Persuaded (13 page)

Dinner went as well as could be expected. At least everyone laughed a lot. Well, almost everyone. I had the fortune of sitting next to a rather morose Collin. I was a little surprised at first to see that Madison and Carson were next to each other and apart from him. I was happy when Lilly moved over so I could sit in between her and Collin, since Sydney was on his other side and you never knew just what she might say or do to the poor guy. After a few minutes of silence from him, I decided to speak up.

“Hi, Collin. Are you enjoying the food?” So it wasn’t the best start to a conversation, but at least I tried.

He looked a little stunned to see me sitting next to him. “What?”

“Your food—is it good?” I smiled.

“You’re Amanda, right?” He looked up uncertainly. “Kylie’s friend?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh.” He looked down at his food in bewilderment. “Sorry, what did you ask me?”

I chuckled. He reminded me of myself at times. “Nothing much. I just wanted to say that I think you are really brave.”

“Brave?” He snorted before rolling his eyes and taking a drink of his soda.

“No, really, you are.”

“Yeah, how so?” He turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say I know how hard it is to love someone and then watch them fall in love with someone else.” I forced myeslf not to look across the table at Gregory.

“You?” Collin looked puzzled. “Nah, I don’t believe it. No one who knew you would fall in love with someone else.”

What? Is this my day for compliments, or what?
I shook my head and laughed. “Very nicely said. But uh, yes, it’s actually quite easy to fall in love with someone else after you’ve met me. Especially, if she’s gorgeous.”

“Beauty isn’t everything, you know. I’ve seen you around. You’re a nice girl, and you care about people. Most beautiful people I know only care about themselves.” He turned and glared at Carson and Madison.

I decided to change the subject. “So what do you like to do? What do you do for fun?”

“Fun? I, uh, well, I like to play video games. That’s about it.”

“Video games? That’s it?” Now I was bewildered. “There has to be something else you like doing.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot—I like computer games, too,” Collin replied.

Good grief.
“No, I mean anything else. Do you like to write, draw, read, run—something like that? What do you do creatively to take your mind off things?”

“Oh, well, actually, I like poetry.”

“Poetry? Really?”

“Yeah.” He grinned.

“So do you read it or write it?”

“Actually, I’m not a big fan of the stuff. I just like to express myself through poetry.”

“What do you mean? You write something that you hate?”

“No, I wouldn’t say hate, really. You know, it’s more like I write lyrics to songs, rather than out-and-out poems.”

“Oh! Now a song lyricist is cool. That I can work around, but a guy who writes poetry but hates to read it—just sounds funny to me.”

“Yeah, well, I am a pretty weird guy. It’s okay, I already know it.” He smirked.

Collin really was cute, with his blond hair and blue eyes. “Have you finished any songs?”

“Yeah, like two or three. Mostly I just pull out a couple of verses from the top of my head and jot ’em down on my phone or something.”

“Really?” I was impressed. “You just randomly come up with stuff and then write it anywhere?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you do with all of the lyrics?”

He shrugged. “Delete them as soon as I write ’em. No use in saving anything, is there?”

“Wait.” I turned fully toward him in my seat. “You actually delete your poetry? That’s crazy.”

He laughed. “Why? It’s not like they’re any big deal. Seriously, watch.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

“No way. You’re going to write one now?”

“Sure, right now. It’s not hard. Give me a second and I’ll let you read it.”

Fascinated, I watched Collin bend his head and concentrate on the phone, his fingers flying across the tiny keyboard. In just a few short minutes he presented the phone to me.

“Here. This is a chorus of a song I picture, like, for a rocker to sing to his girlfriend, you know. Daughtry or David Cook—that type of voice. I’m warning you, though, it’s not that great. Stuff like this comes to me all the time, so it’s really no big deal.”

I glanced curiously at the phone. Scrolling down, I was surprised to see how long the chorus was, especially since Collin had just winged it.

If the heavens gave me a sign,

And said, “Baby let’s you be mine,”

I would write it on a cloud

And shout my song out loud.

For you.

Only you.

If the heavens gave me a sign,

And said, “Baby, let’s you be mine,”

I’d dance my way to your house,

And beg you to be my spouse.

For you, only you.

And it’s true,

Cuz I love you.

Ohh, he’s a hopeless romantic.
“Collin!” I looked up at him.

“Yeah, I know it’s dumb—you don’t have to tell me.” He waved his hands and looked down at his food.

“No. I mean it’s amazingly good for only like two minutes. I swear. If stuff like this comes to you in, like, a matter of seconds, what would happen if you spent a good hour on a song?”

“I don’t know. I never really tried.” He looked shocked. “You think it’s good?”

“Duh. Yeah, it’s good! Are you kidding? What did Madison say when she saw you do this? Does she know you have this talent?”

“Madison?” He looked at her briefly and then stared blankly at his plate. “Yeah, she doesn’t know. I mean, this isn’t something I go bouncing off the walls with. Actually the only person who knows is my mom, and that’s because I put a couple of verses in her Valentine’s card every year. Oh, and I guess you know now.” He glanced back up with obvious concern. “You aren’t gonna go telling people, are you?”

“What? Me? Go around and tell people you’re an absolutely talented genius? I wouldn’t dream of it.” I grinned and handed Collin his phone. “I’m the wrong person to worry about telling people anything. No one really talks to me anyway.” I shrugged. “See? Your secret’s safe.”

“Thanks.” He looked at me a bit warily, and I could tell he wasn’t quite convinced he could trust me.

“You’re welcome.”

Finally, he grinned back.

He is seriously hot when he grins. Madison is crazy.
I looked over at her and changed my mind, because she looked like a schoolgirl gazing into Carson’s eyes. I hated to say it, especially with the way she was treating Collin, but she and Carson were definitely meant for each other. From what I could tell so far, she was so much more outgoing and sporty than Collin. And if she didn’t even know the guy well enough to see past his odd phone habit . . .

Wait! That’s what he’s been doing with his phone all along. Collin’s been writing songs. Who knew?

I giggled to myself and glanced around the table. Sean was staring right at me. He raised an eyebrow and winked before I looked away. I wondered what Gregory had told him about me.

Later that night as I was kicking off my flip-flops by the patio table at the pool, I looked up to see Gregory walk out of the guesthouse with a towel in his hand. He stood under the house’s porch light for a moment and peered into the pool. Kylie, Lilly, Madison, and Carson were already swimming. Instead of jumping in the pool like I expected him to, Gregory hesitated and turned around. He saw me, glanced at the pool again, then walked over my table.

“Hey, Andy.”

My throat went so dry I was barely able to croak a faint hello back at him before I nervously wrapped my towel around my waist. Thank goodness Kylie had a one-piece swimsuit, or I would’ve been completely mortified right then.

Gregory silently slipped off his own flip-flops and then smiled as he tossed his towel on the table. “Are you going somewhere? You haven’t already been in the pool, have you?” He looked suspiciously at my dry hair. I held my breath as he reached over and ran his fingers down a lock that had fallen to my shoulder.

“Me? No,” I squeaked up at him. “I—I’m going in the pool now.”
He’s close to me, way too close.

“With a towel on?” His eyes connected with mine as he removed his hand.

“Towel?” I looked down.
Oh, that towel.
“Um, no, of course not. I’ll take it off when I get closer to the pool.”

He chuckled.

I glanced back up at him sharply. “What?”
Dang.
I could tell he saw through my lame excuse. I prayed he wouldn’t tease me. Something in my eyes must’ve checked his impetuous nature, because he stopped grinning and changed the subject.

“I’m glad you’re alone. I was hoping for a chance to thank you privately.”

“Why?”

“For coming to Collin’s rescue.”

“Oh. Yeah, I didn’t do much—just tried to cheer him up a bit.”

“I was worried for a little while there until you started to talk to him.” Gregory looked over at Madison and Carson splashing each other in the pool. “Those two sure chose the most awkward time to fall in love.” He glanced back at me. “Don’t you think?”

My breath caught as Gregory’s sparkling eyes seared into my own. “Um, yeah, it’s a totally awkward time to fall in love.”

He gazed a few heart-stopping seconds more, then blinked and shook his head slightly. “Are you gonna miss Sean?”

“Who?” Apparently I hadn’t recovered as quickly as Gregory had.

He smiled. “Sean—you know, my cousin?”

“Oh yeah.” Embarrassed, I glanced away.

“Are you sad he had to head back to Bloomfield?”

I shrugged. “Sure, I guess.” With Gregory standing in front of me, the last person I wanted to talk about was Sean Benally.

“Well, we’ll just have to cheer you up then.”

“What?” My eyes flew to his, and I immediately recognized the wicked gleam. “Gregory? What are you thinking?”

He grinned.

Oh no.
I knew from past experience that grin was not one to be reckoned with. I watched as he glanced over at the pool before smiling right at me. “Don’t you even think it, Gregory Wentworth! If you throw me into that pool, I’ll—” Clumsily, I took two steps away from him and almost fell over a chair.

Thankfully, Gregory caught me just in time. But before I could even express my thanks to him, he had the nerve to pick me up in his arms, with one hand under my knees, the other around my shoulders, then ask, “What makes you think I would throw you into the pool?”

Uh, hmm, could it be because you’re walking over there?
I would’ve protested but his cologne smelled so good I couldn’t speak. The most I could do was kick my feet and hang on for dear life.

Twelve: Wet-n-Wild

“Which part of the pool is the deepest? Do you know?”

Gregory’s whispers in my ear sent shivers through me, and I tried really hard to remember to be mad at him and
not
to enjoy being in his arms. It was a losing battle. I shook my head for an answer—I really couldn’t trust myself to speak.

“No?” He chuckled. “You don’t know? Well, I guess we’ll have to figure it out ourselves.”

That did it! I started squealing—loudly. The last thing I remember before plunging into the lukewarm water was Gregory’s laughter tickling my ear.
He jumped with me!
I came to the surface, free of his arms, to find his face smiling above mine.

Water poured from his forehead, streamed past his eyes, and right down to that beaming smile. He laughed as he tried to get the water out of his ears. “Dang, girl. You can scream loud. My ears are still ringing.”