Chapter 30

In the soft glow of the firelight, Joel leaned forward, and slowly, seductively, pressed his lips to mine. His lips were warm and soft, and as sweet as I'd imagined.

His hands slid from my arms, up to the back of my neck, and soon, and I felt his fingers sifting through the long tendrils of my hair.

As our lips moved, I let my eyelids flutter shut. Desperate for more, I reached out, wanting to pull him closer. And as I did, my chair toppled, leaving me clutching at his shirt and kissing only air. I fell forward, straight into his arms.

No. Actually, that wasn't quite right. Because now, we were both standing. He'd not only caught me. He'd pulled me to my feet. And I'd barely had time to think.

He was fast. Unnaturally fast. He'd caught me before I'd even fallen.

I glanced around and spotted my chair, now toppled onto its side. As for his chair, it remained upright.

Showoff.

I gave a shaky laugh. "I hope I didn't trash your chair. I mean, the one I was sitting in."

"It's not my chair. It's yours."

I looked up to study his face. "What?"

"I bought it for you."

My breath caught. "You did? When?"

"On my way back from Detroit."

I smiled. So this wasn't just an impromptu thing? Thinking it over, I recalled how the campsite had looked when I'd peddled up to it. There had been the lawn chairs, the firewood, and even the sticks, resting up against the wood-pile.

I felt a warm glow that had nothing to do with the fire. Two chairs. Two sticks. One for me, and one for him. How had I not realized?

It was so sweet that I didn't know what to say. So I didn't say anything. Instead, I lifted my face and kissed him again, more slowly this time, leaning into him as much as I wanted, and savoring the rush of pleasure when his arms closed tighter around me, wrapping me in a warm, wonderful embrace.

I kissed him a lot that night, and he kissed me back, like a guy who definitely knew what he was doing. But that's as far as it went, and I was thankful that he didn't push it.

Or at least, that's what I told myself, even as he was driving home just past midnight. It was funny really, because there were so many things I'd been planning to ask him. But somehow, the hours had slipped away with most of my questions still unasked, at least for now.

But I wasn't worried. Already, we'd made plans for the following afternoon, which meant that I'd be getting my answers soon enough.

Still, there was something I wanted to get out of the way, so it didn't come up later on. Just as we were pulling into my driveway, I turned to him and said, "I meant to tell you, I heard about that fight."

Joel stiffened. With his eyes still on the road, he said in a carefully neutral voice, "Yeah? Which one?"

I stared at him in profile. Which one?

How many fights did he get into, anyway? I suddenly recalled what Mike had said during that whole roadside encounter with Chester, the Shirtless Wonder. Mike had made some crack about Joel 'slaughtering' someone at State. With everything else, that had almost slipped my mind.

But now, it came rushing to the forefront. I wanted to ask about it. But something – maybe the hard set of Joel's shoulders – told me that now wasn't the ideal time.

So all I said was, "You know, the one between you and Derek."

"That?" Joel's shoulders visibly relaxed. "That was no fight."

I still hadn't gotten the whole story from Cassie, but I did know that it wasn't just a yelling thing. And yet, Joel didn't look like he was lying. Trying to be diplomatic about it, I said, "Are you sure? Because Cassie was there."

Joel gave me a sideways glance. "You ever see a real fight?"

"No," I admitted.

"Trust me. A real fight? Looks nothing like that."

I didn't know what to say, and already, we were pulling up to the house. When the car stopped, Joel got out, retrieved my bike from the trunk, and then, walked me and my bike to the front door, where all of my questions were soon forgotten, thanks to an amazing kiss goodnight.

Tomorrow, I decided, I'd get the full story – if not from Joel, then definitely from Cassie.