Page 41 of Hers to Kiss
When they made contact, Keke’s entire body felt aflame. She ignored the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, desire surging throughout her body. “Pay attention because this is important,” she whispered.
“I’m paying attention,” he breathed.
Oh, why did he have to sound so overcome? Keke blinked rapidly a few times to clear her mind of the hurricane-like fog moving in at warp speed.Great.Now she was thinking like a nerd. “Good. Good. When you go to kiss her, you don’t go all the way. Come until you’re a breath away. Allow her to meet you in the kiss. Got it?”
He was already leaning in, nodding.
Keke’s eyelids felt terribly heavy. But she was too alert to sleep. Warm breath brushed her cheeks.
“Keighly…”
A gentle squeeze at her hips and she was fully pressed against his torso. She parted her lips and angled up on her toes.
It was the sweetest beginning to a kiss she’d ever experienced. And she wasn’t a stranger to kissing, but not so experienced that she could win a French kissing contest or anything silly like that.
Pete’s warm mouth covered hers and then moved slowly, smoothly, taking in her top lip before moving to taste her bottom lip. His beard felt smooth against her skin, and held a hint of citrus fragrance.
After regaining some sense of reality, Keke moved her lips around his, telling herself she was teaching him the art of exploration, but really she was going on her own adventure. His arms came fully around her back. Then only one of her feet remained on the ground.
When she heard the soft sound of her moan, her senses came back like a kick to the shin. Trying not to ruin the experience by shoving him away—no way did she want to land in the fire pit—she pulled back as gently as she could and stepped out of his embrace.
Uh-oh. I kissed him.She swallowed hard. She wasn’t supposed to, but when their bodies fused and he whispered her name…
Pete stood there, chest rising and falling rapidly, eyes wide with both expectation and dread. She had to tell him. This whole lesson-thing had a purpose.
“Um…”
“It wasn’t good?” he whispered.
Keke cleared her throat and awkwardly chuckled. “Oh, it was…very good. You were right.” She nodded and kept nodding because she didn’t know what else to do.
“About what?”
She smiled. He was so cute. “You can definitely manage.”
“Oh.” He blushed to his roots and reached for his garbage bag. “Well, thank you.” His eyes came back to hers. “Really. I enjoyed it.”
“Your first, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, you should always enjoy your first. So…I’m glad I could do that for you.”
Bertie’s words last night came back with full force. His mother was dying. What could Keke do? She couldn’t comfort him without telling him the truth. But she could make sure that he was happy. Happier than he’d ever been in his life.
Even if that meant matching him with someone else.
Because he didn’t want her. He’d stopped dead in his tracks when he met Lea. To Pete, Keke would be the girl who used to tease him to tears. Keke’s eyes burned.
She went back to scraping the grill. “Lea is going to melt in your arms,” she muttered.
“Yeah? I guess…”
“I don’t understand you,” she said, miffed. “I thought you liked her. You do want to eventually get a girlfriend, right?”
“I do,” he rushed to say. “I do. Thank you.”
He kept his head down, working to clear the debris and make the site ready for the children tomorrow.
