But… no. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Ani, it’s that he doesn’t do anything half way. He was willing to strip down to almost nothing and spend two hours in the bathtub with me, singing dumb songs until our skin pruned.
The least I can do is shore up my courage, rip off the Band-Aid, and tell him the truth.
“Honestly, Ani?” I reach for his hands and look directly into his eyes, my lips curving into a soft smile. “As much as I loveallyour ideas, especially the X-Rated Scrabble one, I kind of want to lie here and make out with you.”
Twenty-Eight
ANSEL
“Is that weird?” Stevie tucks her wild hair behind her ears and offers a shy smile, her cheeks darkening. “If it’s weird, I totally get it if you don’t want to. I just thought… Maybe?”
My heart is thundering, basically cutting off my ability to speak.
Is this really happening?
“Ani?” she asks softly.
By some miracle, I finally manage a brief reply.
“No.”
Her face falls. “No, you don’t want to?”
“No, it’s not weird.” I reach for her face, tracing a finger across her soft lips. “Not weird at all.”
She laughs, a nervous rush that infects me to my core. If I thought I was falling for her before, now I’m so far gone I might as well move to Mars, because no one is going to be able to bring me back from this trip.
“Good. Because I just thought… I mean… I know a lot has happened since then, but the other night in Kirin’s office, something just came over me, and I totally wanted to kiss you. And maybe I was misreading, but I thought maybe you wanted to kiss me too, so I just kind of… went for it.”
“Idefinitelywanted you to kiss me.”
“But then we got taken hostage.”
I laugh. “Totalbuzzkill.”
“It was, right? But now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“The hostage situation?”
“Kissing you!” She laughs and covers her face. “Goddess, I’m being a freakshow. I know. It’s a gift. It’s—”
“Adorable.” I peel her hands away and hold them close, staring into her pretty blue eyes, my heart still bouncing around inside me. “Starla Milan, if you’re a freakshow, sign me up for the double feature.”
“Um, did you really just say that?”
“What? It was funny!”
“It wascorny. Like, White Lion-level corny.”
“And yet, you’re practically throwing yourself at me. So maybe it’s time to accept the fact that corny is your kryptonite.”
“You’re right.” She lets out a soft sigh, her breath tickling my lips. “Maybe it is.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Still smiling, she leans in and brushes her lips against mine, a sweet, short kiss that leaves me aching for so much more.
Normally, I’d back off, wait for her to make the next move.
