Something hit it. Is Sadie around?”

  “She’s in the kitchen. Are those donuts for me?”

  “Sure there’s plenty.”

  I tried to come to grips with the fact that he was going to see me in faded pajama shorts and a t-shirt with a cartoon dolphin on the front. At least he was looking less than his usual perfect self. “Something hit your eye, huh?”

  “Yeah. Jeremy’s fist. I woke up with quite the shiner, didn’t I? At least I’m pretty sure Jeremy looks worse than I do. I might have even broken his nose.”

  I winced. “Dang. Any chance Mack will consider giving you another chance?”

  “Heck no. I’m lucky he’s only taking the cost of repairing the bar out of my last check and not filing charges. But that’s okay. I’ve already got leads on another job.”

  As he spoke, he put the box of donuts on the counter and opened the lid like he was presenting a diamond bracelet or something. “Hungry?”

  “Dante, if you’re going to keep stopping by with breakfast, can we maybe talk about som
e healthier options?”

  He grinned. “What? Tate told me once that Holy Donuts are the way to a girls heart.”

  Looking down at the shiny, sweetly scented rounds of fried dough, I said, “He wasn’t wrong, but I’m practically putting on pounds smelling them.”

  “Whatever. Have a couple and we’ll go swim it off. What do you say? Or, I drove by the beach and saw that it’s a great day for paddleboarding. Even for squirt here.”

  “Hey. Don’t call me squirt either. Can we go, Sadie? Please?”

  “Sure. Go put your suit on.”

  Madi whooped an ran out of the room.

  “Finally,” Dante said, moving toward me and pulling me into his arms. He kissed me on gently, as if he was savoring it, then sighed. “Man, I’ve been waiting for that a long time.”

  I laughed. “It’s been twelve hours.”

  “I know. See, it’s just not going to work for me to have you all the way in Columbia while I’m somewhere else. But, I’ve come up with a brilliant idea. Mind if I have a donut?”

  I blinked at the swift change in topic. “Of course not. Here I’ll get you a glass of milk.” I pulled away from him to get a glass, but he caught my hand and held onto it as I opened the cabinet. It made me laugh, but I didn’t pull my hand away. It felt too good. I poured the milk for him with one hand, then reached back to get a cup for myself.

  When I turned back, he’d picked up one of the donuts and started eating it. It was only then that I saw letters on the inside of the box. “What does that say?”

  He looked down. “Huh. How did that get there? I guess we’ll have to eat these and find out.” He picked up another donut and held it up to my mouth. I took a bite, and it even though it melted in my mouth with the perfect combination of savory, buttery donut and sweet glaze, I was way more focused on the words.

  I untangled my fingers and picked up another donut. Then another one. Soon, I had five donuts in my hands and a warm glow in my heart. It said, “I’m going to New York with you.”

  “What do you mean? How?”

  He shrugged. “If you want to be a chef someday, which I do, and maybe open my own restaurant, which I also hope for, New York has some of the best culinary schools in the world. I’ve just always thought it was too big of a dream to tackle, you know? I figured I’d just work my way up at a restaurant here locally and save up the money I need. This will be harder, but you are the best reason in the world to reach for something bigger. I don’t have everything figured out yet, and it might take me a while to save up enough money to join you there, but I wanted you to know that was my plan.”

  This. This was what I wanted. This was the romance that I dreamed of every time I read about it in some book—Dante cared so much about me that he was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make happen. I wasn’t just some girl that he could date for hile and be satisfied. No, he wanted to keep me. Which was perfect, because I wanted to keep him too.”

  “You have never looked sexier than you do right now. And it’s not just because you have icing on your lips.”

  It was only when I put my arms around his neck to kiss him that I remembered I was holding donuts, but I dropped those back in the box quickly enough and focused on showing him exactly how much I approved of his idea. I pulled away from our kiss just long enough to say, “By the way, I love you too. And I think you are the forever kind of guy.”

  “Hallelujah,” Dante said, angling toward my mouth again.

  “Ooooh, gross!” Madison had come back. “Are you guys going to do that all day?”

  I smiled at Dante before answering her. “You can bet your twiddle sticks we are. Have a donut.”

  Epilogue

  “Hey, Liv—race you to shore.”

  I looked away from the endless line of the horizon and focused on Cooper. We’d been out on our paddleboards for longer than anyone else. I had no idea why because the swells were tall and glassy—the best kind. It could be intense, but I liked it that way.

  Sadie and Dante had headed in first. Not surprising since all they wanted to do was hold hands and stare at each other. Ugh. And also, sigh.

  Before they’d started dating a few days ago, Dante would have stayed out as long as Cooper and I. Now he was more interested in other things.

  “You never get tired of getting beat, do you?”

  “Not by you,” Cooper called back. He watched the pattern of the waves, working with them as he turned his board around in an arc and got into position.

  I did the same thing. With my board pointed toward shore, I realized just how far out we were. “Ready?”

  He grinned and nodded. “Go.”

  Cooper surge forward. Not surprising since he had more upper body strength than I did. But I had something he didn’t. Patience.

  Moving slowly at first, I kept an eye over my shoulder for a good wave to come through as I paddled. When I saw the right one heading in, I paddled hard, picking up my momentum and timing it just right to catch the wave with my board angled to make the most of it. I coasted then, letting it carry me to save my energy. Cooper was about ten yards ahead of me, but he always struggled at the sandbar when the waves broke. He didn’t pay as much attention to the wave since he trusted in his strength.

  But he was shooting forward today. Dang. Even though every muscle in my body screamed in protest, I pushed harder. I would not go down without a fight.

  When we hit the sandbar, Cooper surprised me by riding through the tumultuous surf perfectly. He glided into the shallows with perfect form and turned around to smirk at me.

  “Okay, you got this one,” I said, coming in right behind him. Once I hit the sand, I hopped off and gave him a high five.

  Cooper returned it with a slap that hurt, but I’d never wince over something like that. I would have been offended if he’d gone gentle on me.

  “Darn right I did. It’s about time too.”

  Before I could respond, two girls in bikinis came up to him, thrusting their hips out at an alluring angle and flashing brilliant smiles at him.

  “That was awesome,” one of the said. “We couldn’t take our eyes off you the whole time.”

  I just bet they couldn’t.

  Annoyed and knowing they wouldn’t leave Cooper alone any time soon, I took the strap off my ankle and carried my board up the beach.

  “Can I help you with that?”

  I paused at the question, blinking at the owner of the masculine voice that had asked it. He was a decent looking guy and probably nice, but there was no way. “Thanks, but I’ve got it.”

  I set it down behind Sadie’s umbrella. The four boys had gone to play volleyball at the net next to the dunes behind us, so I found myself having to choose who to hang out with again. The boys or the girls. If Cooper played too so the number would be even, I’d much rather play than take it easy, but this whole first kiss thing had been driving me crazy. Maybe this was a good time to talk about it. So I sat down and stretched my legs out in front of me. At least I could work on my tan.

  Piper shook her head at me. “Liv, that guy wasn’t offering to carry your board because he didn’t think you could do it. He was using it to break the ice.”

  I looked over at him. He was there with a group, a bunch of college-aged girls and guys. The girls currently hitting on Cooper were probably friends of his. “Are you sure.”

  “Positive.”

  Then the guy looked back over at me and nodded his head. “Oh.”

  “See. I swear, girl. It’s like your guy radar is defective or something.”

  Sadie laughed and put her book down. She must have been listening even though she’d looked like she was lost in another world as usual. “But her lures are working just fine, whether or not she wants them to be.”

  “I don’t have any lures.”

  “You have plenty of them,” Piper said. “You’re just so…unaware. We’re going to have to fix that somehow or you’re never going to get your kiss.”

  “I know.
I wanted to talk to you all about that.”

  Brittany, who hadn’t been part of the group when our first kiss challenge began, sat up and took a drink from her water bottle. “You guys want me to go away and let you chat.”

  “No way,” I said. “The more help the better. Especially from all of you feminine people.”

  Brittany raised an eyebrow. “You’re not feminine? You look like it to me.”

  “I guess. I mean, I have all the right equipment, but I don’t how to use it.”

  “You don’t have to use it,” Piper said. “They can see it just fine.”

  “You know what my problem is, don’t you?”

  “What?” They all asked, almost in unison.

  “I don’t know how to be romantic. I just can’t do the flirty hair-twirling or the meaningful glances. And I can’t seem to relax when I guy seems interested. I just get all tense and self-conscious inside.”

  Piper took her sunglasses off and chewed one arm of her sunglasses. “That doesn’t seem that hard to fix. I’ll think about it and come up with a plan. Don’t worry. This is going great, right? I mean. You’re the only one left and it’s only the middle of July. We have a whole month to make this happen.”

  Knowing myself the way I did, that wasn’t nearly long enough. Unless…

  “I need it to be a competition.”

  “What?” Piper looked surprised. I didn’t blame her.

  “I stink at dating, but I hate to lose.” It was so simple. All I had to do was race someone.

  “Tell you what, Piper. I know it won’t be your first kiss, but let’s race to see who can kiss someone first.”

  “Okay,” Piper said. “You’re on.”

  “Wait, you aren’t already seeing anyone are you?”

  “Me? No.”

  Sadie grinned. “I think you should see who can kiss one of the English twins first.”

  I clenched my teeth. No way did Sadie know that I liked Cooper. No one knew. “That’s a terrible idea. They’re like our brothers.”

  “Not like my brothers,” Piper said. “But there is no way I’m kissing Zane. Cooper, maybe.”