When I sat down next to her, she said, “Dad gave you the talk.”
I chuckled. “Yeah.”
She shook her head.
And now, I didn’t know what to do with my hands. Should I put my arm around her? Were we into hand-holding territory? Lacey-call-me-yours hadn’t made me guess like this. She’d been very clear what she’d wanted me to do to her. And what she wanted to do to me. Maybe that was what made it so easy to say no.
Nora wasn’t Lacey. Nora, this beautiful girl with blue eyes that made her look so innocent and...nice...sat next to me, her legs crossed so I could see her shoes. Most girls wore these spikey things to prom, but hers had a heel on them that wouldn’t impale me. A heel she could dance in.
Oh God. I hadn’t thought this through. Nora was the kind of girl who danced at these things. I was sure of it. How in the hell was I supposed to slow dance with her in my wheelchair? And why hadn’t Wolf mentioned this along with his other smart-ass remarks?
“We’re picking up Grace and Fabio next,” Nora said.
“Fabio?” Aunt Linda had enough worn-out books with a long-haired, bare-chested dude on the cover for me to know who he was.
Nora giggled, and the sound was cute as hell. “You know who he is?”
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t slum it at a high school prom.”
She laughed again, and I swore in that moment I’d never get tired of that laugh, never stop trying to hear it again.
Twenty-Two
Nora
“He goes to school here, and his grandma is a really big romance reader,” I said. We only a had a few minutes left of just Emerick and me. Before this little bubble popped.
When he came to pick me up, I couldn’t believe how good he looked. Sure, he had the leather-jacket wearing, bad-boy look down to a science. But this? Emerick in a suit and tie? Jaw, meet floor.
I scooted a little closer to him, just enough that I could smell his cologne and feel the warmth of his side against mine. “You look really nice,” I said.
He put his arm around me, and my nerves went crazy. My body had never reacted this strongly, even when Trey was kissing me, and Emerick could do it with a simple touch through his jacket sleeve.
Emerick’s grin made the tingles grow even stronger. “You look amazing.” His voice was low, husky...hot.
Someone get me out of the kitchen.
“Thanks,” I said, looking up at him.
The pad of his thumb traced a circle on my bare shoulder, short circuiting my brain. All I could do was grin up at him like an idiot. Where had Smart Nora gone, and who had replaced her with this giggling idiot?
“You know,” Emerick said, “I’m really glad you said yes.”
“Me too.” How could I have missed out on how kind his eyes were? How they gave away his soft side, even when the rest of him screamed danger?
It all felt too surreal. The only thing that would have been crazier than me going to prom with Emerick Turner was me going to prom with Adam, and that was just about as impossible as spring breaking on the moon.
The limo slowed to a crawl and stopped outside of Grace’s house. Emerick gawked at it out the window and tried to hide his expression, but not soon enough.
“Her dad has this patent,” I said. “He’s just a banker now.”
He blinked, clearing his features, and nodded.
What was going on in his mind? Sometimes he could just wipe his expression without a moment’s notice. Where had he learned that?
I followed his gaze out the window and saw Grace walking down the sidewalk, looking stunning in a blue sheath dress that clung to her tiny frame. Fabio walked beside her, tall and lanky, a goofy grin on his face as usual. Grace was the only one of us girls with a guy best friend, and sometimes I was jealous she had a built-in date. Not tonight though, with Emerick at my side.
When the limo door opened and Grace saw us, she broke out into a huge grin. She scooted next to me and took in my dress. “Oh my gosh, you look amazing.” She glanced at my date. “And you look great, Emerick. You did an awesome job on the color.”
He said thanks, giving her an uneasy smile.
Fabio sat about a foot away from Grace. “Looking good, you two.”
“And you!” I said. “I love the cummerbund. Classic.”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “It was my grandma’s idea.” He shook his head, replacing his frown with a goofy grin. “Okay, I have the perfect thing to spice up this party.”
I lifted my eyebrows. London, Grace, and I had made a pact freshman year not to drink until we were twenty-one, and as far as I knew, none of us had broken it, or intended to.
Grace eyed him. “What is it?”
A sly smile took over his features. “Let’s wait for London.”
No matter how much Grace and I prodded him, he wouldn’t budge until London was in the car, countless layers of tulle spread out around her.
Emerick leaned into my shoulder, and his breath tickled my skin. “Where’s her date?”
I turned to speak in his ear, and he was so close, I swore I felt electricity radiating from his skin. “Her boyfriend’s in college.”
Grace hit Fabio’s knee. “Okay, what’s the plan.”
There was that mischievous smile again. “It’s kind of like truth or dare mixed with bingo,” Fabio said, “but it’s only dares, and you have to do it during the dance.” He scanned the rest of us, probably looking for any hints of rebellion.
London shrugged. “Fine, but Nora picks the dares.”
Grace laughed. “Nora’s the worst at dares.”
My cheeks heated. “I am not the worst.”
They both folded their arms across their chests. Honestly, it was kind of creepy.
Grace nudged Fabio. “I told you about the time she dared me to eat M&Ms before bed so I’d get a cavity, right?”
He snorted.
Okay, now my cheeks were even redder, and I was very much aware of the sexy guy snickering next to me. “You told him that?”
London crossed her legs, and her dazzling stilettos caught the light. “That’s nothing.” She looked at Grace. “Remember the time she had me make that A look like a B and show my mom so I’d get in ‘trouble’?”
I covered my face. God, they could have just taken some lipstick and written LOSER on my forehead. It would have had the same effect.
Emerick nudged my shoulder. “You did that?”
Still keeping my hands over my face, I nodded.
He pulled on one wrist and twisted his fingers through mine. “That’s so cute.”
And sure, I would have rather been sexy or beautiful or stunning, but cute coming from Emerick, in that low, smooth voice? I’d take that a million times over.
Fabio raised his hands. “Fine, fine. Nora’s dare has to get approval from the group. All in favor say aye.”
A chorus of “ayes” rang in the back of the limo, and I squeezed Emerick’s hand. “Whose side are you on?” I whispered.
His lips curved into an easy grin. “I’m on the side of having an awesome night with you.”
“Well, when you put it like that...” I smiled.
“Okay, okay,” Fabio said. “I’ll go first.” He pulled a notebook and pen out of his pocket and started writing. “Kiss somebody.”
All of a sudden, Emerick’s lips seemed more prominent than ever before. Would those lips be touching mine before the night was over?
London gaped at him. “I have a boyfriend who isn’t here.”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to get all of them.” He finished scribbling with a flourish. “Next.”
Grace took the pad. “Get between a couple dancing too close and tell them to make room for Jesus.”
Emerick’s chest rumbled with laughter. “I’m totally doing that in my wheelchair.”
London acted like she was raising the roof. “Yessss!”
Fabio clapped his hands. “You get it.”
Grace handed Emerick the note
pad, and he started writing. I read the words as he wrote them: “Grind on someone else’s date.”
For the millionth time, my cheeks felt warm. Grinding? That was basically dry-humping to music. That town in Footloose was starting to look more appealing than ever.
Emerick handed me the notepad, brushing my fingers again. Like a static shock, electricity bounced between us. My eyes met his. Did he feel that too?
I took in a deep breath. Time for a good dare. “Tell someone how you really feel about them.”
Fabio’s mouth fell open. “That’s just a truth dressed up like a dare.”
I glared at him. “If you think it’s a dare, say aye.”
And the ayes had it, no matter how loudly Fabio said nay.
At the end of the trip, we had a good list lined up, including every crazy thing from do the worm during a slow dance to steal the prom queen’s crown. But the dare I was most worried about?
The stupid one I’d thought of earlier. Tell someone how you really feel about them.
Whether I was afraid because I didn’t want to tell Emerick or because of what he might say to me if I did, I didn’t know.
The limo pulled in front of the school, and in a few seconds, we’d have to get out and start the night.
Emerick kept the list since he would be sitting down. We all went into prom, and Emerick and I sat along the edges of the dancefloor, reading over the items.
He took the end of the pen between his lips, and I couldn’t help but think of the dare.
Kiss someone.
That would be so easy. And terrifying.
He looked at me, his eyes sliding up from my mouth to meet my gaze. “What about drink a cup of punch? That’s an easy one.”
I nodded, trying to clear my head. “I’ll get it.” On my way over to the punch table, I tried to decipher what his gaze meant. Had he been looking at my lips, thinking of kissing me too? By the time I brought a cup of the slushy drink back, I still hadn’t decided.
He took a drink and smiled. “That was a good one.”
I rubbed my fingers together, evaporating the condensation from his cup. “Definitely.” I scanned the dares. “Slow dance with someone?”
Emerick pointed at his cast. “Mind swaying along with a cripple?”
I did have a better idea. I bit my lip. “Mind if I try something?”
His eyes widened, and a strobe light caught his nearly black irises. Just slightly, he nodded.
With my heart racing, I settled onto his lap and linked my arms around his shoulders. “This counts, right?”
His chest lifted, and he blew out a breath. “I think so.” It was barely a whisper, but I caught every syllable, the nervous tone behind his words.
The song playing faded to nothing as the thoughts in my head drowned out the lyrics. Me. Emerick. Prom. How had this ever happened?
“You ever think you’d be here with me?” Emerick asked, reading my mind.
I shook my head. “No, but life has a way of surprising me with really good things.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He traced a slow circle on my back with his hand, leaving a trail of warmth behind his fingers. It felt like bathing in fire. Refreshing and terrifying. Cleansing and ruining. If I kept going, I wouldn’t be able to turn around to the world of Polo-shirted guys wielding daddy’s money like a weapon. This—Emerick—it was so much more real.
Final chords played through a speaker, and even though Emerick and I hadn’t gone anywhere, I felt like we were in a totally different place. At least, I was.
He cleared his throat and reached for the paper again. My back felt cool at the absence of his touch.
“What about number thirteen?” he asked.
“Is that the bathroom one?”
He chuckled. “No. Stick an ice cube down someone’s back.”
We both turned our eyes to Fabio, where he danced the sprinkler...then acted like he was screwing in a lightbulb with swaying hips...then made a pizza over his shoulders. Grace shuffled back and forth across from him in some weird version of hammer time.
Emerick groaned. “This is just painful.”
I smiled at the pair. “They’re having fun.”
He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “For now.”
Taking care not to hurt Emerick’s injured leg, I got up from the chair and walked back over to the punch table, where melting glasses of ice waited by the water pitcher. I took two and walked back to Emerick. By the time I got there, Grace, Fabio, and London were already around him, glancing at the list.
This was my chance.
I snuck closer to Fabio. Closer. Just as Grace noticed me and yelled, I dump a handful of melty ice down Fabio’s back. I might have been student body president with straight As, but the way Emerick grinned and high-fived me made me feel more accomplished than ever.
Fabio glared at me evilly. “Payback’s a witch.”
Emerick snorted. That probably wasn’t the version he usually heard.
I stared right back at Fabio. “Bring it on, lover boy.”
He tossed his head, pretending to flip back long, golden hair. “My grandma didn’t name me Fabio for nothin’.”
A new song played, and Fabio’s gaze jerked in Grace’s direction. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
She grinned back at him. “Say it on three.”
“One two...Cupid Shuffle!”
She shuffled to him in her Converse, and they went to the dancefloor.
London looked at us. “What are you doing waiting here? Find somewhere else to be before Fabio tries to get you back!”
Emerick huffed. “The revenge of Fabio.”
But he didn’t have time to think about it, because I was already wheeling him toward the hallway. Fabio pulled the worst pranks.
We ran into a chaperone at the door, and I made up a quick excuse about forgetting Emerick’s medicine in his locker. We were home free.
It was totally dark in the locker hallways and eerily quiet compared to the pounding music in the gym. But if Emerick kept looking at me like he had earlier, my heart would probably give those speakers a run for their money.
I tried the handle to one of the classrooms, and fortunately, it gave. We slipped into the dark English room, illuminated only by streetlights pouring in through the windows.
I went and sat at a desk, and Emerick wheeled next to me. My breathing was so loud in this room. I tried to still it, but the way Emerick’s eyes bored into me, like he was examining me, taking me in...it was hard to keep my body from going haywire.
To break the silence, I said, “Anything on the list I can do in here?”
But then I regretted it for three very big reasons.
Kiss somebody.
Tell someone how you feel.
Hold hands.
Sure, Emerick and I had held hands for like half a second earlier, and it was wonderful, but now, in an empty classroom with no one around, there was no telling where handholding would lead. Not sexually, but emotionally.
Emerick’s eyes lifted from the list and met mine. “You want to pick?”
And this was my chance to decide what kind of person I wanted to be—what kind of person I would be with Emerick.
Twenty-Three
Emerick
Nora’s pretty blue eyes looked almost washed out in that dark classroom, but nothing dulled the vulnerability in her gaze. The nervous way she bit her full bottom lip.
Part of me wished she’d just say it. Kiss me. But the other half of me, my alter ego, Adam, begged for the chance to come clean. This was ThePerfectStranger, after all. The girl I’d told about missing my dad. Who’d helped me realize I could want something more for my future than a full-time job at my uncle’s shop.
Her voice came out a whisper. “Tell someone how you feel about them.” Her hands came together on top of the desk, and she fiddled with a little ring on her right hand. A silver band that said True love
waits.
A purity ring.
Yet another shining reminder of what different worlds we came from. Could I really tell her who I was?
Could she believe we weren’t so different after all?
Could I believe the same thing?
God, this whole thing had me messed up. But here was this beautiful girl, sitting across from me and staring at me like I was the moon. Waiting to see the man inside.
I reached out and covered her hands with mine, hiding the ring, but I could still feel it on my palm. The soft skin on her hands sent flames in my chest like I’d never felt before. How could this perfect girl set me on fire? Would she just leave me to ash?
“Nora,” I said, and because I was a chicken shit, I said, “if you want me to come clean, you better buy me dinner first.”
Her lips fell for a fraction of a second, and my head went spiraling down, down, kicking myself with my messed-up leg because I never wanted to make her do anything but smile. But her smile came back again, and it was radiant.
“I can’t exactly buy you dinner,” she said. “But I’ll make you some.” And, get this, she actually pulled out an invisible mixing bowl and acted like she was cooking me something.
I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the desk. “Watchu makin’?”
She looked at me with the practiced eyes of someone who had little kids bug them with that exact question. “Food.”
Even my best efforts couldn’t crack a resolve like that. “I’m sure I’ll love it.”
She reached up and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. I swore she just left it out so she could do that. So she could tease me.
Her hand trailed back over her delicate collarbone to the invisible bowl, and then she used an invisible ladle to pour me some.
Like the hopeless case I was, I took an imaginary spoon, lifted a “bite” to my mouth, and went on and on about how good it was. Man, I had it bad.
“Okay,” she said. “Tell me about yourself. Something no one else knows.”
This would be the perfect chance. But I couldn’t. “I got my leather jacket from my grandpa’s house after he died. It was his.”
Dear Adam (The Pen Pal Romance Series) Page 14