Circuit overload! I'd only had mere seconds to process that Rascal and Kylie had been unhappy, had probably broken up, and that he'd decided to move on.

To me.

This would require hours, maybe days, of discussion with Alison and staring into s.p.a.ce. But I had to say something now, to appear as an active inhabitant of planet Earth. So I forced out: "I'm surprised you even knew where I lived."

"I dropped you off that day in the rain. And anyway, here we are, just you, me, and my misshapen nose," he said, and angled his head so his gaze was like a laser beam into mine.

I laughed. "How is your nose? Feeling any better?"

He lowered the ice bag and rested it on the coffee table. "A little better," he said. "The ice helped. But I'm thinking your lips would be even better."

Uh-my what? I was near utter speechlessness.

"Kiss it," he said. "Come on."

A laugh bubbled up inside me. Not that anything was funny.

"My nose," he said. "Or my mouth." He leaned in toward me, his lips targeting a bull's-eye for mine.

My mind spun wildly. There were a hundred reasons, a thousand reasons, to stop him. "Don't do it," I even heard myself say. "Don't kiss me."

"Okay," he said, but kept inching closer.

Liar that he was.

That he'd been.

That he'd always be.

I knew I should turn away, run, do something.

But was it so wrong to be selfish? Just this once? I'd waited and waited for this kiss, I'd paid my dues. I'd earned it.

Then, with nothing but breath between our mouths, Rascal suddenly paused. Hovered. Hesitated.

The quiet before the storm? Second thoughts?

As abruptly as he'd stopped, he plowed forward, his mouth capturing mine. Cool lips, pressing hard.

Surrounded by a clean, masculine scent. His body squishing me back against the arm of the couch, his heart picking up speed.

"Rascal," I murmured, to my own embarra.s.sment.

I put a wide-fingered hand on his neck and pushed into him, the way the girls did on The O.C. and in all the really good movies. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was inexperienced and immature.

Then a sharp tug on the clasp of my shorts told me he thought me anything but.

"Hey!" I shouted.

He stopped, then pulled back and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "What?"

I just shot him a look.

"Okay," he answered with a lazy smile. "Why don't you fill me in on the rules?"

"The rules?"

"Yeah, what I need to say or do."

I tensed, a little voice in the back of my head warning me I wasn't going to like where he was going. So I froze. Said absolutely nothing. Waited for him to continue.

"I'll do whatever it takes."

I narrowed my eyes. "Can you go back in time and take me to your junior prom?"

A smile touched his mouth. "If I could, Nicolette. It's not like I had a great time."

My breath went shallow. "You ... you regret how it turned out?"

"You know, I do. I let you down and ended up bored half to death."

Wow. Just like in my fantasies, Rascal was actually admitting he'd made a mistake! But funny, while the moment was indeed sweet, I'd been expecting cotton-candy sweet, instead of what I got, sort of red Twizzlers sweet.

"You and I," I said, "would have had an incredible time." Probably. At least, I thought so.

"Especially afterward, right?" he asked, all low and familiar.

"Well-"

He silenced me with a finger to my lips.

I puckered my lips and kissed it. Simply because I could.

A grin touched his mouth; then his voice went all s.e.xy. "We may not be able to go back in time," he said, "but there's no reason to waste any more. We can have the after-party right now."

"Now?"

"Sure. We're into each other. McCreary's history, Kylie's out of the picture. No one's home. What's stopping us from taking our relationship to the next level?"

I covered a laugh. "The fact that we hardly know each other?"

He let out a tired sigh, leaned back on the sofa, lacing his fingers behind his head, and looked me dead in the eye. "This is the best way I can think of to get to know each other better."

I twisted my ring.

I'm not real proud of this, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider his offer for a millisecond. I mean, Rascal-and-me. It was what I'd been wanting more than anything.

But then I got real. Any relationship that started in bed-or on the couch-would be pretty lame. Mom didn't even need to have a saying or a plaque for me to know the wisdom on that one.

And the bottom line? I had a sneaking suspicion Rascal didn't want me (my heart, my soul, my undying devotion) as much as the physical me. (Though that realization almost made me feel good, in a twisted way.) Still, I had to know for sure.

"Rascal, what if I said I wouldn't be ready for anything like that for a while? That I just wanted to be your girlfriend and take things slowly?"

He shrugged. "If that's what you want. But I promise, if you give me a chance, it won't take you long to pick up speed."

"Why's that?" I asked, biting back a smile.

"Well, you're used to a guy like McCreary. Who probably has no moves. You just don't realize right now what you're missing."

Use the beautiful pink material as a shroud after you die from complete and utter humiliation.

"McCreary?" I squeaked, slowly standing up. "Does this have to do with Jared?"

He dismissed my words with a wave of his hand. "No, I'm just into you, okay? You're cute, even if you're more 'a' than 't.'"

I inhaled deeply, but the dizziness in my head had nothing to do with excess O2. I couldn't believe he was so shallow that he'd take this so-called feud with Jared this far. "I think it's time for you to leave."

He frowned so deeply that a ridge rose between his eyebrows. "Come on, Nicolette. Don't be like that. We were just starting to have fun."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Forget it, Rascal. Go!"

"Come on," he repeated.

"What makes you think I'm kidding?"

He stood and shuffled toward the door, saying something about being ready whenever I was.

Short of putting my hands in my ears and humming, I blocked him from my senses. "Just go."

And finally, he did.

I slammed the door behind him and fell against it. Then slumped down into a limp mess on the floor.

Who'da thunk it? I'd had an incredible few hours with Jared. Totally made out with Rascal.

And it had been the worst day of my life.

The phone rang a few minutes later. I would have let the answering machine handle it, but I saw Alison's caller ID. She was one of the few people in the universe I felt like talking to.

I picked up and, instead of saying h.e.l.lo, just moaned, "Kill me now."

"That bad?"

"Worse." I lay down on the couch.

"Your mother got fired?"

I bristled, in no mood for a guessing game. "Rascal was here." I recapped his anger about the mall thing, and how he and Kylie had pretty much broken up. "One thing led to another and we started kissing-"

"Seriously?"

I heard a click, which I a.s.sumed was an earring as she brought the receiver closer for this Breaking News Alert.

"And suddenly he was tackling me like we were on the five-yard line and I had the ball." I grunted. "Then he gives me this whole line about how this would be a good way to get to know each other better. Like I was a complete and total idiot."

"And ..."

"And nothing. I threw him out."

A deep voice cut in. "Good."

The world tilted off its axis, leaving me dangling in confusion. Huh? Jared? When had he picked up the phone? How much had he heard?

"Jared!" Alison cried. "What are you doing? Hang up!"

"Not yet," he said. "I need to talk to Nic."

"Mom!" she whined loudly into the background. "Jared picked up the extension on my call!" After a pause, she screamed, "Mom!" again.

"I never should have left you two alone," he grumbled.

At almost the same moment, Alison told me to hold on, followed by the thump of her phone.

"So, Jared," I said, in this case figuring a strong offense was better than a defense, "not only are you a bully, but you're an eavesdropper, too!"

"Look, I'm sorry. But I had to hear what happened."

"Well, are you satisfied?"

"No. This only makes me want to go find him and beat the c.r.a.p out of him again."

I couldn't help hoping this had to do with us, our moment on the obstacle course, our face-to-face in the BK parking lot. Even if I was pretty sure I was kidding myself.

"Look," he went on, "you know how Keith and Mitch and those guys were joking? How you were 'paying' me to drive you around places? Rascal is such an idiot ... that's probably why he came by your house today."

I knew the friends with benefits thing could have been hazardous, but I still didn't take it very seriously. It was a joke! "And you know this ... how?"

"Because I know how Rascal thinks, and he would take advantage of any situation. You've got to see that by now."

Alison broke in. "Are you done yet, Jared? Mom says you-"