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“Leave,” she repeats.
“No,” I say, surprising us both.
“No?” Her cheeks heat to a deep pink.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me why you wrote that.” I point in the vicinity of where the notebook fell.
“I don’t have to tell you anything.” Her voice shakes the way it always does when she gets nervous.
“Did you mean it? What you said in that letter.” I take a step toward her. “Did you mean it?”
“Alec, please.” She knots her hands in front of herself, unable to meet my eyes.
“Tell me the truth, Hope.” I stop directly in front of her and use my hand to lift her chin, forcing her gaze upward. “Did you mean what you said?” I ask again.
“Yes, but...”
She’s not able to get another word out before my mouth is on hers. I don’t know where it comes from. I had no intention of kissing her. But the instant my lips meet hers, I know that I never want to stop.
She whimpers against my mouth when my tongue slides against hers and it pushes me further. My arms slide around her waist and I pull her closer, securing her body flush against mine.
I’ve thought about kissing Hope more times than I care to admit over the years, but I never in a million years thought I’d actually be doing it.
She’s always been a fantasy. The girl I could never have. The one who was destined to be nothing more than a friend even though deep down I always wanted her to be more.
I thought I could live with that. I thought I could just be her friend. But now? Now that I’ve tasted her, now that I know what she feels like pressed against me, how her breathing changes when my hand slides into her hair and tangles in the strands. There’s no going back.
“Alec.” Hope’s hands slide between us and she presses against my chest, forcing me backward.
As much as I don’t want to, I let her push me away.
She looks up at me, confusion in her eyes, her cheeks flushed, her lips swollen from my kiss. Damn, if she doesn’t look even more beautiful than minutes ago.
“What... What was that?”
“I’m sorry.” I pause. “You know what, no. I’m not sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first moment I met you and now that I have, I won’t apologize for it.”
“You’ve wanted to kiss me...” She lets the statement hang. “But Lulu?” Her confusion seems to deepen.
“I had no idea you felt that way about me. If I had, things would have been completely different.”
She lifts her hand and slides her fingers across her lips like she’s still trying to process the kiss we shared. Hell, I know the feeling. It’s not like I saw this coming either.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I continue.
“Because you were with Lulu.”
“Not at first I wasn’t. And according to what you wrote, you felt it the moment we met. Just like I did.”
“I saw the way you looked at her that first day at lunch. And then you asked about her later that day in class.”
“Lucy is an attractive girl. Of course I was interested. But I wouldn’t have looked in her direction had you given me any indication that you might be interested.”
“How was I supposed to know that?” Her voice shoots up an octave. “I always disappear when Lulu enters a room. How was I supposed to know that you were any different from all the others?”
“All this time.” I run a hand through my hair again, tugging on the ends. “All this time that I’ve fought what I felt for you and now you’re telling me you felt the same way.”
“But you were with Lulu. You loved her.”
