So Many Boys (The Naughty List #2)(67)

And Kira. I shook my head, not wanting to think about what she’d done, the ways she’d betrayed me. After all of our time together, she’d written me off. She wanted to hurt me.

I put my hands over my face, trying to block out the questions. The lies. Suddenly I felt something warm wrap around me and I spun around to see Joel standing there.

“Sorry,” he said, smiling slightly. “You just look cold.”

“I am.” Inside and out. But it was certainly nice to see him.

He adjusted his coat around my shoulders before stepping over the bleacher and sitting down next to me. His thigh pressed against mine, and I wondered if he realized how close he was.

I slipped my arms into the sleeves of the jacket and used my fingertips to hold it closed. Even with company, my heart was still aching. Joel shifted next to me and I looked over at him.

The wind blew his brown hair around, and when he smiled, warm and imperfect, I felt myself smile back. “Hi,” he whispered, like we’d just started talking.

“Hi.”

“You left the dance,” he said, running his glance down the length of my dress to my bare feet. “Did you lose your shoe, Cinderella?”

I didn’t want to tell him that his girlfriend had freaked out and physically assaulted me. Instead, “I lost it in the gym.”

Joel nodded. “That’s sort of funny,” he said. I raised my eyebrow, not quite sure what could be funny about me walking around barefoot, holding my remaining shoe.

Joel reached over, and my heart sped up as he slipped his hand into the pocket of his coat (which just so happened to be against my body).

“I went back to the gym to look for you and…wait,” he said, close enough that his breath was warm against my face. “It’s not midnight, is it?”

“No,” I murmured, not sure how to move anymore. Because I was fairly certain I should pull back in some way. Instead I sat there, nearly lip to lip with Kira’s ex-boyfriend.

“Good,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t want you turning into a pumpkin or anything.”

Okay, if Joel was drinking, I would probably have been able to smell it on his breath at this distance. But he seemed completely lucid. Completely—

Just then he pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket (which, again, had been against my body the entire time) and held up a shoe. My shoe.

“I found your glass slipper,” he said with a huge smile on his face.

I looked between Joel and my yellow size six and a half and felt my entire body tingle. He shouldn’t be here with me. He shouldn’t be rescuing my shoe.

“Thank you.”

“Does this mean I’m Prince Charming?” he asked, licking his lips as he glanced at mine. “I can slay a dragon if you need me to.”

I stared into his soft hazel eyes, feeling both lost and safe. “No dragons in Cinderella,” I murmured, my breath quickening.

“Yeah.” He smiled. “I never believed in that fairy-tale bullshit anyway.” Joel leaned over like he was about to kiss me. Then he moved his head and gently pressed his lips to my cheek, touching me so softly that for a minute, I wasn’t sure if it was real.

I shut my eyes, aware that being this close to my ex-best friend’s ex-boyfriend in the bleachers of the football field was completely unethical, both socially and athletically. But the way Joel touched me was so right. It was exactly what I needed, maybe all along.

With a whisper of a kiss, he pulled back only to rest his forehead against mine, his warm breath tickling my face. “I’m such a chicken,” he said with a quick laugh.

There was another breeze and I felt the rush of air on my toes. Straightening up, I glanced at my high heel, still in Joel’s hand. I smiled. “Would you mind?” I asked, crossing my legs to hold my bare foot in his direction.

He stared at my toes for a long moment, then scrunched his nose and looked over at me. “Actually, I do.” He held out my shoe to me. “I have a weird thing with feet. They sort of gross me out.”

I gasped, not because it was a horrible thing, but because it was a different thing.

“Not that your feet are gross,” Joel said quickly, looking like he was worried. “I’m not saying that. They are very cute feet.” He cringed a little. “It’s just…I don’t like anyone’s feet. I…I’m just going to shut up now.” He laughed and handed me my shoe.

Slipping it on quickly and then adding the other, I placed both feet back onto the floor of the bleachers and looked up as Joel examined them. “See, now they look cute.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Joel narrowed his eyes, glancing over me adorably. “You like me, don’t you?”

I met his eyes without lifting my head. “Maybe.”

He grinned. “ ‘Maybe’ means you’re incredibly in love with me.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. If there was one word I wouldn’t throw around again, that was it. In fact, there was a good chance I’d never love anyone again.

“ ‘Ahead of ourselves’ means you want to jump my bones right here in the Washington High bleachers.” He held up his hands. “But I’m sorry, Tess. I’m not that kind of boy.”

“Stop.” I laughed. Okay, maybe “never love again” was a bit overdramatic. “You know, you’re sort of funny?” I asked, taking a strand of my hair and twisting it like I was bored. “You should really think about becoming a stand-up comedian or something.”