“Wait, it’s your birthday?”
“Two!”
“Yes or no?” he asks, my heart racing with the imaginary tick of the clock.
“One!”
“Yes,” I whisper in a rush, and with the loud cheers from the shrimp dropping and the clock striking midnight, he crashes his mouth to mine.
His lips are the opposite of him. It seems like he’s just a giant, walking contradiction. Where his stride and his actions were hesitant and almost unsure, his kiss is anything but. He kisses me softly yet possessively. His plump lips explore mine as his fingers rake through my hair to the back of my head, leaving goosebumps behind.
Something cold and wet touches my back, and if I’m guessing correctly it’s his champagne flute as he pulls me closer to him. His tongue strokes my bottom lip gently, asking for permission, and I grant him access. My hands, limp at my side, are itching to touch, to grab, to feel, so I stop overthinking and just do it. If his tongue is deep in my mouth, I sure as hell can touch him.
I slide my hand up his back, keeping the one holding the champagne to the side, but he flinches at the touch. I stop. I stop my hand from moving, my lips from exploring, and break the spell. The world around us didn’t stop like I thought it did. The music is playing louder than it was before, and people are dancing, celebrating the new year.
“Sorry,” I whisper against his lips. Another apology. Who am I today?
“I’m not.”
“For touching you, I mean. I didn’t ask permission, and it made you uncomfortable.”
He shakes his head. “It didn’t. I just wasn’t expecting it. I . . . ” He scratches his head. “I got lost for a second.”
His breath tickles my lips, all sweet and smokey, just like him. It’s intoxicating, dizzying, and just . . . wow.
“Did you say it was your birthday?” I change the topic; I can’t keep thinking about how this kiss might have changed my life, because I sound like a naive girl from a classic cliche romance movie. He doesn't answer, though; he just nods.
“Well, happy New Year and happy birthday, Asher. I hope that kiss was exactly what you envisioned for the New Year.” I wink, bringing flirty Hailey back.
“There you are! Happy New Year, babe!” Livie shouts, wrapping her arms around me. I turn to hug my best friend and breathe out for the first time in the past, what? Twenty minutes? It has only been that short amount of time since he spilled that drink on me?
Twenty minutes, and I’m wondering what else I get to do with this man. If that doesn’t say new year, new me, I don’t know what does.
I break the warmest hug and smile at her. “Happy New Year!”
“Where were you? We were looking all over,” Livie adds.
“Happy New Year, Hailey,” her husband, Alex, says.
“Sorry, I got a little distracted.” I smile at my friends shyly, surely blushing.
“Alex, Livie this is—” The words die in my mouth when I don’t see Asher anymore. It’s like he disappeared.
Poof, gone.
I look around, but all I see are streamers, lights, glasses clinking in the air, and the celebration happening everywhere. There’s not one sight of this man.
“What?” Livie asks, clearly confused.
“Did you?—”
“Happy New Year, sis!” Nicole interrupts, wrapping me up in a hug too. That opens the door to an abundance of celebratory hugs and cheers—one after the other, siblings, friends, and Nicole’s coworkers.
I’m hugged out by the end, but I don’t stop searching. It’s futile, though, because I don’t see him again. As time passes, I start to wonder if I made it all up.
Am Ithatlonely that I conjured a person into existence?
2
