Kiss Me Like This
Page 11

She laughed, realizing with no little surprise just how easy he was to talk to. And to kiss, a little voice inside her head reminded her. But she shouldn’t be thinking about kissing Sean right now. Not when she was enjoying their conversation so much that it no longer seemed completely impossible that she might actually be making a friend.
A really hot friend.
“I’d love to hear about the rest of them.”
“Grant is twenty-five, and never lets any of us forget he’s the oldest. His office is actually not far from where we’re having pizza, near a bunch of other high-tech companies.”
“That must be nice that he’s still in the area.”
“It is, though we haven’t seen much of him since he founded Collide.”
“He started Collide? The social networking company with the tagline When Worlds Collide?”
“Yup, that’s Grant’s company.”
She knew she was sounding like a dork, first with how she’d goggled over his rock-star brother, and now how stunned she was to learn that Sean’s oldest brother had founded one of the fastest-rising social networking companies in the world.
“That’s amazing.”
“It is. But,” he said with another grin, “if you tell him I said that, he’d probably have shirts printed up with the word amazing and his face on them. So let’s just keep that between us, okay?”
Since she seriously doubted she’d ever get the chance to meet Grant Morrison, she wasn’t particularly worried about breaking Sean’s confidence.
“Drew is the next oldest, and then my sister Olivia. She’s a senior here, majoring in Education.”
“Are you all geniuses?”
“Olivia definitely is,” he said with a fondness that told Serena just how much he admired his older sister. “Although my brother Justin’s brains pretty much put all of us in the dust. He’s also on campus, doing a double major in Biology and Robotic Engineering. He got all the brains in our twin cave, but I’m okay with that.”
“Twins?” Her mind reeled trying to imagine a second guy who looked as good as Sean walking around campus. No doubt just seeing them together in one place would make a girl’s brain melt out her ears. “Are you two close the way they say twins are?”
“Yup, we get along pretty well, probably because we’re so different and rarely compete for the same stuff. Although, he’s one hell of a baseball player.”
In the week since she’d met—and kissed—Sean at the frat party, Serena had learned that Sean was a junior and the star first baseman and hitter on the Stanford baseball team. Funny, she thought as they crossed at a traffic light, he spoke so easily about his family but hadn’t yet mentioned anything about his own achievements. Wouldn’t most guys have bragged about themselves by now?
“Does Justin also play on the Stanford team?”
Sean raised an eyebrow at her also, as if to say, So you do know something about me, huh?
She blushed in confirmation as he told her, “Nope. He’d rather spend hours geeking out in a lab than standing in the outfield waiting for someone to hit a fly ball in his direction.”
“Do you guys have that twin sense you hear about in movies? You know, where one of you cuts himself and the other feels it?”
Sean laughed. “No, thank God. Although, sometimes I do feel like I can read his mind. Especially when it comes to this girl, Taylor, that he’s been friends with forever and is secretly in love with. He’s so frustrated, it’s sad.”
“If he’s in love with her, why doesn’t he let her know how he feels?” She was surprised to find herself asking such a personal question, but Sean made it so easy. “Is it because he’s afraid to ruin their friendship just in case it doesn’t work out?”
“Maybe. Or maybe she’s made it clear that she’s just not interested.”
“Do you think she’s not interested?”
He thought about it for a second. “Taylor is a cute girl, but all up in her head like Justin. She’s pretty nervous around guys.” He shrugged again. “Heck, who knows if she’s even been on a date before.”
Serena tucked her head down just in case Sean might guess from just looking at her reaction that she’d never been on a date before, either. Maybe she’d have to go look this Taylor up and the two of them could bond over their utter cluelessness around men.
Especially the Morrison twins.
“And then there’s my sister, Maddie. She’s still in high school, graduating this year.” He shook his head. “She’s a little spitfire. Not to mention too smart, too talented, and too pretty for her own good. We all try to watch out for her to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble, but it’s hard now that we’re not at home with her anymore.”
Sean opened the door to the small pizza place and they stepped into what had to be the best smelling restaurant on the planet. “What do you like on your pizza?”
Pizza was one of the many menu items at the top of her mother’s Do Not Ever Eat list. But, what the heck? If Serena was going to eat pizza, she might as well do it right. “Everything.”
He looked momentarily surprised and then pleased as he said, “Two slices with everything. And two Cokes.”
The restaurant was small, with only a handful of scratched-up Formica tables. A couple of minutes later when they were sitting down with the biggest pieces of pizza she could have imagined in front of them, she said, “Your brothers and sisters all sound amazing. I’ll bet your parents are great, too, aren’t they?”
Suddenly, that same pain she’d seen in his eyes on the dance floor at the party flashed through them again.
She instinctively reached out to him. “Sean?” His arm was warm beneath her hand. “What happened?”
His expression had already shuttered, but he told her, “You’re right, my parents are great.” He swallowed before amending it to, “Were great. My dad is still around,” he clarified. “He works in real estate, gives out loans to people. It’s my mom.” He inhaled a breath that she could see shook him. “She passed away three months ago from breast cancer.”
“Oh Sean, I’m so sorry.”
“I am, too. She was great. A schoolteacher. Third grade. Everyone misses her.”