That twinkle she’d seen too many times at the baby shower was back in his eyes, and she couldn’t wipe what she knew was a big silly smile on her own face now, too.

“You.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Vince

Vince could tell he made Rose a little nervous like now that he’d turned the conversation onto her. As cute as it was, he didn’t particularly like making her nervous. He wanted her to relax and enjoy his company, the way he did hers. Well, except for when she was grilling him about his past. But it was cute the way she tried to play off the fact that she wasn’t squirming.

“There’s not a whole lot to tell,” Rose said brushing away a strand of hair from her forehead. “My past or present aren’t quite as colorful as yours.”

“You ever have a boyfriend?”

There she went again; her body language was so telling no matter how hard she tried to hide her nerves.

“No.”

“Really?” Vince smiled. “Almost sixteen and never had a boyfriend. Interesting. That’s unheard of in my neighborhood.”

Rose finally eased up and laughed. “You speak of your neighborhood as if it were on another planet. It’s just two hours away, and in case you hadn’t noticed we are living in the same day and age. Lots of girls my age in my school have had boyfriends already. I just haven’t.” Her eyes teased him. “It’s not because of where I live, Vincent. I’ve just been busy doing other things.”

Vince liked her easing up and speaking more freely. “Oh yeah, your sports keep you too busy for love?”

She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, what do kids our age know about love? Too many of the kids at my school switch partners like I do my gym shoes. That’s not love. Call me old fashioned.” She stood up and stretched side to side like he’d seen so many athletes do at his school. Painfully, he had to keep his eyes on hers and nowhere else since she was looking right at him. “Or a realist, but I don’t believe in love at first sight. I believe love is something that grows gradually. You have to really know someone to fall in love with them. It’s so ridiculous when I hear girls at school saying, ‘Oh my God, I’m so in love with him.’ And they’ve barely even spoken to the guy.”

Vince had to laugh. He’d heard it enough to agree. Girls said it to him all the time or left notes in his locker saying so: girls he’d never even talked to in some cases. Some he’d messed around with a few times, but talking wasn’t what he’d done with them.

She lifted her leg on to the bench and stretched it. She wore shorts, and he tried the entire time to keep his eyes off what he already knew would be his biggest temptation—those legs. They were amazing, and he did his best not to gawk, but it felt impossible.

“What? Are you going for a run?” He smiled, his eyes nearly burning a hole through her evenly tanned, perfectly toned legs.

“No it’s a habit. I stretch so much for practices and games that when I don’t stretch for too long, I feel like I need to.” She brought her leg down and pointed at the swings in the playground. “Let’s go sit on them. It’s rare that we have them all to ourselves.”

As they walked to the swings, he thought about what she said. Love is something that grows gradually. He’d never given much thought to love. That’s not even how he meant it when he teased her about it. The way he and his friends used the word love was a whole lot different than what she’d thought he was implying. He was actually relieved now that she’d misinterpreted what he meant. When his friends asked if he’d gotten some love after a party for example, they weren’t talking about the warm fuzzy feelings he knew Rose was talking about.

“Well, it’s good to know you’re gonna give me a chance to be your friend even after all you know about me now.”

She eyed him playfully as they sat on the swings next to each other. “You did say all that is in the past, right?” Her expression went a little more serious. “Your cousin’s warnings weighed pretty heavily on Grace, you know? I practically begged her to trust my judgment in choosing friends so that she’d let me hang out with you this summer.”

The irritation of hearing about Sal’s warnings again was snuffed when he heard what followed. “You begged?” Vince stopped swinging and looked at her feeling the big goofy grin plaster his face. “For me?”

To his surprise, she didn’t appear embarrassed by this. “Sure,” she said continuing to swing lifting her long legs in the air to pick up speed. “I’ve enjoyed your texts and emails so much. I figure it’d be even more fun hanging with you. As long as your bad-boy days are over, Grace has to be reasonable about letting my new friend come around, and she is.”

Vince couldn’t remember ever feeling so satisfied. He began swinging again. That’s all he needed to know. He could almost see the glow of the halo forming over his head. He’d be on his best behavior if it meant his being able to be around Rose more. The whole way there, he’d contemplated whether or not he’d try anything with Rose today. Now that he knew how she felt about love and friendship and that she not only wanted him around she’d begged her sister to give him a chance, he wasn’t blowing this. There was no way he would try anything now—not this soon anyway.

But there was something he had to know: that damn prom date. When she’d mentioned it a few weeks ago, he hadn’t asked much, except only what mattered at the time and that was if she was seeing the guy. She said she wasn’t, and he hadn’t asked more, but now he was curious. It irritated the hell out of him that she had to beg just to hang out with Vince, and yet her sister was okay with her going to the prom with a senior.