Page 42 of Five Stolen Rings

“Graham just arrived,” she says.

I rack my brain for a moment. “Oh,” I say as it comes tome. “Yeah—the guy you went to junior prom with. I remember.” I glance around. “Is he here?”

“We actually dated after that,” she says, her expression twisting. “Yeah, he’s the one in the navy suit coat.”

I dislike him immediately, and even more so when he begins drifting toward our side of the room.

“Oh, no,” Stella groans. “I can’t talk to him.”

“Yes, you can,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Just hold onto my arm and be polite but distant. It’s what I’m planning to do if Nat comes and wants to chat.”

“No,” she says, looking miserable. “You don’t understand. He wanted to do long distance while we went to college, but I wanted to break up. Because I didn’t want anything to distract from my schooling and my career. I made such a big deal about it when we split. And now here I am, with no career—” She sneaks another peek, and I do the same; I grimace when I see that Graham is heading our direction.

Stella’s gaze darts frantically around like she’s trying to find the exit, but her eyes only freeze when they land on the mistletoe pinned to the wall a foot or two over our heads.

And that, it seems, is when she loses her mind. Despite no family history of dementia or psychosis or anything else, her entire brain apparently chooses this exact moment to malfunction.

“Kiss me,” she says, her head whipping toward me, her eyes wide.

I blink at her, my own thoughts screeching to a halt. “What?”

“Kiss me,” she repeats, her voice breathless and urgent. “Now—quick! Kiss me.” She points to her lips.

“Are you crazy? Why should I be the one to kiss you?” Isay with a scoff as my pulse goes from normal to double time, my mind racing just as fast.

“Comeon!” she says, glancing quickly over her shoulder. “He’s coming!”

I fold my arms, mostly to stop myself from reaching for her, and then paste a smirk on my face—my only defense. “If you want to kiss me, Princess, you’re going to have to—” But I break off as Stella steps forward, grabs my face, andyanksme down until my lips slam into hers.

“Ow,” I manage to get out, one garbled syllable against our smashed lips and teeth and noses.

“Sorry,” she breathes, her hands releasing me as she breaks away. “Sorry—oh, that was stupid—I’m sorry?—”

But over her shoulder, as she’s apologizing, my eyes catch sight of the one person I didn’t want to see: Nat Flindowski, and she’s headed right toward us, her eyes smiling, her steps hurried.

And because Stella’s momentary insanity must be contagious, I unfold my arms and grab her by the shoulders.

“One kiss,” I say in a low, quick voice. Two very different desires are screaming at me, but self-preservation wins. “Five seconds long, no moving your lips, and I will cut off your tongue if I feel it in my mouth. It will be the least romantic kiss possible. Understand?”

Probably didn’t need to add that last part—not out loud, anyway, but my brain isn’t fully functioning. Stella’s old boyfriend is almost to us, and a little pucker is creasing Nat’s forehead as she looks at my hands on Stella’s shoulders.

“Understand?” I say again when Stella just stares up at me with wide eyes.

She startles. “Yes,” she says quickly with a little nod. “Yes. Okay. It’s fine. Let’s do it. Ready,set,go.”

And then, once again, her lips are on mine—soft this time, less forceful. My hands tighten on her shoulders as my thoughts flee my mind, float away like a bunch of balloons into the sky, and this single point of contact is the only thing tethering me to the earth.

One.

I can hear someone choking on their food behind us—Benny returned, maybe—and I can hear footsteps approaching us, too, probably Graham. My grip on Stella’s shoulders tightens further.

Two.

And now theclick-click-clickof heels—Nat, probably, because they’re faster and closer, confirmed when I hear her voice for the first time in years.

“Jack Piorra?”

Nat’s arrival does something to Stella; her hands, which until now have been stiffly at her sides, jump instead to my waist and then slide around my back, warm and light.

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