Page 22 of Crossed Lines

I laugh. “No, it was. My life has been pretty go-go-go since starting college, so it was nice to just be out in nature with you guys. It’s therapeutic.”

“Well, good. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

I nod and try to keep my cool, even though my stomach is fluttering like crazy. “I’d like that.”

One thing Jade loves is a dance party. Any type of dance. Any type of music. But especially Disney music. So, when I run out of things to do for the day, I connect my phone to the Bluetooth speaker in the kitchen, and we blast the music as loud as we can while dancing around the house. Not only does it keep her distracted for a bit, but it gets some of her excess energy out.

I thought riding horses with Beck earlier would make her tired, but it seems to have only rejuvenated her.

We are in such a zone that we don’t even hear the front door open. We don’t notice Beck kick his boots off or put his lunch bag down. We don’t know there’s another soul in the house with us until he jumps in between us. Jade and I both shriek in surprise, which makes us come to a screeching halt.

Beck laughs. “I didn’t mean to scare y’all. I just wanted to join in on the fun.”

“Maybe you should announce yourself next time,” I tell him, trying to calm my racing heart. Unfortunately, now I can’t tell if it’s racing from dancing, from being scared, or from Beck being so close to me.

“I thought you heard me, but I guess that’s impossible when the music is loud enough that the neighbors can hear it.”

“You don’t have any neighbors,” I yell, without bothering to turn the music down.

“Exactly.”

I playfully slap his shoulder. His strong, very muscled shoulder.

“Well, since you’re home, you’ve got to join us now,” I tell him.

“Yeah, come on, Daddy!” Jade yells.

We each grab one of his hands and pull him in with us to dance. And by dance, I really mean just jump up and down. He holds our hands tightly as he starts copying our moves. The three of us laugh as we jump around in a circle. It’s ridiculous how much fun this is. It’s like I’m channeling my inner child, which I feel like we all need every once in awhile. Fortunately, I get to do it all summer.

The song eventually changes to a slower one. Usually, Jade makes me skip these songs, but not today. Beck pulls her arm up and twirls her. She giggles the whole time. Then he looks at me and raises my arm up. I twirl under our hands, and I swear, I almost giggle as well.

Then he pulls us both toward him and sways us to the music. It’s like a group slow dance. I wasn’t expecting it, but I also am not upset about it. Being this close to Beck makes my body feel like it’s in overdrive.

I look up at him from under my lashes to see him watching me. His eyes dip to my lips, and my breath hitches. Is he going to kiss me? Do I want him to kiss me? That’s a dumb question. Of course, I do. But that’s a big line for us to cross.

His face moves an inch closer to mine. My eyes widen when I realize this might actually happen. I might get to feel what Beck’s lips are like. But then he winces, and I hear Jade say, “Oops, sorry.”

We both look down to see that she stepped on his foot. Reality comes crashing back, and I take a step away from them. What am I doing? This is Beck. I’m here to watch his daughter. I can’t be thinking about kissing him, much less actually doing it. And in front of his daughter?

I take a deep breath and try to look anywhere but his confused face. “Well, I should be going. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

I quickly grab my bag, say goodbye to Jade, and leave before Beck has a chance to say anything else. Once I’m in my car, I take a deep breath to calm myself down. I’ve been around Beck my entire life and never had this sort of reaction to him. It feels so different, and yet it also feels right.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about these feelings, but right now, I need to get as far away from this house as I can.

I almost kissed him. It would’ve ruined everything. I’m such an idiot.

CHAPTER 10

Beck

JUNE

My parents have been begging me to spend time with Jade. Since I’ll be kid-free, I planned a last-minute guys’ night out with Sawyer and Brooks at Roadside, the one and only bar in the city limits of Blue Haven.

After I drop Jade off at her grandparents’ for the night, I head straight to Sawyer’s house to pick him up. It’s stupid how excited I get at the prospect of seeing Willow. She’s been keeping her distance from me since our almost kiss the other night at my house. I don’t know what I was thinking other than she looked so beautiful, her smile lighting up the room, and when I pulled her close, she smelled so sweet. And her lips looked so…

No. No, I’ve got to stop thinking about it. Especially when I’m going to be spending the entire night with her brother.