“Then why on earth were you two just making out on the side of my truck?” I shout. Inflatable Santa bobbles at my periphery like he’s waving goodbye.
“You don’t have to be in love with someone to make out with them, Maggie. You should try it, it’s freeing.”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
We drive the remaining distance—which isn’t much—in comfortable silence. Cora keeps tracing her fingers over her lips like she’s reliving the memory of the kiss, and I keep playing her words over and over in my head. What’s my problem? Why do I think it’s weird that she just kissed a completely random guy in a parking lot? His brother wasn’t so bad. And he seemed to talk less about trees than Cora’s make out partner did. Maybe I could have flirted a little and done the same thing she did, too. No strings attached…
What am I saying? I obviously think it’s weird because it is weird. That’s not how I work; I don’t just hook up with complete strangers. And what would Ran think? Wait—what does Ran have to do with any of this? It’s not like we’re dating. Honestly, up until a week ago I thought I actually hated the guy. I still don’t even quite know what these feelings I have for him are. He’s confusing, to the point that it makes my brain hurt to think about him. To think about any of it.
“Maggie?” Cora’s voice funnels into my ears like she’s talking through a toilet paper roll. “Earth to Maggie?”
“What?” I snap out of my reverie and the truck swings to the left with my over-emphasized movement. The bumps from the dividing yellow line vibrate under the tires. “What?”
“You missed our turn,” she giggles, pointing a finger toward the dorm parking lot we just whizzed past.
“Crap.” I flip the vehicle completely around in the middle of the street, practically taking it on two wheels.
“Geez!” Cora hangs on for dear life, pressing her feet against the floor and gripping the handle on the ceiling as the truck makes a 180. “You in a hurry or something?” she screams. “Got somewhere to be?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “I do.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Maggie.” Ran’s not wearing a shirt. I hadn’t planned for that, because if I had, I would have practiced keeping my eyes held open at an appropriate size so they don’t fall out of my head. There is no other way to describe what I’m doing right now other than gawking. Slack-jawed, stunned gawking. “What are you doing here?” he asks, the side of the front door in his grip.
Cora alluded to the notion that Ran had an incredible stomach, but I don’t think her washboard example was a fair description for his abs. As my eyes rake over each individual muscle, it’s like I can feel the ridge of them under my fingertips, just by staring. The tattoos that peeked out from his shirt earlier snake fully across his upper arm and onto his chest—a colorful mosaic of designs and patterns twisting into a beautiful work of art on his perfect body. Just below his collarbone, woven into the ornate design on his upper half, is the word ‘Ransomed’ etched in flawless, black cursive.
“Maggie? You alright?” A German shepherd joins Ran at the door, his large body swinging back and forth with the playful momentum of his tail.
“Yeah.” I shake my head so hard I get an instant headache. “Here.” I shove a large carton of goldfish crackers his way. “These are for you.”
He steps out onto the porch and pulls them from my hands hesitantly when he views my truck over the top of my head. “Maggie, did you get a new car?”
“Yeah. I finally got the insurance money from the accident.”
Ran switches glances from the truck back down to me and then says, “I like it. And my bike will fit in the back. Nice choice.”
He still doesn’t have a shirt on. Well, obviously. But it’s all I can think about. Like all of my years of schooling, all of my time on the debate team learning how to speak confidently in front of an audience, even my kindergarten teaching where I was taught how to sound out my first words—that’s all robbed from me when I look at Ran, standing there, his bare muscles inadvertently flexing under the porch light. It’s all gone. All of my faculties for speech have been stolen away.
“You want to come in?” Ran side steps and holds out