Free Every Little Secret (Second Chances #2) by Kate Ashton

brush into me at some point during the night. That is me now. Hoping for a chance to be with Dalia. Not wanting to talk to her and overstep our agreement.
    Then Charlie Tucker walks through the door, the quarterback of the football team. His dark brown hair is buzzed. Every few seconds, he flexes his biceps, probably hoping someone will notice. He finds Dalia right away and cuts through the crowds. He pulls her into a hug. He catches her bottom lip in his and then moves into a kiss.  
    I sag. I feel the blood drain from my face. Secret friends? Is that because she has a boyfriend? Fuck. I don’t want to be the other guy. I get up from the table to fetch another drink.  
    She pushes him away, laughing. He tries to grab her again but she shakes her finger at him. It leaves me confused. Are they together or was that just a friendship kind of kiss? Is he a secret friend, too?  
    I rotate through the room, talking in half conversation, not paying attention to what people are saying to me. Charlie doesn’t leave her side.
    By the end of the night, I feel sick and need the hell out of there. I tell my friends and leave for the door. I stand on the porch. The cool breeze does nothing to temper the emotions boiling underneath my skin.  
    “Hey there.”
    Dalia?
    She steps out of the shadows. A small almost imperceptible smile flashes across her features. She crooks her finger at me. A magnetic force that I can’t fight pulls me toward her.
    ***
    The rest of the day was hell. That asshole sucking Carly’s mouth off burned in my mind and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t lose the grip of jealousy. I want her. And I didn’t realize how bad until Chad sank his hooks into her again.
    I can’t wait to go home and get this day over with. I cross the brick walkways, pass the oak trees and shaded benches. I follow the same route every day, every week.
    “Noah?” Carly steps from the shadows.
    I startle, then struggle to gain composure. She steals my breath, everything about her pulling everything about me toward her. But this time is different. She’s different.  
    The awkward silence I felt over coffee returns. I have no idea how to approach this situation. I can shrug her off after her display with Chad. But a flicker of need, of something bigger tugs at me. We’re secret friends. An accidental date was in order.
    “Want to get out of here?” I ask, taking the risk.
    She nods. I head toward the lower parking lot, feeling her next to me. So many questions I want to ask, but I know I can’t until I’m ready to talk too. The last thing she needs are my lectures.
    Outside of my car, she asks. “Where we going?”  
    “It’s a surprise.”  
    She reacts negatively to these words, her whole body tensing from her shoulders down to her fingertips. Like Chad pulls one too many surprises on her.
    “Fine. I know this pretty cool restaurant along the beach.”  
    “Please. Not The Salty Dog.”  
    “Nope. Cleaner, nicer than that place. Haley worked there last year.”
    She agrees and we pack into my car, enjoying the ride to the shore in a comfortable silence. It’s only a town over from the college, a relatively short drive. Thoughts weigh on my mind, balancing and fighting between wanting to give in to the attraction I feel for Carly and wanting to withdraw and protect myself.  
    We enter the friendly atmosphere of the Inn and find a corner booth. We both order grilled cheese and fries while our conversation skirts anything serious, sticking to what is safe. The weather. Her strong dislike for the ocean. Which then leads me to ask why the hell she jumped into it that night.  
    After our plates are cleaned and I pay the bill, I reach for her hand. Warmth rushes through my body. Tingles run up and down my arm. “Give me a chance to change your mind about the ocean.”  
    “I used to like it when I was younger.” She follows me across the street to the boardwalk. “I guess I outgrew it.”
    A blue Frisbee