Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
I gaped up at him, at his sudden intensity.
“I like you,” he said the three words on a fast exhale, his grip easing. “I don’t want to go out with Kiera because … I want to go out with you.” Quinn released me and the blood whooshed in my ears. I barely heard him ask, “How … how do you feel about that?”
His weirdness the past few weeks took on a whole different meaning. “Is … is that why you’ve not been around lately?”
Quinn jammed his hands in his pockets as a drop of rain scored down the side of his cheek and dripped off his chin. “Aye. Sorry. I just … we’re, like … we’re pals … and uh … well …”
Goodness, he was really bad at this.
I grinned, finding it adorable instead of annoying, now that I knew he fancied me back.
His eyes narrowed on my mouth. “Does that mean …?”
“I would like to go out with you,” I replied, my voice shaking a little with shy happiness.
Quinn grinned widely, that boyish smile making my tummy flutter. “Really?”
I nodded, unable to fight my own smile or the red hotness in my cheeks.
He suddenly stepped into my personal space, and I sucked in a breath. Quinn swallowed hard. “Can … can I kiss you?”
“Here?” I squeaked out. Anyone could see us here and tell our parents. Oh my goodness, Quinn was going to give me my first kiss. Quinn McQuarrie! “Okay.”
He bent his head toward mine.
And my stupid inner thoughts blurted out before his lips could touch mine. “Is this your first kiss?”
He stopped, our noses inches from each other. I could feel his breath fluttering across my skin as he inhaled and then pulled back to shake his head.
Oh.
“Sorry,” Quinn whispered. “Does that … does it change it for you?”
Who had he kissed? The thought was a deep ache in my chest. “Kiera?”
He winced. “Last year at her birthday party. It was just a kiss, though. I … she wasn’t my first kiss. Maggie Druthers was. They were just kisses, though, Taran. I don’t want to go out with them. I want to go out with you.”
Quinn was the most honest person I knew. Sometimes kind of brutally honest. So, I believed him. “Okay.”
“What does that mean?”
“You can … kiss me. If you want.”
“I really want to.” He stepped closer. “Taran …” Quinn murmured my name seconds before his mouth touched mine. A gentle press. Then he brushed his lips a few times over mine and I felt tingles explode down my limbs.
I pushed up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips more firmly to his.
His hands touched my waist, pulling me closer.
When he lifted his head, his cheeks were flushed. My legs shook as we parted.
My first kiss.
A giddy smile pressed at the corners of my mouth, and Quinn grinned a wee bit smugly as he held out his hand to mine. “You want to come over to mine to do your homework?”
Mum would still be at her store, Pages & Perks, so the house would be empty.
I’d much rather go home with Quinn. I nodded and took his hand.
Quinn’s palms were a bit sweaty as he tightened his grip on me, and it made me realize just how nervous he’d been to ask me out.
“So … are we like boyfriend and girlfriend now?” I teased, feeling a little more at ease.
Chuckling, Quinn squeezed my hand. “Aye, we’re like boyfriend and girlfriend now.”
My first kiss, my first boyfriend.
I leaned into him, and he couldn’t keep the cheesy grin off his face, which just made me smile harder.
Right then I threw a wish out to the universe that Quinn McQuarrie would be my first and my last.
7. Quinn
July, This Year
“Tell her to hurry up. I’m starving.” Angus slumped against the back seat of my SUV and yawned.
We’d had a good day fishing together, so I didn’t want to spoil it by admonishing him for being impatient. Part of me wished I hadn’t promised him a fish supper from the chippie because he’d been going on about it before we even took the boat back in.
Instead, I got out of the vehicle and braced to face Heather.
She’d spent the day with her aunt Cammie, so I hoped that had put her in a good mood.
Before I even reached Cammie’s front door, the only pink door on the street, it flew open.
“Bye, Aunt Cammie!” My daughter yelled before hurrying down the front walk toward me. She flicked me a bored look. “Angus said we’re getting a chippie. I told you I don’t eat crap like that.”
She brushed past me before I could respond and I sighed heavily, meeting my sister’s sympathetic gaze.
Needing just a minute without my kids, I strode toward her. “How was she?”
Cammie leaned against the doorjamb. Every other month, she changed the color of two strands of hair that framed her face. This month they were blue. She tucked a blue strand into the natural blond of the rest. “Hmm. Something’s definitely up with her.”