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“I am an outsider.”
“Not anymore, pretty girl.” He turned Arien over, her chest on his, dragging his fingers through her hair. “You’re a Brooksider now and we’re gonna make you ours.”
“I…I don’t think…I don’t know, Tanner.”
Gorgeous green eyes gazed into hers, promising her everything, if only she’d willingly accept it. The corner of his mouth lifting ever so slightly, he took her face in his hands. Thumbs caressed her cheeks. Warm, soft lips gently swept over hers. Then with the fireflies dancing in her tummy, Tanner kissed her.
Breathless.
Weightless.
Limitless.
In the arms of her best friend, her stepbrother, the world outside the gate vanished, and every crazy, wild dream felt possible.
“I know.” Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he kissed her forehead. “Me and Kel are headin’ out in a while. Goin’ to Jackson to have a few beers and watch the game. Why don’t you come with us?”
“Thanks, but I can’t. Got a study date with Emily and Grams.”
Trigonometry is a bitch. Arien rubbed her temples. Cosecant, cosine, and cotangent functions were giving her a headache.
“A right triangle has three sides that can be uniquely identified by the hypotenuse using the Pythagorean theorem. What are the definitions of the trigonometric functions?”
Kiss my cute, little ass, Mr. Pythagoras.
Exchanging a glance with Emily, Arien dropped her shoulders. What would she ever need this knowledge for anyway? Her brain hurt.
“Come on now, honey. You know this.” Grams encouraged her with a wink. “Think of the mnemonic.”
Sohcahtoa.
“Sine equals opposite over hypotenuse, cosine equals adjacent over hypotenuse, and tangent equals opposite over adjacent.”
“Very good!” Clapping her hands together, she chuckled. “I think you two have had enough trig for one day, yes?”
“Who knew simple triangles could be so hard? Not to mention exhausting.” Yawning, Emily gave Melinda Brooks a hug. “Thanks, Grams. See you at Uncle Matty’s for dinner tomorrow?”
“Same as every Sunday, babydoll,” she replied, hugging each of them goodbye.
Free of Pythagoras and his stupid theorem at last, they giggled all the way to the car.
Buckling in, Arien blew out a breath. With the sun setting, a shadow crept up the mountains, gradually ascending from its base to the snowcapped peaks. For a moment, it looked as if they were ablaze, glowing orange against a darkening sky, until the shadow engulfed them completely, extinguishing the fiery light. The marvelousness of the phenomenon never failed to mesmerize her.
“Pretty, ain’t it?” Emily smiled at her. “I don’t wanna go home, do you?”
“I’m so tired, Ems.” Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back against the seat.
“The boys went to Jackson.”
“How’d you know?”
“Jake and Billy went with ’em.”
Her eyes flew open.
“Who wants a fumbly-bumbly under the covers, if you get my meaning. I heard some of the boys get plenty of practice with the ski bunnies in Jackson.”
They wouldn’t.
