She stopped walking and grabbed his arm. “Shut up. No!”
He threw his head back. “No. That was just something my siblings came up with.”
“Because you were always in your bedroom working on that security business of yours,” she guessed.
“Exactly. But to answer your question, no. I didn’t get any votes in the yearbook. I flew too low under the radar for that.”
“I wonder if high-school-me and high-school-you would have gotten along,” she contemplated out loud.
“Are you kidding?” he snorted. “High-school-me would’ve been all over you. Only, I was too shy for that shit, so I would have used my badass computer skills to stalk you.”
She grinned. “No way.” She was breathless, and Parker couldn’t help but puff out his chest with pride.Oh, yeah. She is pleased by this. That has to be a good sign … Right?
For the first time in his life, Parker didn’t find his panther in the least bit helpful. The animal was usually so fucking chatty … it drove him up the wall most days. But when Jade was around, all the panther inside his mind did was lay there, lounging away. Parker couldn’t figure out why.
It was weird as hell because as soon as Jade was gone from his side, his panther would go on and on about how amazing she smelled. The beast compared her to a budding rose garden.
Or maybe Parker was the one to think that …
“I am telling you, Jade,” he laughed softly. “I would have had the biggest crush on you.”
She licked her lips to try to hide the way she wanted to bite her lip. Was it because she wanted to say something? Was it because she wanted to kiss him?
Because fuck.
He had never wanted something so much.
Jade might smell like a rose garden, but that was nothing to how silky soft her pink lips looked. Like petals.
Fuck. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Well, then,” she was breathless again. “I guess it’s safe to admit that high-school-me would have totally been okay with it. The stalking, I mean. Maybe I would have left love notes on my computer for you.” She was all kinds of red. Like a rose …
Get it together. Be cool, man. You’re not actually still in high school so maybe stop behaving like it.
“I would love that. I would have loved it,” he quickly corrected.
She giggled.
“Any chance you didn’t hear that?” he asked.
“What? Your use of the present tense?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, I heard.” She smiled at him, still red on her cheeks.
“Well, then, I guess it’s okay to do this.” He took her hand in his and brought her into his side. Without letting his mind talk him out of it, he kissed her.
His lips met hers, and if the grid wasn’t down, it would have gone down. The contact shook his very soul with so much power it would have caused an electrical surge. He was sure of it.
Jade moaned into his mouth and gripped the front of his shirt, pulling herself even closer to him. She met his kiss with her own, letting him explore her mouth with quick swipes of his tongue. She returned them, and he felt it everywhere. Up his spine. In his groin.
Jade Curran was one hell of a kisser … and she was kissing him like they had been doing it for years.
Her body was new to him, but every curve was familiar to some long-lost part of him.
“Jade,” he whispered against her lips.