Page 15 of My First Time Fling

“Run faster and you won’t have to hear me anymore,” Mark said with a malicious grin. “Bulldogs also can’t swim. So don’t take ‘em on a plane or anywhere near water unless you want them to drown.”

“Literally,whatis wrong with you?”

“A bulldog’s breathing problems are so bad that—”

I sprinted.

I didn’t wait for him to finish, didn’t want to know what horrible factoid was waiting for me at the end of that sentence. I just took off, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. But for all of Mark’s teasing about me being in better shape, it was clear I couldn’t actually outpace him. Making for the tower at a dead run, he was still at my heels, reciting depressing facts as he went.

I stumbled, reached out, and grazed the tower, just barely touching it with my fingers before I collapsed on the grass below. Oh God, I had a cramp. I was breathing about as well as a bulldog right now.

I lay on my back trying to catch my breath and pictured myself drifting out to sea on a piece of plywood. Dying didn’t actually sound so bad right now. At least the north Atlantic would be cold, with all those icebergs.

Mark reached the tower a few seconds after me and turned, walking over to where I lay in the grass. I squinted up at him, trying to block the sunlight with an arm across my face. It was hard to be certain, over the sound of blood rushing through my ears, but I was pretty sure he was laughing at me.

“I can’t believe that worked!” he crowed, looking down at me. He had his hands on his hips, a giant smile plastered across his face. He didn’t even look winded. Completely unfair.

“And I can’t believe you could be that cruel,” I said, my chest still heaving. “What did you do, stay up all night last night, researching bulldogs?”

“And I’m not even the littlest bit embarrassed about it,” Mark said, his eyes flashing.

“You should be, you nerd.”

“First I’m a jock, now I’m a nerd? Make up your mind.”

“How am I supposed to do that when you’re so mysterious about your background?”

Oof, that had come out more sour than I’d intended. It was true that I didn’t know that much about Mark, despite the fact that I felt like he knew everything about me. But he seemed so uncomfortable talking about his life in Chicago, and I didn’t want to make him feel bad.

“I bet you’re a secret bulldog trainer,” I added, dialing back from what seemed like dangerous waters.

“You’ll never find out if you spend the rest of your life collapsed on the ground like that.”

I noted with some relief that he was smiling. Crisis averted.

“You know, it’s very hard to be me,” I said with my most put-upon voice. “It’s not enough to have to run eight miles, nearly all of which was uphill, but I have to put up with you while I do it.”

“You’re right, you’re a saint.” Mark grinned, and I couldn’t resist—I reached out with one of my legs, intending to give him a nudge. But my body apparently hadn’t started working again yet, so I ended up tangling my foot in between his, and suddenly Mark was falling down on top of me.

He put his arms on either side of my body to break his fall and came to a stop with his chest just inches from mine.

“Did you seriously just fall into a push-up?” I asked, looking from side to side at his biceps. “Who does that?”

But he didn’t answer, and when I looked back at his face, he was staring at me with an inscrutable look. Those green eyes of his were wide and wondrous.

This close, I could see where they were flecked with blue and gold. I could have looked into them forever, could have gotten lost in them and died happy. In fact, I did get lost for a moment, and all the while, Mark just held himself there. Watching me.

“Hi,” I said quietly. My heart was beating a mile a minute in my chest, but this time, it had nothing to do with running. He was so close. I could feel the heat of his body in the air between us, and if I arched my back just slightly, I knew that we would touch.

“Hi,” he said.

And then he kissed me.

My eyes widened in surprise, trying to make sense of what was happening. Was this real? I must have imagined this a thousand times already in the few weeks that I’d known Mark, but I never thought—

But no, it was real. His eyes were closed, and his lips were on mine, and I was being an idiot, lying there frozen in shock. Time to snap out of that before he changed his mind.

I closed my eyes and gave into the kiss. Not that it was hard. Mark’s lips were soft and smooth. He was hesitant at first, but I pressed against him and opened my mouth to encourage him, and it didn’t take him long. His tongue slid across my lips, then pushed between them, and I lost myself in the velvet sweetness, letting him explore my mouth.

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