Chapter Eighteen The Last Hurray for the Old Bandstand #2
The smile fades slightly from his face, and is replaced by a nervous, anxious expression.
I can almost see the doubts swirling in his mind, and to be honest, I get it.
There are so many reasons—the curse, the feud his family has with mine, and the fact that I’m only here for the summer—we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing right now, but sometimes you have to drown out all the reasons and do it anyway.
“I wanted to tell you before,” he says. He has a kind of shy awkwardness on his face, and it’s so adorable. “That skirt you’re wearing. I like it a lot on you.”
I smile. “You prefer this to the jeans and shorts I wear to CROP? Not sure I can plant perennials in this.”
“No, I like those, too. I think I like you… I mean, you look amazing in everything.”
I smile. How is Noah Jacobs the sweetest person in existence?
“Are you going to kiss me?” I ask, tilting my face up to make it easier for him.
He smiles again, a small chuckle on his lips. “Is my game that awkward?”
“Hmm maybe.” I sidle up closer to him. “But maybe I like awkward. I know I like—”
I don’t finish the sentence, because his lips are finally on mine.
And wow, it’s good. His mouth is hot, and he’s devouring me in the best possible way.
Noah Jacobs may only be the second person who’s ever kissed me, but I somehow know that this is a thousand times better than any other kiss in the world.
His hand on my waist tightens as his other hand goes to my hair.
He’s surrounding me, pushing me up against the wood post, and I don’t care.
All I can smell, feel, and taste is him.
Noah.
My hand goes to the soft skin on the back of his neck. I pull him even closer so there isn’t even a millimeter between us, and it still doesn’t feel close enough. I put my other arm around his waist, pulling him into me, and he makes a happy sound at the back of his throat.
This is intense. It’s amazing. I want to stay here, kissing Noah Jacobs like this, forever.
We eventually do have to come up for air. When Noah lifts his face from mine, his lips are a bit swollen, and his eyes are glassy. I’m sure I look just as shell-shocked, because I certainly feel it.
“Wow,” I say. “I take it back. You have amazing game.”
He laughs again. I think that’s my favorite thing about Noah. He presents this image of being a broody bad boy, but he laughs so easily. Okay, maybe my second favorite thing. Because I really—and I mean really—like his lips.
“So that was okay?” he asks me. He still looks so unsure, like he’s woken up from a dream.
“Better than okay.” But I want to know what it means. Are we going to stop fake dating and start really dating? Or keep fake dating but hopefully keep real kissing, too?
“That’s good, because I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”
I laugh. Remarkable. Noah Jacobs wanted to kiss me. I’m not cursed. I’m the luckiest girl in the world. “You’ve only known me for two weeks.”
He leans down and puts his face into my neck, the warm tickle of his breath making me shiver. “How is that possible, that we’ve only known each other for a few weeks?” he asks.
I don’t know. Maybe we’ve always been fated to end up like this. Maybe we’ve both been waiting our whole lives for each other. I don’t say anything because his lips on my neck are jumbling my brain.
Eventually we sit, him leaning back on a post, and me on his lap. His hand is on my lower back under my purple tank top. Neither of us is talking. Which is weird because normally talking is the easiest thing between us.
“So…,” I say. “Do you think…” I don’t want to mess this up by saying the wrong thing, but I also really need to put words to whatever is going on right now. “So… I didn’t think that would happen,” I say.
He chuckles, pinching my side lightly. Noah is so tactile. Like he needs to not only be touching my skin but interacting with it. I tickle the back of his neck.
He huffs a laugh. “No. I wanted…” He blows out a puff of air. “I’m really into you, Meera.”
“Same. I’m really, really into you too. But… this is complicated.”
He frowns, his brows knitting together. “Complicated how?”
“Because I’m hopefully leaving town soon.
And because my stepfather and your father are mortal enemies.
And because we’re working together every day for weeks.
And because half the town already thinks we’re dating, and the other half thinks we’re pretending to date to make our families angry. Or because my curse says—”
“You’re overthinking, Meera,” he says, and gently knocks his forehead against mine.
I giggle, pressing my forehead back at him. “Aren’t you even a little worried about my curse? Something bad could happen to you.”
He leans back to look me in the eyes and shakes his head. “Nope. Not worried at all.”
But I’m worried. Because I’m sure all the women in my family before me thought their relationship felt right and true and nothing could go wrong. Until it did.
When neither of us says anything for a while, he suddenly turns me on his lap so we can face each other better.
His hand is still on my waist, and the setting sun is making his black hair seem like pools of ink.
God, he’s so freaking hot. I think I like Noah Jacobs’s face more than anyone else’s in the world right now.
He’s watching me with the same intensity.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I like looking at you,” he admits easily.
Ugh, he’s so adorable that it actually hurts.
“Okay,” he says, taking one of my hands in his.
“So, I don’t know about this curse of yours.
I do know that I like you a lot, and that I’ve liked you pretty much since the day I met you.
And here’s the thing, Meera. If I did believe in curses, I would be sure that I’m the one who’s cursed, not you.
Because pretty much every good thing that’s ever happened to me has gone up in flames.
But I refuse to believe in curses, because if either of us knew that we couldn’t have good things, then what would even be the point in trying? ”
“Trying for what?”
“Trying to make connections with people. Trying to have a future. Me practicing my music every day. You taking all those beautiful pictures. Like, I don’t know.
” He pauses for a beat and looks down at our hands intertwined.
“My dad’s musical dreams were crushed, and so were mine.
It would be easy to blame it on a curse.
But even though I can’t go to TMU like I wanted to, I still play every day.
I’m keeping up with my music lessons. I’m not going to give up something I love because of some superstition.
Believing that I’m cursed means believing I don’t deserve good things.
And that’s not true. I do deserve good things. We both do.”
I blink. This is Noah, a guy who’s seen more crap in his life than anyone should, and yet somehow he still believes he deserves better. And he’s telling me that I shouldn’t walk away from a connection like this because some bad stuff happened to people in my family.
He likes me… for me. He likes my cheesy puns, my photographs, and my ambition. And I’m supposed to walk away from the person who makes me feel the best I’ve ever felt, because something bad might happen?
Maybe I’m cursed, and maybe I’m not. But right now this good, wise, hopeful, and breathtakingly gorgeous guy is into me, and I like him more than I’ve liked anyone else.
I squeeze my lips, then reach behind my neck and unfasten my black tourmaline necklace. I place the necklace in his hand.
He smiles. “What’s this for?”
“It…” I hesitate. “I started wearing this to protect me from the curse, but I don’t want to do things… or not do things because of fear anymore. You said you liked it, so you should wear it.”
He grins. “Put it on me?”
I reach behind his neck and fasten the necklace on him. It looks better on him than it ever did on me. I put my hand on his cheek. He tilts his head so that he can kiss the palm of my hand.
“So, we’re…,” I say slowly.
He smiles. “Getting to know each other. Seeing where this can go.”
I nod. I lean forward and kiss those perfect lips.
This isn’t a mistake. I deserve to be happy, and so does Noah.