Page 44 of Friends Don't Kiss

It’s going to be hard not to beg her to give into us. We would be so good together. I could make her so… happy. I know I would. For the first time in my life, I feel like I can make someone’s life better. Fuller. I’d worship her. She’d never have to call these people family again. I’d be her family.We’dbe a family.

Maybe she’ll change her mind.

I rub my face in my hands. I can’t go down that path. It’s not what she wants, or she would have said so.

None of thisfriends with benefitsbullshit.

The bathroom door opens, and I feel her stop inside the room. I give her three seconds to say whatever’s on her mind. Then three more.

When she doesn’t speak but still I feel no movement, I mute the TV. “Ready?” I say.

“So…” she starts.

This is a good start. She’s shy. It rips me apart, but in a good way. I always knew Kiara’s bravado was a front. A wall. A protection.

I’d just never really seen Kiara shy. Uncertain. Vulnerable.

I turn the TV off to show her she has my full attention. Then I stand to face her. She’s a little flush, but that could be from the shower. Her towel-dried hair falls in free curls around her face, something I’d never seen before. It gives her an angelic air that I’m sure she’d hate if she only knew.

Kiara works so hard on being a devil.

“Yeah?” I ask, trying hard not to stare at her nipples pebbling under her tight sweater. Instead, I check my phone, pretending to look at the time.

“I was thinking…”

Oh this is good. This is very good. I pocket my phone back and look at her. I don’t know what to do with my hands. It’s too soon to draw her to me and kiss her and tell her how long I’ve been waiting for this moment. So I shove them in my jeans pockets and tilt my head to the side. “Yeah?” I can’t help the smile that spreads to my whole face. She’s so fucking adorable.

It’s pretty simple, really. I love her. I’m not going to tell her—I’m not an idiot. But I’m going to savor every moment of her coming slowly into herself as she sees how good I am for her.

This is the story I’ll be telling our grandchildren. The way she shyly lifts her eyes to me, ready to ask me to take the next step, will be seared in my memory until I take my last breath. So yeah, when I’m old and wrinkly, I’ll be telling our grandkids how stubborn their grandma was, and the merits of my patience.

It’s going to be a fun story, one I’ll perfect over the decades.

For now, I watch it unfold, remembering how upset she was when I wanted to be her boyfriend. How she avoided me for weeks. How she didn’t even want me to come here with her. We know how that went.

“You were thinking?” I prompt her. I’m patient, but come on.

She sits on the bed, one leg folded under her. “Here’s the deal.” She licks her lips and frowns. “We’re friends, right?”

I nod.

“And well… you just proved what agoodfriend you are.”

I’m not sure where she is going with that, or that I like the usage of the word friend back-to-back, but I can’t help but smile at the memory of how I proved myfriendship.

“You’re welcome,” I say, maybe a little too smugly.

She doesn’t acknowledge me. She picks at something on her lap, probably nothing at all. “I’m in a pickle,” she finally says.

“Okay.”

“And I think you can help me.”

I shrug. “Sure, anything.”

She takes a deep, shaky breath, then lifts her gaze at me. “I’m a virgin.”

Holy shit, that explains a lot. Thank god I held it together, earlier. For a moment there, when I went down on her, I thought she was going to pull me to her, and I wouldn’t have resisted if she asked me to fuck her.

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