Page 54 of Jacob

“Oh my God, you walk so fast,” she pants, her hot breath creating billows of clouds into the chilly night.

“Where’s your jacket?” I ask.

“I don’t have one. I got a lift with Violet.”

I pull my arms out of my black leather jacket and lay it over her shoulders like a cloak.

“Thank you.” She grabs the collar and pulls it around her neck before she bends at the waist and grabs her knees. “My lungs are burning. I can’t run,” she says through struggling breaths.

“What are you doing running in the dark?” I push my hands into my pockets to keep them warm, pulling my shoulders up to my neck.

“To get you, silly.”

“I thought you’d be spendingone last night for old times’ sakewith Owen?” I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of his hands on Skye. Jealousy is a familiar but unattractive trait of mine when it comes to her.

“You are such a doofus.” She stands up straight again. “Urgh, my heart is beating so fast. You should feel it.”

I step back.

She’s a temptress. It’d be really easy for me to place my hand between her boobs.

But I don’t.

“If you had stayed around, you would have heard me telling Owen where to shove it and also…” She takes another deep breath, puffing and panting, as she tries to get her words out. “I told him that I’d met someone.”

In utter disbelief, I open my mouth to say something, but no words come out.

“He’s a doofus too. But you’re a gorgeous doofus, and you’re my doofus.” Then she throws me a megawatt smile. One that melts me to my core.

“You haven’t changed a bit, you know that? You still look like the girl who sat beside me in high school.”

“Because I still behave like a child?” she jests.

“No, because you’ve barely aged.”

She taps her foot against mine playfully. “So you were my first kiss?”

“Yeah.” Baring my teeth, I cringe. “About that.”

“I shouldn’t have gotten upset when Lincoln told me. It was a beautiful first kiss.”

“It was?” I ask in disbelief. For me, it was an incredible first kiss. A kiss of all kisses. One I have never forgotten.

“The best. Are you sure you’d never kissed anyone else before me? You French-kissed me like an expert.”

“First kiss,” I confirm. “Also, my first boob squeeze.”

She snorts. “Why didn’t you tell me afterward and then ask me out?”

“Because Owen beat me to it two days later.”

“Even though you told him you’d kissed me?”

“Yeah.”

“Jay,” she whispers and her eyes go soft with emotion.

“Don’t feel sorry for me. I only have myself to blame. I’m not that same guy anymore.”

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