My face ached from smiling so hard, and it was one of the best feelings ever. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I guess it is a little personal.” Then I couldn’t fucking help it, I snorted again.
The word “pegging” had come out of Alex’s mouth. I was never going to be the same again.
He gave my finger a tug, still not looking at me. “How many people have you kissed?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
I rolled onto my back, still smiling. “Three.”
His hold tightened just a tiny little bit. “You haven’t had a boyfriend or long-lasting friends, but you’ve managed to kiss three people before?”
I moved back onto my side to face him. “One was this boy who lived next door when I was in the fifth grade. I used to go outside and play with him and his sister when my grandparents weren’t home. When I was seventeen, I met up with a gaming friend I’d had for a long time. His family happened to be visiting where we lived. It was a nice, first real kiss. I met up with him a few times.” I thought about how else we’d messed around and felt my face go warm.
Alex’s grunt made me wonder if he knew what the hell I was picturing.
So I kept going. “I liked that guy, but my grandparents found out and they grounded me for a year. I’m not exaggerating either; it was a whole year. They made me cancel that account and never get on it again. That’s when I stopped playingCall of Duty. And the third was a delivery driver when I was twenty-one. I knew I shouldn’t talk to him, and I didn’t really, but he was cute, and I was lonely and horny and wanted a boyfriend so bad, you have no idea. It was okay, neither one of us knew what we were doing, and I moved away right after that. He thought my name was Esther.”
A frown formed over his mouth and stayed there as he rolled onto his side to face me too. Those purple eyes bounced over my face. A muscle in his cheek moved. He wasn’t glaring, but he wasn’t not glaring either.
“So that’s my tale,” I told him. “A whole three, and one of them probably doesn’t even count because it was a peck.”
There was a pause and a glow of those eyes before he grunted.
What the hell was he thinking?
One of the tendons at his neck popped right before he said, “Sure.”
I blinked. “Sure what?”
“You can kiss me.”
It took my brain at least a good five seconds to catch up. Torealizewhat in the fuck he’d just said. And maybe if I had been more meek or shy, I would have acted all coy.
But I wasn’t.
Not with him. Not anymore.
“You’re givingmepermission to kiss your precious lips?” I asked him in disbelief.
He dipped his head.
Was he being serious?
He was, wasn’t he?
“Huh,” I muttered.
He blinked.
I blinked.
And my fucking heart just… it didn’t soar; it freaking bunny-hopped its way across state lines.
I lifted my head and propped it up on my palm. “Alex?”
“What?”
“Why?”
“Now is as good of a time as any.”
