Page 71 of Banter & Blushes

“Was it the peppers in the fajitas? If you don’t eat enough queso to work against them, that happens sometimes.” She winces.

“No.” I laugh nervously, then sigh. “I didn’t do that.”

“Sorry.”

I laugh harder and sit on the tile floor. She gives me a puppy-dog face and bends beside me. “Did you throw up?”

I shake my head. “It’s more embarrassing than stomach issues.”

“You can tell me.” She puts her arm on my shoulder and slides closer.

“I had to wash off my makeup.”

Her eyebrows raise, making her eyes even bigger than usual.

“I didn’t want you to get close to my face and see it.”

Her lips smash together and start to shake. I can tell she’s trying not to laugh.

“You can laugh.”

She shakes her head and holds her breath until her cheeks shake too. Then she exhales with a giggle. “That’s either the sweetest or stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Half-sweet, half-stupid. Good to know I haven’t changed.”

She bursts out laughing, and I laugh with her. Partly at my stupidity over worrying about the makeup and trying to hide it, and partly because her laugh is contagious.

After the ridiculousness wears off, she lays her head on my shoulder. The top of it brushes against my cheek and neck, making them hot. Her hair smells like a field of wildflowers after a rainstorm.

I suck in the scent and exhale. She raises her head just enough to look at me. Our eyes meet and she blinks.

I’m having a hard time reading her right now. I want to kiss her. I’ve wanted to kiss her ever since the first time I saw her on set. But does she want me to?

We were young when we dated, and friends before that. I’m bad enough at reading women with whom I don’t have any history or blurred lines. I can’t mess this up or I may never get another chance with her. That is, if I even have one now.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she whispers.

Every vein in my body freezes. I can hardly breathe enough to answer her.

“You do?”

“Yeah. You think it would be stupid to kiss me.”

“That’s not exactly it,” I whisper.

She sits up straighter and faces me. Our faces are now a few inches apart. “It wouldn’t be stupid. It would be sweet.”

I swallow hard. Itwouldbe sweet. The sweetest ever.

“Well they did make me brush my teeth in the makeup trailer.”

She smiles, and I focus on her pearly teeth. Then they disappear when she moves closer and presses her lips to mine.

I shut my eyes and relax as the familiarity of her lips on mine takes me back to when we were together. I wrap my arm around her back, but allow her to lead the kiss. The last thing I want is to come on too strong and scare her away.

She was right. It is sweet. I force myself to focus on that alone and not how stupid it probably is to kiss a girl I care so much about but may not see for another nine years.

CHAPTER 9

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