Play With Me

approaching. “That was awesome,” she said, beaming at me. “You’d
really make a sweet couple.”
    After the horror
he made me go through? “Yeah, right.” I laughed. Too loud, still surfing on an
adrenaline high. I glanced at my wrist watch and decided a quarter to midnight
was a good time to go home. We said goodbye to Ryan’s family and headed out to
his car.
    The cool air
felt wonderful on my face. I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks.
    “Want to drive
again?”
    I turned to him,
my knees still a little wobbly. “I think I’ll pass. The way I feel right now I
might very well wrap your car around a tree.”
    Grinning, he
laid his arm around my shoulders and walked me to the passenger side. He held
the door open for me.
    Streetlamps
illuminated the car’s inside in beacon-like intervals as he brought me home on
a casual cruise. I watched the lamps travel by my window for a while, then
tilted my head the other way and studied Ryan driving, which was a far more
captivating sight.
    He responded
with a brief glance my way. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”
    I definitely
enjoyed him. “It was okay.” I shrugged, but then I bit my lip and decided I
could give him something more of the truth. Through a snarky grin, I added, “Actually,
it was quite nice. But I still hate you!”
    “I know.” His
chuckle resounded in the cabin. “I’m sorry I dragged you into hell on that
stage.”
    “And you should be.”
    As the
headlights of another car broke through the windshield, his brows knitted
slightly. He waited till the street was ours alone again then probed, “What
about the lemon surprise?”
    “What about it?”
    “Should I be
sorry about that, too?”
    Him being sorry that
he was my first kiss? Warmth flowed through me when I remembered how soft his
lips felt. A good thing he couldn’t see my body tense in reaction. I tried for
a casual tone. “Nah. I should just have heeded your warning.”
    “Yeah.” An
impish flash crossed his eyes. “Or maybe…just not.”
    “Or maybe not…”
I agreed on a drawl, feeling the heat conquering my face.
    “You liked it?”
On the straight road, he shot me a quick glance, teasing me with his beguiling
half-smile. I didn’t respond, so he faced front again and chuckled softly.
“Yeah, you did.”
    My lips twitched.
I rolled my head back to the window side and decided to keep my thoughts to
myself.
    Ryan stopped the
car a few houses away from mine not to give me away to my parents. As he walked
me home, I noticed the shimmer of light in Tony’s room and wondered what he’d
done tonight to be still up. But then, it wasn’t my business, like I had
learned this afternoon. I forced my thoughts in another direction. Ryan
Hunter’s way.
    He made me smile
the way he watch me as we walked. In front of our shed, he braced himself, feet
planted firmly on the ground. I knew I was going to be catapulted up to the
roof again, and I so didn’t like it.
    “What do you
say, Matthews? Shall we do this again sometime?”
    Partying until
midnight? “Maybe we should. But let’s wait until my detention is over. I really
hate sneaking in and out like a criminal.”
    He laughed quietly
and hoisted me onto the shed. A moan pushed out of my lungs as I landed on my
stomach and dragged myself further up, swinging my legs over the edge. Yeah, agility
and I had nothing in common.
    “Good night,” I
whispered on the way to my room.
    “Later ‘gator.”
    I slipped inside
and grabbed my boy shorts and tank-top, thinking of this day and how weird it
turned out in the end. Kissed by Ryan Hunter. This was crazy. I was totally in
love with Tony, and yet I ran my tongue over my lips dreaming of Ryan’s
beautiful tiger eyes.
    Heck, was he
thinking of me too right now?
    With a long dreamy
sigh, I sprawled on my bed, reaching for the lamp on my night stand. But as
soon as the light went out, a rustle in the tree and then footsteps on the roof
of the shed made me switch it back on. My heart kick-started in my chest. This
could only be Tony. He must have seen me come home. And I wasn’t sure if I
really wanted to see him right now. Not just because I was still hurt about him
dating the bimbo. But because I’d somehow much rather see someone else again—with
the sexy brown eyes. Ah damn. I crawled out of bed and rubbed my temples that
suddenly started to hurt.
    And then he was
there, sitting on my window sill, lifting his legs through. I swallowed hard,
taking a barefooted