A Fair to Remember Read Online Free PDF Page B

bothering you, you could make it up to me right now.”
    She blinked. “You mean… kiss you… here ? No. That would be a bad idea.”
    “Or”—he drew little circles on her ribs with his thumbs—“you could just live with that wretched guilt the rest of your life. Knowing you broke a young boy’s heart.”
    “I did not. You turned out just fine.”
    “No,” he said, all the tease leaking out of his words. “Really.”
    “Jake—”
    “I’m not saying it wasn’t complicated back then. I’ll give you that. But getting over you wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
    She blinked at him. Twice. “But… you did … get over me.”
    He took the fifth on that one. “You gonna kiss me or not?”
    “An apology kiss, right?”
    “Right.”
    She moved closer, resting her hands on his shoulders in tacit surrender. “Okay.” She approached with caution, her gaze on his grin.
    He bridged the gap, brushing his mouth against hers. Softly. Testing.
    He pulled away and he smiled.
    “Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “That was nice.”
    “No. That was just me trying to locate you in the dark.”
    She chuckled. “I’m right he—”
    His mouth was hot against hers before she could finish. It bore no resemblance to the last one. This kiss had nothing to do with best friends or even apologies.
    A surprised sound escaped her before she relaxed, allowing him to pull her flush against his chest. She tasted good, so sweet, and she parted her lips to welcome his tongue against the hungry slide of hers.
    He deepened the kiss, holding her face between his hands and pushing his fingers into her wet hair. It was a long-time-coming sort of kiss, the kind that, in imagining, had kept him awake long into the night in the middle of the desert. Her lips were as soft as he remembered. And her kiss held all the promise that teenaged one had contained. What had been an ember in his gut earlier, now exploded into a full-fledged fire that burned through him, hot and heavy straight down to his groin. He slanted his mouth against hers first one way, then the other, and he nearly lost control right there, but then they dipped underwater for a few seconds, locked together in the embrace. They rolled, then he kicked them to the surface and swung her above him. She lifted her head and broke the kiss, gasping for air.
    The moon had slid out from behind a cloud and he could see her, almost clear as day as they bobbed in the water together. She looked surprised. Stunned as he was. Even if he could remember the last woman he’d kissed, which he couldn’t right now, this one ejected all others from his memory.
    She tensed up in his arms and backed away from him.
    “Oh!” she breathed.
    Kicking backward, she did a small spin in the water, as if she’d lost her direction back to shore.
    “I shouldn’t have done that. See what a couple of beers will do?” She started toward the rocks.
    He stopped her, pulling her toward him, wrapping his arms around her. “Liv, wait.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t even apology-kiss you without screwing it up.”
    “You didn’t screw anything up.”
    “Of course it screws everything up. For so many reasons. Not the least of which is I wouldn’t want to hurt you. Of all people.”
    “Hurt me? How? I liked it.”
    “Because I can’t… I won’t…” She swallowed hard, treading in place. “Why’d you come back here, Jake? Was it just to keep the promise?”
    He frowned. That felt like a trick question. “Tonight? Yeah. Why’d you come looking for me at Grey’s? You could’ve just let it go. Just left it alone.”
    “What? No , never. I wanted to see you.” Her hands were on his shoulders. “I guess I thought, stupidly, we could pick up where we left off. As best friends. But we’re not kids anymore. This… what just happened—”
    “Happened because we both wanted it to,” he finished. “At least, I did. And it felt like you did, too.”
    She clearly couldn’t deny