Teaser Tuesday!

Before my teaser, a little announcement! The winner of my STEALING HEAVEN Giveaway was... Rebecca Royce! I've emailed her and I'm mailing out the book today, so congrats! :)

Anyway, onto the teaser!

“Zoe,” he repeated, like he’d said it the night before, like an ache.

“Hm?” I asked.

“Don’t ever tell anyone I told you this.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What?”

“I’m sorry I’m a jerk.”

I pressed my fingernails into the palm of my right hand, fighting back some huge feeling that was overtaking me, that was swallowing my entire body. “It’s whatever,” I said, but it wasn’t. He’d been my archenemy since I’d moved to Wildwood when I was eight years old. He’d ruined my thirteenth birthday party, he’d tripped me whenever he could when we were running, and he made fun of me so much that it was like a routine. But I could handle it. I had a tough outer shell. I was used to it.

I swallowed. “You know, the last thing I remember? It was you, slamming my head into my birthday cake, right after I blew out the candles. And I was so mad I wanted to cry because I’d been wishing that my dad would come back and save me from everything that had been going wrong. You weren’t even invited, Zach.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a delinquent.” He lifted the camera to take a picture, but he wasn’t looking at the screen. He looking at me, into me. His knee moved a little, touching mine, and something started in my stomach. Oh my God, he was so close to me, so close that I could just reach out and touch that freckle I was always staring at.

He snapped the picture and handed the camera to me for evaluation. You could see it on my face, the emotion I hadn’t even known I was feeling: wanting.