No Place Like Homecoming, Dallen, Maggie [beach read book .TXT] 📗

want anything to do with me. What’s with the change of heart?”

“Not a change of heart,” I said. “It’s not like I’m looking for a commitment with you or something, I just thought we could have some fun together.”

“Uh huh.” He didn’t look convinced.

Maybe he was smarter than I’d given him credit.

“I guess I’m just trying to figure out what changed between ‘let’s stay out of each other’s way’ and...this,” he said, waving a hand in my general direction.

“I’m allowed to change my mind, aren’t I?”

He studied me for a long moment. “I guess.”

I took that as my sign that I could move forward with Operation Temptation and I took a step toward him, letting a hand fall on his chest. “I get that you’re all work, no play, but would it really be the end of the world to enjoy a little time with me tonight?”

His gaze lingered on my lips. “I can’t get a read on you, Isla. One minute I think you’re crazy selfish, the next just crazy, and then there’s a moment like this one when…”

I swallowed hard, hating how much I wanted to hear what came next.

Hating how much I dreaded it too.

“I just can’t read you,” he finished.

I was pretty sure we both knew that wasn’t what he’d meant to say.

“Yeah, well,” I turned my hand, catching some of the material of his T-shirt in my grip and tugging him closer. “You don’t have to read me,” I said. “You just have to kiss me.”

He hesitated for a heartbeat, and I found myself hesitating too. What was I doing? Why was I doing it?

Did it matter? Desperation and that sick sense of betrayal over seeing Logan with another girl…with those factors combined I felt like I was reeling. I wasn’t sure what I was doing out here with Flynn. This plan was insane. Flynn didn’t even like me, and a kiss wouldn’t change that.

But I looked up and met his dark gaze and...I didn’t care. With him looking at me like this, like I was the center of his world, and like I was the only girl on the planet...I stopped thinking. Who cared why I was doing this or if it would work? What mattered was...

I wanted this. I wanted to lose myself in this moment, and I couldn’t do that with him trying to strip away every defense I had. And that’s what he would do if we kept talking. If he kept looking at me like this. My breath came out on a shaky exhale. “Just kiss me already,” I whispered.

He leaned down with a low growl, and when his lips claimed mine it felt as much like punishment as triumph.

Hot and searing, his kiss felt like a brand. The earth seemed to shift around us with a sharp jerk. The planets realigned and the world fell into place.

His lips were hot and demanding, and I forgot everything but this moment. This kiss. This guy.

And then I was kissing him back with the same force, the same need, the same overwhelming hunger. My fingers were clenched in his shirt and his hands were tangled in my hair.

I needed this. I needed this kiss like I needed air to breathe. He was solid and strong and...real.

He was so freakin’ real.

He didn’t kiss me like I was just another girl at a random party. He didn’t kiss me like he’d forget me the moment I walked away.

He kissed me like I was everything.

Like he knew every part of me and liked it.

Which wasn’t true, of course. No one liked me that much.

Not even me.

Nine

Flynn

I pulled back with a gasp.

What was that?

A fire ripped through me, and it took everything in me not to kiss her again when I looked down at her parted lips, her dark and dazed eyes.

So much about this girl was fake, but that kiss? That was real. What I felt was real. The way she kissed me back? That was real.

And all of me wanted more. I wanted deeper, I wanted to know what else about her was real. I wanted to get to the heart of this girl more than I could remember wanting anything in my life.

And that was freakin’ terrifying.

I took a step back from her and felt her hands drop from my chest. Her breath was coming in short gasps, and mine was no less uneven.

We stared at each other for a long moment, and I had no idea what she was thinking, but I saw my own shock and fear staring right back at me.

Panic rippled through me because...this could not happen.

Nope. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t be having feelings for this girl.

But there it was. The truth staring right back at me as my heart did a flip at the sight of those green eyes fixed on me. As my head tried to figure out why she was hurting, as my heart begged me to fix it. This girl had made me feel things I’d never felt before. Heck, she'd been doing that since day one, but right now, there was no denying that what she made me feel was...want.

Need.

Maybe something bigger than either of those words.

She made me feel a connection, and a connection was exactly what I couldn’t afford to forge right now. Not when my family was waiting for me. Relying on me.

Not when I was weeks away from leaving this place for good.

I took another step back and watched her blink her way back to life. “Whoa,” she whispered.

I swallowed a laugh as I ran a hand through my hair. Whoa was one word for it. “I, uh…” I was backpedaling. I needed space. I needed air—preferably air that she was not sharing. I needed to think this through. “I need another drink. You want one?”

“Oh, um, yeah. That would be great.”

I bolted into the house and nearly collided with Callie. “What are you two up to out there?” Her eyes narrowed teasingly. “Better not be any