Free Nantucket Romance 3-in-1 Bundle by Denise Hunter Page A

later, Sam had joined him, sitting beside him, her feet dangling in the water. Even in the moonlight, her face was flushed. She sat quietly, chewing her lower lip, still nervous from the date, he supposed. He didn’t know why that rankled him.
    “Have a good time?” he asked.
    “Sure.”
    He hadn’t realized how weird it would be to have Scott dating Sam. Weird wasn’t even the word. He didn’t like it at all.
    Sam leaned back, her arms supporting her weight. At fifteen, she’d grown into her long legs, and she’d filled out in a way that made hugging awkward. He’d bet it didn’t feel awkward to Scott.
    He shook the thought. He was tired of thinking about Scott and Sam and tired of analyzing his feelings. “Emmett home?”
    She lifted her foot from the water and brushed a strand of seaweed off with her other foot. “Nope.” A breeze blew in over the water and lifted her hair off her shoulder. She pushed it behind her ear.
    It occurred to him that she’d shed her ponytail for the date. He wondered if Scott had run his fingers through her hair the way Landon longed to now.
    He scooted back, taking his feet from the water. “You’re quiet tonight.” She didn’t say anything for so long, he thought she’d let it drop.
    She lay back against the boards, looking up at the stars. “Have you ever kissed anyone?”
    He realized where the question was coming from, and his stomach tightened. “Sure.” He’d kissed Maddie Franklin in the second grade during recess. Elena Schwartz laid one on him on the bus during a field trip to the whaling museum in fifth grade, and he pecked Camy Smith on the lips at a football game in the sixth grade.
    “You’re not counting Maddie, Elena, and Camy, are you?”
    He smiled at her, watching her expression change as she realized he was. She jabbed him in the ribs, straight-faced. “I mean a real kiss.”
    He twiddled his thumbs, suddenly feeling very juvenile. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had the opportunity. There just hadn’t been anyone . . . kiss-worthy. “Not yet.” He watched the moonlight twinkle on the surface of the water.
    “Scott tried to kiss me tonight.”
    He looked at her then. Her head was cradled in her arms, the moonlight caressing the elegant curves of her face. “Tried?”
    “I turned away. Like I didn’t realize he was about to kiss me.”
    Now, there was the best news he’d heard all week. He worked to stop the smile. A stab of guilt tweaked his conscience. Scott was his friend, after all. “Why?”
    She sighed. “I don’t know.”
    “Well, you must know something, or you wouldn’t have turned away.”
    She pulled her feet up from the water, her square knees poking skyward, her stomach flat.
    He looked away.
    “I guess I was afraid.”
    He looked back at Sam. If Scott had done anything to hurt Sam, the guy was in for it. “Afraid of what?’
    She sat up rabbit-quick, facing him and folding her legs beneath her. “What if I did it wrong?”
    “Did what wrong?”
    “Kissed. What if I’m bad?” Her eyes softened, their vulnerability tugging at him.
    The corner of his mouth lifted. “You’re not gonna be bad, Sam.”
    “How do you know? I’ve never kissed anyone, not even in grade school.” She pulled at her lip with her teeth. “What if I do it wrong and he laughs at me?”
    “Scott wouldn’t do that.” Are you trying to talk her into kissing theguy, Reed?
    “But what if he stops liking me? I don’t want to make an idiot of myself.”
    A good one-liner popped into his mind, but he knew better than to tease at a moment like this. Besides, she was looking at him with those fawn-brown eyes, and he forgot what he was going to say. She was normally so self-assured, he didn’t know what to think of this insecure Sam except that it made him want to protect her.
    “I’m sure you’ll be—”
    “Will you do me a favor?” She looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. “I wouldn’t ask, but . . .”
    “You know I’d do