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He ducked out the door. After he was gone, I clamped both hands over my mouth and let out a long, low breath.
I’d nearly kissed him. Theo. My brother’s best friend. My crush.
I groaned and buried my face in my pillow. How could I possibly face him after this? And Chase…
Oh God, Chase,I thought. He could never find out about this. He wouldn’t let me live it down.
Chapter Four
Theo
I wish I had kissed Haley yesterday. I knew I shouldn’t want that, shouldn’t want her. But it was there, burning in my chest. The desire to kiss her, again and again, until she was breathless and her lips puffy and pink.
It would be a mistake to kiss her. A good mistake. The best mistake of my life.
Chase would kill me for it though.
“Dude, what’s the matter with you?” Chase demanded.
We were in the basement with Johnny and Brenda, building a model train set that spanned the entire room. Chase chucked a clump of cottony fake snow at me. It stuck to my sweater.
“You’ve been spacing out all day,” he added.
“Probably because you snore like a bear in that top bunk,” I countered. “I can’t get a decent amount of sleep.”
It definitely has nothing to do with almost kissing your sister,I thought.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how big and soft her eyes had been, the delicate shadow of her lashes against her cheek, the sprinkle of rosy freckles that dusted her nose. I couldn’t stop thinking about the gentle indent of my thumb pressed against her lower lip and the chocolate-y sweetness of her breath mingling with mine.
I stifled a groan.
If I didn’t stop thinking about Haley this way, it was going to get me into trouble. She was my best friend’s younger sister. Chase might be an easy-going guy for the most part but I didn’t want to put our friendship at risk. And I doubted he would want his best friend dating his sister. That would make things…more than a little weird between all of us.
“I’m hungry,” Johnny declared, railroad tracks scattered around him in a circle.
“Yeah, me too,” Brenda agreed. “Can we take a break for some candy canes and cookies?”
“Only if you can get to them before I do,” Chase countered.
The kids flew up the basement stairs, galloping like a herd of horses, with Chase close on their heels. I contemplated remaining in the basement where it was quiet and I could be left alone with my thoughts of Haley.
Then Brenda’s voice filtered down the stairs, high-pitched with excitement.
“You look so pretty, Aunt Haley! I love your dress!”
Something inside me went stone-cold. I’d never seen Haley Talbot wear a dress in my life. Not once. Why would she wear one now? She was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a foot of snow, locked in a cabin with her family.
I want to say it was the tug of curiosity that pushed me to my feet. But it felt more like jealousy, yanking me up the stairwell with the toy train’s trailer car full of fake coal still clutched in my grip. When I reached the top, the entryway was a flurry of activity with Haley at the center of it all.
She wore a pale blue dress, snug in all the right places, with a hemline that ended mid-thigh, paired with white leggings, and black knee-high boots. Her hair had been twisted up and pinned back in romantic, loose curls that framed her face. A touch of lip gloss colored her lips just shy of cherry red.
Haley’s gaze met mine. Then slid away.
Mrs. Talbot cupped Haley’s cheeks.
“My baby girl is going on her first date,” she said. “I can’t believe it. Seems like just yesterday, you were reading fairy tales aloud by the fire, lisping because your two front teeth were missing.”
“Mom,” Haley said with a gentle admonishment. “I’m going to be late.”
