She said nothing. Just waited for him to start laughing and elbow her in the side. But instead he stared at her with those dark, dark eyes, his lips slightly parted. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes as his fingers caressed her skin, sending a spark of electricity down her spine.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but fear stole her words. Because this felt real. Her skin prickled with heat, as though a slow burning fire was engulfing her body.
“Open your eyes,” he said softly.
Without thinking, she obeyed, her lids slowly opening. His face was close. Enough for her to see the golden specks in his eyes and the bump on his nose from where he ran into a fence when he was nine.
Her eyes scanned him, as though she was trying to take everything in. This was Tanner. Her best friend. And yet he looked different. His jaw was stronger, more defined. He wasn’t a boy anymore; he was on the cusp of being a man. A devilishly handsome man who was impossible to ignore.
“Do you?” he asked, his head dipping until his eyes were in line with hers.
“Yes.” Her gaze didn’t waver. She waited for him to move closer, but he paused. Enough for her blood to heat up. She was completely aware of him. Of the way he smelled of popcorn and fresh air. Of the breeze that danced through the ends of his dark hair. Of the way his chest rose and fell as he stared at her lips.
He was torturously slow as he inclined his head, then brushed his lips against hers so softly she could barely feel it. Her stomach flipped like it was on a trampoline. Then he kissed her harder, his hand pressed against the back of her head, angling it to his. She curled her arms around his neck, arching her back as she kissed him, her body taking over as though it knew exactly what to do.
Her soft breasts pressed against his hard, firm chest, and he moaned against her lips, as though she was torturing him. His tongue was soft against her, and without hesitating, she parted them. Their tongues moved together, and another bolt of pleasure flew through her body.
Then she felt it. Him. Hard against her stomach. Was that what she thought it was? Dear lord, it was bigger than she’d thought.
Embarrassment mixed with desire, making her blood boil beneath her skin. Her breasts felt tender, as though a simple touch would make her cry out loud.
Tanner pulled back, cold air rushing between them, making goosebumps pepper her skin. Van blinked, trying to work out what happened. Because that kiss wasn’t something a friend would do.
It was too real, too skin tingling.
“So that’s your first kiss.” Tanner’s voice was full of grit. “You don’t need to worry about Nathan Daniels now.”
She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips and looked up at him. There was a twitch in his jaw, and from the corner of her eyes she could see his hands curled into fists. For a moment, in the moonlight, he didn’t look like her best friend at all. He looked like a stranger.
A tall, dark, sexy stranger. The big screen hero kind she saw seven times a week.
Her heart was still racing, her blood still rushing, the bleating sound of invisible cicadas filling her ears. She felt like a door had been opened inside her, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t close it. It was too stubborn to move. Like her.
Breathing in softly, she straightened her back and looked toward the lights of Hartson’s Creek. “I should get home,” she told him, starting to walk down the road again.
And though her best friend walked beside her, it felt like he wasn’t there at all. As though the kiss had killed him and left somebody completely different in his wake.
She had no idea how to deal with that at all.
Chapter Nineteen
Tanner wasn’t kidding about the construction workers. He pulled his car onto the overgrown gravel track that led to the payment booth – or the box office, as Mr. Chaplin used to call it – veering to the left to park on the grass. They climbed out and walked over to where the huge construction team was standing, huddled around a man wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt, along with a yellow hard hat.
“That’s Rich Kelsie,” Tanner said to her, walking around the front of the car to where she was standing. “Let me introduce you.”
“Sure.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Tanner’s arm freeze, as though he was planning to put his hand on her back but thought better of it.
“Rich, let me introduce you to Savannah Butler. She’s in charge here. Savannah…” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, as though he expected her to look mad. She grinned at the fact she was disappointing him. “This is Rich. His team is going to landscape the drive-in and rebuild the structures.”
“It’s a pleasure.” He reached for Van’s hand, and she shook it.
“Likewise.” She grinned at him. “What’s the timeline for completing the project?”
“If the weather stays fine, I think we can get it done in a month.” He held out his clipboard, flipping through the papers he had fixed there. “I emailed this over to Tanner last night. It just needs signing off.”