Love At First Sight (Southern Bride 1)

“I think I’m going to play baseball.”

Her breath hitched. “Baylor or A&M?”

Smiling, I replied, “A&M, of course. I can’t leave my Chloe Cat.”

Chloe screamed and threw herself at me, nearly knocking us both off the rock and back into the water. Wrapping my arms around her, I glanced up and saw Mike staring down at us, with Justin standing next to him. The smirk on Mike’s face spoke volumes.

Fuck ’em all. It was always going to be Chloe and me.

Always.

When Chloe pulled back, we were inches from each other. God, I wanted to kiss her. Hell, the first day I ever met her in kindergarten I wanted to kiss her. The one time I did allow myself to go through with it, though, her father threatened to kill me.

“Chloe?” I asked, my voice sounding breathless all of a sudden.

“Yeah?”

“Will you go to prom with me?”

A wide smile broke out over her face. “I wouldn’t want to go with anyone else, Rip.”

I placed my finger on her chin and lifted her face, my eyes trained on her soft pink lips.

What would she do if I kissed her?

Her tongue swept quickly over her lips.

Leaning in, I moved at the last moment and kissed the side of her mouth, then leaned my forehead to hers. She closed her eyes, and we stayed like that for what seemed like forever before Mike called out to us.

“Rip! Chloe! Let’s go!”

Taking her hand, we jumped back into the water. Chloe climbed on my back and we laughed and joked the entire swim to shore. Both of us ignored what had almost happened. We were good at letting those little moments when it seemed like we both wanted more slip on by without a word of acknowledgement.

Chloe grabbed a towel and started toward my truck, while I dried off at the water’s edge.

“You did that on purpose.”

I looked up and saw Justin standing there. “I did what on purpose?”

“You knew I was going to ask her to prom, and you made sure I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Grinning, I stood and walked over to Justin. “What made you think we wouldn’t be going to prom together anyway?”

He shook his head. “You’re going to make damn sure no one else can have her, aren’t you?”

Leaning in closer, I got in his face. “You’re damn right I am. She’s mine. Don’t forget that.”

“You want to fuck her first that badly and you’ll keep the rest of us away by acting like a dick. Got it.”

My fist came up, all on its own, and punched Justin. He stumbled back and tripped over a log. He ended up going into the river. Everyone turned toward the commotion, including Chloe.

Mike was right there, pulling me back by my arms.

“You ever talk about her like that again, and I will kill you.”

“Rip!” Chloe shouted, running over to us. “What is going on?”

Justin stood and rubbed his jaw. “I’m not the only one who thinks it, Rip.”

“Fuck you, Justin!” I shouted as Chloe stood in front of me. When her hand landed on my chest, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Her touch instantly calmed me down, while at the same time, it drove me insane.

“What in the world was that about?” she asked, looking from me to Mike.

Jerking my arm free, I answered. “Nothing. He was being a dick. Let’s go.”

Placing my hand on Chloe’s lower back, I guided her away from everyone and over toward my truck. Justin was about to keep running his mouth when I shot him a warning look. He stopped himself and laughed. When a few other guys fist bumped him, I knew he was right. I’d lost a few friends over Chloe. Most of the guys in school thought we were already sleeping together. I didn’t give two shits what they thought about me, but I cared about what people thought of Chloe, and she wasn’t that type of girl to hop from bed to bed with any of these dicks.

Chloe is mine.

When I sat down in the truck, I let my words replay in my mind.

Chloe is mine.

Hitting the steering wheel, I shouted out a few curse words.

Who in the hell am I kidding?

“Rip, you’re scaring me. Why are you so angry?”

I looked at her. “You ever want something so badly that it fucking scared you?”

Her mouth dropped open, before she replied, “I mean, I’ve wanted something badly but never enough that it scared me.”

“Well, I do, Chloe. And if I allow myself to have it, I’m going to ruin everything.”

I hit the steering wheel again. “Damn it!”

“Rip, is this about the scholarships? If you’re picking A&M just for me, I don’t want you to do that.”

Trying to get my breathing under control, I dropped my head back against the seat and laughed. A sort of maniacal laugh, actually. This whole thing was so messed up. I needed to either tell Chloe how I felt or let her go. I couldn’t keep things going the way they were.