Read Online Slate (Breaking the Declan Brothers #2) by Kelly Gendron - Free Book Online Page B

there’s nothing but an apartment waiting for me back in Manhattan. Aren’t you going to eat?”
    “I had something earlier.”
    “Oh,” I say, my eyes dropping to his mouth as I recalled him kissing me yesterday. My knees had nearly given out with that kiss. It wasn’t familiar, as I’d imagined it might be. It was different, hungry and taking, not sweet and gentle. But like our first kiss, those damn butterflies found their way back to my belly.
     

 
     
    “Oh, come on! You can throw harder than that,” I say catching the ball.
    A wily grin spreads across Slate’s mouth. “I don’t want to hurt your girlie hand.”
    “You won’t.” I whip the baseball back to him, and he easily catches it.
    “Hey, Grams wanted me to ask if you’re coming over for dinner Saturday,” he says, tossing the ball up in the air and then catching it in his mitt.
    Since Jamison’s death, home hasn’t been the same. My parents are either arguing or not speaking at all. So, I’m rarely there. I hang out at Slate’s or Emmie’s, weekends mostly at Slate’s seeing as Emmie’s mom usually has some kind of event or pageant scheduled for her. “I don’t know.” I shrug.
    He stops playing with the ball and looks at me. “What? You got something else going on?”
    “Well,” I set my glove on my hip, “Timmy Baxter did ask me out to the movies.”
    Slate’s face scrunches up. “Like on a date?”
    “I think so,” I say with a grimace.
    “And what are you going to do at the movies?”
    “Watch it, and maybe kiss,” I say, knowing that’s what most couples do at the movies.
    “Kiss!” His eyebrows lift. “Have you ever kissed a boy before?”
    “No.” I look down, kicking some dirt on the ground with my sneaker, suddenly feeling weird talking about this with Slate.
    “But you want to kiss Timmy Baxter?”
    “I don’t know.” I glance up at him. “Maybe.”
    He walks over to me. “Show me.” He drops his glove on the ground.
    “Show you what?”
    “How you’re gonna kiss Timmy Baxter.”
    “You want me to kiss you?”
    “Yeah.” He lifts his hand. “Here, show me on my hand.”
    “That’s stupid.”
    “Don’t you want to know if you’re doing it right?” He shoves his fist closer to my face. “Go on.”
    Never backing down from a challenge presented by Slate, I grab his balled hand and pull it up to my mouth. I close my eyes and press my lips against his warm skin. Opening my eyes, he’s curiously watching me. “Not too bad.” He drops his hand. “Now, let me show you how a boy’s supposed to kiss you.”
    “Okay.” I go to thrust out my hand, but he grabs it, yanks me against him, and lowers his head. He’s going to kiss me on the… Wow! His lips touch mine and those dormant butterflies come swarming into my belly. He pulls away with a smile. “And if he tries to stick his tongue in your mouth, knee him in the balls.”
    “You kissed me!”
    “Ah, it was just a peck.”
    “It was a kiss! Ow…I should knee you in the balls.”
    “What, you didn’t like it?”
    “You’re a jerk, Slate Declan.” I whack him in the chest with my glove. “I thought you were going to kiss my hand, too!”
    “Your hand is all dirty. Besides, I wanted to be sure I had gotten there before anyone else did.”
    “Got where,” I ask, and a smile ruffles his mouth. What is he talking about? He’s not making any sense, and darn it, my lips are still tingling where his mouth touched me. “I’m going home!”
    He starts laughing.
    “Jerk!” I stomp away.
    “Hey, Rayna,” he calls after me, still laughing.
    I flip around with a snarky, “What?”
    “Have fun on your date Saturday.”
    Three days later, when Slate opens his door with that stupid grin on his face, I could kick myself for coming.
    “Thought you were going to the movies tonight with Timmy Baxter?”
    “He took Cathy Miller.”
    He scowls, shaking his head. “Listen, I’m only going to tell you this once,” he says, resting his