Keeping Secrets in Seattle - By Brooke Moss Page 0,13

spoke for the first time since…that night. It was a relief and strangely awkward all at once. But when we talked, I decided not to tell him my secret. I locked what happened up in a vault and threw away the key.

“Oh, come on. Give me the remote.” I reached across the couch toward my boyfriend, who was dodging my grab.

My boyfriend. I had a boyfriend.

Well, technically, Landon and I had only been dating for two weeks, but during that time, we’d gone out to dinner three times, stayed in for movies twice, gone for a walk on Alki Beach, and made three dinners with Kim and Betsy. He called me on his lunch breaks just to say hi and even playfully referred to me as “his girl” a few days before while talking on the phone with his mother. His mother.

Instead of sitting around anticipating Gabe’s texts and calls, I was now anticipating Landon’s calls. He was sexy and funny, and when he kissed me, the hairs on my neck would stand at attention. But Gabe’s presence was always in the back of my mind, no matter where I went, or what I did. Our history was so tightly woven that it was almost like I was cheating on Gabe by falling for Landon.

I suppose that was why I was avoiding Gabe’s phone calls and texts. I didn’t want to be distracted. And let’s face it, Gabe distracted me.

“Hey, wait.” Landon grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close, right as my BlackBerry chimed. “I’m the guy. Aren’t I supposed to hog the remote?”

“Hmm, I never took you for the sexist pig type.” Snuggling underneath his arm, I noticed that there was a text message from Gabe on my phone.

HEY, YOU…WHY AREN’T YOU ANSWERING MY CALLS?

Landon kissed the top of my head. “That’s because it warrants such a good reaction from you, I think I might keep it up.”

I tried to squirm away from him, my finger poised on the keys. I’d spent so much time obsessively checking my messages, it was weird not to immediately reply to Gabe. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to him, because I did. But Landon’s arms felt so good around my waist, and to lose myself in someone new was intoxicating. I pressed the Power button, the screen went black, and I tossed my BlackBerry aside before throwing myself in Landon’s direction again. “My apartment, my remote. Give it back.”

He held it above his head. “I’ll give you the remote…for a kiss.”

I gasped. “That’s extortion.”

He leaned in, his taunting mouth close to my lips. “It’s worth it.”

“Forget it, creep.” I jumped to my feet.

Landon’s eyes shone and he stood across from me. “I want a kiss.”

“Forget it. It’s almost ten. I’ve got to get to bed. You can just leave the remote on the couch.”

“You’re heading to bed? Sounds enticing.”

He made a leap for me, and I squealed and covered my mouth as I darted away from him. My roommates were already in bed, and I’d been asked a few times to pipe down.

“You’d better give me that kiss if you ever want to see your remote alive again.”

I shrieked when his hand grazed my side. Charging beyond Landon’s reach, I darted for my bedroom.

He caught me from behind, and without a second to prepare myself, he’d flopped me on top of my bed and landed on top of me. While I squirmed like a child, trying unsuccessfully to keep my laughter quiet, he plastered my neck with wet, noisy kisses.

“Keep the remote. I don’t want it anymore.” Instead of pushing him away, I curled my fingers through his hair and pulled him closer. “But I do want you to keep kissing me.”

He glanced up and his face became a hint more serious. He stood and straightened out his shirt. “And that,” he said carefully, “is my cue to go.”

“Excuse me?”

Bending at the waist, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “In due time, beautiful.”

There were many things I was starting to really dig about Landon. One was the fact that he was adorably old-fashioned. He opened doors for me, he asked me what I wanted at a restaurant and then ordered it for me, and he was taking our physical relationship very slowly. Unlike our alcohol-fueled make-out session at The Lotus, each of our subsequent dates had ended with kisses that left my blood pumping when he turned to head home. This new desire to see how far