Fusion (Explosive #5) (21 page)

I glanced up from my magazine. My sister was trying to glare at me. But she was struggling because she was also smiling from ear to ear.

I sat up and closed the magazine. “I have?” I asked, having no clue what she was talking about.

But she was in her Diamond Girls shirt, so she must’ve just gotten home from the away game I’d had to miss thanks to an English paper I’d had to finish. That meant Jeremy would be home, too. But first things first.

“Did we win?” I asked.

She nodded. “How is it that I’ve never met Jace McAllister? I mean, I’ve seen him around school, but holy hell, I had no idea how…how attractive he was.”

I grinned. “Aww. Does little Lexi have a crush?”

“No,” she huffed. “It’s just… He talked to me on the bus on the way home, and I didn’t know how nice he was. That’s all.”

She was protesting too much, so I decided to cool it with the teasing.

“He’s a great guy, Lexi. Nice, intelligent, a killer second baseman from what Jeremy tells me. And I’m pretty sure he’s single. Want me to talk to him for you?”

“No!” she shouted a little too quickly. “He’s giving me a ride home from the game on Thursday and I don’t want him thinking I have a crush or anything. We’re just going to be friends, Sierra. That’s all. I don’t even like him like that.”

Before I could question her further, Jeremy walked in behind her.

“Like who?” he asked.

Lexi groaned and shook her head, pushing past him. Jeremy and I stared after her until the door to her bedroom slammed shut.

“What was that about? Is it that time of the month again?” he asked, groaning.

If any other man had said that, I’d be attacking him with my pillow. But, considering that Jeremy had Jenna, Lexi, and me to deal with, he’d become prepared for whenever Aunt Flo came to visit. Out of the three of us, Lexi was the most emotional and moody, so once a month, Jeremy would come over with popcorn and rocky road ice cream—Lexi’s favorite—and he’d watch
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
with her until she felt better.

And the best part? It worked every single time. I’d have gotten jealous if it were any other girl, but Jeremy saw her like a little sister and wanted to take care of her, so it warmed my heart and made me fall for him even more than I already had. I hadn’t said the words yet, but he made it really hard
not
to love him.

“I think she has a new crush,” I informed him. Then I lowered my voice so she wouldn’t hear me. “Jace McAllister.”

“Really? Interesting,” he said. “Come to think of it, I saw them talking on the bus, but I didn’t put two and two together.”

Then his eyes lit up. His lips curved into a wickedly delicious smile that had me wanting to forget all about Lexi’s crush. He rubbed his hands together as if he were formulating some masterful plan in his head. While it turned me on, it also worried me.

“What?” I asked. “What’s that look for?”

“Let’s set them up,” he said, excitement dancing in his eyes. “Why didn’t we think of this before? Jace is one of those weird romantic types that actually wants to do the whole flowers-and-candlelight-dinner thing. And Lexi, well, she wants that. They’d be perfect together. And, even better, we can double date. That way I can keep an eye on the punk to make sure he doesn’t step out of line.”

His protectiveness and mutual desire to play matchmaker had me giggling. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. I wasn’t sure if he was acting all manly like he would with Jace or if he was daring me to refute him. My laughter died down because I had to do the latter.

“As much as I’d love to do that and play the meddling sister, let’s stay out of this one, okay? She’s only fourteen, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Lexi have a crush, and I don’t want to get her hopes up or her heart broken.”

Jeremy’s face fell, and my resolve faltered ever so slightly. “But—”

“I’m serious. She says they’re going to be friends. Let’s see how that goes. If they need a little nudge here and there along the way, we’ll be right there to give them a push. But, for now, we stay out of it. Got it?”

“Okay, fine. But I’ve heard that ‘just friends’ line before. I’m not buying it,” he said, giving me a wink before crossing the room and hauling me up into his arms.

“Eww, no, Jeremy! You’re all sweaty from your game.”

He pressed his lips to the crook of my neck and peppered kisses all the way up to my jawline until they were on mine, kissing me slow and sweet. The salty taste of sweat had me thirsty for more of him. Hell, I was always thirsty for more of him. But my parents were just down the hall, so I pulled back to look up into his gorgeous, brown eyes, which had darkened from our kisses.

“Admit it, Sierra. You like me sweaty,” he whispered.

I giggled.

“Oh yeah, you
love
me sweaty.” He started tickling my sides, and I squirmed, trying not to lose this tickling battle, even though I always did.

I held out for as long as I could, but it wasn’t long before I was crying uncle. “Okay! Fine! I admit it,” I exclaimed, trying to catch my breath when he finally let me go.

Triumph crossed his handsome face. “I knew it. But you have to say it, Sierra, or I’m coming back for more,” he threatened. Then he held his five fingers up and started to count down. “Five… Admit it, babe,” he coaxed.

I shook my head and stood my ground. “Nope.”

“Four… Come on. Just say it.”

I brought my fingers to my lips and mimed zipping them closed.

“Open up.” Jeremy grinned and lifted his own hand to unzip them. “Three.”

I simply raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

“Two. Last chance. My hands are going to be all over you if you don’t give me what I want.”

My heart fluttered at his words. They hadn’t been laced with innuendo, but I took them that way anyway. It wouldn’t be a hardship if he put his hands all over me. In fact, I kind of wanted him to.

But when he said, “One,” and moved in for the kill, I shrieked and fell back on my bed.

“Jeremy Jordan Banks, I love it when you’re sweaty!” I declared, giving him my best Scarlett O’Hara swoon.

“Damn right,” he answered before lifting me off the bed and pulling me back into his arms. He gazed down at me, his eyes softening as they filled with affection. “And Sierra Anne Sullivan, I lo—”

“Hey, you two.”

My heart stopped right along with his words when Mom entered the room. Somehow, I tore my gaze from his and saw her raising an eyebrow as she watched us.

“Dinner’s ready. Jeremy, are you staying tonight?”

It was a silly question. He practically lived at our house, and his parents often joked that they should probably pay our grocery bill. He swallowed hard and stood up straight, glancing down at his baseball uniform.

“Umm, not tonight, ma’am. I’ve gotta get cleaned up, and then I have a chemistry final to study for.”

Mom smiled and looked at me. “Are you two studying together?”

I nodded, still unable to speak. My mind was reeling from what Jeremy had been about to say.

Mom’s eyes searched mine curiously before she smile broadly. “Okay, you two. Study hard. Sierra, make sure you’re home by ten.”

As soon as she left the room, I peered up at Jeremy, who was still staring after her.

“Jeremy?” I asked tentatively.

He gave me a nervous smile as he ran a hand through his messy hair. “I guess I’d better let you eat.” He leaned down and pecked on the cheek. “Meet you on the patio in half an hour?”

I nodded. Apparently, he wasn’t going to enlighten me on what he was going to say.

“Sounds good.”

“One more final and then you’re mine for the summer,” he said. “I can’t freaking wait.”

Neither could I.

Idiot.

I was such an idiot. I kept repeating the same thought in my head over and over again. Now that the school year was ending, Sierra and I had been together for almost nine months. Not much had really changed from us being friends. We were still inseparable. We were still best friends.

We were just…closer now. The only changes to our relationship had been physical ones, and it had brought us closer than before. That intimacy had been missing, and it a filled a void that I hadn’t even know was there.

Don’t get me wrong. All we did was hold hands and kiss. But we kissed a lot. Like, put-Jenna-and-Chris-to-shame a lot. Pretty much, from the moment my lips had first touched Sierra’s, they’d barely gone hours without having another little taste. Okay, so it was never really little, but you get the point.

At the young age of sixteen years old, I knew I’d never tire of kissing Sierra Sullivan.

So, like I was saying, things with Sierra were amazing. I’d never been happier. My grades were solid, thanks to our study sessions—yes, I wasn’t
so
distracted that I couldn’t get my schoolwork done. It probably helped that Sierra had a new way to incentivize our study sessions. Kisses for right answers? Hell, I’d be right every single time.

It was all just so…easy. We didn’t deal with the petty little games so many high school couples around us dealt with. I think it was because we’d already had a relationship established prior to dating. No one else had our level of trust. Which is why it was so damn easy to fall for her.

Yeah, you heard me right. I was a fallen man, and in all honesty, I’d be okay if I never got back up again.

I think a part of me had known that I’d been in love with Sierra all along, but it’d only been in the past couple of weeks that I’d let my mind wander there. I’d been trying to get up the courage to tell her. And tonight, when she had been rubbing up against me, telling me that she loved me all hot and sweaty—even if it had been coerced, I knew she’d meant it—had me wanting to blurt it out right away. I would have—if Vicky hadn’t walked in and saved the day.

But it made me realize I couldn’t hold those feelings in much longer. I had to tell Sierra how I felt. I just had to figure out the perfect way to do it.

TWO MONTHS LATER, I
was finally ready. I know. I’m an idiot, and I’m slow. But now that I was back from football camp and hadn’t seen Sierra in over two weeks, I was more than ready to tell her how I felt.

As I waited on the beach, I went over my memorized speech, hoping like hell Sierra didn’t freak out. The sounds of the surf filled my ears, and the moonlight was shining off the water. When light footsteps sounded on the walkway leading to the gazebo, the nerves set in. Then a small gasp echoed around me.