Page 101 of The Heart Breaker

“Liar.” She’s smiling so hard. Goddamn, she’s gorgeous. “You knew the words by the end.”

“It was the same four words on repeat, Prescott. Not exactly a challenge.”

She rolls her eyes, still smiling, and before I can even register that she’s moving, she steps in, lifts onto her toes, and presses a quick kiss to my cheek.

It lasts for a second—less than that probably—but it catches me completely off guard, my body tensing as I blink down at her.

“Thank you,” she says, her voice softer than I’ve ever heard before, her cheeks turning pink.

The spot where her lips touched stays hot long after she pulls away. It’s stupid. It’s barely anything. Technically, she’s still following her precious no-kissing rule. But my heart still knocks against my ribs as if she did a hell of a lot more than brush her mouth to my cheek.

I clear my throat, force my shoulders loose, and take a step back. “C’mon,” I say, jerking my chin toward the exit. “Before you decide you need merch too and I have to sell a kidney.”

She laughs, her breath drifting out in little white clouds as we cross the lot toward my car.

As soon as we start driving, she plays their songs, tapping her fingers against her thigh and mouthing every word.

A few minutes pass before she glances over and narrows her eyes at me. “You’re not singing.”

My brow lifts. “I don’t sing.”

“You did at the concert,” she points out, which makes me scoff.

“Definitely didn’t.”

“I could hear you,” she says.

I shoot her a look. “You were too busy trying to fuck the lead singer with your eyes to hear me doing anything.”

She snorts. “He wishes.”

I huff out a laugh, loving how confident she is. She knows she’s hot, knows she’s a badass and is completely unapologetic about it.

My stomach grumbles when we approach a rest stop with a bunch of fast-food places, and I glance toward her. “You hungry?”

“I could eat,” she mutters with a shrug.

I pull into a greasy burger joint and we order at the drive-thru—two burgers, fries, and I add in a milkshake because I know just how much of a sweet tooth this girl has. We park and eat, and even with all this food, she still ends up stealing half my fries. I argue about it but ultimately let her have them, because apparently tonight I’m just doing whatever the hell Aurora wants.

By the time we get back to campus, it’s nearly two in the morning. I park, kill the engine, and turn my head, finding Aurora blinking at me through sleepy eyes.

“Wait.” She looks out the window, then back at me. “This isn’t my apartment.”

I scoff. “You’re observant.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. What are we doing at your apartment?”

I shrug. “You wanna stay over?”

Her brows go up and I can practically see her thoughts flash across her face. We spent every day together over the holidays,but once it got late, she always went back to her place. So I’m already bracing for her to shut me down again.

But then she lets out a breath, her shoulders loosening a little as she smiles up at me. “Okay.”

We head up the stairs together, and once we’re inside my apartment, I lock the door, kick off my boots, and toss my keys into the bowl by the door.

Aurora drops her bag onto the floor, makes it about three steps, and flops face-first onto my bed. “I’m so tired,” she mumbles into the blanket.

I let out a quiet snort and walk over, catching her ankle.