Page 77 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

“Hey!”

“I’d agree completely with your assessment.” Colton wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “Except for one thing.”

“Oh?” I swallowed. By this point, both of us were soaked through from the rain, but strangely, I wasn’t cold at all. My skin burned where he ran a hand along my cheek, his thumb sliding against my bottom lip. “And that would be…?”

Colton put his lips near my ear. “You’re not in love with my brother.”

He backed away an inch to meet my eyes. “If you were, there’s no way you’d kiss me like you do.”

With no retort to that, I said, breathlessly, “You know, this reminds me of another movie, an almost-kiss that happened in the rain.”

“What’s an almost-kiss?” Colton murmured.

“InPride and Prejudice—the theatrical version with Keira Knightley and Matthew McFadden?—the rain is falling, Mr. Darcy’s just told Elizabeth how much he loves her despite his will, and she’s rejected him, but then they have this almost-kiss,” I explained. “They’re so mad at each other, so overwhelmed by their feelings, that they almost kiss…but stop right at the last second.”

Colton’s gaze lifted from my lips to meet my eyes.

“It’s about control. About wanting,” I said, swallowing hard, “but then forcing yourself to resist.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Colton said and took my mouth in a kiss that left no doubt about who I was kissing and exactly what he thought about almost-kisses.

I heard a door slam, and then a voice thundered across the lawn.

“What thehellis going on here?”

Colton and I sprung apart. And there was Kyle standing on my back porch…right next to Zayne Humphries of all people. I wouldn’t have even noticed the other guy, but he made himself known by saying, “Damn, Sister Sadie. I never knew nuns could kiss like that.”

“Well?” Kyle said.

He was standing at the foot of the couch in my living room, looking between Colton and me like he wasn’t sure who he was more disappointed with. Zayne stood beside him, looking completely out of place and totally amused—which made him the only person in the room who was enjoying himself.

“Somebody better tell me what that was back there,” Kyle added. “My mind has gone through all the possibilities, and I don’t like any of them.”

“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged, uncomfortable and red to the tips of my ears. “Colton was just helping me, being a good coach.”

“Yeah,” Colton said slowly, studying my face, then turned to his brother. “It was all just part of the bet. What else could it be?”

Something inside me tightened at his words, my heart deflating, but I tried to ignore it.

Zayne laughed. “Well, it looked like you two were trying to eat each other’s faces off. Not that anyone asked me.”

I groaned at the same time Colton shot him a scathing look.

“You’re right, Humphries. No one did ask you,” Colton said. “Why are you here anyway?”

Kyle held up a hand. “Can we try to stay focused, please? I just caught my best friend and my twin brother kissing in the rain like something out ofThefreakingNotebook—”

“Told you it was the best,” I mumbled to Colton.

“—There are some things you just can’t un-see,” Kyle went on. “My eyes cannot simply wash the sight away. Colt, that’s my best friend. How could you even think of taking advantage of her like this? And Sadie, what the hell? I thought you weren’t going to be one of those girls.”

We were all silent a moment, and I didn’t think I could sink any farther into the couch, but at Zayne’s next words, I did.

“I thought it was hot,” Zayne said.

“Seriously? You did not just say that,” Kyle said.

“What? He looks like a punked-up version of you,” he said. “How am I supposed to be immune to that?”

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