Page 96 of Autumn Kissed

I know I don’t have a right to feel jealous about Juliet kissing another guy—especially when I didn’t even know her when it happened. But the thought of her wrapped in another man’s arms makes me feel like I’m housing a bag of rocks in my stomach—rocks I want to chuck across the street because how dare another guy kiss the woman I like?

“It’s certainly more than I thought you capable of, hiding from cops,” I say.

“I’ve done more than that, too.”

“Have you now?”

She nods. “I shattered a window by putting a snowball through it.”

“Was it an accident?”

She pauses. “Fine, yes. But I doorbell ditched my neighbors...once.”

I hold up my hands like I’m trying to stop her. “Woah, woah, woah. You definitely should’ve been arrested for that.”

She grins. “Told you. I’m a rebel.”

We’re drawing closer to her house. I’ve driven by the mayor’s a few times, but I mostly know his address from sending singing grams and terrible presents to him—though I preferred sending them to his office at Town Hall. More people to be embarrassed around.

A few Halloween decorations dangle from the front trees. Orange lights are hung up on the house while a number of uncarved pumpkins decorate the otherwise empty porch.

“Ooh, I’ve got it!” Juliet snaps her fingers, her features alight as we walk up the drive. “I may not have gotten arrested for j-walking, but I absolutely would’ve been for punching my ex-boyfriend in the face.”

Now my attention piques. “You really did that? Why?”

“He was getting too friendly. I warned him if he tried to touch me again I’d let him have it, so my hand kind of got a mind of its own and I”—She pauses, making the upward swinging motion with her hand—“nailed him in the nose.”

I chuckle, imagining her doing that to every man she kissed...unless she ever kisses me. “I take it you learned that from having a cop for a dad?”

“Yup. And watching the Walker boys.”

Her hands are still swinging at her sides—while mine are still tucked in my jacket pockets. Her fingers must be cold. I could reach out for them, warm them up a bit.

The image of her laying out her ex on the floor flashes through my mind, so I keep my hands tucked safely away. “Was that the reason you broke up with him?”

She looks up at the stars. “That was part of it. He wasn’t my type. He expected me to be at all of his pickleball tournaments, but when I had big presentations at school, he never made any effort to come. I only dated him to pass the time.” Her lips part, and she looks like she regrets her words. “I mean, I wasn’t using him. Well, I guess I kinda was, but he was using me, too. Anyway, after I bloodied him up a little bit, he finally got the picture.”

The more I learn about this girl, the more I fall for her.

Hard.

“Remind me not to ask you to come to my pickleball tournaments,” I joke.

“You play?”

“Naw, I was just joking. I’m more of a horse-rider than pickle-ball-hitter. Does that disappoint you?”

“I don’t think you could ever do anything to disappoint me, Archer.”

“Not even being arrested?”

“Twice,” she coughs.

“Thanks for the reminder.”

She grins. “Nope. Not even that.”

I don’t respond for a minute. “Can I ask why that doesn’t bother you?”