question,” Macy said, her desperate tone matching the intense worry in her eyes. She grabbed both of Genna’s hands, hanging on tight as if her body weight could anchor her to this spot. Since Genna was a lean, mean five-ten and Macy topped out at five-two, as anchors went, the girl wasn’t very effective.
“That’s not how the game is played,” Genna said, carefully extricating her hands, not wanting to hurt Macy but desperately wanting to be gone already.
She’d had no idea tonight’s slumber party would turn wild. Oh, sure, the potential was there. That’s why they always had sleepovers at Dina’s, because her mom fell asleep by ten and didn’t do spot breathalyzer inspections like Genna’s dad. It was easy to sneak out and do fun things. Like play truth or dare.
She’d figured on a fun weekend with three of her best friends, one of the last leading up to graduation. But she’d had no idea it would be this fun.
She needed to do this. Now, while the anticipation was still zinging through her system, making her feel brave enough to take on the world. Or, in this case, to take down the sexiest bad boy of Bedford, California.
She wanted Brody Lane.
But he had practically made a career of ignoring her existence.
Time to end that.
Class vice president, squad cheer captain and the daughter of one of the most influential men in town, at seventeen Genna was no stranger to attention. Her exotic looks, long silky black hair and sky-blue eyes ensured that she got plenty of male attention, and not only in her high school classes. Nope, even though they were three years her senior, her brother’s friends were always staring and flirting with her, too.
But she wasn’t interested in any of them.
Not the boys in school.
Not the guys her brother ran with.
Not until he’d started hanging out with Brody last winter.
For the first time in her charmed life, Genna was smitten. Hooked. Hot....
Over a guy who was deemed off-limits. Not only by her parents, who were ridiculously overprotective. But by the town itself, all of whom considered the Lanes just this side of the devil’s minions, and Brody as a hell-raiser with an overdue ticket to prison. Heck, even her brother, Joe, had told her not to be stupid when he’d caught her checking out Brody’s butt.
And Brody? He looked right through her as if she were made of cellophane. It wasn’t as though she expected everyone in the world to adore her. But the guy could drool a little when he saw her in shorts, couldn’t he? Or at least stare when he showed up to give Joe a ride and found Genna in a bikini, strategically washing her car.
But did he?
Noooo.
The guy acted as though she wasn’t even there.
Genna wasn’t the contrary sort. She’d never had to be. But no matter who told her or how many times, she couldn’t get Brody Lane out of her head.
So tonight, thanks to Dina’s dare, she was going to do something about it.
“Genna,” Macy pleaded, as if she were peeking into her best friend’s thoughts. “Don’t do this.”
“And be known as the girl who doesn’t meet her dares?” She’d rather be known as an ax-murdering floozy who wore designer knockoffs and ugly shoes.
“Maybe Macy’s right,” Sylvie said quietly, always ready to jump in as the voice of reason. “This isn’t like daring you to stand up in Mrs. Bellevue’s class and sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ while shaking your tail feathers. If your dad finds out, he’ll kill you.”
“He’ll kill us,” Macy intoned wisely, knowing full well that Sheriff Reilly was just as likely to punish any possible accomplices as he was the actual perpetrator.
“My dad’s not going to find out,” Genna said dismissively, the negligent wave of her hand stirring a tiny breeze in the sultry night air. Her father was too busy keeping the peace and freaking out over Joe’s latest escapade to pay any attention to what his little angel did.
“I hear he’s wild. He likes kinky stuff.”
She assumed Dina was talking about Brody now and not her dad.
“What kind of kinky stuff?” Twisting her carefully streaked blond hair around one finger, Sylvie sounded somewhere between fascinated and terrified.
Genna wasn’t between anything. She was smack-dab solid in determination. And feeling hot, of course.
“I dunno. But I’ll bet Genna can tell us tomorrow.” When Dina’s loud giggle earned her three glares, she slapped both hands over her mouth. But she didn’t stop laughing.
It was just nerves over being on the rougher side of town combined with a little too much hard lemonade. Or maybe she really thought it was funny that Genna was going to put all her virginal skills to use and seduce one of the baddest of the town’s bad boys.
“I don’t kiss and tell,” Genna decided. That sounded mysterious, didn’t it? And kinda sexy. Besides, she figured any kissing she did deserved to be savored. Which meant kept to herself, where the gossips and tattletales couldn’t whisper it around.
“You mean you don’t kiss or do anything else,” Dina corrected, rolling her big blue eyes.
“Dina,” Macy moaned, wringing her hands in a way that proved Genna’s assertion that her friend took far too many drama classes. “Don’t encourage her. She’ll do something crazy.”
“Oh, c’mon. It’s not like she’s really going to jump the guy,” Dina retorted. As usual, she’d picked the scariest dare she could think of when they were playing. She’d had no idea it was also her friend’s secret dream. “This is Genna. She’s gonna go in there, because it’s a dare and she can’t resist those. She’ll try to flirt, Luscious Lane will do his brick wall impersonation and it’ll all be over.”
“The dare was to kiss Brody Lane,” Sylvie pointed out quietly, casting a nervous glance toward the golden glow emanating from the garage light twenty feet away. “Genna’s not going in there unless she’s gonna follow through. You know that.”
Genna stood a little straighter, her chin a smidge higher at that character evaluation. She liked being known as a girl who followed through.
She looked toward the garage, the silhouette of a man working on a motorcycle. Since Brody’s dad, Brian, was working behind the counter and probably three-quarters to drunk at the bar next door, that meant it could only be his son in there.
Time to put up or shut up.
“If I’m not back in ten minutes, head home,” she instructed, fluffing her hair and slicking a coat of Racy Red on her lips, then tucking the tube into the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll call you in the morning.”
Before they could launch into warnings, cautions or any more stupid arguments, Genna hurried off. Her sandals made slapping sounds all the way to the garage like some kind of early-warning seduction device. She shot a quick glance back at her nervously
