Page 19 of Nothing Left to Lose

I didn’t want him to panic. “Okay.”

He shook his head and stood up to his full height, and when he looked at me again, he laughed. “So much for practice.”

“I think we practiced pretty well.”

He laughed again and ran his hand through his hair. “Pretty sure we don’t need to kiss like that in front of anyone.”

I shrugged. “Unless you wanna start an OnlyFans,” I said. His gaze shot to mine and I laughed. “Just kidding.”

He sighed and discretely tried to adjust his junk. He clearly thought it was as hot as I did.

For his sake, I pretended not to notice. “So, in the race of regret, anticipation, and what the fuck, which one’s in front?”

He gently banged the back of his head on the wall a time or two. “Uh, what the fuck is definitely in the front.”

I took his hand and led him to the sofa. “As long as regret and awkward aren’t in the running, we’ll be fine.”

He sat with a noticeable distance between us. “I wasn’t aware awkward was even in the race.”

I looked at the space between us. “It’s not supposed to be.”

He groaned. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“I kissed you first, and?—”

“And I kissed you back, so we’re even.”

He stayed silent for a bit, clearly trying to process.

“So,” I hedged. “First time kissing a guy?”

“Yep.”

“And?”

He balked and his cheeks flushed pink. “Uh . . . It was . . . fine.”

“You said I could kiss.”

He groaned and put his hands over his face. “Shut up, I was embarrassed.”

“I’m going to use that against you forever now.”

He tried to hit me with a cushion but I took it. “You said I could kiss too,” he countered.

“And I meant it. I know now why Jessica Whitmore followed you around for a year. You kissed her, and that was it for her.Poor girl. I should message her and apologize.” I put my hand to my chest. “Now that I know what you’re capable of.”

He glowered at me. “Not funny, Miller.”

I snorted and tossed the cushion back at him. “Yeah, but now it’s not awkward between us.”

And that was the truth. I could make jokes and ease the tension. If I left it up to him, he’d be spiraling right now. Whereas I was used to shelving my emotions when it came to him. I’d been doing it most of my life.

He shook his head and licked his lips, and I wondered if he could taste our kiss.

“If you wanna talk about it...” I murmured.

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