Read Online Kissing Her Crush by Ophelia London - Free Book Online

shoved the last of her snack into her mouth.
    “I guess you are feeling okay,” Luke said with a grin, taking her wrapper, and walking all their trash to a recycling bin. “How about that one next?” He pointed to the ride on the other side of the food stand.
    Natalie’s breath stalled in her windpipe, and she couldn’t swallow the rest of her pretzel. “You want to take me on the Kiss Tunnel?”
    “Nothing slower than boats on a lazy river.”
    She still couldn’t swallow. “But…”
    He chuckled under his breath, a deep, manly sound. Then he rested a hand on the small of her back. It sent tingly goose bumps over her arms. “I don’t think kissing is an actual requirement.” He tilted his head. “Or is it?”
    “Of course it’s not,” she blurted, making Luke chuckle again. Since she couldn’t tell if he was flirting or not, she made herself smile breezily while trying not to breathe in his cologne. “I mean, sure. The tunnel sounds nice—um, restful. Darkness is easy on the eyes.”
    Why are you still talking?
    Thanks to the short line, before Natalie could even process that she was about to enter a tunnel of love with Luke Elliott, they were escorted to an empty boat. The couple exiting looked like they’d taken full advantage of the five minutes in the tunnels. Her hair was halfway out of its bun, and he had lipstick marks all over his face.
    Luke had already stepped into the boat and was reaching a hand out to help Natalie. She swallowed hard and took it. It was warm and as strong as steel, but he dropped her hand the second she hopped in.
    Okay, fine. He probably regretted his joke about kissing being a requirement on the ride. Whatever. She didn’t need his hand. Or his eyes. Or mouth.
    It was a joke. Obviously. Just because the two-person seat was only the size of a single seat—their bodies were practically wedged together—didn’t mean it was meant as a romantic ride.
    Luke didn’t seem to notice the forced close proximity. He settled in his seat with his legs outstretched. “You all strapped in?”
    “Uh-huh.” She made sure her lap bar was in place. Though the thing was nothing more than a safety precaution, it didn’t get even close to her lap and had a good two-feet of give.
    The boat lurched forward, water gently sloshing around them.
    “This slow enough for you?” he asked after they’d moved no more than ten feet in thirty seconds.
    “I like thrill rides, too. But taking it down a notch is its own kind of fun.”
    Their boat entered the tunnel, and it was suddenly pitch black. Without sight, her other senses perked up. She heard Luke’s breathing, smelled more of that aftershave, felt the side of his body against her.
    “Slower rides also give a guy opportunities.”
    “Opportunities for…?” Answering her question, Luke shifted, his arm settling around her shoulders. “Um, that’s not a good idea,” she said, forcing her voice to sound scolding.
    “It’s just an arm.”
    True. She nodded in the dark.
    Around the next turn, soft red lights illuminated the tunnel, casting dark rosy shadows over the walls, over Luke’s face, his profile, the strong cut of his jaw.
    “Are you scared?” he asked. “You’re gripping the bar.”
    Although she couldn’t see them clearly, she felt her hands white-knuckling the thing.
    “Relax.” His voice was calm and lazy as he reached out to pry her grip loose using those steely-strong hands. “This is supposed to be chill, no adrenaline rush, change of pace.”
    She nodded about five times. “Exactly.”
    Being with Luke in the dark zapped her back to another time and place where they’d been together with the lights off. A time when she’d been so completely hardcore infatuated with him that her thirteen-year-old heart knew it was love.
    Of course it wasn’t love, but it was one heck of a crush. Just tapping into that memory made her palms feel tingly, and her stomach turn a backflip.
    “Why did you call this the Kiss