“What?” she answered, her voice hoarse. It sounded as if she’d been crying.
“Um, Jenna asked me to go to the mall with her.”
“Have fun.”
“Are you okay? I don’t have to go if you need me here.”
“I’m fine. Go,” she said. “Just remember curfew.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
I hurried out the front door and down the walk. Brody pulled up when he saw me. For once, he didn’t get out of the Jeep to open the door for me—thank God—and he had the interior lighting turned off. He drove away as soon as I was in the Jeep.
“Hey.” He looked at me and smiled.
“Hey back. So, what are we doing?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Okay.” I settled back into the plush leather seats.
“You aren’t going to try to get it out of me? Beg, plead, whine, until I tell you?” he teased.
“Nope. I told you, I trust you. But I’ll beg, plead, and whine if it makes you feel better,” I offered.
“No. Please don’t start whining.” Brody chuckled. How could just a small rumbling in his chest affect me so much?
“Okay. I’ll stay whine free.” I smiled and watched him drive.
“Let me ask you a question. If I was Jaden, and I didn’t tell you where we were going, would you go with me with no questions asked?” Brody coasted to a stop at a red light. He turned to me, his eyes catching mine and holding them.
I bit my lip, trying to decide how best to answer the question. “Honestly, probably not. But that’s because Jaden would most likely take me to some football game, football museum, football hall of fame, or something else football related, in which case, I’d have to fake an illness and skip out on him.”
Brody laughed hard and loud, making me laugh with him. “Well, now I know if I ever ask you out and you tell me you’re sick, that you’re blowing me off.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that would be a problem,” I said, and then immediately wanted to slap my hand over my mouth. Brody just gave me a crooked grin that melted my heart, but he didn’t say anything.
“We’re here.” He pulled into a small driveway surrounded by trees. After he drove a few hundred yards, the trees fell away. We were in the middle of a field surrounded by trees on all sides. Completely secluded.
“Where’s here?”
“It’s my aunt’s property. She plans to build a house here one day. No one will bother us. Wait there.” Brody got out of the Jeep, walked around to my door, and opened it for me.
“Where are we going?”
“The backseat.”
“Huh?”
Brody grinned. “Not for that. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.” I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay, you’ll see when you get back there. It’s a surprise, remember?”
I sighed and climbed into the backseat. “It’s nice back here. Roomy. Is this yours or your mom’s?”
“It’s mine. Well, actually, it was my aunt’s until she got a new one. Then she sold me this one at an enormous discount,” Brody said as he grabbed a pillow out of the back and slipped it behind me. “There’s no way I could afford a Jeep Grand Cherokee otherwise. I work at her place washing dishes and stuff like that to pay her.”
“That’s nice of her.”
“Yeah, she’s great.” Brody grabbed a bag from the very back of the Jeep before sliding next to me. He took a blanket out of the bag and settled it over us. Next, he brought out a large bowl sealed with a plastic lid, sliding closer to me, until our thighs touched—oh, holy hotness!—and then he balanced the bowl on our thighs.
“Okay, what’s up, Ace?”
He held up a finger for me to wait. Reaching into the bag once more, he pulled out a case. When Brody opened it, it folded back to reveal a video screen. “I hope you haven’t seen this one.” He handed me a DVD before he pulled the lid off the bowl and the smell of buttered popcorn filled the Jeep’s interior. “I brought you Coke since that’s what you order every time I’ve been with you.” He reached in a cooler and gave me a can. “I know how much you hate for people to order for you, but I didn’t know what else you liked.”
I held the Coke by the tips of my fingers and stared at him. My voice stalled in my throat, and my gaze held his for a few beats. I mapped the striations of blues in his eyes before my gaze skimmed over his face, committing every feature, every curve, every line, to memory. I didn’t want to forget how he looked at that moment. The very moment I knew he’d taken all there was of me.
Oh, shiznit. I’m falling in love with him. No, no, I can’t be. I hardly know him. So it can’t be love. It must be lust, then. He has a body hotter than Hades itself, but that’s not it either. I don’t know what it is. It’s more than lust, but not quite love. What comes in between lust and love? Whatever it is, that’s what I am. I’m in between lust and love with Brody.
“What?” Brody asked, looking at me with his head tilted to the side.
“I just can’t believe you went to so much trouble for me just so I didn’t have to sit alone on a Friday night,” I whispered. I laid the Coke can in my lap and raised my hand to his face, hovering just a millimeter away from his skin, but not touching him. My fingers trembled, whether from nerves or the need to touch him, I wasn’t sure. Maybe both.
“I told you the next time we watched a movie, I wanted you with me. Technically, I said in my bed, but since that isn’t possible, this will have to do.”
“Thank you.” My hand skimmed over his jaw to the back of his neck. I leaned to him and hugged him tightly, laying my head on his shoulder.
Brody wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on top of mine. When I ended the hug and pulled back, Brody cupped my face in his hands. I froze, and we looked in each other’s eyes. I could feel Brody’s breath against my lips. It came in fast puffs, matching mine. I wondered if his heart was beating as hard as mine. If he’d leaned in for a kiss, I wouldn’t have moved. I’d have let him kiss me—I’d have kissed him back.
He pulled me toward him. My tongue darted out to moisten my lips, and Brody groaned. Just before his lips touched mine, he pulled my head down and placed his mouth against my forehead. I sighed, partly from the feel of his lips on my skin and partly from the disappointment that it wasn’t on my lips.
“You’re welcome. It wasn’t a big deal. A few bags of microwave popcorn and a cooler full of Cokes, no biggie.” Brody shrugged a shoulder, pushing a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Have you seen this movie?”
“Nope.” I wanted to forget the movie and pull him to me. Brody made me feel things I’d never felt with Jaden. And it wasn’t just physical, although he was hot as Hell. It was everything. Brody made me feel wanted, cared for, special, respected, all things that a girl could wish for from a boy.
“Good. Let’s pop this sucker in and fill our faces with popcorn dripping in butter.”
“Sounds good.” I leaned back against the pillow and got comfortable.
We sat in Brody’s Jeep in the dark field watching a horror movie. I jumped at every little sound, and Brody laughed at me.
“Come here,” he said, putting his arm around me and pulling me into the crook of his arm. “I’ll keep the monsters away.” An amused grinned pulled on his lips.
“You couldn’t pick a comedy to watch while we’re out in the middle of nowhere in the dark?”
“That’s no fun.” He squeezed me tighter to him and tickled my side.
I giggled and squirmed against him. “Yeah, if you say so.”
I stayed snuggled against Brody’s side. His hand gently grazed up and down my arm, and I wished I could have worn short sleeves so I would’ve felt his skin sliding against mine. Since I’d started noticing the effects Brody was having on me, I’d wondered if I was having the same on him. Yes, he’d tried to kiss me, but he was known for his steady stream of romances. And no matter how hard I tried to put that out of my mind, I couldn’t get past him dating Sarah, Tanya, and then Kara right after school started. But every time I moved against him as the movie played, I heard his heart rate speed up under my ear, or his breathing change… and I knew. Brody Victor was not immune to the effects of our attraction to each other. He was feeling it as strongly as I was. That made me happy, and a little scared.