Page 87 of One Little Kiss
I nod.
With her head still tilted down she peeks up at me, her gaze so open and vulnerable and unguarded it makes my chest ache. She wets her lips and takes a deep breath. “If it’s all the things I love, then…then how come you’re not on the list?”
My chest expands and contracts at once as shock and joy and relief and a million emotions I can’t begin to name hit me in the solar plexus so hard and fierce I think I stop breathing.
When I don’t react immediately, she squeezes her eyes shut, her nose wrinkling up in the most adorably embarrassed expression. I’ve never seen this look from her before. Not once.
“Too cheesy, right?” She winces, her cheeks turning a little pink. She shakes her head as she opens her eyes. “I told you I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know the first—”
I kiss her before she can finish. I can’tnotkiss this girl right now. I crush her to me as our lips collide and melt together like we’ve been kissing each other every day for decades. She kisses me back like she’s just as eager to show me what I’m trying to show her.
That I love her.
We’re both breathless when we come up for air, and when I pull back and our eyes meet….we start to laugh at the same time.
Soon we’re laughing so hard we’re clinging to each other just to stay upright.
“You’re such a dork,” she says through tears of laughter.
“Me? You’re the one who can quoteFantastic Fouron command,” I shoot back.
That sets us off again and we laugh even harder when we see some of our classmates and friends watching us with varying degrees of bemusement.
“Come on,” I say finally, when the stares get to be too much. “Let’s get out of here.”
Noelle surprises the heck out of me by slipping her hand into mine like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
And…it kinda is. It’s new and it’s different…but it feels right.
It feels like us.
“So, where to now?” she asks.
“That depends,” I say when we reach my car. “Do you want to finish the list?”
She leans against the car door and I lean into her. I can’t help it. Now that I can be this close, I can’t stand being any further away. So I rest my hands on the car door on either side of her as she thinks over her answer. “I can’t believe you convinced everyone to go along with this.”
I shrug, a little embarrassed by the awe and gratitude in her eyes. “It wasn’t hard. Turns out our friends are a bunch of romantics.”
“You don’t say.” she laughs.
I grin down at her, my gaze caught on the sweet curve of her lips. I can kiss her.
Honestly, this knowledge is kinda heady.
I can kiss my best friend whenever I want.
I think. I hope.
I blink as I drag my gaze back up to meet hers. Wait, I can, right?
Her gaze is dark and thoughtful as she reaches out and rests her hands on my chest, trailing her fingers over me like she’s just as eager to explore this new physical side of our relationship as I am.
And maybe…that’s my answer.
“I can’t believe you got Mara to go along with this,” she says.
I blink in surprise.
