Page 27 of Uncharted

“I’m saying if you’re saying what I think you’re saying,” he said, being uncharacteristically evasive. “Then, if you want to try…you can.”

“To kiss a guy?”

“Jake.”

“Oh! Kiss…you.”

Reno blinked. “Now I feel stupid.”

I could sense him about to bolt, and I reached out, laying a hand on his chest and patting gently. “Settle it back a little, Reno. I was just askin’. And if I had to pick a guy to try it with, it’d be you. But you already been there, done that, so it’s not like you’d be tryin’ anythin’ out. You would just be…suckin’ it up to give me the chance. Not fair for ya.”

He shrugged, as if emboldened. “Well, it’s like you said…those were a certain type of guy, not like you, so⁠—”

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement or total enthusiasm. “I mean⁠—”

“Or don’t,” he said quickly, and I realized he was nervous.

“I mean,” I said, propping myself up on one arm and looking at him, realizing something. “Not sure what to do here. I mean…usually it’s me doin’ the kissin’, but I feel like you’re the one used to doin’ the kissin’ too.”

“I had girlfriends who were pretty forward,” he said with a snort. “You’re telling me no one you’ve ever dated has, like…started the kissing? You always had to do it?”

“Mostly,” I admitted sheepishly. “Guess it just wasn’t their thing.”

He looked almost bothered by that. “Well, I guess it makes sense if you’re⁠—”

“Right,” I said and realized my heart was pounding as I hovered over him. It had been all well and good to start with, but it was an entirely different game to realize I was going to attempt it. “Uh, anythin’ I should⁠—”

He huffed. “Are you usually in the business of asking people how you should kiss them when you already have permission to do it?”

“Smartass,” I muttered and decided that if I was going to do it, I needed to actually try.

Reaching down, I slid a hand up his chest, and while it was odd feeling nothing but firm muscle, it just…felt like Reno. I curled my hand around his neck, my fingers pushing up into the hair at the back of his head, and leaned forward. His breath smelled of whiskey, but his lips quivered when mine brushed over them.

After a second, I pulled back and frowned. “Huh…didn’t do much for me.”

Reno frowned. “You call that a kiss? That was like…the driest, most uninterested, lamest kiss imaginable.”

“Alright, fuck off,” I said, unable to help my laugh because damned if he wasn’t right. That had been the worst kiss I had ever given, and that included my first clumsy one with my first ever crush.

“Gotta put some spice into it for it to count,” he said, clearly feeling a lot less nervous making fun of me.

“I didn’t see you putting anything in it,” I shot back, a little annoyed.

“True,” he said, and I wasn’t ready for the moment he reached up and grabbed the back of my head, pulling me down into another kiss.

And that one?

Oh, shit, that one.

It was so different.

There was a strength and firmness in his lips I had never felt before, but they were warm and impossibly soft. The taste of the whiskey on his tongue when our mouths parted, and I found mine sliding over his, was sweet. The fingers against the back of my head curled so the nails scraped through my hair and along my scalp.

It was the strangest kiss of my life, and I chased his lips when he seemed like he was trying to pull away. He grunted. I didn’t know if it was in surprise, but the sound shot through me and I grabbed hold of him to pin him in place as I kissed him back with more intensity than he’d used. His breathing was heavy, but I held him there, feeling his other hand push up under the back of my shirt and his nails digging faintly into my skin.

We could have been doing that for a minute, ten, or thirty; I had no idea how time worked when the kiss finally broke. I had no idea what my face looked like, but I could see just enough by the moonlight to see his was flushed, and his eyes were wide with what felt like wonder and shock.

Not that I was feeling a lot different, I had just kissed my first guy and had…loved it. Technically, I had just been kissed by a guy for the first time and was feeling a little obsessed with the feeling it had given me.