Sway by Amy Matayo Page B

nod. Of course I nod. And smile like a stupid teenager. I’ll come back tomorrow and the next day and the day after that if he’ll just bring me. With or without a paper to write.
    Two minutes later we’re in the parking lot behind the building, and he’s tossing my bag in the backseat. I reach for the passenger door handle, but Caleb blocks me with his hand pressed to the glass. I haven’t noticed the scar that runs from his thumb to the base of his ring finger until now.
    “I thought I told you to let me open it,” he says. In theory, the words might seem harsh. In reality, his soft tone sends all kinds of shivers down my spine.
    I give him my best glare anyway, even though it feels weak. “Excuse me, drill sergeant. I didn’t realize opening my own door was a crime.” I step back, secretly happy at his open display of chivalry even though I’m single-handedly setting the women’s movement back decades. But who cares about the women’s movement? Not me. Definitely not me.
    “From now on, if you’re with me, it is a crime.”
    I start to protest with some stupid sarcastic comment about never riding with him again, but when I look up he’s watching me with a look that borders on fascination and I like it. I more than like it. And it’s that one small difference that begins to make me nervous.
    “You were good with Ben, Princess. He liked you a lot.”
    “I liked him too. Are you sure you don’t mind me coming back here with you? I don’t want to get in the way.” Not that I’ll let it stop me. He can tell me yes, no, or start babbling in Pig Latin, but I’m showing up next week if I have to walk backwards the whole way to get here.
    “Of course I don’t mind.” That look hasn’t left his face, and I feel myself swallow. “He’s right, you know,” Caleb says. His left hand settles on the hood of the car, the other rests in his pocket. But then he pulls it out and reaches up to tuck my hair behind an ear…to frame my face with his fingertips. “You are pretty. So pretty I can barely think straight.” His eyes ask a question, and then he leans in. I feel his breath on my face just before he brushes his lips with mine. It’s a soft kiss. A sweet kiss. Different in the way he touches first my top lip, then the bottom, then covers both in a move that leaves me breathless. It doesn’t last long. Not nearly long enough. He pulls back and I’m staring into the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Blue like the ocean. Blue like heaven.
    “You taste good, too.” His slow grin settles around me, warming me, enveloping me like the softest blanket. “Maybe I should try that again.” I close my eyes and lean toward him, not waiting for him to take the lead this time. I feel vulnerable, left wondering how a boy could make me this happy in only a few days, thinking that none of it makes sense, but all of it does. This time, as his mouth covers mine, the kiss isn’t as gentle. It’s filled with an urgency that surprises…and excites me. A longing builds in me that I’ve never felt before, and I press myself closer. My hands find his hair at the same his arms wrap around my waist and pull me in. He kisses me, and it’s all I can do not to melt into him, but he pulls back a little before I have the chance. Not far; his mouth stays close to mine.
    “Wow,” he whispers. “It gets better each time. Maybe we should go for a third…”
    I laugh, but barely, unable to manage more than a strange sound. My mind and legs have turned to liquid. Caleb seems to sense my struggle, and he smiles.
    “Princess?”
    I sigh and look up at him, a fog clouding my brain. “Hmmm?”
    With a killer grin that does all kinds of weird things to my insides, Caleb fumbles around me and cracks open the door. “We’d better get going. I’d hate to make you late.”
    Late for what? And then I remember.
    “Okay.” I don’t want to leave, but somehow I manage to make it into the seat anyway. My seatbelt goes on. Caleb slides in