Page 46 of The Facade

“Okay.” I swallowed. “Just, um, just pretend we’re, I don’t know, at the falls and that you’re finally kissing me there like you’ve been teasing Carter about all this time.”

“Okay,” he said, letting out a low breath.

We looked at each other for a few seconds, and for the first time, I wondered if the thought of kissing me made him nervous, too.

“Should we just, um, go for it then?” he asked after a long moment, taking a slight step closer.

“Yeah.”

After another awkward pause where he seemed to look for any signs that I wanted to back out, he took another step closer and whispered, “Just don’t smack me.”

I knew he was just trying to lighten the moment, but I couldn’t laugh right now because my whole body pulsed with nerves. Even though I liked Ben and was doing this for a re-do with Ben, there had been a time when I’d dreamed about doing this very thing with Mack.

While I knew this practice kiss meant nothing to Mack, I really didn’t want to be bad at this with him, too.

He came even closer until we were toe to toe. After searching my eyes again for a sign that I wanted to run, he gently cupped my face in his hands and guided my lips to his.

The touch of his lips against mine surprised me at first—not because I hadn’t been expecting them, but because I hadn’t expected them to feel so soft when they slowly grazed against mine. And when he coaxed my mouth to move in rhythm with his, I was surprised by the butterflies that swarmed low in my belly and the heat that spread from the center of my body and out to my fingers and toes.

I didn’t really know what I was doing, since the few kisses I’d had before had only lasted a few seconds, but Mack didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to get this lesson over with. Instead, he slowly slid his fingers to the nape of my neck, curling them into my hair and whispering, “Is this what you wanted me to do?”

And even though we hadn’t gotten to the part where he was supposed to deepen the kiss and teach me how to respond, I found myself nodding and saying, “Yes. This is perfect.”

Because it was.

It actually felt really nice.

Better than I’d expected a kiss to feel from someone I didn’t currently have a crush on—so much better than my train wreck of a kiss with Ben.

“Am I doing okay?” I whispered back, wanting to make sure that I was responding correctly. If I was going to try this tomorrow with Ben, I really wanted to make sure the whole experience was better.

I felt Mack’s lips curl up into a half-smile against mine before he nodded and said, “You’re doing just fine, Cambrielle.”

“That’s good.” I sighed.

We kissed like that for a while, settling into an easy rhythm. And it felt nice. But after another minute, I started to wonder if Mack had forgotten the purpose of this practice kiss because so far, he was keeping his tongue a safe distance from mine.

He’d said something about not being the kind of guy to shove his tongue down a girl’s throat, which was probably how I actually preferred things myself. Else I wouldn’t have reacted the way I had with Ben. But since the purpose of this was to prepare me for my next kiss with Ben, I really did need to explore that side of kissing, didn’t I?

Otherwise this kiss would be for nothing.

“You’re distracted,” Mack said, pulling away. “Is something wrong? Are my kissing skills actually not on a pro level like you said and you want me to stop?”

“No, they’re fine,” I said. But when it looked like I’d offended him, I hurried to add, “They’re good. Um…yeah, I’m not complaining about your skills. It’s just that, I thought you were going to teach me to French kiss, and I don’t know I…” I let my voice drift off as I shrugged.

“You just want to get it over with?”

“Yeah.” I let out a shaky breath, searching his brown eyes. “I guess that’s what’s going on.”

He chuckled. “Are you expecting to hate it then?”

“Well, kind of.” I shrugged. “I mean, the last time someone French kissed me it didn’t exactly end well.”

“Which is why I was trying to work my way into it,” Mack said. “Give us time to get used to each other before I take you there.” He narrowed his eyes at me again. “But we can stop if you want. I don’t want to do this if it’s torture for you the whole time.”

I didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was something behind his words that I hadn’t expected.

Was it possible Mack was interpreting my impatience to mean that I thought the whole kiss had been a chore?

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