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“But you need to rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“You could have a traumatic brain injury,” I shot back, trying to recall every single episode of Grey’s Anatomy and all the potential things that could go wrong. There were so many. “What if they missed something on the scan?”
“They didn’t.”
“But what if—”
His lips crashed down on mine, swallowing my words. I blinked in surprise, my whole body buzzing. This wasn’t for the song. This was a real kiss. Powerful, hungry, and sweet. It was everything I wanted.
There was nothing to do but wrap my arms around his neck and close my eyes, utterly giving into it. Collin cradled my face, deepening the kiss. Pushing me back until my spine was against the wall, he moved his hands down my sides, his fingertips pressing into my hips.
I sighed happily. His lips were perfect. The way his body pressed against mine was perfect. The minty sweet taste of his mouth was perfect. My skin flushed, from head to toe. It was as if someone had taken a live wire and touched it to my abdomen. Everything was electric. Sparks flew everywhere Collin touched.
And when I thought I could hardly take any more, he pulled away and stared down at me, his hands plastered to the wall above my head and his breathing heavy. In the back of my mind, I wondered if my mouth looked as swollen as his. He ran his tongue over his lips and closed his eyes, his jaw flexing.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay,” I squeaked.
How could he know that what he’d done was everything I’d been dreaming about?
“No, I really shouldn’t have.” He pushed off the wall and walked toward his bed, shaking his head. “It’s not fair to you. Not with everything that’s going on. I’m really sorry, Audrey.”
“Don’t be sorry.” I chased after him and grabbed his hand. And when he looked at me again, I smiled. “I’ve wanted to do that again ever since the first time we kissed. It’s all I think about anymore.”
Surprise lit up his eyes. “Really?”
“Really.” My heart hammered on, urging me to tell him how I felt. If there was a time and place, it was now. “I think I’m falling for you, Collin.”
He exhaled loudly, his hand shaking in mine.
“No, I take that back.” I shook my head. Now was not the time to be a scaredy cat. I needed to be completely honest with him. “I have fallen for you. I like you. A lot.”
If anyone had told me two months ago, when we were in the beach house, that I would fall for Rock Valley High quarterback Collin Preston, I would have laughed in their face. I’d been convinced that he was egotistical and a jerk. Someone who flaunted his popularity and didn’t have much else to offer the world. I was wrong. So wrong.
Collin was sweet. He listened to me. He cared about me. He’d quickly become one of my best friends. And here I was, in his bedroom, professing my feelings, right after he’d kissed me so soundly my toes had curled. It had been the perfect second kiss.
“Audrey.” He slipped his hand out of mine and raked it through his hair. Hesitation and confusion washed over his face. I was pretty sure my heart stopped beating as I waited for him to say something. “I just can’t.”
“Can’t what?” That wasn’t the profession of love I’d hoped to hear. Not even close. I clasped the front of my sweater, fisting the soft material like a comfort blanket.
“You know I can’t fall in love.” He stared down at his bed, his cheekbones appearing sharper somehow in the semi darkness of his room. “I told you that. I told you not to fall for me. I warned you that you’d only get hurt.”
All the air left my lungs in a giant whoosh. He might as well have punched me in the diaphragm. I looked around the room, desperately searching for something to say that would change his mind.
“How do you know?” I asked, my voice breaking. “How do you know you can’t fall in love?”
He bit his bottom lip and shook his head. “I just know, okay?”
“How?”
I wanted a reason. A concrete reason why he couldn’t love me back. None of this was making any sense.
Throwing his hands up and swearing, he turned his back to me. “I know because the one person in the world who did love me, I didn’t even feel anything when she died. Nothing.”
I blinked rapidly in confusion. “Who?”
