I laugh. “I don’t think I would know how, even if I tried.”
“Come on, look at you,” Carlisle cuts in, gesturing over to me like it should be obvious. “You must know how it feels to leave someone…wanting.”
His words drip with something heavy, and all the other guys seem to notice it just as clearly as I do.
Callum turns to him, eyebrow cocked. “Something you want to say, Carlisle?”
“I just said it,” Carlisle retorts, his mouth suddenly tightening into a hard line.
I can feel it now, that heat rising in my belly, something inside of me insisting that there’s more to this night than just them keeping me company.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I agree with him,” Dylan replies. “You’re going to have guys following you around like puppies at college, trust me.”
“Oh, because that happens here so often, right?” I joke.
“You’re saying you haven’t had luck with guys here in Devin Ridge?” Joe cuts in, frowning, looking genuinely surprised.
I shake my head. “Never dated anyone here,” I reply. “Never even had my first kiss, actually.”
Dylan draws in a sharp breath at the sound of those words coming out of my mouth, and the others look just as surprised.
“Haven’t even had your first kiss yet?” Dylan mutters. “Damn, that doesn’t sit right with me…”
“Why not?” I retort.
“You shouldn’t be going off to college with no experience,” he replies. “You don’t want to be walking into that wolf’s den without knowing what you like, at least.”
“Well, I don’t see anyone volunteering,” I remark, heart thudding in my chest as I look around once more. Silence hangs in the air between us, the quiet broken only by the sound of the fire.
Dylan digs his beer into the ground before him and rises to his feet. “Well, I’ll take one for the team,” he says as he strides around the fire toward me. My lips part, the heat in my lower belly reaching a sudden, shocking boiling point.
“Dylan,” Callum warns him. “Just because she hasn’t had her first kiss doesn’t mean she wants it with you?—”
“I say we let the lady decide,” he replies, sinking down beside me. His eyes, so blue they look like I could jump right into them, don’t move from mine as he cocks an eyebrow. “What about it, Angelie?”
I bite my lip as I stare back at him, trying to calculate whether or not I want to go through with this. If I kiss him, I’ll be admitting that this is what I came here for—I won’t be able to pretend for another second that I’m innocent in all of this. I could get to my feet now, laugh off Dylan’s offer, and tell them that I have to get to bed so I can be up early to get to college tomorrow. And none of it would be a lie. And yet…
His gaze sinks down to my lips, and I can feel the others watching us. Being the focus of their attention like this is intoxicating, more so than the couple of beers I’ve put away over the course of the night. I tilt my head up toward Dylan, and he reaches to cup my face in his hand, smoothing his thumb across my cheek.
“Tell me what you want,” he murmurs to me, his voice sending a hot shiver down my spine.
“I want you to?—”
Before I can even finish what I’m saying, he closes the distance between us and plants his lips over mine.
As soon as our mouths come together, it’s like everything I’ve been waiting for suddenly takes shape. His kiss is soft, tender, careful, like he’s making sure I get to enjoy every second of this first kiss between us. All I can think about, as his tongue gently coaxes my lips apart and slips further in, is the aching need for closeness, for more, for him…
When I pull back, I find that all three of the other guys are watching. And it might be the heat from the fire, or it might be my imagination, but I’m sure I can sense something close to desire coming off all of them in waves. A desire that I want to know more about.
“That can’t be her first kiss.” Joe breaks the silence at last, moving closer to me, shouldering Dylan out of the way. “Come here…”
He kisses me next, and this kiss is firmer, more commanding—less seductive than Dylan’s was, and more dominant, like he wants to show me just how much he wants me. His hand moves to my waist, drawing me in close, and my heart flutters as his thumb pushes up the hem of my shirt, grazing against my bare skin for just an instant. His tongue sinks into my mouth with ease, meeting mine, and I can taste the beer and woodsmoke on his lips, dizzying, before he pulls back.
“Something a little more like that, huh?” he murmurs, brushing his nose against mine.
I can feel Dylan’s hand on my thigh, drawing my attention back to him once more. But before I can lean in to kiss him again, Callum reaches my side, his hands in my hair, drawing my face up toward him and kissing me right where he stands. When he pulls back, I’m a little breathless, my chest rising and falling swiftly as he grins down at me.
And when the stars have cleared from my eyes, Carlisle pulls me close, an arm around my shoulders as he dips me into a passionate kiss. Dylan’s hand is on my leg, and Joe’s arm is around my waist, his thumb skimming along the small of my back. All of them are touching me, kissing me, showing me how much they want me.
