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feel like you didn’t have to leave town to find what you needed. Plus, that was what Internet shopping was for, anyway, right?

    “That doesn’t answer my question,” he said, the corner of his mouth pulling up into that fantastic, crooked smile.

    That threw me and I had to compose myself. “I believe it was my question first and the answer is: Yes, I like it here,” I said, smiling at his humor.

    He gave me a mischievous smile that sent tingles through my body. While he was taking a drink from his water bottle, I said, “So, are you a green?” He kind of choke-laughed and he looked at me with an eyebrow raised like I was crazy. That was debatable.

    “What does that mean?” he asked after clearing his throat.

    “Green, you know, like eco-friendly.” Holy crap . I felt like I was grasping at straws to think of things to talk about. Why didn’t I just ask about the weather while I was at it?

    “Oh, I understand,” he said, smiling at me again, and I noticed a little dot of blood on his bottom lip. He must have bitten himself when he choked. “You’ve got to think about the environment,” he added, grinning at me and tapping his bottle in understanding.

    “You must’ve bitten yourself. You have a little blood on your lip,” I said, pointing to my bottom lip as an example.

    His smile slowly faded. He wiped his bottom lip with his fingertips and looked at them. I so wanted to do it for him. Then I noticed a trickle of blood running down the side of his water bottle. “You must’ve bitten yourself pretty badly; it’s on your water bottle, too.”

    He quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing his water bottle. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go wash this off.”

    I didn’t want to miss a moment with him. “Why not just use the water in the bottle to rinse it off?”

    He was already walking away, but he looked back and said with a brilliant smile, “That wouldn’t be very sanitary, now would it?”

    Good point. He wasn’t gone long. He returned with his clean water bottle and that belly-turning, heart-stopping smile.

    The sunlight hit his hair just right and picked up the natural golden highlights. It only added to his gorgeousness. “You okay?” I managed to ask.

    “Of course,” he said, giving me a little smile that made me forget everything else.

    He sat in the shade with me again, a little closer this time, close enough that I could smell him. He even smelled incredible. Whatever he was wearing was fantastic. It was comforting and intoxicating at the same time. This boy was going to do me in. I was lost in his wonderful aroma when music coming from somewhere nearby brought me back.

    It was Justin Timberlake’s “ SexyBack .” The song was cut short as Oliver hastily answered his phone.

    I stared at him, completely shocked. Between the look on his face and that song, I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh. I stifled it, but I was sure he had heard it.

    “You are in so much trouble! I’ll talk to you later,” he said into the phone and then hung up.

    I stared at him with my eyebrows raised and my lips pierced together, not knowing what to say, but on the verge of laughter.

    He smiled awkwardly and seemed almost embarrassed. “Sorry for the interruption.”

    Then I blurted out, “Seriously?! That’s your ring tone?” I couldn’t help laughing—hard.

    He let out a short, sharp laugh and it was the best sound I had ever heard. “My niece finds it funny to mess with my phone.”

    It took me a moment, but I settled down. “You have a niece? How old is she?”

    “She’s thirteen.”

    “So, you have a sibling?” I had always wanted a sibling—or even parents, at that. You always want what you don’t have. But I had Aunt Lilly and I guessed she was the best of both worlds.

    “I actually have three.”

    Wow! “Are you all pretty close?”

    “I see my older sister and my niece quite often.” Then he paused and looked down, picking at the