All Stars Fall (Seaside Pictures #3.5)(49)

“I would have said no,” she finally answered.

“Said no?” I repeated, confused.

“To Alton, when he asked me if I loved him. I would have said no. I would have said not the way you deserve, and I would have walked away.”

Heavy.

My eyes briefly scanned her left hand. No ring.

“And then”—she kept talking—“I think I would have kissed you.”

My eyebrows shot up as a smile spread across my face despite my growing anxiety over how fast the plane was traveling and how close we were getting to the ground. “Oh? You often kiss strangers?”

“Only ones from Spain.” So she’d nailed my heritage without even asking. Which seemed impossible, I was mostly half Spanish and German with a whole bunch of other things my mom couldn’t seem to remember.

“Spain is for lovers,” I found myself saying like an idiot.

She smiled, though.

And I wanted to think it was because of me, not because of who I was, or what I did.

“My favorite place in the world,” she said in a faraway voice as the plane bounced lower, making her shriek as she clutched both my hands in hers. “Are we going to die?”

“Absolutely not,” I lied. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I couldn’t die, not when I finally had a fresh start. “We’ll be just fine.”

“Okay.” She nodded a few times and gulped. “But just in case, I think I’ll do this—”

Her mouth was on mine before I could protest.

And then any argument I would have had died on my lips at the first taste of her tongue. Her hands tugged on my hair as my arms wrapped around her warm body.

The plane made a screeching sound and then slammed against the runway, pulling us apart amidst sirens and cheers from the other passengers.

I stared at a pair of lips I wanted to taste again.

And when she said, “I’m Ashley, what’s your name?”

I did the dumbest thing to date and lied. “I’m Hugo. Nice to meet you.”





On behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,

Liz Berry and M.J. Rose would like to thank ~