“Whatever.” He shoves me, but he’s laughing, too.

Ziah’s eyes catch mine, and she gives me a little smile. Seriously. Future sister-in-laws should not be this sexy.

“You’re lucky I’m in a decent mood today, Dylan.” Ziah gets in the backseat, and I squeeze in next to her. Paul barely closes his door, and Lora totally peels out in the driveway like she’s a sixteen-year-old guy.

“I can’t believe they got an opening.” She sounds like a Disney Princess, and I’m pretty sure she’s going to break into song at any second. “I’ve wanted to get married at Vista House since—”

“You were ten years-old,” Ziah says. “You kept running up and down the staircase in the main window-filled room and singing that one day you’d be there in a wedding dress,”

See? I knew she was the Disney song type.

“Sigh…” she replies.

I don’t get why girls do that. Why they say sigh. Why not just, I don’t know, sigh?

Derrick gives her this sappy look that makes me want to wipe the drool from his mouth. Seriously. It’s bizarre. I don’t get love, and why it changes people so much.

I lean back just about over this convo, but when I do, my knee bumps against Ziah’s. I’m about to move it, but she sucks in a little breath. That makes me keep it there. I mean, if she likes it, who am I to take it away?

It takes a couple seconds, but I feel her relax. I’m pretty sure she’s going to move away, but I could swear her leg pushes a little closer to mine. Warmth rolls off her to me, and I’m seriously feeling… I don’t even know what, but whatever it is, I choose to ignore it.

Lora and Derrick are going on and on about wedding stuff up front, and it makes me wonder how Ziah’s doing with the whole James and Alyssa thing.

“You okay?” I ask quietly, hoping Paul doesn’t hear. I catch his eye over Ziah’s head and he sort of smiles at me before pulling out his iPod and sticking his earbuds in.

“I finally talked to Alyssa, so yeah. I mean, it’s awkward but better.”

“Told ya. Masta Dylan knows his shit.” I give her a cocky grin and then see the stupid strand of hair fall into her face. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I push it behind her ear.

She does another of those little gaspy-breaths, and it makes me start feeling all sorts of things I shouldn’t for a whole list of reasons. She’s a boyfriend kind of girl. She just got out of a relationship. I don’t trust girls for anything other than a good time. Oh, and our siblings are getting married.

Before I can do something else stupid, I let my eyes find the window. Derrick and Lora are still talking, Paul’s still listening to music, and I’m not letting myself say another word to Ziah right now. Still, I can’t find it in myself to move my leg.

***

Lora and Derrick are on the main floor—a large, round room three stories high with marble floors and the staircase they were talking about in the car. It seriously looks like a castle, which is another Disney thing she has going on.

I wonder if Mom would have liked this place. For a second, I wonder why we never came here, and then I push those thoughts out of my head. I hate thinking about her, and I’m not in the mood to do it now.

“I gotta take a piss. I’ll be right back,” Paul says and then walks way.

“Wanna see the tunnels?” Ziah asks.

Call me crazy, but I didn’t even know there were tunnels. “Sounds cool to me.”

She leads me down the first flight of stairs and then another. The farther we go the more I’m thinking this might not have been a good idea. I definitely don’t need to be alone with her with the way I’ve been feeling. Especially in dark tunnels.

A little bit of light filters in through the doorway we just came through, but there’s just enough to make out some of her features in the dark.

“Isn’t it cool,” she whispers. Her voice is all husky and sexy, and she’s standing way close to me. Damn, I want to kiss this girl. And then I stumble a little bit because I can’t remember the last time I did kiss a girl. That has to be part of it, right?

“You okay? You’re breathing heavy over there.” She clips my hip with hers. I’m pretty sure I groan. Why did she have to do that?

“Eh, just losing my shit,” I say and then regret it.

She grabs my hand and stops me. Or maybe I just stop because I like the way it feels. We’re only about a foot away from each other, and she’s looking up at me. I’m looking down at her.

Step back, step the fuck back, Gibson. But I’ve never really been that good at listening to myself.

“What’s wrong?”

Wrong? When she’s standing this close to me, and the blood is flooding through me like white water rapids, nothing is wrong. “Nothing.”

And then the girl seriously shoves a knife into my gut by licking her lips. I want to lick them too. She looks like she’s deep in thought. I can practically see the wheels turning in her brain and then she’s leaning toward me. Holy shit. Hanes is leaning in for a kiss, and there is absolutely nothing that can stop me from meeting her halfway.

It doesn’t even start out slow. My tongue slips between her lips, and hers meets it. It takes us a second to get our groove, like we’re both too eager to taste each other.

Her arms come up around my neck, and—shit, when did mine wrap around her waist? All I know is I’m pulling her closer and feeling her everywhere. She stumbles as I back her up against the wall.

It’s probably the most urgent kiss of my life. She’s making these little sounds and pulling me closer, and I never would have expected that from her. One of her knees goes between my legs, and yeah, there’s a lot going on down there. I press my hips into her, and she actually pulls my hair.

I let my lips trail down her neck, and my tongue traces her collarbone. She stiffens for a second but then totally melts against me.

“Dylan,” she gasps, and it’s a good gasp. But it also makes me freeze. This is the girl I might have wanted to go on a date with.

Dad pops into my head crying and yelling, and Derrick with red eyes is trying to get me to my bedroom. And Mom… where’s Mom?

“Dylan?” This time, she’s questioning, wondering what I’m doing, and the fact that I almost start to kiss her again tells me I really need to pull away. I can’t do this. Not with her.

“I think we should stop.” I ease away, but it’s like torture.

“What?” More questions in her voice.

The shitty part is I can’t tell this girl what I’m thinking. I haven’t talked to any girl about Mom, and I don’t plan to start now. But for the first time, I feel guilty about that—about hiding that part of me.

Has Derrick told Lora?

“I mean, it’s probably smart, right? You just broke up with the idiot, and we’re just starting to be friends or whatever. I think we should just be friends.”

I’m still too close. Still breathing her in. Still remembering her body pinned between me and the wall. And that probably just sounded like the biggest line of all time.

Ten years later, she finally replies. Her voice is low but steady, and I can’t stop wondering what she’s thinking.

“Umm, yeah. You’re right. I mean, like we’d be good together.”

I almost open my mouth to ask her why not, but I don’t. What’s wrong with me? “Well, I’m pretty sure that just showed us we’d be good, but we’re both smarter than this.”

“Yeah. Right. Definitely.” Ziah straightens her shirt, and I’m hoping there’s some deflating going on before we get into the light.

Silently we head back the way we came. It feels like I’m walking the plank or something. I know, I know. That’s sounds stupid, but it’s true. When we’re just about to the end I grab her hand real quick.

“You’re okay?” She seems good, but her sister is marrying my brother. I don’t want to create any drama or anything.

Ziah rolls her eyes. “No, Dylan. Your kissing is so incredible, I’m broken-hearted and ruined for all men in the future. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to go on without you.”