Right now, right here, I don’t think I could love him any more than I do.

“I love this song,” I say softly.

He leans down and says just as softly in my ear, “I know.” I smile at the feeling of his warm breath as it brushes across my earlobe. “I picked all of your favorite slow songs. Why waste our time with anything else?” He smiles down at me, the light streaking across his face perfectly highlighting just how crystal blue his eyes are.

“This is so much better than the actual dance. I think I’ll thank your dad next time I see him.”

He laughs deeply. “You might want to keep this one between us.”

We are interrupted by a loud clap of thunder, and we both jump. I didn’t notice at first, but the air is humid and warm for October. The sky that is usually dotted with stars whenever we are here is covered by deep gray clouds, there isn’t a star in sight.

Todd runs his hands down my arms as another one of my favorite songs starts to play. “Damn, it looks like it’s going to rain.”

“So?”

His eyes connect with mine as his smile deepens. “You sure?”

I feel a few light drops on my arm. “Positive.” I return his smile as we continue to sway to the music. I will never get over how perfect he is, inside and out.

On those words, the drops get bigger, yet they are still sporadic. I feel my blown out hair start to get weighed down by the moisture, and I know it’s frizzing. Normally, I would despise this feeling, but I don’t even care right now.

I push back all of the instinctive, responsible feelings telling me to get in the car; instead, I stay here, in this moment, in the rain.

It’s coming down at a pretty steady pace now, and Todd’s suit is absorbing it quickly. I feel my dress start to cling to me. I’m pretty sure silk isn’t supposed to get wet, but I don’t care.

Despite being soaked, we don’t skip a beat in our dance. His fingers slide across my drenched skin as he tries to keep me warm and dry. We both press farther into one another, as if we are one against nature. With loud claps of thunder booming and lightning streaking across the sky, we are in awe of the light show above us.

Todd rakes his fingers over my hair. It is curling from the rain by the second. So much for the hour it took to blow it out. Then he leans down and presses his soft lips into mine, and I hungrily press my lips back into his. There is something about being here in the rain, just the two of us. I can’t get enough of him. There is always a spark of energy whenever he touches me, but in this moment, it’s stronger than ever. I need him. I want him.

Each kiss is deeper than the one before it as he picks me up and I wrap my legs around him. I don’t even hear the music anymore. I only feel his strong body embracing mine. I always feel safe with him, but this is to a new level.

I press my body into his, his strong arms around me, holding me into him. There isn’t a part of me that is dry.

He then places me on the hood of his car, the heat from the roaring engine beneath me. I could stay here forever. I don’t feel the rain. I don’t hear the music. I only see, feel, and smell him. I love it.

“You’re a little wet,” he says with a smile through his kiss. “I mean, from the rain,” he quickly clarifies. I can’t help laughing.

His hair is soaked and hanging down in his eyes, and I feel it brush against my forehead.

“I think we should do this more often.” I smile as I continue to kiss him.

“Which part, the dancing or the kissing?”

“Both.”

“Are you cold?” He presses farther into me. “You have goose bumps everywhere.”

“Nope, not cold,” I say somewhat convincingly, I think.

“Yeah, right. Let’s get in the car.” He turns to open the passenger door for me, and since my legs are still wrapped around him, I move with him. “I have to put you down now.” He gives me his crooked smile, as if asking for permission, which I am not giving, but maybe it would be good to get out of the rain for a second.

Once I nod my head, he gently places me down and opens the door, but before I get in, I turn to face him. I need to have this memory ingrained in my brain forever. He is truly soaked. His hair is hanging down, and his eye lashes are the perfect, thick frame for his Caribbean-blue eyes. His suit is sticking to him since it’s so wet, outlining his tall, lean, muscular body.

I run my finger over his soaked lips as water drips down his face. I want to outline every detail of him, but he just raises his eyebrows as if to ask, are you getting in?

As soon as we are both in the car, he leans over while the music continues to play. “Okay, where were we?”

His wet lips then press into mine for only a moment before he leans away again. “Man, it’s not much drier in here.” We both start to laugh, realizing we left the sunroof and all of the windows open, so the car is just as wet as we are.

At that moment, we hear both of our phones buzz with texts from the center console. We look at each other because we know it’s late, and it’s odd that we would both get texts. Then we reach for our phones at the same time.

“I have fifteen texts from Ryan.”

“I have twenty,” Todd says, looking at me with fear etched across his face. I haven’t seen this look in his eyes since Brian and Gretch’s accident.

We both quickly start to go through them. The first one says, Dad knows.

If it’s even possible, my heart sinks and pounds at the same time while I quickly thumb through them.

Where are you?

I don’t want to call because they will hear me. Come home now.

Ashley???

They are waiting up.

There are more of the same, and they started thirty minutes ago.

“My parents know,” I tell Todd with my eyes locked on my phone, my voice sounding weak and strangled. It’s incredible the range of emotions I have gone through in the last five minutes.

“I know,” Todd says, still thumbing through his texts from Ry. “I’m sure that means mine will if they don’t already. Shit. I don’t know what to do.” He says that last part more to himself.

His eyes lock with mine as he runs his thumb over my wet cheek then he leans in and kisses me so deeply it takes me off guard. I wrap my arms around him and kiss him back just as deeply. A million thoughts are flying through my head, but I only care about one—Todd.

He pulls back and shakes his head. “I guess we need to go back.”

I shake my head and lean in to him. “Not yet,” I say, pressing my lips into his as I push his tie out of the way and run my hands down his soaked dress shirt.

He returns my kisses, running his hands over my hair and down my back, pressing the wet material into my skin, which gives me the chills. Then he pulls back and shakes his head again.

“I don’t know what this means, Ash. I’m already in so much trouble.”

I sink back into my seat. “I know.”

He slams his hand down on his steering wheel as the reality of the situation sinks in, and I start to play with the hem of my dress as we sit in silence.

He looks back at me. “What do we do? We’re soaked. We can’t hide that.” He reaches into his back seat and pulls out his EHS football sweatshirt. “Here, put this on.”

“Like they won’t notice this. It’s clearly yours.”

“I know, but at least you’ll be warm and sort of dry.” He gives me that crooked smile that captured my heart from the very beginning. “We’re doing this together. I’m going in with you.”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” I give him a nervous smile. I honestly have no idea what the right answer is.

He shakes his head as he runs his hands through his wet hair. “It’s done. I’m doing it. I need to face your parents at some point.”

Chapter 10: Meet the Parents