Page 13 of Friends Don't Kiss

“Nothin’ wrong with Kiara. It’s a beautiful name.” He takes my chin in his fingers. “But no one else calls you sweetness.”

Between his words and his touch and his gaze, I’m losing sense of reality here. My body is reacting to him in a not-friend way. “What are you doing?” I whisper-hiss. “Method acting?”

He narrows his eyes on me and speaks even softer. “Your sister is watching from across the living room. I’d like to give her a little show, yeah?”

I start shaking my head. “That’s not—”

He shuts me up with his lips on mine, one hand behind my nape pulling me to him, the other cupping the side of my face in a way that makes me feelwanted, even though this is all fake.

My eyes close on their own, while my hands find their natural place on his arms and slide up to his neck. His body vibrates with an energy that feels both safe and exhilarating. His lips are soft yet demanding, and when he lets out a little groan that goes straight to my core, my mouth opens before I even realize what I’m doing.

Embarrassed, I clamp my jaw shut, biting on his tongue.

He lets out a small growl, and I jerk back, trying to apologize, but he simply presses his forehead onto mine and says, “We shoulda practiced.” Then he lets the smile on his lips morph into full-on laughter, pinches my waist, and drags me into the living room.

four

Kiara

“Hey,I’msorryaboutthe kiss, okay?” Colton says as soon as we’re in the car, driving back to Emerald Creek.

I glance at him and lick my lips, the taste of him still there, haunting me.Oh no.I have to stop that right now. I can’t be fantasizing about my best friend. That’s all kinds of wrong.

“Hey, I said I’m sorry,” he insists when I don’t say anything.

Well, I’m not. Best kiss ever.“Yeah-yeah-yeah, don’t worry about it.”

“Your sister has a way of getting under my skin… I don’t know what it is with her.”

I huff. “Tell me about it.”

He chuckles. “Not that you needed to share the story about her boyfriend. That was brutal. Even if it was a long time ago.”

“What sto—oh that? No, I totally made that up.” I pick at my cuticle, tearing off the piece that’s been nagging me since dinner with my teeth.

He glances at me, frowning. “Why would you do that?”

I take a deep breath. “Just some high school drama. Nothing that matters now, but it felt good for a minute to get back at them.”

“Alright…” he says, clearly expecting more. Yep, there it is. The raised eyebrow.

I cross my arms, forcing myself to stop picking at my nails. “The usual. We were dating, and then he started fooling around with my sister.”

“Wait-what?”

“I mean, she was—still is—way prettier than me, more feminine, more everything—”

“What the fuck?”

“And clearly more interesting. The pretty twin. The outgoing one. Turns out, he was using me to get to her. Smart, I guess.”

“What?” he says, trying to interrupt me.

I shrug, ignoring his protestations. “I get it. But fuck! Someone should have told me he’d be there tonight.” Although, honestly, who would have told me? Not Maya. Not my mother. And apart from them, no one would remember that David and I were ever a thing. At the time, there was so much more drama, that little heartbreak never registered. “If she’d told me, I wouldn’t have felt cornered.”

“Sweets, she provoked you with her question.”

Sweets?My heart takes a little break to ponder this, then resumes normal operations. “I guess.”

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