I laughed out loud, imagining the scenario he painted so vividly.

“I’m sure she thought your volcano’s unpredictability was awesome. All the best ones are, you know,” Josh answered.

Gus waved when he saw me. “Ember!”

I crossed the room, keeping my eyes locked on Gus. “I was going to surprise you with this.” I handed him the cone. “But it appears you’ve already been kidnapped.”

He grinned up at me, sporting another lost tooth. “Cool! Double ice cream! Thanks!” Gus dug in, and I prayed I didn’t just cause him a huge bellyache.

I glanced at Josh, who looked as happy and surprised to see me as I was to see him.

“Hey.” He pulled out a chair, and I took it, sitting between them. “Gus, you lied,” Josh accused, mock shock on his face.

Gus’s brow furrowed. “No, she doesn’t like strawberry. She likes cookies ’n’ cream.”

I took another swipe at the ice cream so I wouldn’t have to talk. Josh wasn’t fooled. “Funny.” He laughed. “Strawberry’s my favorite.”

I knew I was turning shades way darker than the ice cream. “I just wanted to change it up,” I lied. No, I’d wanted to taste Josh, and he knew it.

“So, what am I supposed to do with this?” he asked playfully, pointing to the hand-packed quart of cookies ’n’ cream.

“Oh, I’ll eat that, too,” I promised. He’d bought me ice cream!

“Good to know you have a weakness besides coffee, Miss Howard.”

He didn’t know that he was my other vice, and he stared at me in a way that made me picture more Sunday afternoons and ice cream stores. “I have a ton of weak spots, Mr. Walker.”

“Done!” Gus shouted like he’d won a race.

“Gus, man. You’re a mess.”

He was right. Gus’s entire mouth was covered and most of his cheeks assaulted, too. He’d put away two scoops faster than I’d managed one. I pointed to the bathroom. “Clean it up, buddy.” He gave me a mile-wide grin and slipped into the bathroom.

“You really bought me ice cream?” I asked Josh.

“How else was I supposed to find an excuse to see you? Borrow fake sugar?” My cheeks burned. He leaned forward on his elbows. “Besides, you really bought my ice cream?” He dipped forward and took a mouthful of the strawberry, leaving some around his mouth.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I missed you, I guess.”

He ran his tongue over his lower lip, catching the rest of the pink ice cream. “If your brother wasn’t with us, I’d kiss you.”

Yes, please. I was ready to crawl across the table, ice cream and all, for it. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“When are you going to put me out of my misery?” he asked with a smile, biting into my cone.

“You don’t look miserable to me.” I wiped away a drop of ice cream from his lip with my thumb, and licked it off.

He groaned. “Trust me, I am. When are you going to let me take you out?”

My eyebrows raised. “Like an actual date?”

“Yeah, you know, like pick you up, we go out, have a good time, I steal a good night kiss?” He leaned back across the table and whispered, “I get to tell people you’re mine?”

Could I do that? Was I ready? First dates weren’t exactly commitments, right? Gus saved me from answering by walking back in, clean face and all. We stood, tossed our trash, and headed for the parking lot.

“Want me to take you home, Gus?” I asked as we stood halfway between our cars.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Josh interrupted. “What do you say to laser tag?”

Gus lit up. “Heck yes!” He scrambled into Josh’s Jeep.

Josh turned back to me in question. “Ember? Want to shoot at each other in the dark?”

He was giving up his Sunday afternoon for ice cream and laser tag with my little brother. “Where is your flaw, Josh Walker?”

He laughed. “I keep it in the closet.”

I slid next to him as he told Gus to move to the backseat and reached on tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “If it’s dark in there, does it mean I get a kiss?”

He turned around so I was against his chest. “I have half a mind to tell you no more kisses until I get a date.”

“Oh?” I stepped back so Gus wouldn’t get the wrong . . . ahem, right . . . idea.

“Yeah, but you see, that’s my flaw, December Howard.” He helped me into the Jeep and reached across to buckle me in. He slid back, stopping to whisper in my ear. “I have no self-control when it comes to you.”

Problem was, I saw that as a virtue, not a flaw.

Chapter Sixteen

I adjusted the gold scarf around my neck and waved to Mom down the stands. She was holding an entire row of seats. April gave me a smile and patted the chair on the other side of her. Coffee in hand, I started toward them. Today was the semifinals round of playoffs for Gus.

The tingles in my fingers weren’t from the chilled temperature of the World Arena, but from knowing I’d see Josh. Every day for the last two weeks, he’d asked me out, and for the last two weeks, I’d avoided answering. He’d borrowed cups of sugar, found “lost” mail, and tapped out Morse code on our shared bedroom wall. I saw him in class, at practice, and ran into him at home, but I was never, ever alone with him. Being alone with Josh always led to me being naked. Not allowed. Besides, he’d held true to his threat and hadn’t kissed me in fourteen very long days.