Page 18 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

I dropped the act, looked at him a second, then shook my head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” he said.

“Fine.” I sighed again, this time in defeat. “You see that couple out there?”

He looked to where I was pointing.

“I was thinking, sixty years of marriage…and he still looks at her like that.”

Colton nodded. “Ah, girly thoughts.”

Yes, I thought, completely girly, and he didn’t even know the half of it. What I’d really been thinking was: I wish someone would look at me like that.

Checking to make sure he wasn’t looking, I angled my body slightly away from Colton and pulled out my list, only unfolding it the smallest amount, keeping it mostly hidden inside my hands. “Carpe Diem” was written in big bold letters and underlined at the top. Right there, just under the title, was the first and most important item on my list.

1) Fall in love with someone who will love me back.

It was also the most impossible thing. Considering I’d fallen for my gay best friend all those years ago, I knew love wasn’t in the cards for me. I’d had to bury my emotions for Kyle for our relationship to survive. It was a sad fact of life, but not everyone got their happily-ever-after. Some of us just had to settle for mostly-happy-but-missing-something. But still…a girl could dream.

I sighed, looking down the rest of my list. There were no check marks, nothing crossed off as complete, no gold stars to indicate I’d accomplished any of the tasks I’d hope to when writing it. Betty was right. I really did need a life makeover.

“What’s that you’re reading?”

“Nothing.” I jerked my hands closed before Colton could see, hastily refolding and tucking the sheet of paper back into my pocket.

Colton raised an eyebrow (the pierced one, of course).

“It’s none of your business,” I said.

“Whatever you say. It’s not like I care anyway.”

Moments later, just as I started to relax, he smoothly grabbed the end of the paper sticking out of my pocket and jogged a few steps away. The sound that came out of my throat was a combination of banshee in distress and wounded animal. For his part, Colton looked very pleased with himself.

“What are you trying to hide, Sadie?” He flipped the little square back and forth between his fingers as I stumbled toward him, arms outstretched.

“Hand it over,” I said.

Not hearing or not caring about the desperation in my voice, he began to inch the paper open. I tried to snatch the list back—but he held it out of reach.

“Colton, I mean it!”

His grin broadened as I jumped and missed, but seriously, I couldn’t reach my list without scaling his much taller body like a tree. It was a sign of how desperate I was that I even considered it. I must’ve looked silly, but I didn’t care. He literally held the most personal, most humiliating document I’d ever written in his hands. No way was I letting him read that. No. Way.

“Geez, Sadie, what’s the big—oomph!”

Taking advantage of his outstretched position and his assumption that I was some goody-two-shoes, I hooked my leg behind his and gave a quick push. Colton was so surprised he dropped the list immediately and went to the ground like a stone.

“Damn girl,” he said, wheezed really. “Where the hell did you learn that?”

“I know several ninjas, one of whom is a girl who could totally kick your butt.” I sniffed. I’d taken a few self-defense classes from a girl named Snow. She was my age, one of the coolest chicks I knew, and phenomenal at martial arts. Like Bruce Lee phenomenal. Basically, I’d learned from the best. “Ninjas, Colton. I hang with ninjas. I’d keep that in mind the next time you try and mess with me.”

“Noted.” Colton got to his feet, but I must not have hurt him too bad because that grin was still in place. The idiot. “Sister Sadie, prissy librarian by day, ninja warrior princess by night. Who knew?”

“I could’ve seriously injured you, you know,” I said. “I don’t think you understand the kind of mortal peril you just put yourself in.”

Colton shook his head. “Yeah, okay…what was in there anyway? Was it a love letter or something? You look like the kind of girl who’d be into that sort of thing.”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

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