Page 113 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

Juliet’s expression softens. Her hand circles over my heart. “That…is beautiful.”

I nod. “It is.”

Slowly, Juliet presses up on tiptoe toward me, desire and longing bright in her eyes. I know, if I kiss her, exactly how this will go. I’ll scoop her up and drag her upstairs to my bed.

And I want that, so much.

But not yet.

I duck her kiss, my lips landing gently at her neck, where I whisper, “Juliet.”

“Hmm?” she says faintly as I kiss behind her ear, along her jaw.

“Do me a favor?”

“Sure,” she breathes.

I pull back, holding her eyes. “Go upstairs? There’s a balcony. Just go there, and…wait for me.” Drifting my hand along her back, I tell her, “I won’t keep you waiting long.”

Juliet peers up at me, curiosity in her expression. She lifts her pinkie. “Promise?”

I hook my pinkie with hers and smile. “Promise.”

•Thirty-Five•

Juliet

Standing on the balcony of Will’s home, I stare up at the stars, sparkling like diamonds in the pitch-black velvet sky. Because this is where I was told to be, and if I’ve learned anything in the past month, it’s that Will Orsino can plan the heck out of a romantic date—if he tells me to go stand on a balcony, I’m not going to say no.

The air is warm, a breeze lifting my hair, wrapping me in the scent of roses and wisteria curving up the trellis at the end of the pavers leading to his front door. I shut my eyes and drink in the beauty of this moment, the joy filling my heart.

But then I hear the soft strum of a guitar, and my eyes snap open.

I peer down over the balcony and gasp.

Will. Standing below me, a guitar strap around his shoulder, his hands plucking softly at the strings. And then he starts to sing.

I clutch the railing.

He has abeautifulvoice. Deep and rich, yet soft.

The words weave through the air, wrapping around my heart, like vines that burst into bloom with each lovely line that he serenades into the night.

You were a lightning strike, lighting up my heart.

I was once smitten, twice shy,

But you still gave me a chance, let me play a part,

Let me learn to love you, believed in me when Ididn’t.

And when the curtain came down, roses at your feet,

All I could do was look at you and think,

That if you let me love you for as long as I live,

My life would be complete.

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