The thought churns in my gut. But it’s something I really want for her. I hate that she’s wasting her high-school years pining away for me. She should be out with her friends, experimenting and experiencing life. And, selfishly, it’d make me feel a hell of a lot less guilty for the girls I hook up with.

“Maybe,” she agrees, shocking me to silence when she doesn’t put up her usual argument. “Okay,” Sammi says, scrubbing her palms over the front of her jeans, “I’ll date… On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“I want you to be my first—”

“Goddamn it, Jailbait! You can’t ask that of me.”

“Kiss,” she amends with a devilish smirk. “My first kiss.” Her hand darts out to cup my cheek, the pad of her thumb gently running back and forth over my days-old stubble.

“You’re playing with fire, Li’l Bit.”

She winks up at me. “Damn sure trying.”

“Come here.” I grip her around the waist and pull her into my lap as I plop down in the wet rocks. It’s the first time I’ve held her. Really held her. I don’t ever want to let this girl go. “I’ll come back for you, you know.” I swoop an errant tuft of long blonde hair behind her shoulder. “You’ll always be my girl.”

“You’ve had plenty of girls, Lyle,” she huffs. “You claim to care about me…to—to want me. Yet, I’m the only one you won’t touch.” Her eyes shine with the pain she no longer tries to conceal. “Do you have any idea what that does to me?”

“But I love you.” The words rush out before I have the chance to overthink them. “Only you.”

Her head jerks back in shock. “You—you do?”

I nod, cupping her chin in my hand. “You’re the only girl I’ve ever had any real feelings for. And if the timing were better—if it wouldn’t land me in jail or six feet under at the hand of your father—I’d have laid claim to you so long ago.”

Her tongue slips out to lick the tears from her lips.

“It’s not our time yet, Li’l Bit… but it will be. Someday in the not-so-distant future when we finally have our moment… Fuck, babe. It’s gonna be explosive.”

“I’m going to explode now, if you don’t kiss me.”

I bury a hand into the back of her hair, pulling her close and pressing my lips to her forehead. Every cell of my body comes alive as I take a moment to breathe her in. It’s like I can actually hear the universe screaming at me to stand up and take notice. She’s the one. The only one.

“Lyle,” she whimpers, grinding into my lap. “I want…”