Tonight was the night. I knew it. It had to be. I was leaving for university tomorrow and wouldn’t be home much for the next three years. It had to be tonight. The moment I had been dreaming about for thirteen years.

My first kiss with the boy from down the street.

Okay, well, not really a boy. He was all man, baby. And he was my older brother’s best friend. But dammit, I had been in love with Lincoln Andrews since I was five years old, and I wasn’t leaving here without a kiss.

Everything was planned out. My guests were floating around the house listening to music coming from the speakers in the ceiling, and Bailey and Ryder were here with Kenzie, attempting to get her to mingle with people her own age. And I was going to get my first kiss from my one true love for my eighteenth birthday.

We were playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. And my heaven was Linc. I just needed someone else to suggest the game, so it didn’t look like I was desperate, even though I was. I’d ever so subtly been spinning an empty beer bottle on the table where I sat with Bailey, Ryder, and Kenzie, hoping someone would get the hint. My brother was here somewhere, and I knew Linc wouldn’t be far behind. All I needed was for the game to start and for Linc to want to play, somehow.

Finally, after what felt like forever, I heard someone shout, “Spin the bottle!”

I may have squealed a little. “This is my chance,” I said to Bailey.

“For what?”

“I’m going to kiss Linc!” I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet.

“You are?” She eyed me sceptically. I knew she didn’t think I had a chance with Linc, but she was too kind to ever say so.

“Yes. If we get him to play, I’ll spin the bottle so it lands on him, and he’ll have to kiss me,” I whispered so Ryder wouldn’t hear. I didn’t want him laughing at me, because he would. He found my infatuation with Lincoln amusing and teased me about it every chance he got.

“And what if it lands on Allen or someone other than Linc?”

“It won’t. Come on. Let’s play,” I said confidently, even though that thought had never occurred to me, and tugged on Bailey’s hand. Oh my God. What if it did land on Allen, or Justin? I did not want to kiss them. It had to land on Linc.

“Like hell,” Ryder growled and pulled her back to him. “She’s staying here with me, away from that bottle. Those lips belong to me.” He touched her mouth, making me want to throw up from their disgusting gushiness over each other, as well as making me jealous. Why couldn’t Linc look at me the way Ryder looked at Bailey, like she was his entire world?

I frowned, turning to see a circle of bodies forming on the floor, and moved to take my spot. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I watched Linc stroll into the centre of the circle and place an empty vodka bottle down. “I’ll start,” he said, staring directly at me, his grey eyes so much darker than I thought.

I glanced over at Bailey, who was staring wide-eyed, with her mouth hanging open in shock. I turned back to see Linc spin the bottle and move back to watch it with intense concentration. Yeah. He was playing. Without me having to beg. He was willingly playing. And he was spinning first. Oh, no. What if the bottle landed on Mariah or Thea? I couldn’t handle seeing him take another girl into the office for seven minutes, but maybe that was his plan.

I held my breath as the bottle began to slow down. Kneeling forward to get a closer look, I gasped when it dragged to a stop. Bailey fell to the floor behind me. No, it couldn’t be. There was no way.

“Well, go on.” She elbowed me because I was frozen in shock. It had landed on me. “Your birthday wish is about to come true,” she said low in my ear.

I was still staring at the bottle pointing directly at me when a pair of black boots came into my vision. I slowly looked up at a pair of jean-clad legs and a black t-shirt that hugged his chest in a lovely way, and Linc stretched out a hand to help me up. He wasn’t smiling. In fact, I couldn’t tell what his expression was saying. It was blank. Maybe he regretted playing and wished the bottle did land on Thea. I gulped, my throat suddenly dry.

I reached for his hand and stood on shaky legs, wordlessly following him across the room to my father’s office. I barely gave Nate a thought as Linc closed the door behind us and locked it, because I knew my brother wouldn’t be impressed with us playing the game at all, let alone that I was in here alone with Lincoln. Although I’d like to think he’d rather it be Linc with me than any of the other boys.

Still holding my hand, Linc walked over to my father’s desk and sat on the edge. I stopped in front of him, unsure of what to do next. Did I just wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips to his, or should I—?

His hands came to rest on my hips, and I nearly hyperventilated. My hands trembled, and my knees shook with anticipation. I was so nervous, and I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like we’d never been in a room alone together before or that he hadn’t touched me in some way. We’d grown up together. Played together. Ridden bikes together. Swam together. Everything. Even slept together—when we were kids, having campouts in the basement and watching scary movies all night long.

“So, eighteen?” He smiled at me, shaking a sun-bleached lock of hair out of his face. “How does it feel? You’re all grown up now.”

I shrugged. “Feels the same. I’ve been growing up for a long time, Linc.” I wanted to drive home the point that I wasn’t the kid he still thought I was.

He huffed out a breath, pulling me slightly closer. “I know.”

I lost my footing and stumbled on the rug. Reaching out to steady myself, I grasped his shoulders. We were face to face, even with him sitting on the desk and me still standing between his legs.

“I think I’m going to miss you when you leave,” he murmured, more to himself than me.

My heart stuttered in my chest. He was going to miss me. I wanted to do a little happy dance. “I’ll be back. For holidays and weekends,” I said reassuringly, trying to play it cool when I was anything but. Nothing would keep me from coming home to see him. Nothing.

“Good, because it won’t be the same without you here.” His mouth turned up in that half smile that made my knees give out. Did I even need to go to university? Couldn’t I just stay right here, in this moment? Who needed an education? I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay home and be closer to Linc. This moment would not be long enough. A thousand moments would not be long enough. Studying was overrated, anyway.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” I dropped my head forward until our foreheads touched. We were so close. Just a fraction more and our mouths would touch. My lips tingled with anticipation. It was really going to happen.

Linc’s hands circled around my back, gradually inching their way up, leaving goose bumps in their wake, until he was cupping my face. His voice was barely a whisper as his lips skimmed mine. “I don’t want to get rid of you, Indie.”

And then he kissed me. Lincoln Andrews kissed me. Stars clouded my vision, butterflies erupted in my stomach, and I gasped in surprise. This moment was better than I had ever imagined it could be. Our lips moved together perfectly, like they were made to be joined forever. He tilted my head, and his tongue slid between my parted lips and met mine, softly, slowly. I saw fireworks. My heart beat harder in my chest—so hard I was sure he could hear it.

I wanted to keep kissing him. I wanted to touch him, his face, his hair, his back, his—

A thump on the door interrupted us, and Linc pulled back quickly. I missed him already.

“Linc, man. You in there?” Nate called through the door, and Linc stood abruptly with wide eyes. We’d been busted.

Masking his features to one of indifference, he walked over to the door, unlocked it like nothing had happened, and left.

“What the hell, man?” I heard Nate ask. “Seven Minutes in Heaven with my little sister?”

I waited with bated breath, hoping Linc would say what I wanted him to say.

Instead, he laughed. “Nah, come on. As if. It’s Indie. We were just talking.”

My heart dropped to my stomach as I fought the tears that threatened to spill. Nothing. He lied. Completely. And he didn’t even glance back at me once. I didn’t know what I was expecting from him. A declaration of love? Shouting from the rooftops that he loved me as much as I loved him? Okay, maybe not. But something. Anything.

Did I mean that little to him?

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. I was getting the hell out of this awful town and moving halfway across the country to start university. But even that far wouldn’t be far enough away.

I was done with Lincoln Bloody Andrews.