Four Kisses Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t care. I still don’t want to go back there.” Drake dropped the subject, but after a few moments of quiet walking he said,
    “He’s an idiot.”
    The heat behind the words made her feel as warm and good as the shirt. It was a compliment, his indirect way of saying Jen was worthwhile and Tom was stupid for not seeing it.
    “Thank you.” She felt light and floaty, a balloon bobbing along beside Drake. The pot was making her relaxed and giddy…and hungry. She hadn’t eaten much at the restaurant tonight, too excited about it being prom night and possibly the night she’d lose her virginity to Tom.
    “Asshole,” she muttered under her breath. Thank god she hadn’t wasted her first time on a jerk like that.
    “Don’t think about him. Come on.” Drake seized her hand and pulled her offthe river walk and down the steps of the embankment leading to the water’s edge.
    A flash of déjà vu shot through Jen as they approached the water lapping the shore. This was a different body of water—not a thin stream but a surging river—and yet she was reminded of Drake holding her hand just like this, leading her to an unknown destination. The connection between them and water seemed deeply profound, but she supposed it was just the effects of the marijuana.
    Drake stopped and Jen stumbled as she came to a stop too. He caught her, slipped an arm around her waist and pointed at the river. “See those lights?”
    “Yeah.” The white light shimmering across the water was no different than what they could see from the boardwalk, just a different angle down here.
    “Keep watching and you might see them.”

    “See what?”
    “Be patient.”
    She quieted, settling into the crook of his arm and leaning against him. It was darker down here than up on the walk, and she had the sense of being in a private place where usual rules didn’t apply. No one would see them here. No one would know if… If what? If she relaxed against Drake and let his warmth seep into her? If she cuddled a little with a guy so outside her social circle he might as well live on another planet?
    Jen breathed in and out—slowly, and felt Drake doing the same beside her, his ribs expanding with each breath, his body pressing lightly against hers. She felt like she was glowing from the heat stealing through her. She turned her head and looked up at his moonlit profile, wondering when he’d make a move and kiss her. It was inevitable, wasn’t it? Dark night, boy and girl together in a secluded spot, hormones coursing through them like the river.
    He smiled and nodded toward the water. “There. Did you see it?” Jen turned her attention back to the water. In the broad beam of light cast by the moon, ripples spread over the water in concentric rings as if something had dove beneath the surface. “What?”
    “Wait and keep looking.”
    A dark shape leaped from the water, turned to silver as the light struck its scales, then disappeared again, leaving rings behind. Another flipped. Then another, but this one seemed to hover, its tail chopping the water and keeping it upright for a few seconds before it slipped back into the river.
    Jen clapped her hands and laughed. “Fish dancing. That’s amazing.” As if on cue, a pair of the fishes leaped up and did their dance.
    “What kind are they?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. But pretty cool, huh?”
    Jen turned into Drake, slipped her arms around him and gave an impulsive hug.
    “Yes. Thanks for showing them to me.”
    He let her cling to him and he held her in a loose embrace, arms clasped around her but not tightly. She pressed her cheek against the soft, worn fabric of his T-shirt and listened to the beating of his heart. She didn’t look for more dancing fish, but closed her eyes and just felt the moment. It had to be the pot, but she had the strongest sensation of something vital happening—not just because he was holding her but because life was so short and precious and