Page 81 of Kickoff

She let go of my shirt. “Stop saying it. You’re not invincible.” Her eyes drifted toward the window I just climbed through. “Not that you got the memo tonight, but… Anyway, let me do this for you.” She stepped closer, eating the small distance between our bodies. Heat spread through me. “Please.”

I leaned forward, my lips so close to her ear I could lick the shell if I poked my tongue out. “Okay.”

She trembled against me.

“I neeed to tell you something. I’m not suuure I’m drunk on boooze anymore.”

Earth stopped its rotation. Everything stilled between us.

The orange-blossom fragrance of her shampoo was all I could smell. The pulsation of my heart throbbed in my ears.

I drew the line of her nose with mine. Melinda gasped, and I pulled her closer, my hands locked around her waist. This was not how I imagined our first kiss to be. Me, drunk and messed up. She, barely dressed, in her bedroom, with her parents sleeping down the hall.

Her lips parted on a moan when I kissed the corner of her mouth.

The lower part of my body grew rigid.

My lips lingered on her jaw, the column of her neck, the exposed skin over her breastbone.

Her fingernails dug into my ribcage as if she needed to grip me to anchor herself to this moment.

I was about to steal a kiss when I recalled I was drunk and it would be wrong to take advantage of her when I wasn’t fully myself.

“Mase.”

“Mel.”

We breathed each other in.

My hands found her face and I dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I won’t kissss you like this. Gosh, I waaant to, believe me. There’s no one else. I swear. Everything youuu witnessed tonight wasn’t what it appeared to be. It’s just a biggg misunderstanding.”

“It hurt.” She paused, taking a deep inhale. “To see you with them.”

I pressed my forehead to hers. “I know. I never meant to hurt youuu. Never. You gotta trust meee.”

“I’m trying to. You never gave me a reason not to, but⁠—”

“But what?”

“You have a rep with girls. I’m not like any of them.”

“I’ll never askkk you to be.”

“They’re prettier and have more experience than I do.”

“Bullshittt. Never compare yourself to anyone else, Mel, because the truth isss… They all wish they were youuu.”

“Yeah. Only because we spend time together.”

“Are you kidding me right nowww? They wanna be youuu because youuu’re perfect. Smart, beautiful, talented. It has nothing to do with meee.”

“You wish.”

“Mel…”

“It’s okay. I’m me, and it’s enough…or I hope it is.”

“Mel.”