His throat went tight. “You sure?”
She nodded. “I need to practice being sixteen. Now’s a good time to start.”
His fingers tightened around her hand. In the distance he could see Ruth giving him a thumbs-up, and he grinned.
Best summer ever.
Epilogue
Via didn’t do nature. But apparently that didn’t matter. She stared at the old oak tree growing up the side of Hudson’s house, brushing against his bedroom window. She was back early after her parents, in a surprise to everyone, announced they wanted to go home to some creature comforts. Thank goodness that sanity was returning to them.
Her first instinct had been to text Hudson, but she’d decided to make it a surprise.
Climb up to his window, she’d told herself.
Be all romantic and adorable.
Except climbing wasn’t adorable. It was hard work.
But he was worth it.
She took a deep breath. “Okay, tree. I’m going to climb you, and I’d really appreciate it if you made it easy for me. I’m not great at these things.”
Unsurprisingly, the tree didn’t answer, but someone else did.
“Which is probably a good reason to use the front door.”
She spun around to where Hudson was leaning against the doorframe looking all kinds of gorgeous. Her heart pounded as he walked toward her. No crutches, just a slight limp. He was wearing a white T-shirt that did wicked things to his caramel eyes, and his mouth was in a full smile.
“I thought it would be cute and fun,” she protested.
“In my experience that isn’t always the case,” he said and lifted his ankle. Then he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the ground as his mouth found hers. Butterflies pressed against her chest as she breathed him in.
“Hey,” she said when they broke away and he lowered her down.
“Hey, yourself. I thought I was seeing things when I looked out the window.”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Consider it a success,” he murmured, kissing her again. But this time when they broke away, he let go of her waist and fumbled in the back pocket of his shorts. “By the way, I got this for you.”
“We’re doing presents?” She took the small cardboard box he was holding.
“I figured we could do whatever we wanted. And I wanted to do this. Is that cool?”
She pressed her lips together and grinned. “Depends on what it is. Zac once gave me a cockroach for a prank.”
“No bugs. I swear.”
Her hands shook as she lifted the lid off. Inside was a silver necklace with a delicate triangle on it. At each point was a tiny star.
It was a constellation.
“Vega, Altair, Deneb.” She let out a breathy sigh. “The summer triangle. Hudson, I love it. Thank you.”
He gave her a shy smile as his eyes held hers. “Summer’s been amazing. I can’t wait to see what fall, winter, and spring are like.”
“I could show you.” Then she stood up on her toes and kissed him.
Looking for your next read in the How to Kiss series?
How to Kiss a Bad Boy READ NOW IN KU
How to Kiss Your Crush READ NOW IN KU
Also by Amanda Ashby
HOW TO KISS A BAD BOY
A girl with a plan. A guy with a past. And a summer that could change everything.
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Hargreaves has her summer all figured out. Work at her aunt’s retro food truck, and have her first kiss with the cute guy from the surf shop. It’s foolproof. Until her aunt hires local bad boy, Jackson Lang to help out. Sure he’s cute. Okay, really cute. But Frankie knows what guys like him are like. All she needs to do is ignore him and stick to the plan. How hard can it be?
Jackson’s always lived in the shadow of his father’s criminal past, and is used to the world judging him. Which is just fine. He’s happy to keep to himself and look out for his mom and kid sister. That way he can’t be disappointed. Problem is the longer he works with the gorgeous Frankie, the more he starts to think perhaps there’s a chance for him to have a different life.
Jackson isn’t the only one falling hard, but after two dates things get complicated and Frankie soon discovers her first perfect kiss might just lead to her first painful heartbreak.
READ NOW IN KU
HOW TO KISS YOUR CRUSH
He's way out of her league.
Sixteen-year-old activist, Norah Richmond wants to save the world, one toilet at a time. Problem is it’s hard to get people interested in helping with sanitation in struggling countries, and the fundraising is going badly. Until her crush, Zac Mackenzie literally crashes into her life.
Everyone knows he’s a serial flirt, but when he offers to help out, she agrees because it’s all about the big picture. There’s just one little hitch. In exchange he needs her to be his fake girlfriend.
Soccer star, Zac’s having a really bad day. Benched by the coach, he needs to prove he’s reformed. And what better way to do it than with a brand new girlfriend? Plus if it means he can help Norah to save the world, that’s even better.
He soon discovers there’s more to the unassuming Norah than he knew. Problem is she only sees him as one of her projects. And for the for the first time in his life, Zac realizes he’s playing a game he can’t possibly win.
READ NOW IN KU
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Thank you so much for reading How to Kiss Your Enemy. I had so much fun writing this book, and I really hope you enjoyed Via and Hudson’s story.
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