I captured her with my arms around her waist, lifting her to my level, holding her against my chest as I tasted her lips.

“I’ll kill him.” I heard Amber’s dad’s voice behind us, and I immediately dropped Amber on her feet.

“Oh, stop,” her mom said, as we turned to face them.

They’d just come out of the seminar room, a mass of people filing out behind her.

“You missed all the chaos!” Hannah said, bounding up to Amber. She glanced at me and before I could blink she’d punched me square in the chest.

“What the hell was that for?”

“You know why!”

“Right.” I nodded. “Yeah.”

Jake glared at me before looking to Amber, who waved him off. His features softened as he moved to Hannah’s left.

“The board took Tanner into the office,” Hannah continued. “And Ms. Howard. I bet he’s getting fired.”

Amber looked up to me, then back to Hannah. “I guess we’ll know more tomorrow?”

Amber’s mom patted her shoulder. “We’ll see you at home?” she asked, her eyes darting to me. “But don’t hang around here too long, okay? I don’t want you here when they’re done with him.”

“Right,” Amber said, and her parents headed down the hallway toward the exit.

“You want to ride with us?” Jake asked, never taking his eyes off me.

“No thanks,” she said. “I’ll be all right.”

“You sure?” Hannah asked.

“Absolutely.”

The certainty in her tone gave me all the hope I needed.

Hannah and Jake relented, falling into the flow of foot-traffic that passed us in waves.

Amber turned toward me, a shy, sweet smile shaping her irresistible lips. “Where were we?”

I took her face in my hands, staring down at her as I breathed her in. “Missing you. Making it up to you. Whatever you need me to do,” I said. “That’s what we were up to.”

She folded her hands over mine. “DC.”

“DC.” I pressed my forehead against hers, savoring the moment as the world faded away.

“DC sucks!” someone snapped right next us. “Marvel is way better!”

We glanced in the guy’s direction, finding Brandon smacking his friend’s chest, shaking his head and glancing at us while he mouthed sorry. They kept walking, Brandon’s friend glaring at him in confusion.

We laughed until my sides hurt, the motions breaking through the sticky tension that coated everything. After we caught our breath, I tucked Amber under my arm and walked her out of the building.

When she was safely in my car, I grinned at her. “I missed you, Pixie.”

“Missed you, too, NightLocker.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

Dean

“I’m sorry to say,” I said, glancing at Amber from the passenger seat of her car. “But you’ll likely never top the last time you surprised me.”

She smirked from behind the wheel. “Want to bet?”

“How much?”