Return to You by Samantha Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

one that had been taken from her had been her dream.
    A tear rolled down her cheek as she finally drifted off to sleep.
    * * *
    â€œHey! Pull the car over, that’s my cousin over there.” From the backseat of her tiny Honda, Selena’s friend Kent called out the favor. “Let’s see if he wants to join us for lunch. The more the merrier, right?” Kent said as she pulled over.
    Selena rolled her eyes behind her pink sunglasses. “Sure,” she said politely, all the while wondering where they were going to fit a sixth person in the already overcrowded car. They all took turns driving at lunch, and with barely forty-five minutes to get back and forth to the local pizza place, making an unscheduled stop to cram a complete stranger in the car seemed like a colossal waste of time. And Selena hated to waste time.
    Everyone was talking at once, and when Selena pulled to a stop and saw the person in question walking toward the car, her mouth went dry. “Wait, who is this?” she asked the group as a whole.
    â€œMy cousin James. He’s staying with us for a while. You met him, didn’t you? Last month at Ryan’s party?”
    Selena shook her head. “That must have been when I was in Florida with my family.” Jen was riding shotgun and rolled down the window as James approached and crouched down to look in the car. In that moment, Selena found herself staring into the deepest, brownest eyes she had ever seen. He gave a wide, sexy smile before greeting everyone.
    â€œI didn’t know you were working in the area,” Kent said. “We’re just heading to lunch. Wanna join us?”
    â€œI didn’t realize the high school let you guys leave for lunch,” James said, his eyes wandering back to Selena’s.
    â€œWe only get like forty-five minutes,” Jen said, her tone bordering on gushing.
    He nodded. “Hi, I’m James,” he said, looking directly at Selena.
    She actually felt herself blush. “So I heard from all of the…the, uh…” Rather than continue to babble, she just gestured to the car as a whole.
    â€œSo what do you say?” Kent asked. “You in?”
    â€œSorry, not today. I can’t get away right now, but thanks. I’ll see you guys around.” With that, they had all been dismissed as James turned and walked away. Selena felt suddenly all alone, as if all the air had been sucked out of her little sedan. It wasn’t until Kent cleared his throat that Selena remembered what their original plan had been and put the car in gear and headed into town for lunch.
    â€œYou’re awfully quiet, Selena,” Jen said as soon as they sat down with their lunch.
    â€œSorry. I guess I just got lost in my own head there for a few minutes.”
    â€œYou were thinking about James, right?”
    Selena’s head snapped up. “What? What are you talking about? Why would you even suggest that?”
    â€œBecause he’s hot, that’s why. What I wouldn’t give for just an hour alone with him!” Jen fanned herself with a napkin as she waggled her eyebrows. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s a bit older than we are, and I’m sure he has better things to do than to hang out with a bunch of high schoolers, but he’s a really nice guy.”
    â€œHow much older?” Selena asked, doing her best to sound nonchalant.
    â€œI think Kent said he was twenty-one. Still…if he wanted to hang out with me, I wouldn’t say no!” Jen teased as she took a bite of her pizza. “What about you?”
    â€œMe?” Selena squeaked. “I really haven’t given it much thought. After all, I only saw him for a second.”
    Everyone arrived at the table and the conversation turned to the upcoming football game, the history quiz they were all taking when they got back from lunch, and plans for the weekend. Selena was relieved by the interruption. She took a bite of