“I’m really glad you came with me,” he said. “I’ve had a crush on you for a long time, but I was always too afraid to talk to you. Until just recently, that is.”
“Why?” I asked, prepared to hear about the grand Heavenstone name or something.
“I didn’t want to be embarrassed if you didn’t like me. I was a coward!” He laughed. “C’mon.” He patted the sofa. “Sit for a little while, and then we’ll go back to the party and watch everyone make fools of themselves.”
I looked at the horses. They were both watching us with what looked like real interest. When I didn’t move fast enough, Kent rose a little, leaned forward, and took my hand, tugging me to the sofa. I sat beside him.
“I was honest about myself, so how about you, Semantha? Have you been with other boys, boys maybe from other schools?”
“No.”
“I’m surprised you don’t attend a private school. Everyone is surprised about that, actually.”
“My sister, Cassie, wanted us to, but my mother was against it. My father never went to a private school. I like our school.”
“Yeah, me, too. Are you shy, too?”
“I guess so,” I said.
“Let’s find out.”
He leaned toward me to kiss me, and I pulled back.
“You didn’t complain when I kissed you at the game,” he said.
“I’m not complaining,” I said.
He smiled and moved faster this time to bring his lips to mine. It was a long kiss.
“You’re the prettiest girl in our class, Semantha,” he whispered. “Maybe even in the whole school.”
I started to shake my head. He kissed me again. I knew he expected me to kiss him back as hard and as long as he was kissing me, but when his lips touched mine, I didn’t do that. I couldn’t help it. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was Cassie’s disapproving face.
“Don’t you like me?” he asked, obviously disappointed in my reaction.
“Yes.”
“You don’t act like it,” he said.
“I’m a little nervous, Kent.”
“Sure. Me, too,” he said. “But you can’t let that stop you from having a good time, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” he said. He kissed me on the neck and brought his hands up the sides of my arms to put them behind my back and pull me closer to him so we could kiss again. This time, I really tried, and he liked it. “Semantha,” he said. “Semantha. You have the nicest name, too.”
I was beginning to wonder if he was as shy as he claimed to be. In one of the romance novels I read, the novels Cassie mocked, there was a man who pretended to be shy and awkward, and that way, he always managed to get the girl he wanted to be more cooperative.
“I’m glad you’re as shy as me,” he said as if he could read my thoughts as easily as Cassie could. “That way, we’ll both help each other, discover each other. You want us to do that, right?”
Before I could respond, his hands came around my shoulders and quickly slipped over my breasts. When he pressed his palms to my nipples, the tingle shot through me with electric speed. As if she was part of the lightning, Cassie’s face flashed in front of me.
Instantly, I jumped up.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’d better return to the party. Your father will be here soon.”