Page 59 of Ice Princess

I nod again and wind my window up. A moment later, mom’s car zooms in front of mine and she gases it down the highway.

I move off at a more legal speed and peek at Rebel from the corner of my eye. Immediately, I notice what put mom in such a foul mood. Rebel Hart looks like a woman recently ravished. Her face is flushed pink, her hair is tousled from my fingers, and her mouth is wet and slightly swollen.

My conscience hammers into me.

You impatient, insensitive bull dog. Look at what you did to her.

Rebel clears her throat, pulls the sun visor down and starts raking her fingers through her hair to get it back in order. While it helps a bit, it’ll take a lot more than her finger combing to hide the evidence of our kiss.

The caveman inside me steps up, banging his chest.

Not sorry. Mine. My woman.

I wrench my gaze away and swipe a thumb over my bottom lip.

My mouth is wet too.

Rebel clears her throat again. “S-so…”

I wait for her to say more.

She doesn’t.

Awkward silence fills the car.

I don’t look at her. I don’t know what I’ll find in her eyes when I do. Disdain? Disgust?

“Uh… y-your mouth, I mean yourmom.” She blows out a breath. I can practically hear her heart beating out of her chest. Or is thatmyheart? Rebel tries again. “Your mom probably bought that, didn’t she? I mean,Ibought it.”

I arch a brow at her.Bought what?

“But I still don’t think it’s enough to convince her we’re together.”

So what? She wants us to do more kissing? I’m okay with that.

“I have a feeling she’s going to test us during dinner.” Rebel hides her face behind a curtain of blonde hair as she rummages through her purse for something.

Finally, she pulls out a bottle of pink lipgloss and uncaps it. “I’m usually good with parents, but Carol Kinsey won’t be easy to fool. We, our, you and I…” Rebel blushes prettily again. “The physical part is one thing, but your mom won’t respect our fake relationship if that’s all we can do to prove we’re together.”

I’m only half-listening, stuck at the ‘you and I’ part of her sentence. Why did that sound so good to my ears?

Rebel coats the mouth I’d just kissed in her lipgloss and it’s as if she ingested a magical elixir. Her shoulders straighten out and the confidence returns to her voice and mannerisms. “Just follow my lead later, alright?”

I nod, feeling quite certain that I’d follow Rebel Hart anywhere.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

REBEL

When we arriveat the restaurant, I stick close to Gunner’s side. However, I stop short of looping my arm around his elbow the way Carol is doing to her husband Sheriff Kinsey.

There is no way I can touch Gunner right now.

No way I can look at him.

Not with that kiss standing like a big white elephant between us.

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