Page 19 of The Kiss List

He drops his hold on me and backs up a step. "Sorry. I was just messing with you."

Well, what else is new?

I purse my lips and cross my arms over my chest, saying nothing.

Exhaling a breath, he runs a hand through his golden blond hair. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

I just nod.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"W-Well, why did you?" I shoot back, my heart thundering in my chest once again. "I mean, I know I kissed you first. But why'd you have to go and kiss me too?"

"Because I wanted to."

My eyes go round at that. "Oh."

"Your turn," he says around a nervous chuckle. "Why did you do it?"

The blush is back on my cheeks. "The same reason you did."

A smile slowly creeps up his face. "So we wanted to kiss each other."

I can't help the identical smile that appears on my face. "Apparently."

For a moment, we just stand there, grinning at each other.

Denton clears his throat. "So, uh, your kiss list." He fishes the now-wrinkled yellow paper from his pocket and hands it over to me.

I take it. But instead of putting it inside my bag, I stare at the written names there. I made a kiss list, yet I never got around to kissing any of them. The one I ended up kissing was the boy who was never even there.

Iris's words ring in my head once again."Or maybe he wants to get that kiss for himself."

I laughed at her when she said that. But as it turned out, she was right. Denton did want to kiss me. He literally just said so himself.

So what are you going to do with that information?

I lift my eyes to meet his gaze. "Can I ask you something?" I ask in a quiet, hesitant voice.

"Sure."

"You said you kissed me because you wanted to. But why? Why did you want to kiss me?" I ask nervously. "And be honest. No joking around."

"I don't know." He lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "At that moment, I just felt like it was the right thing to do. So I did." He scratches the back of his head and gives me a sheepish grin. "And okay—maybe because the kiss you gave me was too short, and it wasn't enough. I wanted more."

I stare at him, my heart thudding incessantly.

You wanted honesty, right? Now, you got it. You can walk away now and go back to Iris.

But I can't bring my feet to move. Not when I feel like I haven't got everything I need. Not when Denton is looking at me with a hopeful expression on his face.

Swallowing hard, I soldier on. "Do you still feel the same? I mean, do you still, um, want to kiss me?"

The sheepish grin comes back as he takes a step closer. "Only if you want me to."

I do. I really do.

I try to stifle a smile but fail. "I won't mind."

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