| |
Gabi – Eleven Years Earlier
––––––––
AFTER THE BOOK SIGNING, Cole took me for a burger and fries, and then we drove back to Willowbrook Falls.
We got back before dark, and I figured my dad would be home already, but when we reached my street, I discovered the drive empty and my dad still not home. Cole pulled into the spot instead and switched off the engine. I was tempted to invite him inside, not wanting our date to end, but I didn’t want him to think I was easy.
Cole smiled at me. “I’ll walk you to your door.”
“You don’t have to. It’s right there.”
He shrugged. “I know, but I want to.”
Nerves danced around my insides, sending my blood racing. He was hoping for an invite inside; I didn’t doubt it. He had obviously noticed the absence of my dad’s car. I knew what he wanted, but he wasn’t going to get it.
I got out of the car and Cole walked me up to my front door.
“Thanks so much for a wonderful day,” I said, as he waited expectantly.
“Thank you for coming with me and not telling me to get lost when I turned up on your doorstep.”
I laughed. “Were you worried?”
“A little,” he admitted. “You can be kind of hard to read.”
This was news to me.
He reached out and took my hand. “But seriously, Gabi, I’m really glad you said yes.” He was looking at me intently, and my heart thrummed. His other hand slipped around my waist, pulling me just a fraction closer.
This was it.
He was going to kiss me.
Cole Devonport was actually going to kiss me. The cool kid at school. The tough kid. The kid all the girls wanted and none of the guys wanted to mess with.
It wasn’t as though I had never been kissed. I had. Of course I had. I wasn’t that innocent. But I’d never been kissed by someone I actually liked.
This kiss was going to be epic. I just knew it. It was the kiss I’d be comparing all other first kisses to for the rest of my life.
He leaned in, the space between us rapidly disappearing. My heart hammered, my breath quickening in my chest. I wanted to simultaneously press fast forward to have his mouth on mine, and press pause to capture myself in the moment forever.
Cole locked my eyes with his blue gaze, searching for any hint that I might want him to stop.
I didn’t.
A suggestion of a smile played on his perfect lips as they parted slightly, and his hand around my waist pulled me a fraction closer. His head tilted to one side as he moved in, meaning for us to fit together, but his movement made me tilt my head too, only I went the wrong way and our noses bumped.
We both gave a nervous laugh, and moved again, in the opposite direction this time, resulting in exactly the same effect, our noses clashing.
No, no, no! What the hell was I doing? Just keep still, Gabi!
I did as I told myself, and his lips finally made contact with mine.
And for a couple of seconds, it was perfect, and brilliant, and everything I’d dreamed, and then we both tentatively opened our mouths, tongues touching, the kiss deepening ...
Our teeth cracked together.
We jerked apart, and I clutched my hand to my mouth, my cheeks flaring with embarrassment. How the hell had that happened? It wasn’t as though we both had big, bucked teeth or anything.
Cole stared down at the ground, a frown pulling his eyebrows together. He gave his head a slight shake, as though he didn’t quite understand what had happened, and then released me. My heart sank. I was a crap kisser! Oh shit, I was a crap kisser and he was going to go and tell everyone in school how Gabriella Weston tried to chew his face off!
“Look, I’d better go,” he said, backing away.
I wished for the ground to open up and swallow me. “Yeah, of course.”
He started to turn around to walk away. I risked glancing up and caught his expression. He looked as baffled as I felt, a line between his eyebrows, his lips—lips that had been on mine only moments before—now twisted in confusion.
Holding back tears, a painful lump formed in my throat. This ill-advised romance was over before it had even gotten started.
He drew to a halt, and turned back and stared at me. “No. This is not how this is going to go.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“This is not how you’re going to remember our first kiss. You need to pretend like the last couple of minutes never happened, okay?”
“Ooh ... kay,” I said, wondering where he was going with this.
“Good,” he replied.
Then he marched back toward me, determination in his eyes and the set line of his jaw. I almost ducked as he reached for me, slightly worried by the fierce look in his eyes, but thankfully I managed to restrain myself from doing anything so stupid the second time around.
His outstretched hand slipped around the back of my head, his fingers knotting in my curls. His other arm caught me around the waist, yanking me to him. He held me firm in his grasp, as though worried I might turn and run away. His mouth crushed mine, taking control, owning me. What I’d thought would have ended up being a sweet, tentative kiss was something else entirely. His lips pressed against mine with exactly the right amount of pressure, and as our mouths opened, our tongues met, tasting each other. His hand in my hair, the other hand on my body. I’d never been so aware of my proximity to another person in the whole of my life. I wanted to press myself harder against him, and as our kiss deepened, I found my hands had already made their way around his back. I could kiss him like this forever, and that was how it felt, that we just stood, our bodies pressed together and kissed and kissed, and kissed.