Sean

Sitting on the open liftgate of my old truck, I scrolled through the list on my phone. Most of the items had a little red check beside them but a few details I’d left to others. I shot a group text to Logan, Christian, and Cameron.

All set?

Christian replied almost instantly, enumerating every detail.

Cameron answered a moment later: Yeah. Stop worrying.

It took a good five minutes for Logan’s response, an emoji of a middle finger. Not an answer but the best I was going to get from him.

Pocketing the phone, I reclined on my palms and looked up at the bowl of stars. I didn’t pray. Not the way most folks did. But as I gazed at the night sky, I whispered a few words, likely to my mother. If there was a heaven, she was there.

The hum of an engine pulled me from my thoughts, and I sat up straight when Anna swung her car into the parking space next to mine.

She hopped out, smiling.

God, she was fucking gorgeous. Like a summer day. Her hair hung in loose waves around her face and she wore a black Damaged T-shirt, the letters faded and the fabric threadbare from too many trips through the spin cycle.

How I ever went four years without seeing her was a mystery, because right now, one day shy of a month from our last face-to-face, and all I wanted to do was grab her. Kiss her. Fuck the truth into her.

I hid my true intentions behind an innocuous grin as I climbed off the tailgate of my truck. “Hey.”

Anna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Hey, yourself.”

She looked from the dim façade of the building, then further to the grass that made up the football field. The lights were on, illuminating the Westlake High “Chaps Nation” scoreboard.

“What are we doing here?” she finally asked, her voice thick with nostalgia.

Rocking back on my heels, with my hands buried in my pockets, I tipped my chin to the sign on the light post. “Do you remember this spot?”

Anna followed my gaze, and a flush rose on her pale skin. “You used to park here and wait for me.”

When her eyes found mine, she bit her lip to keep her smile in check.

“Yep.” I motioned to the field. “Let’s go.”

She blinked down at my hand, extended for her to take. It could all end here. This was our journey, but I wouldn’t drag her kicking and screaming.

Hesitantly, she slid her palm against mine, and I locked our fingers.

Anna fell into step beside me as we crossed the blacktop. I let her go when we got to the gate on the chain link fence. She stared intently at the padlock, beaming when I gave it a tug and the bolts disengaged.

“I can’t believe they haven’t fixed that,” she said, ducking under my arm as I held the gate open for her.

Joining her at the edge of the field, I reclaimed her hand. “I guess they’re more worried about kids breaking out than breaking in.”

Anna looked at me out of the corner of her eyes as we strolled along. “But we’re not kids,” she whispered.

Reality warred with the fantasy I’d constructed, and Anna hesitated. But I wasn’t going to stop now. Not when we were this close. So I urged her along.

As we neared the gym, she squeezed my hand. “We’re not going to break in . . . are we?”

A sly smile curved my lips, deceptive enough to distract her until we reached the double doors. “No, we don’t have to break in.”

I knocked lightly, and when Coach Riley appeared, Anna yelped.

She slipped behind me, fisting my shirt, and I could practically feel her trembling.

Pushing aside my nerves, I said, “Hi, Coach.”

Amazingly, the guy hadn’t aged in ten years. Riley’s Westlake Nation T-shirt stretched across his muscled bicep as he pushed the door open, granting us entry.

“Hudson, good to see you’re still breathing free air. I thought you might be in prison by now.”

“No, sir.” I chuckled. “Thanks for the favor.”

“You can thank Christian.” Coach clapped my shoulder, tipping forward. “You got fifteen minutes, and there are cameras everywhere. So no funny business.” Shifting his no-nonsense gaze to Anna, he smiled. “Annabelle, keep him in line.”

Anna swallowed hard. “Yes, sir . . . Coach Riley, I mean.”

Snapping her mouth shut, Anna trapped any further squeaks behind tight lips. Because she was squeaking. Like a little mouse.

It might have had something to do with the fact that Coach Riley caught us behind the equipment locker our senior year. I had Anna caged against the wall with my hand up her shirt, and as I remembered, we were so into the kiss Riley had to blow his whistle to get our attention.

From the look on Anna’s face and the color flaming her cheeks, she was reliving the same memory.

“Fifteen minutes,” Riley repeated and then turned on his heel and strolled toward the gym.

“Let’s go before he changes his mind,” I said, and Anna nodded, her head bobbing long after we’d turned the first corner and disappeared into the maze of hallways.

It was eerily quiet, with only a few lights illuminating our path, but I knew exactly where we were going.

Anna stared down at the rose on the tiled floor when we reached our first destination. “Third row, second seat,” I said as I crouched to pick up the flower.

Anna took the rose and ran her fingertips over the petals. “I don’t understand.”

Molding my hands to her hips, I maneuvered her to the glass window in the classroom door.

“You were sitting right there.” I pointed at the metal desk. “Looking out the window.”

“When?”

My lips grazed the shell of her ear as I told her what she already knew but assumed I’d forgotten.

“The first day I saw you. You had on a green shirt. That was before you started boycotting green because it’s Baylor’s color.”

Ironic, since she was now attending the university. But I didn’t comment on that. Because right now, it was ten years ago, and the only thing in Anna’s future was UT Law. And me.

She tilted her face to mine, but my eyes never left the desk. “Your hair was pulled back,” I continued with a smile, conjuring all the sights and smells and sounds from that long-ago day. “And I knew I had to meet you, so I waited for the bell. But I couldn’t speak. I just stood there like an idiot when you passed, breathing in your peach scent and looking at your ass. You had on Abercrombie low-rise jeans.”

When I finally chanced a peek at Anna’s face, she was frowning.

“Abercrombie? Did you have to remember those?”

I swept a loose curl behind her ear. “I remember everything.” I brushed my thumb over her jaw from ear to tip before taking her hand. “Come on; we’re running out of time.”

Anna didn’t ask where we were going, and I felt no reluctance as her fingers laced with mine. When we reached the row of lockers a few corridors away, she snagged her lip between her teeth.

Extracting the rose from the vent in the metal cabinet, I said, “This was the first place—”

“You ever kissed me.”

I’d vowed not to push her. Not to use the physical spark we shared to influence her decision, but then Anna looked up at me, and it was like the first time. So I slipped my hand into her hair and brushed a chaste kiss to her lips.

It took all my resolve to pull away.

Anna’s lids fluttered open, and she smiled. Shy, like she used to.

“You ready to go?” I asked, and she nodded.

We made our way to the parking lot without saying a word. Afraid to break the spell, I coaxed her to the passenger side of my truck.

She blinked up at me when I pulled the door open. “What about Willow?”

I wanted to tell Anna that there was no Willow tonight, but that would freak her out, so I slid my hand to her backside and gave her a nudge. “Willow’s fine.”

Anna pondered for only a second before hoisting herself onto the seat.

“Where’s your Range Rover?” Anna asked as she ran her fingertips along the cracked Chevrolet emblem on the glove compartment, a smile ghosting her lips.

“At the house.”

Once I’d hopped in the cab, I took the wicker basket from the floorboard and placed it on the seat between us.

Anna peeked inside the hamper as I pulled out of the parking spot. “What’s this for?”

“Your roses.” I smiled. “Let’s hope they’re all going to fit.”