TRUTH Read Online Free PDF Page B

in question, I indicated that it was the one and quickly dropped my arm. Unfortunately, Stephan reached for my arm and guided my hand back to the bookcase. Together, we pulled it off the shelf.
    “Is this the one?”
    “Yes.”
    He turned me around to face him and tilted my chin up. “Your father likes baseball.”
    I nodded.  
    I couldn’t remember how old I’d been the first time John and I watched A League of Their Own . The movie hadn’t been new, but it had looked interesting enough to both of us that he’d rented it from the local video store. We’d liked it so much that he’d bought a copy of his own. It had become sort of a tradition, and we’d watched it together almost every time I came to visit. I hadn’t seen it years. Not since before my mom had died.
    He released my chin and stepped around me to put the movie into the player. Once he turned everything on, he reached for my hands and led me over to the couch. To my surprise, he already had everything laid out and ready. The pizza sat on the coffee table along with plates and two glasses of water. I’d been lost in my head again and hadn’t been paying attention. He would be so disappointed in me.
    We sat down, and I lowered my head, placing my hands in my lap.
    “What’s wrong, Brianna?” He brushed my hair away from my face so I couldn’t hide.
    “I wasn’t paying attention.”
    He was quiet. I had no idea how he would react. It wasn’t the first time I’d gotten lost in my thoughts. Every time he caught me, he stressed the importance of paying attention to my surroundings. He’d even taken away my books once.
    “You think you deserve to be punished?”
    “I don’t know,” I whispered.
    Stephan leaned back and pulled me into his arms. I rested my head on his chest and began playing with the buttons on his shirt.
    “Thank you for telling me.”
    When he didn’t add anything else, I felt I should say something. “You’re welcome.”
    He chuckled.
    I looked up into his face. He stared down at me with amusement.
    “You had a very stressful day, sweetheart. Although I do wish you would pay more attention to what is going on around you at all times, I do understand that it’s not always going to be possible. Life is not black and white. There have to be exceptions.”
    “You’re not . . . disappointed?”
    “With you not paying attention? No. Not at all.” As soon as he finished speaking, he kissed me. The kisses began with his lips barely touching my forehead, and slowly, as he worked his way down to my mouth, he increased the pressure. With every kiss, my heart rate accelerated, and I felt that now-familiar heat in my belly. Thoughts of my father and everything that had happened that day faded into the back of my mind.
    I slid my hands up his chest, his neck, and into his hair, feeling the silky texture beneath my fingers. He pressed his lips against mine, dipping his tongue inside my mouth. I held tighter, trying to get closer. It seemed I could never get close enough to him anymore.
    He grasped the back of my neck, pulling us apart. I frowned. I didn’t want to stop.
    Stephan laughed.
    “Don’t look so disappointed, Brianna. We both need to eat.” Then he pulled me back against him, harder than before, and placed a solid kiss on my mouth. “And I promise you, there will be more time for this later,” he said, rubbing his thumb against my bottom lip.
    Reluctantly, I nodded, and we both sat up. He reached for the pizza and placed a piece on each of our plates before handing me mine.  
    There were several parts of the movie I’d forgotten. Although some scenes did remind me of my father, I found myself getting lost in the story. There were times I laughed and even a few where I cried. At one point, Stephan leaned down to whisper in my ear, “There’s no crying in baseball,” mimicking what Tom Hanks’s character had said earlier in the movie. It made me laugh. By the end, I remembered why I’d always liked it so