this table has seen her without her clothes on. Just me.
“Worst part is, I’m not even allowed to hate her for milking me for a free meal. She told me up front it was only going to be one date and that she’d pay her own way.” He chuckles lightly. “And you know what? I had a good time with her. She’s funny and easygoing. I was actually hoping to get a second date.”
Yeah, I already know June’s funny and easygoing. I also know she’s a spitfire, looks beautiful when she first wakes up, has no qualms about holding a slippery fish so she can shove it in your locker, and has the most alluring pillowy lips I’ve ever seen. These are just a few of the reasons I’m crazy about her. These are the reasons why I stiffen when Carly pulls out the seat beside me and sits down.
“So, Ryan. We haven’t gotten to talk that much.” She leans in too close, settling her hand on my leg. “Wanna find somewhere more private where we can chat?”
I remove her hand from my leg. “No, thanks.” And don’t touch my leg.
Carly’s eyes widen like she’s never been turned down before in her life. She huffs out an offended sound and then gets up to walk away. Macho Man shoots up from his seat and goes after her. “Hey, Carly, wait up!”
Nice. He’ll be her pervy knight in shining armor.
I turn my eyes back to the dance floor. June gives a blinding smile and laughs as Stacy pretends to reel her in like a fish. Now she’s shopping for groceries and waxing the car. She’s one of a kind. And you know what? Not someone I’m going to let slip through my fingers again.
I stand up, pull my phone out of my pocket, and dial Nia as I round the table toward the dance floor.
“Hello?”
“Nia, you’re in charge a little longer. I’m not coming home Sunday.”
“Wait, what? Ryan wh—”
I end the call because I’m on the dance floor now, and June has just spotted me. A song with heavy bass is blaring over the speakers, and everyone is jumping and pumping their fists in the air like they are at a club. But when June spots me, she freezes—dead center of the floor, a statue among chaos. Music, lights, and people are swirling around her, and she keeps perfectly still.
I push through several people—including Jake and Evie, who I’m pretty sure will not enjoy seeing what I do next—and when I make it to June, her glittering eyes go wide. I don’t hesitate. I don’t slow down. I grab her tightly around the waist with one arm and cup her jaw with my other hand. She takes in a sharp breath, and I feel her heart hammering against my chest as I lean down and press my lips to hers. Commotion is happening all around us, but I don’t care or notice. I’ve been waiting seventeen years for this kiss, and all I can focus on now is how June feels pressed up against me, how her body melts into mine as my mouth explores hers. There’s not even the slightest bit of hesitation from her.
She responds move for move, pressing up on her tiptoes, breathing in deep, and clasping her arms around my neck to pull me in closer. She doesn’t want me to stop. My lips part, and I taste the mint Chapstick on her bottom lip. This kiss says we’re not just friends anymore. It’s romantic and intense, and that’s when I remember it’s also happening in the middle of a crowd.
I peel my mouth away from hers and look down at her thoroughly kissed face. Her lips are red and swollen, and her eyelids slowly flutter open until my favorite color of green pierces me.
“I changed my mind,” I say over the music, running my thumb along her jaw. “I want that date.”
June blinks and swallows before she says, “…Okay.”
Chapter Eighteen
June
“That was some serious lip locking on the dance floor last night,” says Jake over the phone as I’m folding clothes on my bed. I use the word folding loosely.
“Lip locking? Are you in a 90s Mary-Kate and Ashley movie right now?”
“What do you want me to call it?” I’d rather him call it nothing, because I’m not thrilled that my big brother saw the best kiss of my entire life as it was taking place.
But Jake and Evie were at the wedding, so they saw the