Page 13 of Kiss Me Again

"What's changed?" she asks just as quietly.

"I missed you."

She scoffs. "Is it because I kissed Marco? That made you start to miss me?"

The way she says it hurts me more than if a knife blade had sliced open my skin. Her words physically hurt. She thinks that my feeling isn't genuine: I'm just jealous fornowbecause of Marco, while the truth is that I'malwaysjealous, and I never stop thinking about her.

"Please don't let your first time be with someone like Marco," I say, and her face changes from angry to disturbed.

"I'm going to kill Diana." She shakes her head and tries to pull away, but I keep holding her by the shoulders.

"It's not her fault; I made her do it," I defend my sister. I am glad Di told me. She made me realize just how much I want Mia to be mine.

"Why?" Mia looks up at me. "Why not Marco?"

"He doesn't deserve you."

"And who does? You?" she asks right away.

I say nothing. We keep staring at each other.

"I know I don't deserve you," I finally say, and her eyes go wide in surprise, but she says nothing. "But I'll do my best to return your trust."

"What are you talking about? You were never interested..."

"I’ve always been interested." This time, I am the one to interrupt her.

She scoffs. "Are you serious?"

"Where did you go?"

"What?" She raises her eyebrow.

"On your date. Today," I explain, my hands squeezing her narrow shoulders. I'm afraid I might break her if she tries to pull away one more time. I'm holding her so tightly that I don't let her move.

I move even closer, so close that there is no more space between us.

"To the Grove," she says quietly. Her own hands are still folded across her chest, and that's the only thing that separates my torso from her chest.

"Where exactly?" I insist.

"To eat sushi and watch a movie. Why?"

"If we went to the Grove, I would take you to Alma," I say, talking about a Mexican restaurant with pretty good cuisine. "I would order cheese-free tacos and churros with dark chocolate since you're lactose intolerant."

One of my hands travels from her shoulder higher to her collarbone, resting on the top of her neck so my thumb can brush her cheek while I speak.

Mia holds her breath, waiting for what I will say next. What I will do next...

"And then, instead of the movies, we would go to Barnes & Noble, and I would wait at Starbucks since you hate it when someone follows you around the store." My thumb starts brushing her lower lip, and she parts her mouth. "But you also don't like to go alone in case you buy too many books and need help carrying them."

She is surprised, not because I know her this well but because I am not afraid to admit how well I know her.

"And then, on our way home, you wouldn't stop talking about all those books that you bought, explaining to me why you need each of them," I continue. Our gazes are locked, and it feels like we've both stopped breathing. It seems like even our hearts have stopped beating, waiting for what's going to happen next. "And then you'll try to persuade me that you cannot live without books, even though I already know it."

She swallows, her gaze falling to my lips, and I know she wants it, too: She wants me to kiss her just as much as I want her to be mine.

"Please, give me another chance, Mia," I beg, my eyes traveling over her beautiful face as my other hand lowers down to her waist.

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