Page 20 of That Kiss

“Why don’t you sleep here and I can just take you home in the morning?”

“Because I want to sleep in my bed and wake up in my house,” she says with a look like I’m an idiot for not understanding her. I don’t bother arguing or even trying to seduce her back into bed when she scurries out of the room and downstairs to retrieve the clothes she left along the way.

Maybe it’s her eagerness to get out of here as fast as she can, but this didn’t unfold the way I thought it would at all. I expected her to want to stay—to cuddle against me and kiss me—telling me how long she’s wanted this. Instead, she’s practically sprinting out of my house without so much as a post-fuck kiss.

I groan and stand up, stepping into my jeans, not bothering with underwear or socks for the drive over to her house. I attempt to put on my best smile and not let this ruin the post-orgasm bliss, especially considering who it was with, but it does little to no good to help. I can feel my tension ratcheting up with each passing second. Once in the car, I clench my jaw, my shoulders higher than usual as my grip tightens on the steering wheel.

“Thanks,” she finally says after a few moments of complete silence. “I, um, yeah, thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I say curtly, keeping my eyes on the road.

Why the fuck does this suddenly feel like a favor I did for her? Like I took her virginity after some agreement so she can move forward with her life?

I shake the thought from my head, telling myself she wouldn’t do that. It’s just awkward because we’re friends who just had sex—hot, headboard-slamming-against-the-wall sex that’s now going to fuck me up forever.

Hell, I can’t even get the memory of our first kiss out of my head, and I hope to God I never do, because now that I’ve tasted her and had her, there’s not a chance in hell I’m walking away from Juniper Riley.

Chapter 10

Juniper

“Ihope you had a fun birthday celebration.”

Deck’s voice is low and thick, his face only coming into view when we pass beneath a streetlight. He keeps his gaze forward, his arm out straight as his hand rests on top of the steering wheel. My thighs squeeze together, sending a flutter of delicious soreness rippling through my body.

“I did, thank you.” I remind myself to stop saying that. “I had so much fun dancing, and it was great seeing everyone again. Feels like everyone’s usually so busy with babies now that it’s hard to get everyone together.”

“Yeah.”

I sit in silence again, holding myself back from telling him to turn the truck around and take me back to his place, or ask if he’d want to spend the night at my house since my parents are still out of town. But then that feeling comes back: the one where I feel like I’m pretending to play grown-up.

It’s not that I don’t want to spend the night with Decker. I want it more than anything, but I know that with my feelings for him, I would have let myself believe it was more than it was. Even if he’d held me all night, I know that as soon as the light of day shone through those curtains, the illusion would be shattered and regret would fill his eyes. So I took the easy way out.

The gravel crunches beneath the tires of his truck as he rolls to a stop in the driveway, placing the truck in park and looking over at me.

“Thanks again for the ride and the?—”

“Juniper.” His voice stays low, his arm extended down the back of the seat.

“Let’s just leave it as it is,” I say before he can tell me it was a mistake. “A fun night between friends. Got each other out of our systems and whatnot.” I flash him a mischievous grin and laugh, grabbing my purse and opening the passenger door. “Good night.” I wave, sliding off of the seat and bounding up the stairs to my back porch and ducking inside before I let out a ragged breath.

Once I’m alone, I let out the biggest, silliest squeal before running upstairs and flopping onto my bed—the same bed I laid in all those years secretly pining for Decker Slade. But for the first time, I don’t want to run to my friends and tell them. I want to keep it inside—a sacred, private moment between us that I will cherish forever.

“Good morning!” There’s an extra singsong note in my voice this morning that I can’t seem to hide.

“Is it though?” Izzy grumbles, reaching excitedly for the box of donuts I drop onto her desk. “Well, now it is.”

I don’t normally need Izzy to work Saturday mornings, but she agreed since we are transitioning over to a new payroll system.

“It’s beautiful out, birds are chirping, and we only have a half-day today, so that’s pretty amazing.”

“Is that really why?” She takes a huge bite of a pink-frosted donut and sighs. “Or did you hook up with one of the hotties from your party last night?” She snort-laughs when my head whips around to look at her.

“What?”

“Yeah, I heard you were dancing with some sexy tourists last night after I left.” She chews her donut, her eyes focused on me like she expects me to say yes.

“No!” I say a little too enthusiastically. “No, I just danced with them, had some shots.”

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