Free A Longtime (and at one point Illegal) Crush by Janette Rallison Page A

haven’t been able to face me for the last three years.”
    “Maybe I just stopped liking you,” she said.
    He took a step toward her, closing the gap between them. A hint of a smile played on his lips. “You’re interrupting again.”
    “Sorry,” she said.
    “So,” he said, “I have no choice but to remedy the situation, to equalize our positions.” Then he leaned over and his lips came down on hers.             
    For a moment she stood there so shocked, she was incapable of reacting. He let go of her hands and put one of his hands on her back and the other on her neck. The feel of his fingers against her nape sent a shiver tingling down her spine.
    N early as quickly as he’d kissed her, he let her go. “Now we’re even,” he said, stepping away from her. “You kissed me. I kissed you. So you don’t have to feel awkward about it anymore.”
    She stared at him, stunned and sputtering. “What do you . . . ? Why would you . . . ?” He had given her a pity kiss, and in his mind that made things even? Her indignation grew, snapping her restraint like a dry twig. “Do you think this is some sort of math equation and if you add the same variable to both sides, the answer is kept in cosmic balance?”
    H e sighed, and when he spoke his voice was soft, a whisper almost. “No, you’re definitely more complicated than a math problem, or I would have figured out how to make things right between us a long time ago.”
    The hurt of the past years welled up inside of her. It was as though she was back in the nurse’s office at the Mathematics Decathlon, back feeling the blazing pain of rejection again. “This doesn’t make us even. I idolized you for ten years and you rebuffed me like my attentions were an insult, like I wasn’t worthy of your time. You acted like I was some sort of teenage skank trying to get you fired. One conciliatory kiss on your part doesn’t equalize things.”
    “Okay then,” he said, “I’m willing to do more.”
    She should have expected what happened next, should have moved away. She didn’t, though. She thought he’d give her a longer apology. Instead, he stepped forward and kissed her again. This time his momentum ended up backing her into the wall. It wasn’t a quick kiss like the last time. It turned from gentle to insistent in seconds. He wanted this, she realized, wanted to hold her and press his lips to hers. This wasn’t just about evening the score so she could get over the bad ending to their first kiss.
    It didn’t matter what he wanted anymore , though. It wasn’t his choice now. She wasn’t a groupie he could kiss whenever the mood struck him.
    Elsie put her hands on his chest meaning to push him away, but then somehow ended up grabbing his shirt front and holding onto him instead. Kye had not only awakened the rejection she’d felt three years ago, he’d awakened the desire too. That part of her seemed to have a mind of its own. It wanted this too. She let his mouth move against hers, answered his kiss, melted into his arms.
    He ran his hand down her back, pulled her closer. He was apparently more than willing to try to give her a kis s equal to ten years of longing, and he was doing a good job of it. Everything else seemed to melt away: the hallway, the music filtering out of the reception, the chill in the air. There was only the warmth of Kye’s arms around her, his lips caressing hers, teasing a response from her. Or maybe just making a point about his power over her.
    Finally she pushed him away. By that point h er heart was knocking against her chest in a frantic rhythm. This was absolute madness. She’d gone from the girl who’d had a foolish crush on Kye to the woman who was willing to make out with him outside the pastor’s office—which had to be some sort of sin in and of itself.
    “T his is your way of fixing things between us?” She took a deep breath and smoothed down her hair in the places where Kye had been running his