I need to stop.
That’s too much and I’m afraid if this goes on for another second she’s going to feel something I don’t want her to.
I put her down, holding her until she stands steadily, and I pull back an inch, just enough to see her.
Her cheeks are flushed, eyes wide and glossy, lips swollen and pink from the kiss. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Like her.
My lungs burn, my heart is sprinting, and for a second I honestly don’t know if I’m about to pass out or laugh.
She catches her breath and the little smile on her lips is back—the one from my car seat, the one that started all of this.
Kiara
Age 17
He’s slowly loosening his grip on my body, and I can’t fight the smile on my face. His hair is all messed up from my fingers, black waves everywhere, falling into his eyes that are now soft. Softer than ever before.
He’s the kind of beautiful that’s ruining every rational thought in my brain right now. Heat crawls up my neck and into my cheeks. I feel dizzy. Actually dizzy. My whole body feels warm and tight and restless, like one more look from him might melt every bone inside me.
I want to do it again so badly I almost reach out without thinking. I want him to kiss me—the same way he just did, deep and messy and desperate, like he couldn’t hold himself back.
He stops holding me, and suddenly my body feels so empty. He just stares at me, shifting himself against the door and catching his breath. He looks like he’s fighting the urge to do it again. I wish he wouldn’t fight it.
But I think someone knocked on the door at least five times. We’ve been here for too long.
“We need to go,” I whisper, my lips still swollen and my breath refusing to steady.
“Do we?” His voice is so innocent but deep at the same time.
“We’re blocking the bathroom,” I finally exhale and laugh.
He laughs back and moves away from the door, stepping behind me as I grab the lock and twist it, but his hand lands onthe handle once again. I turn my head subtly, his mouth right next to my ear.
“Don’t you dare play that game.”
A shiver runs down my spine and I have to close my eyes for a millisecond to process that command. His other hand is suddenly on the back of my neck, sliding under my hair and turning my head a little, the butterflies in my belly flying right into my core when he lands another soft kiss on my lips before opening the door finally.
I stumble out, entirely flushed, my legs not working properly. He keeps looking at me while I go back to the girls, one of them immediately circling one hand around my shoulders and handing me another jello shot.
I take a deep breath to snap out of what just happened. Lana is telling me something, but I just take the shot and down it to suppress the smile creeping on my lips again.
?
The music is blaring from the speakers while I sit with Nat and the others, my eyes flickering around the space, looking for him. He’s always just standing somewhere, usually alone or talking to the same guy as before.
But after playing beer pong for almost an hour, my head is getting so dizzy I might need to stop drinking. The LED lights are blending together and I feel like doing something stupid.
I need some water.
I get up from the couch when Lana grabs my hand and takes me dancing in the crowd outside in the garden. We stumble outside, laughing and the music starts to move my body without me even controlling it. I finish the drink in my hand and throwthe empty cup on one of the tables so I can dance more, but my head sways in all directions and I feel like if I try to dance, I’ll pass out.
I need the water, desperately.
My legs feel like jello. Wow. This is bad. It’s worse than I thought.
I push through the dancing crowd, heading back toward the pool house when he’s suddenly in front of me, a bottle of water in his hand.
