Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5)

by Katmore, Anna

  A sneer on his lips, Chris drawled, “Am I not?”

  I gulped. Pushing at his chest didn’t get me anywhere. For a lack of better choices, I quietly hoisted myself onto the table again and scooted back a little, so my nose wouldn’t brush against his. Feeling like an obedient middle schooler, I clenched my teeth.

  The sneer still in place, his eyes turned dark with humor. “Good choice.”

  Yeah, glad I could make him happy. Remaining silent, I folded my arms and snorted. It was enough to propel him on to speak his mind. Fine. Let’s get this over with.

  “Listen. You had every right to be angry at me. You were right to yell at me, and I even deserved the slap—though I wish you had chosen a private moment for that.” Wrinkling his nose, he rubbed his neck and lowered his gaze to my lap for a second. “The guys will never let me live it down.”

  “You’re embarrassed because I slapped you in front of them?” I snapped.

  Eyes lifting, he nodded.

  I flashed an imitation of the sneer he wore before. “Good. So you know how I felt when you ratted me out—in a full cafeteria!” The last bit came out with hysterical vehemence.

  “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think the situation would”—he frowned—“escalate. I just wanted you to listen and understand.”

  “You want me to understand?” Struggling to adopt a cooler, more controlled voice again, I growled, “Why don’t you try it first? Can you imagine how it feels to know I told you all those private things about you when I thought you were Ethan?”

  His eyes narrowed with true concern. “Why is that such a problem for you, Sue? It’s not like you told me some weird fantasies you had of me that day.”

  At that my face heated as if I were sunbathing in August in Texas. “No, I just told you about the most personal moment of my life. My very first kiss, ever. With you.”

  “And I told you how amazing that was for me. So what?” No blinking or moving his gaze away. He stared straight into my eyes, cementing the truth of his words. It really wasn’t such a big deal for him. Gah! Boys!

  But it wasn’t the kiss alone he’d heard about, and he certainly wouldn’t forget the rest. “I told you about the butterflies that came with your texts,” I whined.

  A suppressed smile tightened his lips. “And I’ve never heard anything sweeter than that, I swear.”

  When I felt the heat crawl up to my hairline, I covered my face with my hands, whining, “And I practically said I wouldn’t sleep with you because you’re a womanizer.”

  His fingers curled around my wrists, pulling my hands away. As I looked up, he narrowed his eyes at me. “Yeah, that hurt a little.” With his next thought, his brows smoothed out again. “But in the end, it only made me fall for you harder. I wanted to be that special guy for you. Still want to be. Sue—” He stroked my cheek. “For me, you’d never be a simple go-to girl.”

  Oh God, how could he react so sweetly and totally miss the point?

  “You don’t understand. You were never meant to hear those things. That’s just wrong.”

  Several seconds ticked by. Chris was so still, he could have passed for a marble statue as he scrutinized me with sharp eyes. After some time, understanding changed his features to a quizzical expression. “This is what it was all about? You were just feeling embarrassed because you confessed some silly things to me?”

  I scooted farther backward on the table. His enchanting smell was driving me crazy and my head needed to stay clear for this conversation. “You find them silly. To me, they’re very serious.”

  “I know they are. You actually gave me a great deal to think about.”

  Thinking about the fastest way he could get into my pants? I got it.

  Chris made a wry face, tilting his head dramatically. “That is not what I was thinking about.”

  Damn him, could he read minds? But my cynical snort must have given me away. “It doesn’t matter if it made you think or not.”

  He put one foot farther back, stemming his hands against the table, head hanging. Poised as if he wanted to move the table against the wall, he said in a low voice, “Tell me what matters, Sue, because I really don’t know how to set this right with you.”

  His tousled blond hair tempted me to run my fingers through it. I’d dreamed of it for so long, and now he was only inches away. How was that fair? Taking a deep breath, I clasped my hands in my lap. “You tricked me that day. All evening you lied to me, and that left me completely exposed. You know about all my feelings. And I know nothing about yours.”

  He remained in that defeated position, but his head tilted up and he frowned as he locked gazes with me. “Are you kidding?” Genuine puzzlement rang in his voice. “From the day you walked into our kitchen and let me feed you that kiwi, I couldn’t have been more obvious how I felt about you. How very much I wanted us to be exclusive. Do you think I lied to you every time I talked to you? Or in all those texts I sent?”

  “Not exactly lying, but you made it clear I was nothing but your next trophy.” My voice sounded shaky.

  “Did I? When?” He straightened and folded his arms over his chest. “When I gave you that hickey and afterward covered it with my bandana for you so no one would ask silly questions? Or when I kissed you while we were alone and didn’t mention it to anyone because I thought you wouldn’t like that? And believe me, that was one helluva kiss I’d have loved to brag about.”

  My throat dried out. I swallowed to keep it smooth, but there was nothing I could have said.

  Chris reached out, gently placing his fingertips on my cheeks, and moved a little closer, his eyes capturing mine. “Or did I treat you like a trophy when you let me comfort you after your parents’ breakup? Is that really what you think I had in mind?”

  Chills raced across my skin at his words. And if what I read between those lines was true, he’d just evened out the situation between us, because whether he said it out loud or not, he’d just confessed he’d kind of fallen for me the same way I did for him. Did he not?

  Dragging my hands down my face, I groaned, “I don’t know what to think anymore.” All this time I’d missed him so much, even when I was mad at him. And a tiny part of me agreed with Sam, that his reasons for tricking me into that date were kind of adorable—but I wasn’t ever going to admit that to anyone!

  A while ago, I forgave Ethan, so maybe it was time to forgive Chris, too. I started to really consider that option, when I remembered the gloss on my lips. I might have just smeared it all over my chin. Terrific.

  Hands lowered, I saw there certainly was a pink smudge on my fingers. Mortified, I wiped at my chin, but Chris stopped me, pulling my hand away, and chuckled. He dragged his thumb beneath the left side of my bottom lip, very slowly. I was stunned, like a bunny caught in a trap.

  “There, all gone,” he said softly. His finger came away with the same pink color, but he simply rubbed it off on his pants. “I like you better without makeup anyway. You’re a natural beauty.”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks at the compliment. I lowered my gaze, but Chris tilted my chin up with his knuckle. He moved in really close, whispering, “And here’s a secret. Kissing glossed lips is annoying as hell.”

  I sucked in a startled breath as he placed a quick but tender kiss on my lips. When he broke away a moment later, he ducked his head and squeezed his eyes shut. I sat frozen, unable to move from surprise, but his scrunched up face made me giggle.

  Inching one eye open, he asked wryly, “You’re not going to slap me?”

  For the kiss? “I don’t think so, no.” Dang, I sounded almost as uncertain as he did.

  As he straightened, a relieved breath escaped him. “Good.” A smirk began to play around the corners of his lips and mischief danced in his eyes. “Can I do it again?”

  A grin tugged at my lips so hard that my skin felt like it might pop if I suppressed it any longer. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand wrapped around his tie and I pulled on it a little.

  “I b
elieve that means yes.” His burning gaze switched back and forth between my eyes and mouth. With the slowness of a lazy cat, Chris rubbed his thumb across my lips, wiping away the rest of my gloss. The move was enough to cause my heart to gallop. His thumb wasn’t yet gone when he tilted his head and kissed me again. Longer this time, gently and slowly.

  His warm hand stroked my cheek. Taking my bottom lip between his teeth, he tickled it with his tongue. A smile parted my mouth and he invaded. A little surprised, I pulled him closer with his tie. Chris moaned with pleasure.

  With a firm grip on the back of my neck, he yanked me harder against him, and suddenly the kiss burned with intensity. Whoa, did the lights just go out? There was no time to think, I only knew I missed him. Responding to his passion, I moved my tongue in a swirl and let it dance with his.

  Easing the hold of his tie, I slid my hands around his neck and closed my eyes. My actions seemed to have ignited a shudder in him…or was it my cold fingers? Chris chuckled against my mouth. “We really need to do something about that sometime.” He reached behind his neck, intertwined our fingers, and brought my hands behind my back, warming them and pulling me closer to him at the same time. He kissed me deeply, eliminating any fear that this might be the last time I found myself captured in his arms.

  With his lips still brushing against mine, he whispered, “Say yes.”

  I struggled to catch my breath, my mind still reeling. “To what?”

  Inching back only so far that he could gaze into my eyes, he said, “Do you want to be my girlfriend?” The hopeful half-smile curving his lips pledged he was dead serious about it.

  I don’t know what made me hesitate, because I’d already made the decision the moment he kissed me. My mind was probably still hung up on that hot kiss and longed to continue where we’d stopped, but Chris stared at me, holding my hands in my lap, and waited for my official answer. At some point, I obviously took too long and he slowly started nodding with a suggestive tilt of his eyebrows.

  Smiling, I began to mirror his nod. A long breath pushed out of his lungs. “Dammit, girl, you know how to put a guy on the rack, don’t you?”

  I giggled. “You totally deserved—”

  Chris cut me off with his tongue roaming my mouth again. His hands were on my cheeks, his eyes closed, and he kissed me like I was the incarnation of his best dream ever.

  Did this make me feel good? Hell, yes!

  Surrendering completely, I sampled a little more of his taste, getting high on his scent. Now I wondered who was the incarnation of whose dream here?

  Far too soon, Chris broke the kiss with a smirk. He stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Since it’s official now, we’re a couple”—he pulled his right hand out again—“I guess it’s okay to give you this.”

  What the heck— My chin dropped to my chest. The small blue package that should have been in a drawer in my desk at home now sat on his palm. “How did you—” But realization struck fast. “Sam!”

  Since she was the only one who knew about the present—and where I kept it—she must have stolen it this afternoon and given it back to Chris. The favor in exchange for a sundae?

  “I’m sorry!” the little monster’s voice drifted through the closed door. Oh my God, they weren’t all outside, pressing their ears to the wood to catch our conversation, were they? Did none of them have any decency?

  Chris must have thought the same thing. Laughing, he cut a glance to the ceiling. “Guys, go away!”

  “Okay!” That was Simone’s voice torn with a snicker. “But don’t stay in there for too long. It’s almost midnight. We’re moving to the garden!”

  A glance at my watch—it was ten minutes to twelve. “Think we should go with them?” I asked Chris in a far lower voice now to keep the things between us actually between us.

  “Open it first.” He handed me the present.

  Dying to finally find out what he got me for Christmas, I ripped off the bow and started picking at the tape. It was hard to see where the crazy thing started and where it ended, so most of the time, I just turned it over and back again.

  Chris frowned, taking the package out of my hands. “Heck, I’m starting to wonder if the reason you never opened it is actually because you simply couldn’t.” He glanced up with a teasing grin. “I did a darn good job with the wrapping, eh?”

  I laughed. “It certainly wouldn’t get ripped by accident.”

  He went behind the small bar in the room and took a red pocketknife out of a drawer. Flicking it open, he sliced through the tape and blue paper, then he closed the knife again and put it back into the drawer. With his hip, he pushed it shut and returned to me, proudly holding out a small box made of stiff, black cardboard.

  I opened the lid and found a pretty little bag of blue velvet inside. Just another wrapping. At the effort he’d put into securing the gift, I shook my head and laughed again. Hopefully, this one was holding the actual present, or we’d be doing this the entire night.

  Turning the bag upside down, I poured the contents into my open palm. My heart stopped and I sucked in a sharp breath of amazement.

  Chris’s present for me was a delicate silver charm bracelet with charms attached to three dangling loops. I examined them all, stroking my finger over one at a time.

  A basketball.

  “That’s a reminder of our first unofficial night out together, when you tended to my bleeding wound and defended me in front of my mom,” Chris said with a low, intense voice. Certainly, he was dying to hear how I liked the present.

  When I smoothed out the second item, a strawberry, he continued, “That’s a symbol for the most amazing kiss ever.”

  I glanced up, warmth flooding my face as he smiled at me.

  The third item on the bracelet was a small Super Mario. “That one’s from Ethan,” Chris explained with an eye roll. “He wanted to add something to your present, too.”

  This was, hands down, the loveliest thing anyone had ever given me. I loved the design, I loved the little charms, and most of all, I loved the thought Chris had put into it. Now I wished I had something for him, too. But he looked like he would be happy enough if I only accepted his gift.

  A small smile on my face, I offered him the bracelet, the silver chain dangling from my fingers. He took it, frowning. Uncertainty crept into his gaze. To release him from his worries, I held out my hand to him. “Help me put it on?”

  There, my favorite smile, which was actually the smirk that made his cornflower-blue eyes gleam, appeared, and he fastened the bracelet around my wrist. With a kiss on his cheek, I breathed the words, “Thank you. It’s adorable.” Then I shook my hand, admiring the beautiful present.

  We both glanced at the clock on the wall at the same time. Three minutes until midnight. Though there was still music drifting through the door, all sounds of voices outside were gone. “We better join them in the garden, or we’re going to miss the celebration,” I reasoned and slid down from the pool table.

  Chris nodded and held his hand out to me. I took it, aware that I’d be doing this a lot from now on. The thought came with a cozy feeling in my chest and the return of ten thousand butterflies in my stomach.

  Somewhere on the way through the house, Chris intertwined our fingers and squeezed my hand tightly.

  Chapter 24

  “FOUR….THREE…TWO…”

  We reached the garden as everybody was counting down the seconds until midnight. So many people stood by the gazebo that it was impossible to make out my friends, but I still hurried across Hunter’s lawn to reach them in time, dragging Chris with me.

  “One!” the crowd yelled and many of them blew party poppers.

  A hard pull at my hand and suddenly I was in Chris’s arms. I gasped as I fell against his chest. He hugged me tight, dipping his forehead to mine. “Happy New Year, sweetness.”

  “Back at you, Dream Guy Material,” I teased.

  As the people behind me started singing “Auld Lang Syne,” Chris
began to sway on the lawn, holding me under the stars. “I think we should change that name in your phone again.”

  “To what this time?” A lonesome firework exploding in the dark night sky reflected in his eyes. I winced at the sudden bang but turned around in his arms and more explosions followed above our heads. Usually, we didn’t have fireworks in Grover Beach for New Year, but somebody must have set up a celebration down by the beach, and everyone in Hunter’s garden craned their neck to watch the small, colorful spectacle.

  His arms still wrapped around me in a tender embrace, Chris didn’t stopped swaying, even with my back against his chest. “To Boyfriend,” he answered my question, his mouth brushing my ear.

  The sound of it gave me goosebumps of a special kind. I tilted my head back, resting it on his shoulder. “What did you save me as in your contacts?” I could absolutely imagine that “Little Sue” flashed on the screen every time I replied to his texts.

  One of his arms dropped and I angled my head, looking down as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone, swiped his thumb across the display several times, then held the cell up for me to read.

  “Oh my God—you can’t be serious!” My body shook from laughing so hard.

  “Totally am.” Chris planted a kiss beneath my ear as I read the line on his phone again: She’s The One.

  When the screen’s light faded and he tucked the phone back into his pocket, I turned around in his embrace, looping my arms around his neck. “That wasn’t your name for me in the beginning, right?”

  His gaze burned with humor. “No. Not from the beginning.”

  “So, what did you call me?”

  “Not saying.”

  “Come on, I want to—”