Page 16 of Grumpy Darling

“Fine.” I quickly caved under her icy glare. “You may have come up in conversation with one or two guys at school.”

“And . . .”

“And, I just made it clear that if they ever hurt you, then I’d hurt them.”

“Grayson!”

“What? I didn’t think that would stop them from asking you out!” I mean, maybe a part of me had hoped that would be the result, but I couldn’t letherknow that.

“So, you’re telling me the reason I’ve never been asked out—the reason I’ve never been on a date or been kissed—is because you’ve been intimidating any boy who even tried to approach me?”

Guilt formed a heavy knot in my throat as she spoke. It wasn’t often Paige got truly angry, but her eyes were flaring, and her hands had formed small fists at her side. If I didn’t feel so bad, I’d be smiling at how cute she looked.

“Paige, I never meant for that to happen...”

She lifted a hand, cutting me off. “I’m not graduating high school having never even kissed a guy. You’re going to help me fix this.”

“Fix this? How?” Confusion and anxiety were starting to pile on top of the guilt. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know where she was going with this. Paige and I rarely talked about relationship-type stuff, and when we did, I became only too aware of just how one-sided my feelings for her were.

“I need you to back off and play nice,” she said.

I’d never really grasped the concept of playing nice, but I couldn’t say no to Paige. I’d do anything to make her happy. And if this was what she wanted, then I was going to do it. Even if I knew it would slowly kill me inside.

“Okay, I can do that. I’ll play nice.”

She folded her arms over her chest, eyeing me closely. “You mean it?”

“Of course I mean it. Damn it, Paige, you know I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

It took a moment before she slowly released a breath. “I know you wouldn’t, Gray.” She tucked a loose strand of her short, dark hair behind her ear. “I can’t imagine there were a heap of guys jumping at the opportunity to kiss me anyway.”

“Paige, any guy would be lucky to kiss you.” They’d also be lucky to be alive, thanks to Paige’s new decree that I couldn’t threaten them anymore. This was going to be tougher than I thought.

“You’re my best friend. You have to say that.”

It was because I was her best friend that I shouldn’t.

“So, why the sudden interest in this?” I asked. “Is there a guy in particular or...”

“No!” she quickly replied. “No guy.”

A surge of relief washed over me.

“Then why the urgency?”

She shrugged. “It’s on my list.”

“Your list? Like your bucket list?”

“Yeah.”

“Kissing is on your bucket list?”

She laughed at my shock. “That’s what I said.”

I was suddenly wishing I’d asked to inspect her list more closely before now, and slightly terrified about what else might be on it. This was a stark departure from candle making or knitting mittens.

“That seems like a bad reason to want to kiss someone.”

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