Page 66 of The Prospect

I flash her a faint smile. “How could I not?”

Gently, she leans her head back into the brick, running her tongue temptingly along her bottom lip. “Care to show me how much?”

I swallow deeply.

“Don’t you want to talk?” I stutter at her forwardness. “I mean, we only just got here…”

“Talking is overrated.” Amira rolls her eyes with impatience. “Besides, there are other things I’d much rather your lips be doing right now. Now, are you going to kiss me or what,Green?”

I hesitate, and before I can even realize it—rationalize it, with a huff, I’m pulled into the lips I’ve thought about ever since the first moment I laid eyes on them.

Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that first kisses are a unique experience. They’re hard to anticipate and even harder to decipher. I’ve never been one to fall into an instantaneous groove with someone, usually it takes a few seconds. The only person that has ever happened with is…Hazel.

In both of the instances where we kissed, it instantly felt right. Like we weren’t struggling to pick a side with one another like I am with Amira right now.

Amira’s lips feel like I've been told to go to a destination without any direction, whereas Hazel’s felt like I didn’t even need to think about where I was going, I just knew how to get there.

My first kisses with Hazel hadn’t left me jittering with nerves but rather electrified by them. A feeling I wish I could hold onto right now as Amira and I awkwardly break away from each otherand I start to wonder why, when I look into Amira’s eyes, it’s Hazel that I see staring right back at me.

What is going on?

“I think, uh—” The sound of Amira’s voice forces Hazel to disappear as she uses her palms to wipe along her lips. “We’ve got some practice to do, Green.”

Heat rises to my cheeks, and almost instantly, I feel the need to apologize—not just for the kiss, but for my innermost thoughts, though I’d die before I’d admit to them.

“I’m sorry,” I spew out. “I just, uh—was caught off guard, that’s all.”

Not only do I hate the fact that I’m apologizing here, but I hate the way that Amira’s looking at me with this pitying look in her eyes.

It’s awful.

“Awh, that’s okay, Green.” She rubs along my shoulder soothingly. “This is actually a good thing.”

It takes a second for me to process her words, but still, they don’t make sense.

“‘A good thing?” My brows furrow in unison. “What…what are you talking about?”

“Well, I always tell Hazel that I have the best tips and tricks when it comes to romance. And now…” She surveys me up and down. “It looks like this is my time to test that claim. So, let’s try that again.”

And just like that, with another strong tug of my waist, Amira’s back to kissing up on me, only this time with a heightened sense of passion as she takes the lead in directing me through the ways of her lips.

It takes another second, but eventually, I grow entranced by her explorative hands as they work their way up and down my body before guiding me to gently pin her arms back against the smooth brick of the wall.

“That’s it,” Amira loudly groans into my mouth, without a single care of who’s around us. “I knew you had it in you, Green. You just needed a little push,see.”

I gulp back with a nod as slowly my lips make their way toward the nape of her neck where I bury myself inwards and plant slow and tender kisses along her sweet caramel skin.

She squirms in my grasp for a moment as I come up for air before I notice her raise her left arm and gently wave to someone behind me.

“Who are you waving at?” I ask, my head swiveling back to have a look, only Amira stops me before I can as she clutches onto my face.

“How about we go take this inside?” She changes the subject matter suspiciously, and almost immediately, I start to question why. “What do you say, hm?” she asks. “Shall we go in?”

I toy with the thought, debating what to do. Do I get to the bottom of her secretiveness, or do I follow through with her request to go inside?

Inside.

Hazel.

---