Kiss with Cherry Flavor (Grover Beach #4) by Anna Katmore Page A

on crutches, a small detail she’d forgotten to tell me on the phone.
    “Hey,” I said back, but my gaze had fastened onto Tony’s cold eyes.
    He stared at me for the length of a breath. Then he came forward and his expression turned blank. “Samantha,” he said coldly as he passed me. He disappeared quickly into the crowd.
    Sighing, I squeezed my eyes shut. Nick’s hand landed on my shoulder. As I looked at him, he scrunched up his face. “I’ll go talk to him.”
    “No, don’t! Please.” It didn’t matter if Tony had seen us, or whatever he’d interpreted in our dancing. I wasn’t right for him and he wasn’t right for me. Simple. So what the hell was his problem? I could dance with whoever I wanted. If Tony’s heart was still hung up on Lisa, he wasn’t in a position to look at me like I was a traitor because I was having fun with a friend. Duh!
    I suggested finding a place for Susan to sit, and just so Nick wouldn’t get any funny ideas and find Tony after all, I grabbed his hand and pulled him with us. Susan told me the doctor had done some X-rays on her leg and apparently was a little worried about her ligaments after all. Even if they weren’t torn, they were thoroughly overstretched. The fancy-colored tapes around her knee would supposedly help with that. She pulled up the leg of her jeans to let me have a look at the pink, monster-size strips. If nothing else, they looked way cool.
    When she w ent to get up and get a drink, I made her sit down again and offered to get her a soda from the refrigerator. Nick would keep her company while I was gone.
    Elbowing my way through the bumping crowd in the hall, I headed for the kitchen, but as soon as I stepped through the doorway, I regretted it.
    Ryan and Tony were in there, alone. They were talking urgently with each other—until Ryan saw me coming and all conversation died in the fraction of a second. When he smiled at me, Tony turned around, too.
    He didn’t smile.
    The muscles in his arm tightened as he clasped the edge of the kitchen counter harder. I could see them twitch underneath the short sleeves of his white shirt. With shock, I realized he was also wearing the ripped jeans from the time I’d been in his room. The ones that had made my mouth water.
    I tore my gaze away from him and mumbled, “Umm…just grabbing a soda for Susan.” As I hurried past the two of them, both pairs of eyes followed me. Jeez, I’d never felt this wary of disturbing a conversation before. And it made me feel more than certain they’d been talking about me.
    I pulled the fridge open, found a Coke, slammed the door shut, and rushed out, only then daring to breathe again. Back in the hall, I bumped into Lisa and Simone. Instantly, the girls caught my uneasiness and hooked their arms through mine.
    “Babes, what’s got you so nervous?” Simone asked, almost worried.
    “Nothing,” I answered flatly.
    Lisa leaned back as we walked, catching a glimpse of the guys in the kitchen. “I think I know,” she declared. Then the two girls looked at each other over my head and simultaneously stated, “Tony.”
    Suddenly, Simone gave me a little push to the left, steering all of us toward a long table with food and drinks on it. “I know what you need.”
    “Pretzels?” I made a hopeful face, because I sure as hell wouldn’t drink any of the beers lined up there.
    “Nope. We’re going for the strawberries.”
    “Strawberries?” Didn’t sound bad either. Except the strawberries were swimming in a pool of wine cooler.
    “Are you sure?” Lisa whined, holding me back, starting a staring argument with Simone. “Claudia’s strawberry punch is a monster. You don’t want Sam to be in the same position I was a few months ago.”
    I had no idea what Lisa meant, but it was interesting to see the flicker of mischief in Simone’s eyes then. “Now, you honestly want to tell me that wasn’t the best night you ever had? Or rather”—she waggled her brows—“the best