Page 64 of The Dating Game

“Yeah, she should come,” Silas agrees. “And hey, Will, maybe while we’re there you could pick up some kissing tips from the animals.” With a booming chuckle he nudges Lee and the pair of them hurry away, laughing like a pair of hyenas.

I turn to Brooke, who’s smiling at me with a tender expression on her face.

“What?” I ask.

“Oh nothing,” she hums. “It’s just really sweet watching you with them. And the other kids too.” She tucks a wayward curl back into place. “I can tell they all like you.”

“I like them too,” I say honestly. Then, unable to resist touching her any longer, I reach out and grab her hand, rubbing her knuckles with my thumb. “Although I could’ve gone without the interruption.”

“Oh did they interrupt something?” she asks coyly, cocking her head in mock confusion. “I can’t quite recall what we were doing when they walked up.” She runs her free hand up my arm, as she smirks up at me. “You might have to remind me.”

“Remind you?” I say roughly. Brooke nods. I’m about to do just that when the sound of more teenagers streaming out of the church fills my ears. Once again we jump apart.

“Um, we should probably cool it on the kissing,” Brooke whispers, cheeks a pretty red.

“Yeah,” I agree with regret. I scrub a hand over the back of my neck, trying to remember why I wanted to come on a mission trip when I could’ve just stayed in Tucson and taken Brooke salsa dancing a few more times. Maybe walked her to her door and kissed her without fear of interruption—

“Hey, Will! Capture the flag rematch?” One of the kids hollers. Right. I shake my head to clear it. I absolutely want to be here. I’m being stupid. Letting my physical attraction to Brooke drive the bus. I inhale deeply. I like Brooke for so much more than her appearance. Kissing her may have temporarily made me forget about anything but my physical attraction to her, but now that I’m a little bit separated from the intoxicating haze she cast over me I can remember all of the other wonderful things about her: her humor, her genuine care for the kids, her playful spirit, her love of simple, everyday things—

“You really want a rematch?” Brooke’s answering taunt to the kids makes me lose my train of thought. “Are you sure your egos can take the hit of losing to the girls twice in a row?”

I laugh. I can’t forget her competitive side—another thing I like about her. The boys all start hollering and a second later Brooke is calling the girls over for a pow-wow. She grins at me over her shoulder as she disappears among them and my heart skips out of my chest to go with her.

When she breaks up with me in a few weeks, will I be able to get it back?

Somehow, I don’t think so.

Chapter 24

Brooke

I’mcertainthatthefact that I wake up the next day with a blissed out smile on my face, has nothing to do with me having kissed Will last night.

Yup. My wide smile has nothing to do with that. I repeat,nothing.

So we kissed. That doesn’t mean Sydney was right about us.

It doesn’t mean we’re meant to stay together past the requisite two months.

And it certainly doesn’t mean I’m falling for the guy. No, ma’am.

The thing is…Will is a really good kisser. Like really good. I’ve never been kissed the way Will kisses. He kissed me with this unwavering attention, like every part of him was caught up completely in me. And oh boy, did I enjoy all that attention.

Of course then we got caught—which was mortifying, and definitely shouldn’t happen again. After our game of capture the flag (during which I took Will prisoner so many times for coming onto our side that I started to wonder if he wastryingto get caught—a suspicion that was confirmed when I was frogmarching him to our prison and he whispered so only I could hear, "Walk a little slower, Miss Garza, let me enjoy having the prettiest prison warden there ever was on my arm a little longer") everyone swarmed inside to claim bathroom stalls before bed. Will and I hung back a bit from the group under the pretense of making sure all the kids were present and accounted for.Once everyone was back in the building he pulled me aside, looking so gravely serious that self-consciousness set in and I blurted, “I’m sorry I kissed you!”

At first he looked taken aback but then he gave me a rakish smile and said, “I’m not.” I can still feel the remnants of the blush those two words brought to my skin. His expression turned penitent, though, as he took a step back from me. “But we probably shouldn’t do that again—not while we’re chaperoning this trip. There are too many impressionable teenagers watching us. I think I can talk to Silas and Lee and turn what happened into a teaching moment, about, you know,” his eyes drifted to my lips then and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow, “self-control.” He cleared his throat before letting out a ragged half-laugh. “But probably best if I don’t have to give multiple lessons on the subject.”

“Of course, you’re right,” I quickly agreed, even as disappointment swirled through me. In principle I knew he was right, but even so, that kiss had been so incredible I hated to have to wait so long to share another one. Not wanting to say good night to him just yet I opened my mouth to ask him if he was feeling ready for the next day but he cut me off before I got any words out.

“We’d better get to bed,” he said and my heart sunk to the floor. Unreasonable as it may have been, all I could think at that moment was that he only wanted to spend time with me if we were kissing. Flashbacks to my time with Van assaulted me. How easily I seemed to have fallen into the same trap with a guy.

How right I’d been to protect my heart from that pain.

But then he added with a rueful grin, “We are chaperones, after all. We should probably help get the kids settled for the night. Can I text you once everyone is in bed, though?We can chat?”

We can chat. Will wanted to talk to me even if we couldn’t kiss for the time being. Just like that my heart shot straight back up from the floor. And, true to his word, as I settled myself in my sleeping bag half-an-hour later, my phone vibrated with a text from him.

I had fun with you tonight, it said,can’t wait to spend more time with you tomorrow.

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