Page 16 of Love’s Silver Bullet

She gave a little nod, teeth tugging at the edge of a shy smile. “And then some, Maggie, and it was wonderful,” she said with a pretty blush, eyes aglow with wonder. “I knew kisses meant lip to lip, but merciful heavens, Jake’s involved a whole lot more than that.”

Maggie blinked, not sure who was blushing more—her or Sheridan. Sweet cherubs of chastity! She swallowed hard, Jake kissing Sheridan putting a whole new spin on the wagon wheel. “How on earth did it happen?” she said with a croak.

“Well …” Sheridan began picking at her nails, avoiding Maggie’s gaze. “Like I said, I remembered about sneezing not being possible while someone was unconscious, so I decided to … um … test it.”

“Test it?” Maggie could only gawk, grateful she was at least up to two-word responses.

A lump ducked in Sheridan’s throat as she dislodged a sliver of nail. “I … uh … well … kissed him.”

Eyes saucer wide, Maggie clamped a hand over her mouth rather than revert to another monosyllable.

Sheridan peeked up. “I know it sounds bad, Maggie, but I needed to find out if he was truly unconscious or”—she gave a little shrug—“just uninterested.”

“And …???” Oh, goody—she was back to one word.

“And … he popped up like a Mexican jumping bean, flipping me on my back so fast, I stopped breathing while he straddled me with a glare.”

Sweet heavenly hosts! Maggie made a quick sign of the cross, pretty much speechless at this point.

Sheridan’s gaze wandered out the window into a distant stare while a sigh gusted from her lips, laden with melancholy. “Told me flat out he wasn’t attracted to me that way and I should get those pipedreams out of my head because it was never going to happen.”

“Oh, Sher …” Maggie reached to give her a hug, her heart breaking for this girl who was as dear as a sister.

“So, I lunged for his neck and toppled him over like he did me”—nibbling the edge of her thumbnail, she barely looked up, as if hiding beneath a thick curtain of lashes—“right before I flopped down and kissed the daylights out of him.”

Sweet mother of Job! Maggie could only blink, fingers suddenly itching for a rosary.

“I know I shouldn’t have done something so brazen,” Sheridan said in a rush, “but I had to prove him wrong, Maggie, didn’t I?”

“Uh …”

“And I did, too, because the man turned the tables to kiss me like he was struggling to breathe and I was his only chance for air.”

“Sweet mother of mercy—I need to lie down.” Near dizzy from the telling, Maggie bumped Sheridan’s shoulder for her to move over, lying down flat while she stared saucer-eyed at the ceiling.

“So, you see, Maggie? He is attracted to me, but he’s just too stupid or too stubborn to admit it.”

“My vote would be stubborn,” Maggie said with a hand to her chest to steady her breathing, truly caught off-guard that Jake was drawn—that way—to the girl he’d always considered a little sister.

“So, what do I do?” Sheridan’s voice was a lovesick moan, cramping Maggie’s heart. “He told me flat out it could never happen again, then stomped off, saying the shooting lessons were over for good. Even though I told him I love him, and I know he loves me, too. But I want him to love me as a woman, not as a little sister because dog-gone-it, Maggie, I am a woman nearly nineteen!”

Maggie slid her a sideways look while a smile tugged at her lips. “Eighteen and a half, sweetheart, but you do have a point.” Her smile faded into a squint. “Did you ask him why?”

A rare grunt slipped from Sheridan’s lips. “Of course I did, straight to his teeth, but he started babbling on about how he was almost eight years older than me and I was too young to fall in love. When I argued that Aunt Libby’s father is almost eleven years older than her mother, and that Blaze is a lot older than you, he refused to hear it. Said I was like a sister to him, and it wasn’t right.”

“Did you remind him that you’re not his sister?” Maggie’s lips twitched with a smile.

“Repeatedly, pointing out quite emphatically that his kiss agreed with my opinion on the subject and not his.”

“Whoops.” Maggie winked. “Bet he didn’t like that.”

“Of course not. He was too busy bucking all reasonable rationale like a rabid mule against the side of a barn.” She huffed out a noisy sigh while she crossed her arms over her knees. “Until he came up with the lowest, sneakiest excuse yet.”

Maggie glanced over, face in a scrunch. “And what was that?”

Sheridan’s blue gaze narrowed like a sliver of sky between strands of cirrus clouds. “That he was seeing Megan Joy Burdzy.”

“What??” Maggie sat up, face screwed in a frown. “Since when? Because if that were true, it would be common knowledge.”