Page 1 of Bookworm
Prologue
7years ago…
Last Danceby Donna Summer crooned in our ears as Adam held me close and swayed with me on the dance floor at my dad’s wedding.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever been happier. It had taken me a while to settle into that feeling. The feeling that I was secure. That I knew who I was. That I could be me and not some rebellious version of myself trying to prove a point by being someone I wasn’t.
I was Harper Meyer.
Booklover. Introvert. Semi-punk girl who loved changing my hair color as often as my nail color. Kind of a weirdo, but of the best variety. I wasn’t always great at focusing on my studies, but when it was time to choose a book I loved? I could devour that thing in a matter of hours.
Adam was my opposite in almost every way—extroverted, sporty, popular, academic. He was on track to start Dartmouth in the fall while I couldn’t decide what college to go to… and thus, I decided to take a gap year.
In fact, I wasn’t sure Adam and I hadanythingin common other than the fact that we both loved reading… and each other.
That, and we bothhatedAdam’s father.
Okay, okay, I know how that sounds and trust me, I don’t say that lightly. But that guy is the biggest dickwad.
A couple years ago, he tried to hit on my dad’s girlfriend—well, now wife—and he literally started a fistfight with my dad on our front lawn. Then proceeded to say that I was the equivalent to trailer trash and that both his son and Addy deserved better.
See?Dickwad.
I didn’t hate many people, but I hated him.
But I loved Adam and at the end of the day, that pile of human crap was still his dad. So I swallowed down those contemptuous feelings and bit my tongue like any good girlfriend would do when I had no choice but to be around Mr. Stone.
“I wish I didn’t have to go home tonight,” Adam whispered, swaying with me to the music.
I glanced around the dance floor at everyone who’s played a huge role in our lives this far.
Dad held Addy in his arms as they kept rhythm with the music. Even though her hair had fallen out of its updo and her dress had a tear in the hem, she still looked as radiant and gorgeous as she had hours ago walking down the aisle.
Her friends Haylee and Enzo danced with their partners nearby. Linda, Addy’s mom, sat off on the side, sipping a coffee and tapping her foot to the beat.
We were completely and utterly surrounded by people we loved.
“Maybe you don’t,” I whispered.
Adam’s brows lifted. “What’s that, now?”
“Well… Addy and Dad are spending the rest of the weekend at the Maple Grove Inn. Now that I’m eighteen, I convinced them to let me stay home alone for the weekend.”
Adam’s eyes brightened at that and he raked his hand nervously through his dark curls. “Are you saying, um, that… you want… company?”
I smiled up at my boyfriend of two years. Though we’d been inseparable basically since the moment I moved here to Maple Grove, he and I had never taken that next big step. We’d done…stuff. But I was still a virgin. Technically.
“I’m saying, I want you to spend the night,” I whispered. “Do you think you could convince your Dad that you’re staying at a friend’s house tonight?”
I was finally ready. I loved him. And even though he was going off to college and I still didn’t know what I was going to do for the better part of the year, no matter what happened between us, there was no doubt in my mind that Adam was who I wanted to take this next step with.
There was no one else more loving or special to me that I could imagine losing my virginity to. Even if we broke up tomorrow.
With the spark still in his eyes, Adam lowered his mouth to mine, brushing a chaste kiss to my lips as the music switched from slow to fast.
I groaned with the light peck he gave me, craving more. Even though I knew that with my parents around he couldn’t kiss me like he wanted to.
“My dad doesn’t care what I do or where I sleep at night,” he said.
