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PROLOGUE
KYLER
TWO YEARS AGO
My head was foggy.
I knew drinking those wine coolers was a bad idea. I’d never had even a drop of alcohol in my life before tonight, and I’d just guzzled down two bottles full of a fizzy strawberry-flavored beverage that didn’t even taste like booze – well, not like what I imagined booze tasted like, anyway – within ten minutes.
I didn’t even know why I was here. Sure, I got along with the football players and cheerleaders okay, but I wasn’t one of them. Not really. I was the quiet girl who got straight A’s. Honestly, when a football player that I’d been crushing on since last year had asked me to come to this post-homecoming party, I’d thought it was some kind of a joke.
But now here I was, tipsy from two wine coolers and doing what I did best: being a wallflower while everyone I knew was socializing. And, of course, the guy who’d asked me to be here in the first place was completely ignoring me.
“Ky! What are…” My best friend, Melissa, half-stumbled over to me.
Huh?
“What?” I asked.
“I said, what are you doing standing over here by yourself?”
“Parties aren’t really my thing,” I huffed out. “And I swear I think Drew asked me to come as a joke, because he hasn’t even said two words to me since I got here.”
“Because you’re standing in the corner, silly!” she giggled. “Come on! We’re playing…”
* * *
“Come on, Ky! Just spin it already!” Melissa squealed.
Wait. How had I gotten here? When had we started playing spin the bottle?
A swarm of butterflies took up residence in my stomach as I reached into the center of the circle and gave the empty Budweiser bottle a good twist before flicking my wrist, making it spin like a top. I was about to have my very first kiss…and I had no idea who it was going to be with. I didn’t even know if it would be with a guy.
The bottle started to slow, and the knot in my gut tightened, making me nauseous. For one horrifying second, I thought it was going to land on Hannah Olsen…but then it went just a hair farther and landed on Drew Harrison, the guy who had invited me here tonight.
His eyes lifted to mine, an intense gaze pinning me in place as he crawled across the circle toward me. The butterflies in my stomach increased tenfold, and almost before I could register what was happening, his mouth was on mine. I swore I felt the tingle that went through me all the way down to my bones as my lips tentatively started to move against Drew’s. Operating on pure instinct, I mirrored his actions, losing myself to the new, foreign sensations.
“Get it, Harrison!” some guy, probably one of his teammates, shouted.
Suddenly, I was very aware that we weren’t alone, and I backed away, my cheeks heating in embarrassment. Drew chuckled softly and stole one more peck before lifting my chin so I’d look at him again.
“I’m not done with you yet, Ky,” he whispered. “Don’t you dare run off.”
* * *
I was standing in the kitchen of…whoever’s house this was…halfway through another wine cooler – peach-flavored this time – when I felt the heat of someone’s breath on my neck as a pair of arms grabbed my shoulders.
“Thought I told you not to run off, Ky,” Drew rasped right in my ear.
I turned to look at him and that same intense gaze that he’d been using on me all night was on his face again.
“I was just getting another drink,” I mumbled.
Drew took the bottle out of my hand and set it on the counter. “Let’s get out of here. Told you I wasn’t done with you yet.”
He grabbed my hand – so tightly that it hurt a little – and we walked outside. He led me past the half-dozen couples that were making out on the side of the house and further out toward the back of the property.
“Wh-where are we going?” I stammered.
