Page 164 of Nobody's Girl

I let the crowd rush out before me. The kids who ride the bus need to hurry. I have my jeep. I can afford to lag.

On my own today—Scotty has a baseball game to attend—I climb into my bright yellow Jeep. When I turn the key in the ignition nothing happens. Then I see I left the lights on this morning.

Oh great, the battery’s dead!

I’ll go find Kyle in the gym. He can give me a ride home and Dad can come jump my car later. It’s a short walk. I can hear the boys shouting as I open the door.

The smell of the dank gymnasium makes me wrinkle my nose. Kyle’s helping a few junior high kids shoot baskets.

He’s so damn sweet.

“Hey, hero,” I call out to him.

He high fives a kid who just made a basket before he jogs over to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. “You need a hero, doll?”

He’s too precious!

“I do. I left my lights on in the Jeep. It seems I’m a damsel in distress.”

The dance his eyebrows do makes me laugh. “I’ll be your hero, baby,” he says as he picks me up, carrying me out of the gym.

“Kyle, while this is sweet, you can put me down,” I say with a giggle.

“The truck’s right here, baby. Let me do this hero thing right,” he says, smiling that big smile down at me. The memory of the sexed-up love story fills my head as he holds me tight.

He lifts me up into the tall truck. I scoot over so he can climb in beside me. I slide to the passenger seat, simply to have him slide me right back to sit next to him.

“You sit by me, Al. I can’t have you all the way over there,” he says as he hands me the seatbelt.

He’s warm beside me, with a slight sheen of sweat on his face from playing in the gym. I drop my book and purse on the seat next to me and he spies my naughty novel. His eyes widen as he looks at me.

“I know. Don’t make fun of me. I ran out of reading material this morning. It was all I could find,” I explain.

As he pulls onto the road, he says, “Read some of the juicy stuff to me while I drive out to Trixie’s. I need a burger and you need a chocolate milkshake.”

“I’m not reading to you. The words in that book made me blush when I read them. I can’t conceivably say them out loud, Kyle.” I play with the radio like I usually do, finding the station I like instead of the country music he listens to.

A devilish grin forms on his plump lips. “That bad, huh? Now I have to hear some. Come on, baby, make your man happy.” His hand runs down my leg to squeeze my knee, leaving it there.

“Neanderthal, telling me to make my man happy. Welcome to the new age, Kyle. Women don’t do that anymore,” I say as I find a song I like on the radio and turn it up.

“Women’s lib, who needs it? You know you all want men to take care of you. And all of you want to take care of us. Your secret is out. You like making your man happy. I know you do, baby,” Kyle shouts over the loud music.

I do like to make him happy, but I’m not reading those words to him. He’d get too excited and I’d get too embarrassed. Instead, I place a sweet kiss on his cheek. “There, that should keep you happy for the next thirty minutes or so.”

Trixie’s parking lot is full. Kyle pulls to the back where the employees park. His friend Cody works here. We park next to his beat up, old truck.

Kyle unhooks his seatbelt while I unhook mine. Turning swiftly, he has me on my back before I know he’s done it. I laugh as his face is close to mine.

“Kiss me, baby. You know you want to,” he says with a smile.

I do want to, but …

“Kyle, people will see us.”

“Not through these tinted windows, they won’t, Ally. Kiss me.”

Playfulness pushed aside, his eyes get darker blue with that lusty look he’s come to have at times. My hand moves to his neck and I pull his face to mine. The moment our lips touch warmth spreads through me.