I laugh, easing my shoulders. ‘So, our dates are easy, then?’
‘Excuse you. I’m anything but easy.’
‘I’ll have to find out.’
‘You already know, seeing as we’re dating,’ he says, but he searches my expression.
I sip my drink. ‘Yeah, I guess I would.’ I pause. ‘What about kissing?’
He lowers his latte, a line of foam above his lip. ‘What about it?’
I move closer, trying to be seductive, but the chair squeaks as it drags beneath me, and we both wince. My coffee spills over the rim of my cup, and I sigh. ‘Sorry.’
The line of foam above his lips makes me lick my own. I reach out, as if to clean it for him, but think better of it. Taking a napkin from his saucer, I place it between thumb and finger, and dab at his mouth.
‘Sam,’ he says, his voice high.
‘Sorry,’ I say again, slow, low.
Shit, why did it come out so guttural?
Will’s Adam’s apple bobs, and I watch it with desire.
There. All gone. No foam left.
Will’s eye wanders over me with a lustful stare, dipping to my chest. He clears his throat, but his voice still comes out choked. ‘What do you mean, kissing?’
‘Well, we should probably know how to kiss.’
Will swallows. ‘We know how to kiss.’
I lower my hand, so that my knuckles graze his bare knee. ‘Each other.’
Will’s jaw tenses. ‘How hard can it be?’
He’s trying his damned hardest to fake bravado, and I want to rip that off him. He doesn’t need to pretend to be anything other than my fake boyfriend.
‘Well. Do you go to the right or do I?’ I ask, my heart racing at my own daring questions. ‘Do we use tongues or do we kiss lightly? Do we?—’
‘Sam, are you asking to kiss me?’
Good boy. Got there eventually.
‘For hypothetical, experimental, research reasons, of course. For science.’
Will peers at me, and I hover where I’m sat. He glances at his nails. ‘So…’
My knees jiggle and I rest my elbows on them, looking at my coffee mug. ‘We could just talk about it, I guess. It’s not like we’d really?—’
‘Sam, will you just kiss me?’
Before I can doubt it, before I can overthink it, I reach for him and snake a hand behind his neck, pulling him towards me. Our lips bump into one another, and my eyes fly open. Hesitating over whether or not I should apologise, I feel Will melt into me, his lips forming the perfect kiss. Relaxing, my chin brushes his as I adjust, kissing him with a light touch. It’s enough to make me vibrate, blood rushing between my thighs. His hands find my shoulders, a flick of his tongue against my own, and I move to kiss him again, suddenly overcome with needing to be closer. Only my lips rest on something solid.
His cheekbone.
Will giggles, and blushing furiously, I lean back.
‘Oh God, I’m sorry.’
