“I don’t think you can call it hustling when there’s no money involved.”

He drew his eyebrows down and the skin between his eyes wrinkled. “Why did you let me think you couldn’t play?”

I leaned close to him, standing on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “Because I wanted to know what it felt like to be held in your arms. And it felt fan-freakin-tastic.”

His eyebrows rose. “But we weren’t… we were barely friends.”

“I crossed the friend line a long time ago, Brody.” I bit the corner of my bottom lip.

He took the pool cue from me and set it away with his. Turning, he walked toward me until I was pressed against the pool table. With a hand on each side of me, he leaned in close. “When?”

“The day you asked me to help you with your calculus homework and I realized the next day you didn’t need my help. That you’d just wanted to sit with me and talk. No one had ever done that before. You know, made an effort?”

“I think I knew the first night I saw you,” Brody murmured.

I thought back, trying to remember what happened when we first met.

“Jaden pulled a kid over and demanded he buy you something to drink. You reached out to keep the kid from falling and gave Jaden a death glare. Then you kept telling the kid he didn’t need to buy you anything and tried to give his money back to him, remember?”

I nodded.

“I knew you weren’t like the normal, spoiled, popular crowd that thinks everyone owes them something.”

Brody paused. His eyes roamed over my face, landing on my mouth. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip. His eyes followed his thumb before seeking out my gaze. “I knew that night there was something special about you. Even when we were insulting each other, I was secretly enjoying every second of it because you were talking to me, even though you were wicked harsh.”

I laughed. “Yeah, sorry, but you did call me a bimbo.”

“Honestly,” he huffed, “are you ever going to let me live that down?”

I ran my hand through his hair, brushing it off his forehead. “Maybe. You’ll have to do something really epic to make me forget it, though. Are we going to finish our game?”

Brody stood in front of me, not moving. His gaze locked on mine, and all I could think of were sapphires. That was what his eyes reminded me of, brilliant, sparkling, sapphires. He leaned his face close to mine. “Let’s call it a draw. You won air hockey, and I won pool. I want you to myself tomorrow. What do you want?”

“I want to spend our date at your aunt’s property,” I whispered.

“Any reason why?” He leaned in closer. His breath fanned my lips.

“I want you all to myself.”

Brody put his hands on my hips and pulled me to him. Every part of our bodies were touching. I just had to tilt my face to the side and his lips would be on mine.

“Well, go on, boy. Kiss her,” an old man sitting on one of the barstools yelled. “You two’ve been dancing around each other all night. Jist do it an’ git ’er done.”

“You heard him, Ace. Kiss me,” I whispered. Brody watched my lips move. His hands tightened on my hips, pulling me even closer to him.

“I will,” he murmured, our breath mingling. “But not here and not yet.” He let go and took a step back, an odd expression on his face.

I cursed him silently. Then I wondered what was wrong with me. Why he didn’t want to kiss me.

“If you’re not into the whole kissing thing, that’s cool.” I tried to brush off my disappointment. “Let’s just finish our game because you were dreaming if you thought you were gonna beat me.” I didn’t look at him when I grabbed my pool cue and chalked the tip. “Whose turn is it? I can’t remember. I’ll just take a shot.” I sunk one ball before missing. I managed not to look at Brody while I took my turn, but when I looked up to tell him it was his shot, I saw him standing in the same place I’d left him, no pool cue in his hand. “You’re up, Ace.”

We finished our game and Brody drove me home, dropping me off without a kiss.

Something’s wrong with me. I’m un-kissable, and I have no idea why.

It’s Sunday!

I scrambled out of bed. My foot got tangled in my sheets, and I face planted on the floor with a grunt. Even that didn’t ruin my excitement. Another day with Brody, I was in Heaven. The best part of the day—other than being with Brody—was Sunday was Mom and Ralph’s day. They always spent it doing something together. What, I had no idea and couldn’t care less. The whole idea kind of creeped me out. The less they told me, the happier I was. Their time away left me free for the day. And I was spending it with Brody Victor. But first, I had to untangle my foot and get off the floor. I decided texting him was more important. I reached up, grabbed my cell off my bedside table, and typed in a text.

Me: Good morning, Ace.

I set my phone next to me, untangled my sheets, and stood up, scooping my phone with me. After I made my bed, I ran downstairs to get a bowl of cereal. When I got back to my room, I checked my phone. No text.

Huh.

My mom stuck her head in my room to tell me she and Ralph were leaving. They were spending the night in Shipshewana, Indiana and wouldn’t be home until the next morning. I had to restrain myself from doing my happy dance. Instead, I simply told them to have a nice time and I’d see them after school Monday.

Still no text from Brody.

Jenna called me and wanted every second of my date with Brody accounted for. I spent the next hour telling her everything that happened, twice.

Still no text.

“Should I text him again?” I asked Jenna.

“How long has it been?”

“Almost three hours.” I sighed.

“Yeah, text him. Maybe your first one didn’t go through.”

“What should I say?”

Jenna laughed. “I don’t know. He’s your hottie boyfriend.”

“Yeah.”

Me: Whatcha doin’?

I talked another half hour with Jenna before hanging up. Still no text. Brody had never gone this long without answering me. I didn’t expect him to answer the second I texted him, but he usually texted back within a few minutes, not hours.

I picked out my outfit. Jenna would be proud. It was something normal and a little sexy—at least I thought it was sexy, but what did I know? Guys baffled me, especially Brody. At least Jaden was an open book, and it was all about him. I couldn’t figure Brody out at all.

I laid the off-white sweater and navy leggings on my bed and waited. An hour later, I took a shower. And I waited. I rechecked my outfit, decided I didn’t like that one, and picked another. This time, it was a sweater that fell off one shoulder—that had to be sexy, I thought. And I waited.

I was just about to shove my clothes back in my closet and say screw it when my phone chimed. I forced myself not to snatch it up right away and click on the message. He made me wait all flippin’ day. He could wait five minutes. I sat on my bed, looking around my bedroom, mentally taking inventory of my things.

Black furniture to match the black stripes on my walls, check. White chandelier hanging from the ceiling to match the white in the white-and-black paisley wallpaper on the bottom half of my walls, check. A hot pink papasan chair to match the hot pink stripes, check. A hot pink lava lamp, check. Even my friggin’ phone is hot pink! Ugh!

I wanted to throw it across the room. Instead, I clicked on his message.

Brody: Hey, gorgeous. I’m so sorry. Running errands and forgot my phone.

And just like that, my stupid smile was back on my face.

Me: It’s okay. Home now?

Brody: Yes. Don’t want to be.

Me: ?

Brody: Want to be with you.