Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(55)

The smoldering look Ryan gave me in response made my entire body flush from the heat of it. “I have no intention of playing fair, Sunshine.”

He leaned in again, and as much as my body screamed to let him devour me, I wasn’t ready to lose my head—or my heart—to this guy. It was too fast. I liked him. I was more than attracted to him. But I needed time. More than a day, at least. I pushed him back and distracted him with a question. “Why do you call me Sunshine?”

Ryan, seeing that I’d become overwhelmed, sat back just enough to let the tension break. I reached for the tiny charm resting just beneath the neckline of my shirt. Ryan’s eyes fell to the necklace, making him smile. “Because that’s what you are to me. You are my sunshine. My only sunshine…”

He paused, his eyebrows raised as if waiting for me to say something. It sounded like he was quoting something, but if he was I didn’t recognize it.

“You make me happy when skies are gray…?”

Still nothing. Since I didn’t understand the reference, I struggled for the right words to respond.

“It’s a children’s lullaby.”

“That’s kind of…”

Ryan grinned. “Endearing? Romantic? Amazing?”

“Corny,” I decided. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a bit cheesy?”

Ryan burst into laughter. “You. Many, many times. But you secretly love that about me.”

I did like that about him, but there was no way I would ever tell him as much. “And what you said before, that’s really true? We met when you asked me to kiss you to win a bet?”

“Oh, yeah. And you really jumped me, just like tonight. You didn’t know the whole superkiss thing would happen. It caught us both by surprise. But I’d already been shocked by you. You were the Ice Queen. I expected you to tear me apart when I sat down next to you at lunch that day. But when I told you I’d made a bet that I could get you to kiss me and asked you if you’d help me win, you smirked and planted one on me.”

“You told me the truth about the bet?”

Ryan laughed. “I suspect that’s why you agreed. You had superhearing—not that I knew about it. You knew exactly what I was up to when I approached you. Had I tried to put some player moves on you, you’d have iced me for sure. But I told you I needed to win a date with a girl, and you took pity on me.”

I had no idea what to say. The story was too insane not to be true. I didn’t even think he was exaggerating. And considering his charm, I was sure he’d said “kiss me” and I’d answered “with pleasure.”

“Wait. You made a bet that you could get me to kiss you, and the stakes were a date with some other girl?”

When Ryan shrugged sheepishly, I laughed and swatted his leg. “That was a jerk move.”

Ryan pulled me into a tight hug, laughing. “Yes, it was. But I’ll never regret it.”

I wouldn’t admit it to him, but even though I couldn’t remember it myself, I’d never regret that bet, either.

The next thing I knew, I was snuggling into Ryan’s embrace as if we’d never been separated. I gazed into the fire, ready to hear about every memory he had. “So what happened after we kissed?”

“I got lucky.”

I gasped and whacked him again. “You did not! You might be charming, but there’s no way I gave it up to you because of one kiss.”

Ryan thought back over what he’d said and burst into laughter. “I didn’t mean that I scored with you. I meant I literally had a stroke of luck. That same day, we were assigned this biography project in our English class that required us to interview a partner. You had no choice but to work with me.” He laughed until there were tears in his eyes. “I didn’t get that kind of lucky with you for a long, long, agonizingly painful long time.”

“Oh.”

I hoped Ryan attributed the flush in my cheeks to the heat of the fire, but I seriously doubted it. Judging from his wicked grin and the way he tightened his grip on me, he knew exactly how embarrassed I was. He had no sympathy, either. “Yeah, oh. Where is your dirty little mind right now, babe?”

He leaned in to kiss my neck again, and I shoved him back. “Shut up. What was I supposed to think you meant?”

Ryan lifted his shoulders in surrender. “Hey, I’m not complaining. If you want to think about going there with me, I’m definitely not going to stop you.” Pausing, he raised his eyebrows. “In fact, if you’d like to—”

“Finish that sentence, Loverboy, and I will zap you to the freaking moon.”

Ryan sighed playfully. “I’m already there, Sunshine.”

Ugh. Stupid boy. It was impossible to stay mad at him. “Could you just get back to the story, please?”

He laughed at the scowl on my face. “Sure. Like I said, we had to write this biography about someone in our class. I pretty much forced you to be my partner.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“Don’t worry. You got me back for it. You made me miss the homecoming dance in order to interview you.”

I snorted. “Okay, that was a jerk move, too. I guess we’re even.”

Ryan laughed again. “Yeah, it was. I was voted Homecoming King, and I wasn’t even there to get my crown.”