Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray

wanted your dad to get upset,” he said under his breath. Herb seemed to be tuning them out entirely, taking in the surrounding buildings of the camp facility instead.
    â€œAnd when he goes home and tells Mom we’re dating?”
    â€œHe won’t. Or if he does, your mom will just think he’s tired or confused. Calm down.”
    They reached Herb’s car, which Carri had clearly driven. After she waited for Herb to climb in the passenger seat and had turned on the AC, she stepped back out. “I’ll be a second, Dad.”
    He waved her off and started fiddling with the radio.
    She closed the door and faced Josh. “We’re not going to start dating just to make my dad happy.”
    â€œDidn’t say we were,” Josh agreed, though the more he thought about it, the less he had a problem with the idea. What was it about her that suddenly pressed every button he had in a fantastic sort-of-sexual way, rather than an annoying child-friend way? What was it that suddenly reached around and grabbed his throat, cutting off the air to his brain?
    This was Carri, for God’s sake. Carrington Gray. The girl he’d run around his backyard naked with when they weren’t even two yet. The girl he’d shared naps with in his crib when the moms had gotten together. The girl who had left him in the dust in middle school, claiming they’d grown apart, that he wasn’t even worthy to hang out with and pick on. Who had scorned every opportunity the moms had taken to throw them together . . .
    And now? Now he suddenly had the brilliant idea that they’d make a good couple? He was crazy. Insane, even.
    Her tongue moved out to lick at her lips, and he realized crazy wasn’t that far off.

Chapter Eight
    Josh stared at her—or more specifically, her mouth—for so long Carri shifted back a step. “Josh?”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with dating me?” he asked, eyes still tracking her lips.
    â€œI . . . We don’t get along.”
    â€œBesides that?”
    Besides getting along? Wasn’t that, like, the basis for dating? The foundation for everything that came next? “I don’t live here.”
    â€œYou’re here currently. I’m here currently. What’s the problem?”
    â€œThe problem is . . . we don’t like each other.”
    â€œMaybe, maybe not.”
    That cryptic answer made her blink. “I’m not doing something because my mother wants me to.”
    â€œNeither am I,” he agreed.
    â€œOkay, so we’re on the same page.” She let out a breath of relief.
    â€œNo,” he said slowly. “Unless this is the same page you’re on.”
    He leaned down and kissed her. Oh God, Josh Leeman was kissing her, and she wasn’t stopping him. His hands gripped her arms lightly, but not so tight she couldn’t pull away. Why wasn’t she pulling away?
    The kiss was drugging almost, holding her in place on its own merits. His lips were warm and firm over hers, and she leaned into them, smelling the grass from the field and the hot air mingling on his skin until—
    Honk!
    She jumped, jarring her mouth hard against his. He cursed and pulled away, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. It came away smeared with blood.
    â€œOh my God.” She felt her bottom lip starting to swell, and she touched gingerly at it.
    â€œJust a cut. I think,” he added, probing at his own bottom lip, which was still bleeding around his teeth. “What the hell was that?”
    Her father leaned out his window. “Let’s go, Maeve! I’ve got a three P.M . tee time!”
    With a sigh, Carri reached for her door handle. “I don’t know what . . . what
that
was.”
    â€œThat was your dad. You remember him.” When she glared at him, Josh shrugged. “Sorry. Low-hanging fruit.”
    She had an opinion of what he could do with his low