Miles
T
o say I’m confused would be an understatement. Kitty’s lips are currently pressed against mine. And that dude she was sitting beside, who looks like one of the cartoon elves from that Claymation Christmas movie with the abominable snowman, is glaring daggers at me. There’s also a woman staring at us with her mouth agape.
I stop focusing on the gawkers and focus instead on Kitty, whose lips are still on mine. They’re soft and warm.
I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, either. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her against me. She makes a noise of surprise and parts her lips. I take the opportunity for what it is and brush my tongue against hers. Her mouth tastes fruity and sweet.
Kitty makes a noise of surprise and releases one of my lapels. Her hand curves around the back of my neck, and she tips her head, her tongue tangling with mine. What starts as an
innocent kiss quickly escalates into a very public battle of the tongues. Eventually I have to stop because I’m at risk of getting a hard-on if I keep it up. It wouldn’t be so bad if we had some privacy, but we’re in the middle of a pub with a substantial audience.
I pull back far enough so that I can see her face. Her eyes are still closed, and her lips are parted.
“Hi.” The word comes out about two octaves lower than usual.
Her eyes pop open and her mouth forms an
O
. She blinks at me a few times before she says, “I just attacked you with my lips. I’m so sorry.”
“Um. I’m not?” I rub the back of my neck. There are little indents from where her nails pressed into the skin.
“You’re not sorry I attacked you with my lips?” She seems perplexed. God, she’s adorable. And gorgeous. And she has great lips.
I shake my head. “Not even a little sorry. You’re welcome to attack me with your lips whenever you feel like it.”
Wherever you feel like attacking me with them.
“Except maybe when my mouth is full of food. That would not be great.” She squeezes her eyes shut and grimaces. “Why can’t I ever just stop when I’m ahead?”
“One of the things I like most about you is the way you don’t stop when you’re ahead.” I incline my head marginally toward the table. “What’s with the boy band member?”
“He’s a friend of my sister’s. I’m still sorry about the lip attack. This really wasn’t how I envisioned our first kiss.” She slaps her
hand over her mouth. “I wish I could pluck that last sentence out of your ears and shove it back into my word hole.”
I smile down at her. “If I’m going to be totally honest, that wasn’t how I envisioned our first kiss going either, but I still very much enjoyed it and look forward to a potential repeat. Hopefully soon.”
She rapid-blinks a few times. “You’ve thought about kissing me?”
“Many times,” I admit.
“Me too. I even had dreams about it back when I thought you were a cat hater. That was frustrating, by the way, the whole finding you attractive while also being annoyed by you.”
“I can imagine.” I nod stoically, then incline my head toward the table. “Maybe I need to thank the boy band dude for being so clueless.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” She thumbs over her shoulder. “Do you want to sit down and have a drink? I can introduce you to my sister and her friends.”
“That’d be great.” I let her lead me to the table.
Boy band dude, whose name is Bryce, grudgingly gives up his seat so I can sit next to Kitty. She introduces me as her friend and blushes sixteen different shades of red when her sister says she’s heard all about me and that she’s happy to finally meet me. Based on Hattie’s smirk and Kitty’s pink-tinged cheeks, I’m thinking whatever she’s heard has been good things. The whole laying a kiss on me is also a tipoff.
Hattie’s friends are interesting, and I feel a smidge bad for
Bryce the boy band wannabe, since it’s clear he’s interested in Kitty and I came in and stole his thunder without even trying.
We stay for one drink before Kitty starts covering her mouth to hide her yawns. She pays for both of our drinks, despite my telling her it’s not necessary.
Kitty hugs Hattie, who must whisper something in her ear that she finds embarrassing, because her face turns bright red again. We leave the pub together. “Are you staying in town tonight, or do you have to go back to the city?”
“The team has practice early tomorrow, so I have to head home tonight.”
She adjusts the strap of her purse and nods a few times. “That makes sense. I didn’t even think to ask what you were doing in town in the first place.”
“I had to sign paperwork for my mother. We’ll be able to move her into the home this weekend. And they’ve agreed to let me bring Prince Francis by for a visit, which is great because she’s been asking about him a lot.”
“I bet she misses him.”
“When she remembers she has a cat, yes.”
Kitty’s expression turns sad. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You’ve done more than enough. I’ll be by the house tomorrow sometime so I can do some packing.” I shove a hand in my pocket and figure now is as good a time as any to ask her out. “I was wondering if you’d like to go for dinner, maybe next weekend? With me?” I don’t know why I add the last part. Obviously, I’m not going to ask her to go out with someone else.
“You mean as a thank-you?” Kitty’s bottom lip slides through her teeth.
“I mean, it could be a thank-you, but I’m more inclined to classify this as a date. I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I didn’t want you to say yes out of obligation. However, since the lip attack happened, I feel a bit more confident that you might say yes because you want to and not because you don’t want to hurt my feelings.”
Kitty smiles and ducks her head. “I would definitely like to go on a date with you.”
“Okay. Well, that’s great.” It’s started to rain a little. Tiny drops land on my glasses, obscuring parts of Kitty’s face. “I guess we can plan that tomorrow. I’ll message when I’ll be at the house?”
“Perfect. I’m going there now, so Prince Francis has a head to curl his body around tonight.”
“I can honestly say I’m jealous of Prince Francis.”
We smile and stare at each other’s mouths for several seconds before we both take a step closer. Her hand slides over my chest and around the back of my neck while I wrap an arm around her waist. We both tip our heads to the left and she lifts her chin while I drop mine.
When our lips connect it feels like a whole truck full of fireworks have just gone off. In my pants.
I’m not sure how long we kiss for, but the rain picks up to the point that we’re both going to be soaked to the bone if we keep it up much longer. I’d suggest we continue in either of our cars, but I worry that I won’t have the ability to put a pin in it before it escalates to a potential indecent exposure charge.
“I’m sort of glad I attacked you with my lips tonight.”
“Me too. And I’m hopeful that from now on it’s going to be a regular occurrence.” I open her car door and usher her in, then wave at her through the window before I rush to my own vehicle. The urge to follow her back to my mother’s house is strong, but I remind myself that it would be a lot better to wait until I’ve had the opportunity to take her on a date, and hopefully end up back at my place, rather than in my childhood bedroom.