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Her eyes flickered to mine. “You’re quiet. Are you sure you’re okay?”
All I could do was nod. If I spoke, my voice would’ve cracked.
Piper tried to be quick about the antibiotic cream, but it stung like a motherfucker, and I grunted. On pure instinct, I reached up to rub it away, but Piper’s hand caught me instead. She couldn’t have hoped to hold me back, but she did it anyway.
Fuck.
“Don’t touch,” she whispered.
A groan was so close to escaping, I could barely hold it in.
She released my hand. “I’m sorry - it’s going to sting. Try to think of something else, okay?”
Think of something else.
My eyes trailed down her face, the most interesting thing in the room, and I caught sight of her lips again. When wasn’t I staring at them? She had a sheen of lip gloss on, a darker red than usual.
What would it be like to kiss you?
My fingers dug further into the couch cushions, ripping part of the fabric. I thought back to the parking lot, Piper had been so adamant there was absolutely nothing between us. But what if there could be?
The longer I gazed at her face, the longer my mind wandered.
Taking Piper in my arms, crashing my lips to hers, giving her everything she’d been missing out on. The shower. The water, dripping off her body. The fucking heat between us, so hot I thought it burned me. My hand, between her legs, and her simple request.
Not on the lips.
Because Piper…believed in first kisses. Just like her parents said.
I straightened up on the couch with the realization while Piper finished up the bandage. She didn’t kiss me because she was afraid it would mean something more. To her? To me? That’s why she pushed away from it.
“That’s why you said that in the shower,” I muttered.
Piper met my eyes. “What?”
“Not on the lips,” I quoted. “The first kiss thing. It’s what your parents talked about at dinner.”
Blinking slowly, Piper drew away from me and a flush crept up her neck as she put together what I was saying. But what I was saying was right. I could read it on Piper’s face. It was my turn to shift up and Piper’s to stay still. My fingers released the couch cushion.
Ah, man.
Piper was so sweet. So pure. She walked around with these kinds of fantasies and the truth was, they were just going to hurt her in the end. Real life didn’t include things like that. I had to tell her.
"First kisses don’t matter.” I sighed. “It’s how they sell movies."
“That’s not true,” Piper said quietly.
“Yeah, it is.”
“No—I’m not talking to you about this.”
She tried to stand up but I reached for her arm. This was something we had to talk about. If I wanted to protect her, I needed to correct this. "Come on, ice princess. Tell me."
“Adam—”
“Piper.”
Pursuing her lips together, she sat back down on the couch. "Are you going to make fun of me?"
