Page 43 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Do what?” Confusion colored her features.

“The kisses.”

Her brows furrowed. “What kisses?”

“We were supposed to practice our kisses on the corner of the lips tonight. I asked about it earlier right after lunch, and you agreed. Remember?”

She stared back like a deer in headlights. She clearly forgot. Behind her eyes, I could see her reeling about what we agreed to during lunch. My stomach dropped a bit, taking me by surprise as well.

“Did you forget?” I asked.

Shoua cleared her throat softly as she averted her gaze back to our dinner. In a stiff voice, she answered, “Yeah, sorry about that. But why tonight?”

“Because we’re going to go out with everyone tomorrow. We’re going to have to fake our kisses on the lips at some point. I mentioned that earlier.”

“Right.” She gave me a rigid nod. It was clear she didn’t want to do it.

“You know what? Forget it. Maybe we can just do it tomorrow.” Or never. My whole body burned from the embarrassment. I should’ve probably never asked her to do such a thing. It was stupid of me to.

“No, we should do it after we brush our teeth after dinner.”

I shook my head. “If you want to be polite, why don’t we just wait until later before we go to bed?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep over again?” She let out a throaty groan of frustration.

“Why are you hurting me like this, Shoua?” I placed my hands dramatically over my chest with a pout, feigning disappointment and despair. “First, you forgot how we were supposed to practice kissing. Now you’re telling me you don’t want me to sleep over?”

She looked at me, amused. “You live right next door, Anthony.”

I smiled back. “Okay, fine. We’ll kiss later. Get it over with and then head to bed.”

“And you won’t sleep over?” she quickly clarified.

“Nope. I’ll head back home.” I nodded.

After dinner, I helped rinse the dishes and started the dishwasher. Afterwards, I didn’t bother sticking around. It seemed like Shoua wanted to wind down with some alone time with an episode of her cheesy Korean dramas, so I left her to it.

I was ecstatic to start a new furniture renovation project. I planned to strip down the thick, old, and yellowing white paint all over a vanity I recently found. After selling a dresser for 800 dollars last week, I was quickly out on the bend for another piece of furniture to refurbish. I found a beautiful 1920s vanity table for fairly cheap online and went out of my way to grab it before coming home today.

I headed to the garage, slathered on bug repellent, and started going to town after testing if there were any traces of lead in the paint before I sanded it down. There was no lead, and I spent a good few hours on that baby before I got a text. I didn’t bother checking my notifications over the loud music booming through my wireless earbuds. That was until I got a call.

“Hello?” I answered, slightly irritated anyone would dare interrupt my workflow.

“It’s about time you stop for the night, Anthony,” Shoua said. I walked out of my garage to see her peeking out from her living room window.

I smirked. “Sounds like someone’s excited for some good night kisses.”

“It’s almost eleven.” Her matter-of-fact voice made me cackle hard.

I checked the digital clock on my tool bench in the back. Turned out she was right. “I’ll be over in twenty minutes.”

The moment I got to her place after a refreshing shower and brushing my teeth, I was surprised to see a half-filled wine glass on the coffee table. She even had a few candles burning.

“C’mon, Shoua, don’t tell me you’re trying to set the mood?” I teased, picking up the glass of wine and finishing it in one gulp. It was a sweet red, as expected.

She scoffed. “No, I was simply setting the mood for myself to go to sleep. Besides, there’s no way I can kiss you sober.”

I winced as I reached out for her. “You sure have a way of hurting me today. First, I come home from a long day at work to you forgetting about the agreement we made during lunch—which I brought you. Now this? Why do you keep doing this to me, hm? Hurting me and twisting my heart around your finger like this.”

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