Читать книгу 12 Gifts for Christmas - Джулия Кеннер, Джулия Кеннер - Страница 28

“I’D RATHER kiss a frog,” Mari said with a sniff, furious that Declan was even more gorgeous up close.

Why hadn’t he aged poorly, dammit? He’d been so wild, some of that debauched living ought to show on his face. Instead, all he was sporting was healthy color and a five o’clock shadow. At nine in the morning? Hadn’t he learned to shave yet? With a rush of lust, she remembered how those hair-roughened cheeks had felt against her soft skin. Which only made her madder.

“You ruined my reputation, Declan Cole. Because of you, my life—and my mother’s—became pure hell,” she accused, stepping closer to glare at him better. Even in her four-inch boots, she still had to tilt her head back. As her gaze met his gorgeous green eyes, she couldn’t remember how to breathe, let alone say the words she had meant to speak. Why was he so damned sexy? “What do you have to say for yourself?” she finally managed to ask.

“Maybe sweet doesn’t quite fit anymore,” he murmured.

Mari knew he was laughing at her and it only made her angrier.

“I can’t believe anything could have tarnished that perfect-princess rep of yours,” he continued. “Honor student, homecoming queen, Goody Two-Shoes.”

“Do you have any idea what people were saying about me?” she asked, the memory of the gossip still making her cheeks burn. “Or worse, what they’re still saying?” She recalled the snarky ex-jock at the grocery store the previous day. “Just yesterday some jerk thought he’d get lucky by offering me a ride home.”

“You’re a gorgeous woman. I’m betting a lot of men want to give you a ride.” Declan’s brow creased and he shrugged. “Besides, all we did was kiss. What’s the big deal?”

All they did was kiss? Just the memory of that kiss had fueled years of passionate dreams.

Wait, he thought she was gorgeous? Mari resisted the urge to check her hair and unbutton her jacket so she didn’t look like a denim marshmallow. No! That’s how this had all started in the first place. Declan had said something sweet, she’d gotten flustered and accepted his offer of a ride, and the next thing she knew, he’d kissed her stupid and the entire school was claiming she’d slept with him.

“The word around town was that we did a lot more than kiss,” she said, trying to ignore the thrill tingling all her girly parts and making her squirm. “Everyone was saying that you gave me a lot more than a ride home.”

“Who cares what people gossip about,” Declan objected.

“My mother, for one.” At the time, her mother had been so upset by the rumors, she’d yelled at a woman—very publicly—for repeating them. Unfortunately, the woman had been her boss. Tongues were still wagging about the resulting fight. Mari’s mom had lost her job, her spot on the town council and had almost left Ponder Hill over the humiliation. She’d only just regained her financial footing last year.

“But now that you’re back, you can set the record straight,” she decided. That’d be perfect. The wicked Cole boy would not only put Mari’s reputation right, but he’d also redeem her mother’s actions. Maybe then she could consider doing something about all of the wild sexual needs he was inspiring in her body.

“I don’t think so,” Declan returned with a shake of his head.

Mari stared. “You’re kidding, right? You have to tell people that nothing happened between us. It’s the right thing to do. You should have done it a long time ago.”

She didn’t know why he looked so pissed. She wasn’t asking him to lie. Just to make it clear that she hadn’t thanked him for a ride home by handing over her panties.

“Obviously you’re the one tuned in to all the gossip, so you tell me. When has anyone said I do the right thing?”

Never. Mari huffed out a breath. “So? This can be your first time.”

“Darlin’, there’s only one first time I’m interested in between us. And it has nothing to do with talking.”