He nodded. “There are other ways to stand out besides artistic talent.”
“What other ways?”
He raised his hand to my face and he dragged the back of his palm against my cheek. “Your beauty. You’re stunning, Ivy. Don’t you know that?”
Heat spread over my cheeks. I most certainly didn’t know that. Sure, some days I looked in the mirror and liked what I saw, but for someone like Oliver to think I’mstunning?It didn’t feel real.
Yet his eyes were so open. He was either being honest, or he was an incredibly skilled liar. I tipped my chin down. “Th-thank you.”
“And there’s something else.”
My gaze landed back on his face. “There is?”
“There’s a beautiful innocence to you,” he said, his voice dropping low. “When I saw you last night, it was like someone had opened a window and let in a gust of delicious, fresh air. It’s not often that I meet someone like you at those parties. This life it…corrupts people. Last night, it may have looked like everyone was having fun, but underneath the glitzy exterior, they’re just a lot of broken people. People like Jamie.”
I swallowed. “You’re not like that.”
“No, I’m not. And neither are you.” A beat passed and then he leaned closer. “You felt it too, didn’t you? The pull between us.”
My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it. My loftiest hopes were all coming true in real time.
“Say it, Ivy.” His voice was a hoarse whisper. “Tell me you felt it.” Oliver took one big step, eating up the distance between us, and lifted his hands to cradle my face.
“Yes,” I breathed. What more was there to say?
Oliver’s lips parted, and his emerald gaze dropped to my mouth.
He was going to kiss me.
The moment stretched like a decadent caramel candy, and as he lowered his face toward me, one clear thought took dominance in my brain. I didn’t want to forget a single thing about this. Not the sounds of the cars passing a dozen feet behind us, not the smells of the water and the late summer blooms, and most certainly not the way his body was slowly molding into mine.
And then his lips pressed against mine. I waskissingOliver Straits. The guitarist of Ritual Disruption. The unattainable rock god. The man who everyone desired, but who somehow, miraculously, wanted me.
My brain short-circuited. At least that’s what it felt like when all the sensations I was tracking exploded, and my body froze. I couldn’t make my mouth move against his. I stood frigid in his arms, like a wooden doll. After a few seconds of getting nothing out of me, Oliver pulled back, his brows pulled together in a confusion.
Oh my God.
His face twisted in disappointment, and he dropped his hands from my face. “I’m sorry. Maybe that was a mistake.”
“No. No!” I rushed to protest. “I— I just—” I didn’t know what I could say that wouldn’t reveal my inexperience, or how strong of an effect he was having on me. So I did something uncharacteristically bold.
I dropped my shopping bags right on the ground, lifted my hands to tangle them in his soft hair, and pulled his face down to mine.
This kiss, I was determined not to screw up.
I moved my lips against his, hoping he could sense my desire but not my desperation. For a moment, he let me kiss him, and then he joined in on the act. He snaked his tongue between my lips, and I parted them open for him, excited by the thought of imminently knowing how he’d taste.
Sweet and minty.Perfect.
This was the kiss of my dreams. Not the slobbery abomination I’d received after that one date, and certainly not the merciless assault on my mouth from Jamie. In my mind, this was my firstrealkiss, the one I’d write about in my diary and wax poetic to my friends.
We kissed and kissed and kissed until he finally pulled away and placed his hands on my hips.
“Wow,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Who taught you how to kiss like that?” he asked, his rosy mouth curving into a smirk. His lip ring glistened in the sun.
I was a ball of adrenaline and nerves. He must’ve kissed hundreds, if not thousands of women in his life. I wasn’t about to tell him I’d only kissed two men.
“I don’t know,” I told him, dropping my gaze to the ground even as a smile tugged at my lips.
