Page 12

Then the stage direction: true love's kiss.

I looked at her and saw the green of her eyes, the tiara sitting slightly crooked, the flush climbing her neck, and she was looking right at me.

I kissed her.

Her mouth was warm. Her hand came up to my arm, her grip tightening through the gear. Somewhere between the first second and the fourth, I lost the stage, the costume, the two hundred people, the script, the line I was supposed to say next. The only thing left was her mouth on mine, the pressure of her hand on my arm, and the fact that I had stopped pretending without realizing I'd done it.

Somewhere in the audience, Erin cleared her throat.

The auditorium erupted. Two hundred parents on their feet, cheering and clapping like this was the ending they'd been waiting for all night. Janine pulled back. Her face was flushed, her breathing uneven, and I couldn't tell if she wanted to hit me or kiss me.

I stood there in my gear, in front of every parent in this school, with the taste of her still on my mouth, and I realized I was in serious trouble.

The curtain came down. The kids swarmed the stage. A girl in a tree costume ran past us, pool-noodle branches waving, and grabbed Janine's hand. "Mama, you were so good!"

Mama.

From the audience, I heard Sawyer whistle.

CHAPTER 5

Backyard Party

ALEX

The curtain came down and the stage turned into a playground. Kids ran to their parents, set pieces got knocked over, and the cardboard castle finally gave up and collapsed.

I made it through the backstage door, down the hallway, and into the parking lot before I let myself breathe. The air hit the sweat on my neck and I stood still for a second with my hands on the tailgate of my truck, staring at the metal.

I had kissed her.

I had put my mouth on hers in front of two hundred people and forgotten every one of them. And the last thing I'd heard before the curtain came down was a six-year-old girl calling her Mama.

I unclipped the turnout coat and pulled it off one shoulder, then the other.

"Cap."

Sawyer's voice was carrying the grin I could hear without looking.

"I owe you an apology," he said.

"For what?" I kept folding the coat.

"I told you that you had no life." He leaned against the side of my truck with his arms crossed, looking like a man who'd just won something. "I didn't know you were out here doing this."

"Shut up, Kane."

"I'm serious. I take back everything I said. You have a life. You have a rich, full life that involves kissing beautiful women at school plays while children watch."

"Are you done?"

"I'm processing."

I looked up from the coat. He was already scrolling through his phone. "The crew is going to want to see this."

"Kane, if you send that to anyone, I will put you on apparatus checks for the rest of the year."

"Whoa, okay, okay." He held up both hands. "Phone's going in my pocket. Phone is in my pocket."