10 Years Later

“Principal Graham gave it to me for the dinner. I have to make sure everything gets cleaned up and put away.”

S

etting the decorations on the floor for a minute, I asked, “So, where are we putting all this stuff?”

“In those boxes.” He pointed at a group of plastic storage containers stacked up against a wall.

I started toward them, but stopped as Dalton’s hand grabbed my arm. He pulled and I slid across the floor so effortlessly that I almost crashed into him.

“Dalton, what are you—”

His mouth covered mine, and I completely lost my train of thought. One of his hands reached for my lower back as the other slipped behind my neck. I fell into his kiss as my mouth opened and allowed him inside, his tongue moving in a slow and delicious rhythm. I was certain at any moment I’d melt completely into a puddle on the concrete floor. I had wanted this for so long that I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

Was Dalton Thomas really kissing me right now?

Even more surprising was the fact I was feeling again for the first time in ages; Dalton was actually making me feel something. For the last fourteen months I’d been living in a fog, lost in a numbness where color refused to live.

I silenced my thoughts as he deepened the kiss, making sure nothing but color consumed me. His fingers splayed across my back as my chest pressed against his, our breathing falling in rhythm. The heat from him moved through the fabric of my shirt and warmed me completely.

The sound of voices outside caused him to pull his lips from mine and release me. As Dalton moved toward the door, I stood there and stared at him, wondering what the hell had just happened.

“You coming?” he asked.

I followed him without saying a word, leaving the decorations on the floor where I’d dropped them. The two seniors carrying more decorations into the room giggled when they saw Dalton and flirted shamelessly with him.

I walked ahead of him, unsure of how to act or what exactly that kiss had meant. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, so I refused to ask him when he caught up to me moments after I’d gotten outside. We walked the rest of the way in silence, as my mind and heart both raced.

“I’ve wanted to do that for years, by the way,” he whispered to me before disappearing inside the cafeteria.

Glancing around the room for Kristy, I noticed her heading right for me, looking thoroughly pissed off.

“Where the hell did you go?”

“I was putting away the decorations. I told you that. You shushed me.”

She grabbed my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “Oh my God. What happened? What did I miss? Your face is all . . . The eagle has landed. The eagle has—”

I couldn’t stop myself from giggling as I cut her off. “Enough with the eagle stuff,” I started to say before backtracking. “No, just kidding. Don’t stop. I want to know.”

“I might just have to start saying eagle instead of the whole sentence, because the number of times he keeps looking at you is getting ridiculous. Now tell me, what the hell just happened between you two? I saw you walk in together and you’re all flushed. Eagle.”

Looking around the room, I’d realized that there were way too many of our classmates and their parents around to have any privacy. “I’ll tell you in the car on the way home.”

“Yeah, you will. Eagle. Eagle. Eagle.”

Of Course I’m Late

Dalton

My computer crashed every time I tried to upload the pictures from the stakeout the other day. I couldn’t in good conscience head to the reunion before making sure everything I needed to add to the case file had gone through and been accepted. When the e-mails to the district attorney and the federal agency finally sent, I jumped into my car and peeled out, only to get stuck in a shitload of Saturday night traffic.

I was extremely late, which pissed me off. After checking the time on my car clock display, I pounded the steering wheel and resisted the urge to lay on the horn because no one ever honked in LA. It was the oddest thing, and I only realized it after I’d been living in New York. New Yorkers honked at everything. I think they honked at the air if they didn’t like the way it felt through their vents.

I pulled at the tie fastened around my neck and loosened it. If I missed Cammie tonight, I’d have to come up with a whole new plan. I wouldn’t be able to sit by and wait any longer. I’d have to take Tucker’s advice and actually call the radio station, or arrest her or something.

But the thought of calling the station to talk to her bothered me. Talking to Cammie for the first time after ten freaking years, well, I wanted to be able to see her face, her expression, her eyes. I didn’t want our first conversation after so many years to be over the phone.

“Move, damn it!” I yelled as the car in front of me slowed down to forty miles per hour for no apparent reason. The hotel where the reunion was being held was only ten minutes away, but I couldn’t get there fast enough. There was so much I needed to tell her. Cammie changed my life and she didn’t even know it. Hell, there was so much she didn’t know that I wanted to share with her.