Page 64 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
Listen. It’s sexy for a guy to be really good at something. It’s even sexier when being good at something gives said guy the kind of muscle definition that Brody has. But take that sexiness and then have that guysave someone’s lifein a perfect display of strength, knowledge, and masculinity?
I have never witnessed this level of sexiness before. Brody was magnificent. Heismagnificent.
I stand off to the side while Brody gently chastises the kayakers for doing something as stupid as running Gorilla without proper precautions. He explains something about why the original guy with the rope shouldn’t have thrown the rope bag from where he was standing, encourages all of them to take a swift water rescue class beforeeverkayaking the narrows again, then sends them on their merry way.
Or not-so-merry way based on their expressions. They seem to realize how lucky they were that Brody just happened to be nearby.
“You okay?” Brody asks me once we’re alone again.
I am not okay. I am...overwhelmed. Buzzed on adrenaline and, let’s be totally honest here,desire.It’s the only explanation for what I do next.
I lunge across the trail, curl my hand around his neck, and kiss Brody Hawthorne right on the mouth.
I’m not talking ahooray, you saved someonekiss. I’m talking akisskiss. My hands on either side of his face, my lips pressed against his.
At first, he doesn’t react—maybe he’s too stunned—but then he wakes up, his lips moving against mine as he wraps his armsaround me. I might have started the kiss, but I feel the moment he takes control of the situation. He keeps one hand pressed to the small of my back while he lifts the other to my face. His fingers stroke my cheek as he deepens the kiss, tasting me, tilting me toward him. My hands slide over his shoulders, then down to his biceps. When I slip my hands under the sleeves of his t-shirt, he lets out a low groan and pulls me even closer.
That noise—it sends a bolt of fear crashing right through me. There is a fervency to his response, a depth I didn’t anticipate—
What am I doing?
I break the kiss and step back. “Oh my gosh,” I whisper. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” My hand flies to my mouth, and I shake my head.
I take one giant breath and look up to meet Brody’s gaze. His eyes are wide, his chest heaving.
“Brody, I shouldn’t have done that.”
Chapter Eighteen
Brody
In all the timesI have imagined my first kiss with Kate, I have never come close to imagining what actually happened.
First of all, Kate kissedme. Surprised me.
Maybe because I’ve been the one in love with her for so long, I always thought it would be the other way around. I would kiss her, wake up her feelings, show her what she’s been missing all these years.
Instead, she’s the one who woke me up. In the brief moments when her lips were on mine, my world switched from monochrome to full, blinding technicolor.
She’s shaking her head and backing away, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to go back after this. It was too fast. I didn’t have time to truly process...and now it might not ever happen again.
“I just...you were so amazing with the rope and the guy,” Kate says, “and I...I don’t know what I was thinking. I got caught up in the moment.”
“Kate,” I say softly, reaching for her.
“I’m sorry.” She takes another step back. “I’m really, really—”
“Kate.”
“Sorry,” she finishes, her voice a whisper.
“Please stop apologizing.”
“But I shouldn’t have done it. I mean, I wanted to do it. But I shouldn’t have wanted to do it. It isn’t fair. Especially not to you.”
I pause at this.Especiallynot to me? “Why isn’t it fair?” I ask. “If I told you I’m glad you kissed me, will that change what you’re saying right now?”
She closes her eyes, her lips pressed together, her breathing ragged.
