Ruin (Dirty Secrets #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

about me?” he asks.
    “I— what?”
    “How do you feel about me? When you look at me… when you kiss me…” his voice trails off.
    I take a deep breath.
    And then let it out.
    How am I supposed to tell him without sounding like a complete freak?
    “Do you remember when we were fourteen and you came with my grandma, Trey, and me to Hawaii on vacation?” I ask.
    He nods. “How could I forget? You wore that hot pink bikini, and your boobs… man, I had a hard on the whole trip.”
    I giggle. “Jace!”
    “Just being honest.”
    I bite my lip and shake my head at him. “Well, do you remember the day we went cliff-diving?”
    “Of course. You were scared to death, but you just ran and jumped. You were so brave.”
    “When I look at you, that is how I feel,” I tell him. “It’s like I’m looking from the top of the cliff at the crashing waves. My stomach is full of butterflies, and I’m nervous, but more than nervous. I am excited. You make my head spin. You make my palms sweaty. But I’m not scared to jump — not when it comes to you. I have that feeling of free-falling. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away, and I don’t want it to.”
    “Good,” he says. “Because I don’t want it to go away either.”
    “So, did you mean what you said earlier?” I ask.
    “Which part?”
    “The no fornicating part.”
    Jace glances over at me and groans. “Madi, do you have any idea how sexy you are?”
    My face warms. “Um…”
    “I want to go slow with you, but you’re making it very hard.”
    Hard?
    I can’t help it, I laugh.
    “I am glad to know that I make it… hard.”
    Jace laughs. “Well, that too.”
    “Did you really have no clue how I felt about you?” I ask him.
    “Really, I didn’t.”
    “What did you think about all the flirting, the prolonged dreamy stares and sex jokes?”
    “God, I don’t know,” he answers. “You’ve just always been that way with me, and me with you. I guess I just thought that was our normal.”
    “Well, I am definitely not like this with anybody else.”
    “Did you know that I liked you?” he asks.
    “Looking back, yeah. It was kind of obvious,” I answer. “But I was afraid of rejection. There was always the what if in my mind.”
    “Do I live up to the fantasy?”
    “Fantasy?”
    “Yeah. I mean, I’m sure you imagined what it would be like when we got together. Do I live up?” he asks.
    “Jace, how am I supposed to answer that? It’s kind of an embarrassing question.”
    “Am I a good kisser?”
    I nod. “Yeah. I think you’re awesome. But then again, I haven’t kissed anybody besides you, so…”
    “Right,” he says, grinning at me. “You know, I really like that we will be each other’s first everything. And last.”
    “Me too.”
    “You don’t think it’s weird that I’m a seventeen year old virgin?”
    “Considering I am too, no,” I tell him. “Besides, you were waiting for me. That’s pretty much the hottest thing ever.”
    “You’re kind of perfect.”
    “Kind of?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
    “Hey, I’ve known you thirteen years. I know all your flaws,” he says.
    “Like what?”
    “You’re a really good liar. Even Trey can’t figure out when you’re lying,” Jace says.
    “But you always know.”
    “I can tell when you’re about to lie, but that’s because I pay an unhealthy amount of attention to you. Also, you are really good at getting your way. You have a way with words… it’s like you manipulate people without even realizing it.”
    Those aren’t really bad traits to have.
    Well, I guess good at lying is. But it’s also handy.
    “You’re not so perfect either,” I say, jokingly.
    “I’d love to hear this.” He takes the turn into the parking lot of the restaurant.
    “First off, you’re stubborn—”
    He cuts me off as he pulls into a parking spot. “You’re one to talk.”
    I laugh. “You’re right, but at least I admit it. And no more interrupting.”
    “Okay. Sorry.