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said I always wanted to kiss a boy, I
meant…I didn’t know when that day would come. If some other boy had
been at the river today, I wouldn’t have had my first kiss.”
    “It took a few hundred yards to think of an
excuse?” Damn, he kicked himself for being such an ass.
    She released his arm.
    Good, back to concentrating on losing the
never-ending hard-on.
    “No.” She linked her fingers with his.
    He liked how it felt. Dammit!
    “My name is Katrina Lovett.” She paused as if
it meant something to him.
    “Mine’s Matt Carson.”
    She nodded. “I know.”
    It bothered him when someone knew more about
him than he was aware of. “How?”
    “The TV. I’m sorry about what happened to
your mom. The accident…” She bit her lip and darted her attention
to the street.
    Now he understood why she’d stared earlier.
“Is it the reason you kissed me? Out of pity?”
    The lip she’d bitten sparkled with moisture.
“No. I wanted to.”
    They walked in silence for a ways. She
tightened her grasp on his hand and fidgeted, as if she would say
or ask a doozy of question. “Will you tell me about your parents?
The news said your dad died a few years ago.”
    He hadn’t talked about his dad in a long
time, and didn’t want to talk about his mom, either. Yet being with
Katrina, he slipped into an unusual comfort zone. “Great. Dad and
Mom were awesome.”
    She leaned her head against his shoulder.
    By the time they approached her home, he’d
confided in her about the crow’s foot wreaths, his dad taking
Travis and him fishing, even about their first family dog. The
words flowed easily.
    “I like you,” she said. “I’m too young for a
boyfriend. My parents would have a cow if they found out.”
    Fuzzy tingles covered his entire body. “I
like you, too. Why would your parents have a cow? It’s not like we
can go out.”
    “We meet at the river.” Her infectious smile
spread across her face and jerked the hardened area between his
legs. “At our spot.”
    He’d like the idea a lot! “How old are
you?”
    “Fourteen. You?”
    An older girl. “Thirteen.”
    “I’m a cougar!” She laughed.
    Matt wouldn’t argue that more years needed to
exist between them before she earned the title. Whatever floated
her boat. He liked seeing her happy, unlike when she first appeared
near the river. “What upset you earlier?”
    “Oh, that. My parents.” She toed her shoe
against the damp sidewalk. “They try to run my life. No one is good
enough, not even my best friend. Cadence’s dad is almost as rich as
mine. To them wealth makes a person nobler, not to me. They want me
to become a doctor, marry a doctor, everything doctor. I’m sick of
it.”
    His parents, the complete opposite of hers,
had supported his interests. “What do you want to do?”
    “You’ll laugh.”
    “No, I won’t.”
    “I want a nursery, but not any garden
nursery.” With each word, her animated hands flew as if what she
said meant nothing without them. “I want flowers and animals, a
petting zoo for kids.”
    Her excited tone intrigued him. He wanted her
to have these things. “Neat.”
    “Yeah.” She shoulder bumped him, and they
quickened their pace. “Thanks, even though you don’t mean it.”
    He liked animals and had enjoyed planting a
garden with his family every spring. “You’re wrong.”
    “Really?” She grinned. “Okay, how about you?
What do you want to be?”
    Easy. He wanted to be a firefighter, but he
would follow his dad’s example. Maybe then, he would have some
measure of peace and feel closer to his dad. Maybe then, he’d feel
whole again. “A sniper.”
    Expecting she would approve of his decision,
he waited for her validation. When she didn’t, caution rained over
him, and he squeezed her hand before she pulled away. “I’m not sure
what you’re thinking, but I don’t mean criminally. I want to help
Marines. It isn’t fair the men on the ground get ambushed by a
person hiding in the woods.” The