Griffin knelt, hands under the bed, trying to raiseit.
I slapped my foot down on the frame, stopping him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He glanced up, eyes hooded. “Sorry, I thought?—”
“You thought wrong,” I said softly. I pulled him up. “You’re not sleeping on the trundle.” I pressed on his shoulders until he sat, then climbed into his lap, straddling him. “You’re sleepingrightnext to me.”
“Okay,” he said, but it came out hollow.
“Forget her,” I whispered.
“No, she’s right,” he mumbled, staring somewhere below my chin. “I am a chameleon. I tried so hard to leave. To be my own person. But I was still a Dupree, just living in a different place.”
I cupped his face, forcing him to look at me. “There’s nothing wrong with being like the rest of your family. Your family isamazing.Don’t you know that?”
He nodded. “I do, but?—”
“You’re not a chameleon,” I said confidently. “It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard from the dumbest mouth God ever made,” I muttered quieter. “I hope He doesn’t strike me down for saying so.”
“He couldn’t strike down his most beautiful creation.” One side of Griff’s mouth quirked up. “But how is she wrong?”
“The world is full of chameleons, Griffin. And if anyone’s a color-shifting, fly-eating reptile, it’s Selene. Anyone can say and do hurtful things. It takes absolutely no originality whatsoever to go around slicing people up with your hurtful words and behavior.”
“True,” he said, but he was still tense.
“Don’t you see? In a world full of perverts and porn addicts, no man who saves himself for his wife is a chameleon. He’s a national freaking treasure. A breath of the freshest air.” My mouth dropped to his, giving myself a second to gather mycourage. “But even before you told me you were waiting, I knew you were different. I knew it before we met.”
He leaned back to look at me. “How could you knowbeforewe met?”
One more deep breath. “I’m going to tell you a secret, and you can’t make fun of me for it. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“You didn’t start modeling because you’re a copycat,” I said.
His forehead furrowed. “I didn’t?”
“No. You were alwaysmeantto be a model. Even if for only a little while.” I shook his shoulders. “Because wehadto meet. The universe declared it so when I was fourteen.”
He blinked. “Come again?”
I smoothed his hair. “I fell in love with you way back in ninth grade.”
His head snapped back. “How? I never used to show my face on camera.”
“I know.” I groaned. “To my utter frustration. Really, would it have killed you to flash a single smile for the camera? But no. You had to torment mefor years,giving me nothing but tiny snippets of that deep voice.”
He gaped, looking completely stunned.
I lifted a shoulder. “But it didn’t matter. I fell for you anyway. Without even seeing your face, I knew you were the most beautiful boy on the entire planet. Because ofwhoyou are.” I pressed a hand against his neck. “You made me laugh every time you opened that mouth. I’d lie awake half the night trying to picture what you looked like. During the day was no better. So finally, I made a list—Julie-Bean’s List of Dreams.”
His hands went still on my waist. “Was I on it?”
“Were you on it?” I tapped my chin. “Griffin.” I looked him dead in the eye. “Youownedit.”
Just likethat, the wound closed. He laughed, low and easy. “What do you mean?”
“Well.” I nibbled my bottom lip. “There were only two things on that list. First, I knew I wanted to become a world-famous model, and second, I was going to marry Griffin Dupree and have all of his beautiful red-haired babies someday.”
