Loving Him (Him Series Book 1)

Three

My car seemed three sizes smaller with Kyle in it.

His presence had an electrifying, unnerving, and exciting effect on me. I was too aware of him, and I made myself think of Ava so I wouldn't make a fool of myself over her boyfriend.

Apparently, I wasn't doing a good job of hiding my feelings or maybe Kyle was just perceptive because he seemed to know something was wrong.

"You okay, Lucy?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. I felt his gaze on me. "I should be asking you that question."

"I told you about my dad." The words were matter-of-fact, but then his voice lowered. "Do you remember that afternoon?"

"Of course I do. I-I remember," I stammered, glancing over at him. "Still, I'm sorry."

"You're as sweet as you were back then."

I wondered if he was flirting with me. I usually said whatever was on my mind and took things too literally, which made me lousy at flirting. Not that I'd had much practice.

"Do I make you nervous, Lucy?"

The gently spoken question created a powerful response. I felt shivery and breathless. "Yes."

We'd stopped at a red light, and I stole another glimpse of Kyle catching his surprised expression. I took the bull by the horns, as my dad would say and confronted it head-on. "It's not every day I get to hang out with my high school crush."

He chuckled. "Yeah, sure. I hear the sarcasm in your voice."

"I'm serious."

"You had a crush on me?"

"Oh, come on," I laughed. "You can stop pretending I'm not making a fool of myself."

His handsome face registered surprise.

Embarrassed, I debated if I'd had crossed a line, and I wished I could take the words back. "I shouldn't have said that. I thought you were flirting, and I—I'm sorry."

"I was flirting with you."

I gripped the steering wheel tightly, feeling more troubled than I could have imagined. I did not go after other girls' boyfriends. "I think I was too. I was way out of line. It was—"

"Lucy." My name was a rough, deep drawl that grabbed my attention. "I'm the one who should apologize." He was quiet for a moment. "When Izabelle wrote me about you she only used your first name, but I wondered if it was you."

"She's one of my best friends. I'm friends with Ava too."

"Sweet, beautiful, and loyal." Something in his voice tugged at my heart.

I pulled onto Ava's street, but there were cars already parked on both sides of her house so I parked across the street.

Kyle didn't say anything. He also wasn't in a hurry to get out of the car, which I thought was sort of strange.

A moment later Ava came out her front door, but she wasn't alone. Hand in hand with a guy sporting sleeve tattoos on both arms, they made their way to a motorcycle in the driveway. The guy yanked Ava against him and kissed her deeply while she melted against him.

The air froze in my lungs. Seconds slipped by while I stared at them, stunned by the awkwardness of the moment. My heart broke for Kyle, but when I turned to look at him, he was watching me instead of Ava and the guy.

"That's Ava's new boyfriend, Cade. He did her last tattoo." Kyle spoke calmly, seemingly unaffected by the duo making out a few feet away from us.

"I hope it wasn't your name."