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

said. Nerves had me gripping his shoulders harder than necessary.

His brows drew down. “What is it?”

I wet my lips and took a deep breath. “I love you, Flynn.”

His smile was sudden and blinding before he crushed me to him and buried his head against my neck. “Isla, I love you so much. I didn’t even know I could feel this way.”

I nodded against his shoulder. It was the best I could do. My throat refused to work to form words.

“You make me feel like I’m understood,” he said softly. “You make me feel like I belong.”

Tears still pricked the back of my eyes as I nodded, pulling back to look at him. “Yeah, I know the feeling. You make me feel like I finally have a place where I fit. A real home.”

A wicked glint lit his eyes as his lips curved up in a smile. “Well, you know what they say…”

“Oh no. Nope.” I shook my head. I knew what he was going to say before he even said it. He and my Princess Troupe friends would never let me live down my horrific stint as Dorothy. That party was going to haunt me for life. “No, Flynn. Do not say it—”

He grinned as he cut me off with a quick kiss. “There’s no place like home.”

Ready for more of the Princess Troupe? Be sure to check out Callie’s story next in Never Have I Ever Land.

This Tinkerbell is finally in with the Lost Boys. Seriously, she's the new lead singer for their band. But the guitarist she's crushing on only sees her as a cute little mascot. And the guy who's crushing on her? She doesn't see him at all.

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Never Have I Ever Land

Chapter 1

Maverick

My football coach was always telling me to unleash my inner beast on the field.

I stared down at the top of Beauty’s head as she gave the fur-covered glove another tug. She was trying to force it onto my hand to complete the Beast costume.

Somehow I didn’t think this was the beast my coach was referring to.

The thought made me laugh. But apparently Callie—the girl who was playing Beauty to my Beast at this kids’ party—took the sound to be a grunt of pain because she glanced up with a wince. “Sorry. Am I hurting you?”

I laughed again at the thought of this little slip of nothing hurting me and her wince turned to a look of real concern as her eyes narrowed in thought. She bit her lips as she cast the ill-fitting furry gloves another look. “Maybe we can do without the gloves.”

I gave a little grunt of agreement and she responded with a brilliant smile. Why? I didn’t know. Smiles seemed to be this girl’s default setting. It was weird.

And nice.

But also weird. Because unlike other girls I knew, the girls who hung out in my crowd, her smiles weren’t the slightest bit flirtatious. She just seemed happy. Like, all the time.

As I’d said before—weird. And nice. And pretty in a ridiculously adorable kind of way. And sweet. And...currently losing all interest in me.

Her hands lingered on the furry glove that wouldn’t quite fit over my large hands, but rather than teasing me about having such big hands, this girl ducked. She was using my body as a shield, peering around me at someone or something in the distance.

“Callie, quit stalking and go over there and talk to the guy,” Isla said. The new girl was currently dressed up as Snow White with an ugly brown helmet that was supposed to be hair, and she was talking to my Beauty with an air of exasperation.

Stalking? Who was Callie stalking?

I stayed as still as possible.

Honestly, I wasn’t used to being so blatantly ignored, but I wasn’t offended. I was a quiet guy, and while that normally didn’t stop me from being the center of attention at school, I’d discovered that nothing was normal when it came to this Princess Troupe.

And yeah, I was officially part of the Princess Troupe. Football came first, obviously, but on the nights and weekends when I could help Mrs. Messner out and make a few bucks for spending money, I was one of their on-call princes.

No one in his right mind would give me crap for being a ‘prince.’ It was one of the unspoken perks of being the biggest guy at school and a star of the football team. No one gave me crap for anything.

Another perk? Girls noticed me. Not to sound like a cocky jerk or anything but it had always been this way, ever since junior high. I’d never had to flirt or charm or even talk, actually, because girls were just there. Friends too. Friends sort of just came with being on a team. But girls? They noticed me. They flirted with me.

Normally.

I stared down at Callie’s brown hair which was currently being held off her face with a big blue bow. She was looking between Isla and whoever it was she was supposedly stalking.

“I can’t just talk to him,” she said, her voice all high with panic.

Who? I wanted to ask. But I also didn’t really want to break the moment. Was it wrong to eavesdrop on a conversation when they were literally right there?

I didn’t think so.

I hoped not.

“He’s not an actual rock star, you know that right?” Isla teased.

Who wasn’t a rock star? I wanted to crane my neck to see who they were talking about, but again—they seemed to think I was an inanimate object. I wasn’t ready to startle them by revealing the fact that I wasn’t deaf or made of marble. So I stayed put.

“He might as well be,”