“Yeah.” Tanner squinted and made a duh face. “I’m awkward. I’m not celibate.”
Huh, that was news. Not the awkward, that was well known, but the other part. How did a guy get laid when he couldn’t say two words to a woman without clamming up?
“I kissed Irina.” Knox admitted it.
A grin stretched across Tanner’s face, and he held up his drink for a clink. “Oh yeah. Good for you, kissing your future wife.”
Knox met the clink, because he couldn’t leave a guy hanging. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really feeling it.
“That’s the thing,” Knox said. “She gave me a seven-point-five.”
Knox’s foot tapped, because he couldn’t seem to get that number out of his brain. The number combo ran on repeat in his skull.Seven-point-five. Seven-point-five.
“She rated your kiss?” Tanner lifted one side of his upper lip. “Is that a normal thing for you?”
Not until that night.
“A woman’s never rated your kiss before?” Knox asked, because, yes, this was weird.
“Usually, we’re doing other things, so ranking our snog session doesn’t come up.” Tanner made a face like his beer had gone skunky. “Not sure what I’d do if I gave my best effort, and she gave me less than a nine. Did you give your best effort?”
Knox snorted. “Did I give my best effort? Don’t I always?”
Tanner held out his hand and made an eh-sometimes gesture.
“One of the best kisses I’ve ever had,” Knox said. Confessed. Whatever.
“Ouch.” Tanner glanced around the room. “Maybe try with a lady here? I bet they’ll be honest. Maybe Irina was having an off night. Maybe it’s not you.”
“It’s not me, it’s her?” That sounded like something Knox would say to one of his buddies to make them feel better, but really, it’d make them feel worse.
“You said it, man.” Tanner lifted his shoulder. “Not me.”
Knox glanced around the room, but he didn’t want to kiss anyone else. He wanted to kiss Irina until she couldn’t slide back into that protective character cocoon that had hurt his feelings. His body wanted more of her, not someone else.
“Maybe I picked the wrong wife.” He frowned.
Tanner chewed on that thought for a moment. “Last I checked, you didn’t pick this one.”
“Well, no.” Knox frowned. “But I couldn’t letyoumarry her.”
“If she’s tossing out rankings for oral activities, I’m sorta glad to have dodged that one.” Tanner took a gulp of his beverage of choice.
Actually, Tanner was on to something.
“That’s what we should do.” Knox snapped his fingers.
Tanner squinted. “What?”
“You come with me. You kiss her. Then we’ll see what she ranks you.” Boom. Done.
Maybe if she got a truly terrible kiss, then his would look better.
“You want me to make out with your fiancée?” Tanner asked, obviously not buying it. “How many of those things have you had?” He tilted his forehead to the beer.
This was hard, and Knox was not drunk. “I want her to rank you lower than me.”
Tanner grinned a shit-eating grin. “What if she doesn’t?”
