Page 7 of Crazy Pucking Love
“Somewhere I’d rather forget.” I blew on the steaming coffee as I lifted it toward my lips. “That makes it sound like I’ve got some deep dark secret. I just meant—”
“I get it,” he said, holding up a hand. “Forgetting for a while sounds good.”
That officially moved him into “getting me” territory, didn’t it? Dane had a lot of potential, on top of being crazy hot. But if I wanted to keep our connection going, I should probably offer a bit of personal information. “It’s just…high school for me was likePretty Little Liars, only everyone was A.”
His forehead creased. “I have no idea what that means.”
“What? You don’t sit around watchingPretty Little Liars?” I sipped at the coffee, sucking in air to cool my tongue when it was still scalding hot. “Color me shocked.”
“How pretty are they? Maybe I’ll have to start.” He reached across the table and covered my hand, and every cell in my body stood at attention, his touch bringing much more clarity than the coffee. His fingers were slightly callused, his hand warm. “So what does that mean?”
For a second, I had no idea, then I realized he was talking about my abstract reference. “It means that everyone knew way too much about my life, and everything my family and I had ever done wrong, and they used it against me constantly.”
“That’s rough.” He shuttered his features, and I worried I’d told him too much—that he’d think I was some crazy girl with issues. To be fair, I probably had a few too many. Ugh, why didn’t I simply say a suburb of Concord, New Hampshire and leave it at that?
But then he shifted forward in his seat and put on a serious expression that hinted at being not so serious. “I’m thinking of making an embarrassing confession, but I’m going to need you to swear an oath of secrecy first.”
I set down my coffee and raised my hand to a square. “I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good—er, that I won’t spill your secret.”
“Which is it? As I remember, those ginger twins weren’t very good at secrets.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I fought the urge to ask him to marry me—it’d be a joke, but I knew better than to think guys took commitment jokes as, well, jokes. “Tell me and I swear my lips will remain sealed.”
His gaze moved to my lips, and then he swallowed, and the temperature in the diner rose several degrees. Maybe my lips should be…not sealed.
“I was once addicted toGilmore Girls.” He covered his face with his hand and then peeked through his fingers. “You’re looking at me differently, I can tell.”
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help the smile that broke free. “That’s not even embarrassing.”
“It is when you’re a dude. The wordgirlis literally in the title. And my friends would never let me live it down if they found out. It started with my sisters. I tried to fight for control of the remote, but there are four of them, and they played dirty.”
“Four sisters? Wow.”
“Wowis an understatement.”
At the same time, it also sounded awesome. Beckett and I had been really close growing up, adopting an us-against-the-world attitude. But then he’d moved away for college, and it’d just been me. Well, me and parents who were rarely home. Until their plane wreck, and when I needed family most, all I’d had was Aunt Tessa, who made it clear she’d rather be alone. Whereas I constantly wished I had another sibling.
Later, I found out I did have one, thanks to my dad’s scandalous affair, but my little sister was quite a bit younger, and the situation was complicated enough that I decided to keep my mention of my family on the brief, vague end of things. “I have one brother—he’s about three years older—and one half sister who’s eight.”
Our food came, and while I’d originally come along because it meant more time with Dane, my stomach growled as soon as the scent of the steaming waffles hit my nose.
After we finished our food and Larry had cleared our plates and poured us more coffee, Dane picked up one of the sweeteners in the ceramic sugar caddy. “Wanna see how I spend the rest of my night here after the food is gone?”
I leaned forward, cheek propped on my fist. “Of course.”
“Normally I use a couple of napkin dispensers, but since you’re here… Hold your fingers up like so…” He made two Ls and connected them so they looked like the uprights on a football field.
I did as instructed and he smashed the pink sweetener packet to the table, one finger on top, and flicked it with the pointer finger of his other hand. It soared through my fingers.
“Three points,” I said. “Nice.”
“Yeah, but that was way to the right. I can do better.” Dane squinted one eye, lining up his…kick? Or whatever the finger flick version of a kick was. The packet sailed through the air, right through the center, and hit me square in the chest before sliding down and disappearing into my cleavage.
I stared down for a second before looking up at Dane, who had a grimace on his face. Once a laugh slipped out of my mouth, the worry in his features eased.
“That definitely earns me more than three points,” Dane said.
“Oh, you think so, do you?”
