Free Being Jane: A New Adult Erotic Romance: Fountain of Love by Arabella Quinn

around seven o’clock.”
    “Seven o’clock,
got it. Thanks for the date. I really enjoyed it.” My hand reached for the car
door.
    “Jane.” Nate’s
voice stopped me. “C’mere for a second.”
    I looked at him
questioningly. “I’m right here.”
    Nate motioned for me
to move closer. “A little closer.”
    There were those
butterflies dancing around again. I smiled and inched closer to him.
    “A little bit
closer.”
    I leaned even
closer to him, my heart beating fast with anticipation.
    His arm looped
around my body and pulled me into him as our mouths connected. I had been
waiting for this moment all night and it didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t believe
how lucky I was to have a guy like Nate kissing me.
    We kissed for
several minutes before Nate pulled back. “Good night, Jane.”
    I slid off the
center console and back to my seat. I smiled back at him before I opened the
door and got out of the car. A sense of happiness I hadn’t felt in a really
long time filled me. I couldn’t wait to tell Millie that I had a boyfriend.

Chapter 10
     
     
    Dusty
     
    I cringed when I
saw some of Michelle’s friends show up at the bowling alley. I hadn’t seen
Michelle since the morning after the disastrous bonfire party and I’d been
carefully avoiding her calls. I hoped like hell she wasn’t going to show up too.
    And even though I
had been constantly thinking about Jane since I fucked up our brief encounter
at the party, she was the last person I expected to walk in the door at the
bowling alley. A strange shock jolted me as our eyes connected, but she
immediately looked away and began scanning the clusters of people around the
huge bowling alley looking for someone.
    Her eyes settled
on someone near the bar and then she smiled and waved a greeting to someone. I
turned to the bar and I saw Nate heading over to meet her. An unsettling
feeling sank into me. She was here to meet Nate . I had no idea that
their relationship had gone anywhere beyond the one night, but the knowledge left
me cold.
    I was gathered
with my friends around our lanes, but I could hardly follow their joking
conversations. My mind was stuck on Jane and Nate.
    Nate led her over
to our group. He had a big dopey grin plastered on his face. He began
introducing Jane to people in the group. “Jane, you know some of these guys
from high school, but this is Steve…”
    I suddenly became
absorbed with my beer and pretended not to be listening to the conversation as
I heard Ace joking with her. “Hey, Jane. You should have brought your friend
with you. Molly, was it?”
    I snuck a glance
at Jane. She looked right at home in the crowd with Nate’s arm around her
waist. “Millie. Sorry Ace, she was busy tonight.”
    When Ace turned
away, Jane leaned into Nate and whispered something to him that had him
laughing like a fool. My gut wrenched with jealousy.
    Jealousy was not
an emotion that I had a lot of experience with. And when it came to girls, I
almost never felt jealous beyond a fleeting notion. The feeling I had seeing
Jane with Nate was something much more than fleeting. It felt raw. Piercing.
And it annoyed me to no end.
    The night was
getting shittier by the moment. I even thought about leaving, just so I didn’t have
to see Jane and Nate together, but I couldn’t think of a good enough excuse. I
should have left, because twenty minutes into my worst bowling game ever, Michelle
showed up.
    She chatted with
her girlfriends for at least ten minutes before she even acknowledged me. When
she came over to me, she wrapped herself around me like a snake. “Hey Dusty.”
    I untangled
myself. “What are you doing here? I thought you hated bowling?”
    “I would have told
you I was coming, but I’ve been having trouble getting through to you. Is your
phone working?” She looked at me innocently enough, but she must have known
that there was trouble between us. “Anyway, Beth begged me to come. She has a
thing for Ace and she wanted some