Letters to Nowhere(49)

Suddenly all the lights went out, leaving the room pitch–black. A few screams erupted, followed by laughter and someone shouting that it was supposed to get dark. The laser designs appeared on the ceiling, causing everyone to look up. Pink, blue, and green neon shapes streaked across the ceiling. I could see them clearly, but it was still so dark in the room that I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. Which is why I jumped and let out a yelp when someone’s arm snaked around my waist from behind.

“Shh,” Jordan said, speaking right into my ear. “It’s just me.”

I sucked in a breath, feeling my heart fly, goose bumps popping up on my neck where his breath had hit my skin. The first thought in my head was please don’t walk across the room and do this to Stevie.

He gently tugged me closer until my back pressed against his chest. One of his hands rested on my stomach, and the other fumbled around in the dark for a minute before drifting down my arm. He laced his fingers through mine and slowly lifted our hands until I felt my knuckles touch his lips.

If my heart was racing before, it was sprinting now. This totally broke our friend code and I didn’t feel an ounce of desire to point that out. I just wanted to sink further into him and for the lights to never come back on.

The light show blurred above me, electronic classical music filled the dark as I leaned against Jordan, my head falling back onto his shoulder. His nose grazed my neck and I suddenly felt hot all over—in a good way. Like heat enveloped me from all sides.

“Jordan…?” I whispered into the dark.

“Shh,” he said again. “I know the rules. No kissing.”

I wasn’t going to say that. Not even close. We needed to abolish that rule this very moment. I turned my head slightly toward him and ran into his mouth before I even had a chance to decide to kiss him. I lifted my hand and gripped the back of his neck, drawing him even closer. Our mouths almost couldn’t match up, the way we were angled, but I felt his fingers brush my cheek and eventually hold me in place. His lips were as soft as I remembered from the first time, and when they parted a little, I almost debated trying the whole tongue thing, but then he closed them again and pulled away.

I turned my head forward again, and both his arms went around my waist while he planted little kisses up and down the side of my neck.

“Karen,” he breathed.

“Yeah.”

“In case you’re wondering…I’m not into Stevie.”

I forced down a very un–cool sigh of relief and then I slid his hand up to my heart, pressing it close over top of my shirt. “It wasn’t even going this fast during bars today,” I whispered, glad he couldn’t see me blushing right now.

He wrapped his arms even tighter around me so I could feel the thud, thud, of his heart against my back. “Mine’s faster.”


Jordan,




You are the most perfect boy in the world, if such a thing exists. Please don’t ever stand behind anyone else in the dark again. Just me.




Love,

Karen




When did this happen? When did my feelings for Jordan become so massive they allowed everything else to take a backseat?

Jordan must have sensed the show coming to a close, because he gave me one last squeeze around the middle before letting go. He didn’t drop both his arms, though. He stayed close behind me, with the fingertips of one of his hands still resting just above my belly button. When the lights came on, Stevie and Blair spotted us, and I could see them taking it all in.

He wasn’t kidding. He’s not into Stevie…he’s really not, and he wants her to know.

“Let’s go outside,” Jordan said to me before taking my hand and leading me upstairs. We both grabbed our jackets, and he pulled his stocking cap over my head again like the last time we were here, smiling at me while he neatly folded up the bottom.

The wind was bitter and unforgiving, but we huddled on the back patio anyway, Jordan’s front brushing against my back, like we’d been in the basement only moments ago, except we weren’t touching anymore. For a good sixty seconds, a horrible cloud of tension sat right between us, and I could barely breathe until Jordan turned me around again, pointing up to the sky. “Look, it’s the forty–thousandth star. Make a wish.”

I laughed and leaned back against him, tugging his arms around me again. “I like this a lot.”

“Me, too. But I’ll stop if you want me to. I’m just…I’m really happy for you. Getting your car and the bar routine, I’m kind of in awe of you, actually.”

“Like the worshipping kind of awe?” I teased. “Do I get a shrine?”

He laughed, putting more of his breath against my neck. “How about I write a song for you. It’ll be sappy and include the word ‘really’ at least twelve times.”

“Can you sing?”

“A little. I play guitar better than I sing, though.”

I guess there was even more I hadn’t learned about Jordan Bentley. “I think you should write a song and call it ‘Don’t Kiss Me,’ because something about saying no kissing seems to make it so hard—”

My words were cut off by Jordan turning my chin and crushing his mouth against mine in a way that was much less careful and hesitant than before. The desire to be even closer to him was so strong, I turned around in his arms and pressed the front of my body against his. His mouth opened a little like earlier and I felt myself stiffen, then Jordan pulled back, resting his forehead against mine.