On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,40

me. “Go easy on me. I’ve never been kissed before.”

Fucking hell.

Tentative hands found my arm, tracing their way up my biceps. Her nervous energy was like an annoying hum in the air. I leaned down and found her face, kissing her hard and quick.

“Wow,” she breathed, lingering there. “Can we do it again?” she whispered, her voice full of awe.

“No,” I barked. “Next.”

“Play nice, Mr. Grumpy Pants,” Vic cackled, the noise grating on me. She was enjoying this far too much.

The next ten minutes dragged. Three more girls, three more quick kisses. I kept it lips closed and tongue free. But on the last round, something changed. I didn’t understand what was different at first. Then it hit me. The girl was wearing perfume. But not just any perfume... perfume I recognized.

Perfume my body recognized.

Fuck. She smelled like Calli. Or how Calli used to smell when we were just two kids finding our way around our growing bodies. It washed over me, transporting me to another time and place. I was so lost I didn’t realize the girl was sliding her lips against mine. I didn’t realize her hand had fisted my jersey, tugging me closer. I didn’t register curling my hand around the nape of her neck and plunging my tongue deep into her mouth.

I didn’t realize... because I thought she was Calli.

My sixteen-year-old brain was standing here, kissing his sweet pea.

I licked at her mouth, curling my tongue around hers and sucking. She tasted so fucking good, like mint and strawberries. My dick stirred to life and I slid a hand down to the small of her back fitting her body against mine. Her little needy whimpers spurred me on. I kissed her deeper... harder... Until someone coughed and I jerked away, reality crashing down around me.

Ripping off my mask, I inhaled a ragged breath, letting my eyes fall on the girl… the girl who wasn’t Calli.

She casually slipped her mask over her head and smirked at me. “Well worth the ten dollars.” She made a show of dabbing the corner of her mouth as her eyes ran down my body and back up.

“Uh, thanks,” I stuttered, hardly able to believe what had just happened.

But then I felt her.

Calli.

She was over by the door, gawking at me, as shocked by my behavior as I was.

I didn’t lose control.

Ever.

Yet, more than once now, she’d pushed me to breaking point.

All because you smelled her fucking perfume.

I internally groaned, melting back into my teammates as Vic and her girls rallied up the final total.

“Shit, Messiah, that was totally hot. I almost came in my pants like a twelve-year-old reading his old man’s titty mags.” I shot Saul a hard look, and he grinned. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, she was hot.”

Vic began the final announcements, but I tuned out, focused only on Calli. She was whispering something to Josie. They seemed to be arguing. Josie shook her head and Calli gave her a sad smile before hugging her and slipping out into the hall.

Shit, she was leaving.

Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled out my cell phone and cussed under my breath.

“Problem?” Brad asked, and I nodded.

“Family stuff. I gotta bail.”

“Yeah, man, of course. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” I ducked out of the other door and exited the house out the back. Calli would only be heading to one place.

And lucky for me, I knew exactly where she was staying.

Calli

I shouldn’t have let Josie talk me into going to the fundraiser at Chi Delta Kappa.

We’d gotten back from the bar and some girls from our dorm had invited us to tag along. I could tell she wanted to go. Josie craved acceptance; I saw it every time we saw a large group of girls around campus. The longing in her eyes. The sadness.

So in an effort to be a good friend, I agreed.

The second I laid eyes on Zach, I knew I’d made a huge mistake.

A kissing booth, for God’s sake. It was tacky and immature... and yet, part of me had been swept up in the excitement. And maybe a small part of me, the fourteen-year-old girl in love with the boy who saved her, secretly hoped I would be paired with Zach.

I’d known the second his lips touched mine, it wasn’t Zach though. Disappointment had snaked through me, burrowing into the deepest recesses of my heart. I’d wanted it to be him. My head knew it was a bad idea to want such