I nodded. “He really was.”
“He used to have this thing he’d do, whenever my parents would have friends over, be it the neighbors or a high-ranking military friend. He’d get a small water bottle and fill it with warm water. Then he’d sneak up behind them, pretend to sneeze, and squirt the water bottle at the same time. They’d get so grossed out. At first, Dad would ground him every time he did it, but eventually he found it pretty funny.”
“Sweet!” Preach chuckled. “I’m going to tell Caleb about that one. He’s totally going to love it!”
The thought of Emmett’s pranks living on made me smile.
“Brodie and I used to get in trouble as kids all of the time,” Preach said. “We’d make this mixture of cornstarch, water, and green food dye. Then we’d go up to one of our parents, say we had a stomachache, and pretend to puke, flinging the mixture out at the same time. One time, we made it a greenish brown and my dad actually got sick, as in, he vomited in the kitchen sink. We had to hold off on that one for a while. He wasnotvery happy about it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Emmett would have, too. As a matter of fact, I think he would have liked Preach.
“Wow,” I said, pointing to the horizon. “The sunset is really beautiful.”
Preach nodded. “Hey, I have an idea, but we’ll have to raincheck on the ice cream.”
“What’d you have in mind?”
“Something that I think might cheer you up almost as much as ice cream.” Preach took two lefts and a right. About three minutes later, we were parked in front of a lake lined with pine trees. The sun slowly sank down. Brilliant shades of pinks and orange swirled in the sky and reflected on the water.
“We’re on the south side of Bear Lake.”
“It’s beautiful.” I unclicked my seat belt and turned toward Preach. “Thank you.”
He rested his head back, then tilted it toward me. “For what?”
“For this. For earlier. It was really nice. I haven’t spoken about Emmett to anyone but my family in a really long time.”
“Anytime you wanna chat about him, I’m game. Or about anything else.”
I reached up with my good hand and placed it under his jaw. “Are you game for this, too?”
I curled my fingers around the nape of his neck and eased him forward. The corner of his mouth curved up in a half smile. He gave me a nod, and then our lips came together.
It was exactly like I remembered kissing him at the track. Tingles shot down my spine, and a blast of heat pooled in my abdomen. Preach’s free hand found the back of my head, his fingers weaving in my hair.
I tilted his head for a better angle to chase after that salty-sweet taste from the soda and pizza we’d had earlier. Learning every part of his mouth. Breathing his fresh-rain-and-cedar scent into my pores.
He felt like peace. Like home.
I brushed my thumb along his cheek, drinking in the smooth, soft skin, and he let out a little moan. I smiled against his lip, proud I’d brought out that sound in him.
“So that was okay, then?” I asked, resting my forehead against his.
He touched a kiss to my cheek, my temple, then my lips. “Definitely. I might need a little more practice, though.”
I nipped at his bottom lip. “I don’t know, you’re doing pretty well.”
He cupped my cheeks and pulled me in for another one. Gone was the tentative Preach Armstrong—but I was okay with that.
Chapter Thirty
Preach
“You guys rocked it at the meet on Tuesday!” Brodie slapped my shoulder, and I stumbled forward.
“Dude. You been working out?” I punched him in the stomach.
“Yup! Next year, I want to be a starting true freshman at Boston College.” He nodded, then waved to Willow as she hustled off. “So I’ve got to be ripped.”