Spiked by Love (Bellevue Bullies #6) - Toni Aleo Page 0,88
sitting in front of him, and I watch him. His hand stays at my waist, rubbing his thumb into it as he goes on. “With Jasmine, I kept everything locked down so tightly, and I’m not sure why.”
I clear my throat, unsure what the hell I’m doing, but I don’t stop myself. “My mom thinks it’s because you’ve been waiting for me.”
He meets my gaze then. “She’s been trying to get us together since we were kids.”
“She feels you were made for me.”
“Yeah, she’s probably right,” he says softly, and my heart swells in my chest. “So, you told her about us?”
“No,” I say quickly.
“Why not? Do you not want to tell them? Maybe I should ask your dad? Do you think he’ll be okay with us together?”
“I don’t know,” I say offhandedly because I don’t. “As long as you’re not Taco, he’ll be happy.”
He scoffs. “But I’m me. He knows me. Do you think he’d be okay?”
“I hope so. What about your parents?”
“My dad would be cool with it since he doesn’t really give a shit who Aiden or I date—the girls, that’s another story—and I think my mom would be good with it. Like your mom, she believes we should be more than friends.”
“You sound like you don’t believe that,” I say, and I wish I didn’t.
He cocks his head as he stares at me. “That’s not true at all. I’m here, rubbing your hip, totally okay I’m not inside you. I just want to be with you.”
My lips curve. “Guess I’m in my head.”
“You’re always in your head.”
“Yeah,” I admit, and he knocks me playfully under my chin.
“So, when do you want to come clean to our fan clubs?”
I force a laugh as I take another bite of my newly made s’more. While it pleases me that he wants to tell people, I don’t know. “I’m still hesitant.”
“Hesitant?”
I shrug shyly. “I don’t know, Asher. It’s all been so great between you and me—”
“It has, better than I could ever imagine.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised by that, and he nods.
“Actually, when I would allow myself to think of you in this manner, I’d think of all the ways I’d make you happy when the jackasses you dated didn’t do that. I hated that they didn’t cherish you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, it was shit.”
“It was, but it’s not like that now.”
He curves his lips, meeting my gaze through his lashes. “Nope,” he says, and then he leans over to kiss me sweetly on the lips.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask against his lips.
He pulls back. “Way to break up a kiss.”
I snicker. “For real.”
“What?”
“Why did you close off your feelings?”
He looks uncomfortable as he moves to make another s’more. “It wasn’t like I planned it. I just never wanted to put myself out there. I think it started with you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you shut me down, and I couldn’t have you. I didn’t like that rejection, so I figured, don’t allow yourself to feel again.”
“Well, damn,” I say, caught off guard by that. “Way to put all the blame on me.”
He grins over his shoulder at me. “If the shoe fits, baby.” I smack him with my s’more maker, and he glares. “Hey, now,” he scolds. “Let me take my pants off first.”
I can’t. I fall over laughing as he grins over at me. Lying on my back, I eat my s’more, and I can’t think of anywhere else I want to be. This is so perfect. So right. Even with everything up in the air, I am happy.
“I’m gonna ask your dad first.”
I look over at him as he sits back, unloading his s’more from its maker. “Huh?”
“I want to tell our parents, but I want to talk to Jakob about it first.”
I sit up on my elbow, picking at my s’more. I don’t feel right about that. Not yet. “I don’t know, maybe we should wait. I hate to tell everyone, and bam, something happens.”
I don’t have to look directly at him to see the disdain on his face. “Something like what? You know I won’t hurt you.”
I zone in on my s’more, picking at the marshmallow and playing with it in my fingers, feeling a little self-conscious. “I know that, not intentionally, at least.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
I meet his intense gaze. “Calm down, killer.”
But I’ve pissed him off. “You make it seem like I’m going to be the one to fuck this up. I have no intention of doing so.”