Page 94 of Embrace

Cole raises his hands, pretending to cower. “I’m sorry. Don’t punch me.”

Kian ignores him. “Scarlett, we should talk.”

Frustration seeps through me, but I don’t know at what. Me, for creating this mess, or Kian, for forcing me to stand before it. “About what?”

He gives me a single look.

“It was a kiss, Kian,” I whisper.

“Kiss? What kiss?” Cole asks, entirely too interested.

That’s when Summer reappears, having changed into a baggy Toronto Thunder T-shirt and shorts. “What are you guys talking about?” she asks.

“A kiss,” Cole tells her. “Yo, Seb, you’re missing out!”

Sebastian’s quick to step out of his room and into the hallway where we’re all gathered like it’s a town hall meeting. Cole fills him in with too much enthusiasm.

“Wait, like Aiden’s kiss?” Sebastian asks.

All eyes fall to Summer. Suddenly, I want to know what “Aiden’s kiss” means because the girl turns bright red. “Hey, this isn’t about me. What kiss, Kian?”

The wordkissis starting to feel like punches to my sternum. How the hell did I get here?

“It was nothing,” I blurt out.

Kian’s still watching me, carefully. “Nothing?”

I go into emergency response mode because the way he looks at me shouldn’t be allowed. He’s not supposed to look at me like he doesn’t regret it.

“Yeah, I mean, look.” I turn to Cole, who’s grinning, but it melts off the moment I step closer. “Can I kiss you?”

Everything in me screams to stop. But this is the only way I know how to fix this.

“Yes.” It’s out of his mouth instantly.

So I do. I kiss him like I would anyone else, like I have with other guys. Short and quick.

It’s not even close to the way Kian’s mouth lit up every erogenous zone in my body. Like he had the code to each one and flicked them on one by one.

When I pull back, it’s dead silent. Cole’s beaming like he’s won the prize pig at the county fair.

I shrug, but I don’t dare look at Kian. “I’ll get an Uber.”

Coward.

“I’ll drop you!” Summer says, grabbing her keys. She bolts out of the house almost as fast as I do, and I follow her relief like oxygen. The whole drive to Iona, she doesn’t bring it up. Instead, she talks about everything else, giving me something, anything, to hold on to besides the mess I just made.

Thirty-one

Kian

I’m going tokill Cole. Slowly, painfully, and torturously.

That’s all I’ve been thinking about for the past twelve hours. Well, that and the occasional pang in my chest every time I recall Scarlett’s lips on mine.

I had half a mind to chase after her, pull her right into a hug, and just beg her to stay, to talk about it, anything to make the heartburn go away.

She was so soft, so real in my arms, and it only told me those dreams I had were a far cry from the real thing. My hands couldn’t get enough of her. I could run them through her hair and caress her smooth skin for hours if it meant she’d be tucked right there, in my arms. Right where she belongs.