Page 110 of The Snowball Effect

Deflating – it was jarring, this intense come-down after such a ground-shaking kiss – Regan dropped her hands listlessly to the couch cushions next to her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going… to see my gram. That’s where I’m going. And when I come home – things are going to be normal,” Emma insisted, slowly backing away from Regan. As if she was worried that Regan would pounce on her or something.

In fairness, Regan could admit that she’d felt very close to pouncing on Emma only minutes ago.

“Emma–” She tried again, feeling the desperate need to at least try to explain herself.

She realized she had no idea what possible explanation she could offer that would make Emma feel better. Which kind of made having a conversation moot.

“Normal,” Emma repeated darkly before she turned on her heel and hurriedly walked away. She walked out of the living room, down the hall, pausing for only a few seconds – presumably grabbing her keys and wallet from the entryway table, and a pair of sandals from the shoe rack – before the front door opened and closed.

Regan fell back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “Idiot,” she whispered derisively at herself. “What iswrongwith you?”

She’d finally – finally – found this footing with Emma. And then, in a moment of action-first thoughts-later, she’d ruined it. Typical Regan.

God, she really hoped she hadn’t ruinedeverything, hoped all of this progress they’d made as friends and roommates wasn’t completely flushed down the drain over one simple kiss.

One simple kiss…

She reached her hand up, lightly brushing her fingertips over her lips. One simple kiss that had totally rocked her world. Onesimple kiss that left Regan aching for more. One simple kiss that left her feeling far more than any other kiss she’d ever experienced.

Oh, boy.

sixteen

Emma’s handwas still trembling slightly as she determinedly shut the apartment door behind her.

She only got a few steps away, though, before the steam that had been fueling her started to dissipate. Whatever post-kiss fueled energy that had sparked through her – or maybe it was energy sparkedfromthat kiss? – zapped out of her, leaving her standing in the hallway a few feet away from the elevator.

But she couldn’t force her feet to move any farther.

No, she felt like she was stuck here, in this spot, as her mind and body reeled from what had just happened.

Regan hadkissedher.

There had been no mistaking it, no way to brush it off as some sort of insane accident. Emma’s mind had already tried that in the last five minutes. But no. Regan had gripped Emma’s hand, taken a deep breath, and closed the gap between them on the couch. There was intent.

Her hand still tingled where Regan had held it, a physical reminder for Emma. As if she needed it when she could still very much feel the phantom sensation of Regan’s lips on hers. Those plush lips that had caught Emma’s attention so many times before – she didn’t need to harbor a crush on Regan to think thather mouth was incredibly sexy – had just been against Emma’s own.

Unthinkingly, she lifted her hand to her chest, where her heart was still beating too fast to be normal. Her heart rate had gone through the roof when Regan’s mouth had met hers, and it still hadn’t slowed completely down. Much like the fluttering sensation in her stomach hadn’t quite stopped.

It wasn’t a feeling Emma was familiar with. Had this happened with Felicity? With the few other people she’d kissed before?Probably, she told herself, even though she couldn’t quite recall it. Which, she decided, made sense. Of course, her memories of past kisses were a little hazy right now, in the immediate aftermath of what was absolutely the most shocking kiss of her life.

But now that she had some space and wasn’t surrounded by Regan’s scent, now that Regan wasn’t looking at her with big, dark eyes, and Emma couldn’t get tripped up by the way Regan’s lips looked all freshly kissed – slightly bruised, entirely too appealing – Emma was able to grasp onto some clarity.

Only,claritywasn’t quite so clear.

Because she just… she couldn’t understand. She didn’t understand.

As she stood in the hallway, staring at the elevators but unable to bring herself to continue walking toward them, Emma tried desperately to make sense of what transpired.

She’d walked into the living room, not expecting to see Regan home. She’d gone out this morning while Emma had been in the shower, and Emma… well, she’d been a little disappointed. Because Regan’s schedule informed Emma that Regan wasn’t going to the café until this evening.

She’d been hoping they’d be able to finish the season ofThe Onethey’d been bingeing, honestly. But she’d known the minuteshe opened the bathroom door that Regan wasn’t home; the apartment had been dead silent.

Which – was totally fine, Emma had reasoned with herself. Because she had a ton of stuff she could do. She could answer work emails, read, and work on her latest book review. All valuable uses of her time.

And yet, she’d felt an undeniable zap of excitement when she’d seen Regan lying on the couch after having quietly returned home. Wow, Emma couldn’t believe that it had only been thirty minutes ago; it felt like a lifetime.

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