Love & Light by Michele Shriver Page B

that kind of guy.”
    “What kind of guy is that?” I ask as I cock my head to the side. I sure am full of questions all of the sudden.
    “Some horny guy who only wants to get in your pants.” He rubs his hands on his jeans and faces me. “I was serious when I said I wanted to get to know you. Spend time with you. I don’t sleep around, Kori.”
    I bite my bottom lip. “So Amanda was—”
    “A mistake,” Landon says quickly. “The first, the only, girl I slept with, and it’s because she was hot and she wanted me and I wanted to see what it was all about.”
    “Completely natural and understandable,” I say. I don’t think much of Amanda, but I decide I’m not going to judge him on that.
    “Have you?” he asks. “I mean...”
    His voice trails off, but I know exactly what he’s asking, and I wonder how, exactly, this conversation turned to one of our sexual history. It did, though, and he’s been open with me, so I owe him the same. “No,” I say. “Close, but not quite.” I don’t offer details, and I hope he doesn’t ask.
    He nods. “Okay.” He looks a little embarrassed, like he’s not sure how we got into this discussion either. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I’m not... I don’t want to rush anything. I’m not just looking to get laid.”
    “I didn’t think you were.” I reach out and take his hand. “I never thought that about you, Landon. I’ve told you before. You’re sweet.”
    “There’s that word again.” He rolls his eyes, like he’s frustrated by it or something, but I notice he’s smiling too.
    “It’s a good word,” I say. “And it’s a good thing. It’s okay to be sweet. I like sweet.”
    “If you say so...” He takes a breath and changes the subject. “What do you say we finish this picnic, then head back down the mountain? There’s some stuff I want to show you on the way down.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
    ~Kori~
    I see why Landon wanted to leave so early this morning. Hiking Mount Monadnock is definitely a full-day adventure. We take our time heading back down the mountain, stopping to take some pictures and even going off the main trail for a bit to check out the falcon spring, which leads to a kiss and a selfie in front of the spring.
    I laugh as Landon holds out his phone to show me. “If that ends up on Facebook, I might have to hurt you,” I jokingly threaten. Something unusual occurs to me as I look at the picture, though. The girl in it looks different than the one I’m used to seeing in the mirror. She looks happy. She looks like she’s having a good time. She looks like she enjoys life.
    “I wouldn’t do that,” Landon promises, and I believe him. He does tap at his phone display though, and a second later my own phone chimes. “There. I just sent it to you.”
    I pull my phone out of my jacket pocket, and sure enough, he texted the picture to me. “Thank you.”
    “Just in case you’re feeling down sometime, you might want to remember this moment,” he says, as if reading my earlier thoughts.
    “Thanks,” I say again, but resist the urge to say it’s sweet of him because I know he’s not crazy about that word.
    I’m tired by the time we get back to his car and toss our stuff in the back seat, but it’s a good kind of tired. It’s been a full day of adventure, but I’ve enjoyed all of it and never thought once about missing my mom, or any of the other sort of negative thoughts I sometimes get bogged down with.
    “When I planned out this day, I thought we’d go to a sit-down restaurant around here for a nice dinner,” Landon says. “And I’m still totally down with that if you are. Or we can just grab something to go and drive back to Plymouth, since it will take a couple hours.”
    I glance at the time on my phone, surprised that it’s already past six. “Would you be terribly offended if I said to go?”
    He shakes his head. “Not at all. It’s probably best, given the time. Besides, we’ll have other