Page 19 of Snowflakes and Ice Skates

This was it.

I closed my eyes and waited. One. Two. Thr—Vince’s lips pressed against mine for the briefest moment before he pulled back.

His smile was gone.

His eyes held a question.

His body pulled away.

I turned and looked at the room. “Merry Christmas!” I laughed and walked toward the food as if that was the funniest thing to happen all night. Like it wasn’t a monumental moment in my life. Like I wasn’t a little bit hurt he’d pulled away so quickly.

We were rewarded with applause and someone handed me a plate.

I smiled and piled it high with enough bread, meat, and sweets to keep my mind. . . and mouth occupied for an hour.

I looked around for somewhere to sit when an arm brushed mine. “Right there.”

Vince was gazing down at me when I looked up to see who had touched me. He pointed at two empty chairs and I walked to them in silence.

I needed a moment to process what just happened. Without Vince around.

Maybe there was nothing to process. It wasn’t like he’d willing kissed me. It was a stupid tradition. Peer pressure.

He would have kissed whomever he was with.

It meant nothing.

I pasted on a smile and forced away any thoughts of our first kiss.

“Sorry about that.”

I blinked and waited for him to elaborate.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

I inhaled and told myself not to freak out. He could mean that in a million different ways.

“In front of everyone?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think about what you wanted. I just went with the crowd.”

Right. Of course. He was worried about being a gentleman.

“I didn’t mind.” I bit my lip waiting for him to catch onto my meaning. I mean, I tried to sound flirty, but had he noticed?

“I won’t let it happen again.”

Not the response I wanted. “It’s really fine.”

He met my eyes and finally smiled. “Good. I promise I won’t let it happen again.”

I tried to smile back but my lips refused. I clenched my jaw and focused back on my plate. Was I really that terrible? There was a spark. I felt it. It was such a fast kiss, but it had been there.

Did he really regret it?

I mean, I wasn’t thrilled that that was our first kiss. . . but it wasn’t that bad.

I let out a shaky breath and he looked up at me. “Are you okay?”