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Parked in front of his house, Nate sat
in the driver’s seat of his truck and gripped the steering wheel.
Why did I think this was a good idea? He watched Lila chop onions in
silhouette through the kitchen windows.
“What’s the matter?” Blythe asked
beside him. “Are you losing your nerve?”
Nate shrugged.
“Maybe.”
Of course, she laughed. He’d made her
laugh every day for two weeks straight, and he couldn’t get enough of it. The
sound energized him every time he heard it. Clear water, sunlight, and Blythe’s
laugh must have been made of the same elements.
“Too bad,” she teased, poking him in
the ribs and making him flinch. “It wouldn’t be fair to bail. You’ve already
met Seth and Calvin — and my dad!”
“Don’t forget Phoebe the Flatulent.”
Nate made a grab to tickle her waist, but she jumped back and swatted his hand
away.
“Hey! Don’t make fun of my dog!” she
protested, trying to disguise her laughter as outrage. “It’s not her fault Seth
fed her Brussel sprouts.”
“Your brothers are a trip,” Nate said,
shaking his head. Blythe rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, it was great fun when they
showed you that picture from eighth grade. Braces and headgear? I’ll never
forgive them.”
Nate shrugged.
“Well, the braces worked.” He reached
for her again, and this time she let him catch her. “You have a killer smile.”
“Ugh. Really? That’s the best you’ve
got?” Blythe arched a brow at his pathetic attempts at flirting.
“No,” he whispered. “Come here.”
Nate pulled her into his arms, and she
tilted her chin up to meet his kiss, like she did every time. Her lips were so
soft, and when he reached up to cradle her face, she opened her mouth to him.
It seemed impossible that she wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss
her, yet she was just as eager, just as hungry, and it drove him crazy. He
could kiss her all day. It had become his new religion.
“Nate?” she whispered against his lips.
“Can your mom see us?”
“No…” he murmured, moving his mouth to
her neck, inhaling the scent of butterfly ginger in her hair. “You smell so good…”
Blythe stilled against him.
“I think she can see us.” Blythe pushed
herself away and sat bolt upright. “Oh my God.”
Indeed, Lila had moved to the sink just
in front of the windows. She wasn’t looking at the truck, but he knew that
meant nothing.
“Um… Yeah, she can see us,” Nate
admitted, shrugging awkwardly. “But she won’t care. She’s not like that.”
Blythe shot him an exasperated look,
and he realized that he’d screwed up.
“I
care, Nate! I don’t want her to think I’m some slut!”
The word was like a blow.
“No… No,” he said, silently cursing
himself. “She’d never think that. And neither would Richland.”
Nate took a deep breath and decided to
level with her.
“Blythe, I’ve never brought a girl
home,” he admitted.
He watched her eyes widen just a
little.
“Never?” she whispered.
Nate shook his head.
“Never. Sometimes… sometimes people are
uncomfortable around Lila. I was always afraid it would be too weird.” He gave
a weak laugh. “Hell, I’m still afraid, but with you, I want to try.”
Blythe’s blue eyes glinted with her
smile.
“You’re different,” Nate said,
shrugging. “I’ve never met a girl like you. Someone who made me so comfortable.
And Lila and Richland know that. They know you’re special. They’d never think
you were a… a slut.”
Nate shook the word from his mouth. He
hated even saying it around her. The thought of someone calling her that made
him angry.
“Thank you,” she said, grabbing both
his hands and weaving her fingers through his. “Thank you for inviting me.
Yeah, I’m nervous about meeting your mom, too, but not because of her
disability. Because she’s your mom.”
This was why he’d thought it was a good idea to bring her home.
Blythe was amazing. She would accept Lila for who she was, which was more than
most of his friends from high school had managed.
“Then let’s go,” he said, opening the
door of his truck. Blythe hopped down from her side before he could do the
gentlemanly thing and get her door for her, but he clasped her by the hand and
squeezed it as they climbed the front steps.
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