IGNITE

by Paradis, Lily

  “I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t used it to my advantage in the past.”

  This time it was my turn to get warm cheeks and look away. He leaned in closer and put a strand of hair behind my ear.

  “But not right now,” he said softly. “Not with you.”

  I was breathless.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re doing a good job with me right now,” I told him, not daring to meet his gaze.

  “Well that’s good,” he said. “But I’m not actively trying to use my rugged sexuality against you. It’s not my fault you’re so attracted to me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You and your rugged sexuality better scoot over,” I whispered. “Unless you want to be responsible for making me pass out on this plane. I’m not sure that flight attendant knows CPR.”

  He looked over my shoulder and then returned his gaze to me. I shouldn’t have looked up.

  “It’s okay,” he said, lowering his lips all the way to my ear so they touched my skin when he spoke. “I’m really good at mouth-to-mouth.”

  Holy shit. He was so using it against me on purpose right now.

  I let out a breath and shifted away from him slightly. I couldn’t take it much longer. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t some girl who swooned when a guy got all cheesy.

  He laughed and leaned away.

  “But seriously, don’t you want to know my secret?”

  I sighed and crossed my arms.

  “Do I?”

  “I think you do.”

  “So, what is it?” I was kind of mad at him for making me feel the way I did.

  He leaned in close one more time.

  “I like you.”

  His words made my breath catch, but I tried not to let him notice.

  “So? I like you too,” I said casually as I glanced over at him and narrowed my eyes. “Sometimes.”

  He chuckled softly.

  “No, I don’t think you get it. I like you.”

  “So what is this, third grade? You like me, like me?”

  He nodded and traced a finger down my cheek.

  “Yes, Annabelle. I like you, like you. And I’m willing to bet you little more than just like me, too.”

  I swallowed and dared myself to look him in the eye, just this once. My stomach flipped. Bad idea.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I tried to play it off.

  “Touché, Lauren Lindsay. But I think you just told me everything.”

  He looked pretty satisfied with himself, and I both loved and hated that he made me feel this way.

  “Here’s your water.” The flight attendant said, and she brought my attention back to the real world. She handed me a full bottle instead of the little cup I was expecting, and batted her eyelashes at Dean when she leaned over me to hand him his water.

  I rolled my eyes, but he reached for my hand and put the bottle in the cup holder between him and Emma. The flight attendant definitely noticed, but it didn’t do anything to deter her from checking him out one more time.

  I glanced over across the aisle, where Jenny and Callie were giving us twin looks of confusion. They looked at each other, made a face, and went back to the movie they were watching.

  “They’ll get over it,” Dean whispered. Then he said, “So what did you bring as your designated plane activity?”

  I shrugged.

  “There’s a book in my bag, but I kind of forgot. I guess I thought we’d be wrangling Emma the whole time.” I looked up at him. “What did you bring?”

  He smiled.

  “You.”

  “You have to stop being so corny.”

  “I’m not trying to be corny, I’m trying to be serious.” He frowned, mocking me. “So let’s read your book.”

  “I’m not sure you’d like it,” I told him.

  “I’m pretty sure I’ll like it, as long as it doesn’t have Fabio on the cover.”

  I laughed slightly. Thank goodness I didn’t bring one of those books. It was certainly an option. I reached down and pulled the book out of my bag.

  “I can’t really tell you what it’s about without giving it away,” I told him. “But we can start from the beginning so you’re not confused.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  He held one side of the book and I held the other. I was surprised that he was genuinely interested in what I was reading, and I hoped he wouldn’t judge my taste in books. Whenever he was done, he would glance at me to make sure it was okay to turn the page. To be honest, I was paying more attention to him than the book, so I couldn’t care less.

  After a few pages, he finally spoke. “I just have one question.”

  I looked at him expectantly.

  “What kind of a name is Aric?”

  I laughed.

  “He’s like a knight in shining armor, Disney Prince kind of guy, okay? You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

  “I know. We’ve already established that you like Disney,” he said, smiling his half smile that made my heart do cartwheels.

  I knew where we were going.

  MY SUSPICIONS WERE confirmed when our limo pulled up to the Grand Californian. Tom Cruise stayed at this hotel, and we were in a limo. How did Dean have so much money?

  He had booked two rooms; one for me, Callie, Jenny, and Emma, and one for him and Chase.

  “Can we do cool guy stuff?” Chase asked as we took the elevator up to the right floor.

  “Sure,” Dean said as he ruffled Chase’s hair.

  I pushed myself up onto my toes to whisper into his ear. “What does he mean that?”

  He turned to me and I could have sworn his eyes fell on my lips again, but I brought my heels back down so he had to lean down to whisper back. “I have no idea.”

  I smiled, wondering what Chase had in mind. Climbing trees, shooting arrows?

  Emma was between me and Dean, holding one hand each. I was wearing the Tinker Bell backpack, which Dean told me was very stylish.

  “Do we have to share a room with you guys?” Callie complained as we made our way down the enormous green and brown lodge-like hallway. “It would be cooler if we had our own room.”

  Jenny didn’t say anything, but if I had to guess, she was getting sick of Callie’s bad attitude too.

  “Be nice,” Dean said pointedly as he unlocked our room and handed me the keys.

  “Do we get one?” Jenny asked, pointing at both keys.

  “Only if you’re good,” I told them, pushing the door open. Dean and Chase had the room right next door. I had half a mind to make Chase switch me and Emma. Not so I could be with Dean, but just so I could escape Callie’s wrath. Even though she knew I was her only hope to keep her family together, she still openly hated me.

  I knocked on Dean’s door two minutes later. Callie demanded that she needed to fix her makeup because she looked haggard from the plane ride. I told her to be ready in five minutes while Emma and I went over to the boys’ room.

  “Sweet setup, guys,” I said, flopping on one of the beds.

  “Isn’t yours exactly the same?” Chase asked.

  I nodded.

  “Yes, but yours doesn’t have brooding teenage girls.”

  I heard Dean snicker.

  Emma climbed up on the bed next to me and played with my hair. I was sure she was making a mess of it, but it was already a pile of messy curls, so unless she got her fingers tangled in it, I wasn’t sure what she could do to make it worse.

  “I wish I had the same hair as you,” she said, fluffing it up.

  “No, I wish I had the same hair as you, little one,” I told her. “Your hair is the same color as Elsa’s from Frozen.”

  “And yours is like Anna’s,” she told me.

  Chase was playing with his iPad, and Dean had stopped whatever he was doing to openly stare at Emma and me.

  “What?”

  He shook his head and returned from whatever place he had gone in his head.

  “Nothing. Who’s ready to go?
”

  “Me!” Emma said excitedly, recharged from her nap on the plane.

  “Where are we going first?” Chase asked.

  I shrugged.

  “Well, I have a map here,” Chase suggested. Seriously? Kids and their technology. I could barely take care of my Furby when I was his age.

  Chase planned out what rides he wanted to go on, starting with the big roller coaster in the park that was attached to our hotel. From there, we would make our way to Disneyland for the fireworks.

  Emma didn’t want to go on the roller coaster, and neither did Callie. They sat out and ate cotton candy while the rest of us waited in line. I was sort of afraid to leave Emma with Callie, but they were sisters. In reality, that should be safer than Emma being with me. Somehow, it was weird not to have my shadow, and it made me nervous.

  “She’s fine,” Dean assured me, and somehow I felt like I was being overprotective. It wasn’t as though she was my sister or my child, like everyone thought.

  Next, they made me go on the Jumping Jellyfish ride which was basically a kids version of the Tower of Terror. I hated it. I screamed and maybe even cried a little bit, and Dean couldn’t stop laughing at the way I curled up into a ball on the way down.

  “So you can do the Tower of Terror, but not that?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “I will never, for as long as I live, go on Jumping Jellyfish ever again, and that’s final.”

  “Okay, princess,” Callie said, looking down at her phone.

  “Hey, you couldn’t go on the roller coaster,” I snapped back.

  “Right,” she said condescendingly. “But that wasn’t a ride for children. Even Emma loved the jellyfish.”

  I wanted to think of some clever retort, but I had to remind myself that I was the adult here.

  “It’s fine,” Dean said, setting Emma down on a table. I sat down next to them, sulking.

  “I’m sorry I suck,” I said, putting my head in my arms, still embarrassed about the jellyfish ride.

  I felt hands on my shoulders.

  “It’s okay,” Dean said, leaning down. “Everybody has their fears.”

  “What’s yours?” I said, sitting back up.

  “I’ll never tell,” he replied slyly, and Emma put her finger over his mouth as if to stop him from telling a secret.

  “Whatever, you guys are weird together,” Callie remarked as she got up from the table. “I’m going to go find a churro.”

  Chase’s eyes lit up. “Can I come?”

  “Sure, whatever,” Callie said as she and Jenny walked off.

  “Stay with Callie,” I told him.

  “And remember your phone,” Dean added.

  He nodded and ran off to follow his sister.

  “You got him a cell phone? He’s like, ten.”

  Dean shrugged.

  “I don’t know, it made me feel better. It’s one of those pay-as-you-go phones. It’s not a big deal. Our numbers are the only ones in there.”

  I sighed. Did he think of everything?

  Next we went on the water tube ride, and by the end, we were completely soaked. I was wringing my clothes out, and Emma might as well have gone swimming in her clothes because she was dripping wet. I was kind of concerned.

  “Do you think we should change her clothes?” I asked.

  “That’s probably not a bad idea,” he said, squeezing water out of his shirt.

  I couldn’t help but notice Dean’s shirt was semi-translucent when it was completely water logged. I’d seen him without a shirt before, but this wasn’t doing anything for the fact that I’d always had a weakness for white shirts and jeans on guys. Especially when Dean’s jeans were the kind that actors and models wore, unlike the common too light, unfitted “mom” jeans that certain guys I knew wore, or worse, the saggy jeans syndrome.

  He ran a hand through his wet hair and smiled.

  “I’ve got an idea.”

  Emma’s eyes lit up when he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. Next, he took my hand and led us over to the nearest gift shop.

  “Emma,” he said, putting her down. “Which princess do you want to be?” He pointed over at the little girls’ princess costumes.

  She clapped her hands together in glee and ran over to the dresses.

  “This one!” she said, pointing to a Cinderella costume.

  He pulled it off the rack and brought it to me. I smiled and took it from him, and helped Emma put it on in the dressing room. She was freezing, so I couldn’t wait to get her back out in the sun in dry clothes.

  When we came out, Dean took the tags from me and wordlessly paid for the dress. The salesgirl was talking to him and no doubt, flirting, but I was more focused on Emma. I picked her up and brought her outside so she could warm up. Dean followed us and put his wallet in his back pocket.

  “Emma,” I said, looking down at her. “Do you have something to say to Dean?”

  She stretched her arms out, obviously wanting to go to him.

  “Thank you!” she yelled loudly, trying desperately to wiggle out of my arms. He reached out for her, but then pulled his phone out of his pocket. His brow furrowed when he looked at the screen.

  “Uh oh,” he said, sounding concerned. “It’s Chase.”

  “What?” I exclaimed, shoving it towards his face. “Answer it!”

  He did, and I didn’t like what his expression turned into.

  “We’ll be right there,” he said into the receiver. Then he turned to me. “He’s a ‘lost child’ up at guest services.”

  I was going to kill Callie.

  When we got there, we basically charged in, guns blazing. Chase was sitting behind a counter, looking upset. When he saw us, he jumped down and tried to open the gate.

  “Wait now just a minute, young man,” a plump woman in her sixties disentangled him, and he looked like he wanted to cry.

  She turned to us.

  “Are you his…” she looked like she was at a loss for words. I think she was trying to decide what Dean and me were to him, like everyone did.

  “She’s my sister,” Chase supplied. I felt like my heart was going to break in half.

  “Is that true?” the woman looked to me.

  I nodded.

  “Name?” she asked.

  “Lauren Lindsay.”

  She looked at Dean like she didn’t approve of whatever was going on, and he put a hand on my back to steady me while holding Emma with the other.

  “Now, I’ll just need you to fill out these papers,” she said, shoving a pen at me.

  After profusely apologizing and filling out what seemed like a mountain full of paperwork, Chase was allowed out of her custody. He ran through the gate and immediately put his hands around my waist.

  “I’m so sorry, little man,” I said, hugging him back.

  Dean nodded at the woman, who went back to her work.

  “It’s okay,” Chase said, his voice muffled against me. “I’m back.”

  Dean didn’t look too happy.

  “So Chase,” he said, kneeling down. “Where’s Callie?”

  Chase shrugged.

  “I don’t know. She went on a ferris wheel with some boy.”

  “Oh my god,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “Seriously?”

  Chase nodded.

  “Where is she now?” Dean asked, far more calm than I was. He wasn’t happy though, not with the way his jaw kept twitching.

  “Probably still there,” he said. “It’s the big one that takes forever. I wanted to go find a churro, like she said. I guess I just wandered a little too far and got lost. I looked for you guys but I couldn’t find you. I was going to call but then one of the security guards dragged me here before I could. They took my phone.”

  I felt terrible. I was an awful guardian already.

  “Is Jenny with her?” Dean asked, kneeling down to get on Chase’s level.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Dean really wasn’t happy with t
hat answer, and neither was I. We all walked over to the ferris wheel, fuming.

  We posted ourselves at the exit and waited for them to get off. Jenny showed up a couple of minutes later holding an ice cream cone. When she saw Chase, she grabbed his arm.

  “Thank God! I was looking everywhere for you!” She seemed genuinely concerned, unlike Callie.

  “Jenny,” Dean said seriously. “Where’s Callie?”

  Jenny rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, I don’t know. She met Prince Charming and now they’re probably making out up there. I didn’t really feel like being the third wheel, pun intended.”

  I laughed under my breath. She had a point.

  When Callie’s car finally rolled around a few minutes later, Dean was every bit the concerned older brother. He stood there, arms crossed, giving her a look that could kill.

  She was adjusting her too-short Daisy Dukes when she was followed out of the car by a guy in a leather jacket who looked a lot older than she did. In fact, he looked like he was almost the same age as me or Dean. A leather jacket? Could this get any more cliché?

  “Callie,” I said sternly, and she frowned as she walked over.

  “What? Can’t I have a little fun?” she whined.

  “No,” I told her. “Not when we leave Chase with you and expect you to take care of him.”

  “Hey, is there a problem here?” Leather Jacket Kid stepped in between Callie and me.

  I was shocked. Who did he think he was?

  Dean stepped in and put a hand on the guy’s chest, putting himself between us.

  “There is a problem, and it doesn’t involve you. Leave. Now.”

  Dean towered over this kid, and although he didn’t look like someone who was easily intimidated, I would be too if Dean was squaring me down.

  “Whatever man, I’m out of here.” He stalked off, taking Grease with him.

  “Callie, I can’t believe you!” I said, stepping around Dean to get to her. “Did you not remember that you needed to watch your brother?”

  She looked at her nails.

  “Sorry, whatever.”

  I could tell that she wasn’t.

  “Callie, remember what we talked about?” I asked seriously, looking her straight in the eye.

  Her eyes got glassy.

  “Whatever,” she sighed, pushing past me to get to Jenny.