Never Been Kissed: A Never Been Novel (20 page)

I also be
come impulsive.

The empties si
t on my glass coffee table, leaving rings of condensation behind, marking their spots like treasure chests.
Lucky Number Slevin
plays as background noise, as I formulate my plan. If this didn’t work, well, I wouldn’t remember it. If it did, I could break my own seal in the kissing department. Win-win.

“Hunt, you wanna play a game?”

Snuggled as I am against his side, I watch his throat work as he pulls on the neck of his beer. God, so manly and strong, and I have the insane urge to taste his throat, the salt of his skin, maybe even making him shiver.

Hunt smacks his lips together, his mouth glossy with residual beer that I know, just
know
will taste better than the Corona I just polished off. I pull in a breath through my nose, trying to settle my stomach, my jittery insides that are waiting, waiting, waiting to see what will happen next.

When he looks down at me, I pull his bottle away from his hands, putting on the t
able in front of us.

“Depends,
” he says, staring down at me with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. It’s there, in the way his eyes seem to be smiling at me, and the way one corner of his mouth has kicked up, his cheek hinting at the presence of his dimple.
Bloody hell
.

I tilt my head to the side, loving the feeling of his warmth, how I’m tucked
carefully so very close to him.

“How about you be the teacher and I be the student?” Those words are mine. I
own
them and what comes next.

I’m sure m
y cheeks are pink, I can feel the heat building off my skin. My heart beats double-time, and my muscles are restless to move. My lower belly is being gently scraped by butterfly wings, tickling and strange at the same time.

He licks his lips, slow and deliberate. My core spasms at the invitation, at my need to follow his unspoken orders and put my mouth where he wants me to put it. God, God,
God!
His blue eyes have darkened, sexy as
frak
, and glitter with something like want. I’ve never seen someone want me before, but this, his face just as it is, I wish I could draw it, download it into my brain to open it whenever I want.

I know what I have to do.

My hands don’t shake as they move to his cheeks, palms tickling from his stubble, hot breath warming my hands, my mouth as I move closer and closer to him.

“I don’t know what you want,” he whispers, so close to my mouth now I can taste his words. Exquisite torture I make myself endure as penance for making him wait so long, for making
myself
wait so long.

I take my time
in answering, watching his eyes come to sit at my mouth, then back up to look into mine. “I want to play a game. You’re going to pretend to teach me how to kiss.”

Hunt’s eyes go half-mast, a smug smile on his perfect mouth.
His hands come to the middle of my back, stroking the ends of my ponytail.

“Baby, just kiss me
. You can’t do anything wrong.”

Another flutter in my chest – excitement. He’s g
oing to play if I lie a little.

I move up onto my knees, and swing a leg over his lap. The way his fingers dig into my upper thighs and his teeth flash makes me feel all-powerful, stronger than Odin, more cunning than Odysseus, and more beautiful than Aphrodite.
I
did that. Me.

“Sera, ho
w much have you had to drink?”

Oh, my responsible Hunter, sexy and strong, and a little broken so he’s not perfect and never will be – just like me. I smell his cologne, clean sweat and whatever scent his skin is letti
ng go of, enticing me to taste.

“I’m good, Hunter
mou
,” I say, getting a thrill out of calling him mine in Greek. “I really am. I just want to play. You’ll let me play, won’t you?” My hands go to his neck, the throbbing pulse, the corded muscles and tendons that signal him to be a man, to be made of strength. My panties are wet and I haven’t even kissed him yet.

I smile slowly, licking my mouth, imagining his tongue on my lips, in my
mouth, rolling with mine.

“I don’t get it. Just kiss me
. We don’t have to play games.”

My fingers tighten around his neck, those blue eyes feel like lasers as they dissect my features, what my face is trying to say without my mouth doing any of the talking. His teeth come out to tug at his bottom lip. My breath ratchets up a not
ch; I tighten inside, pulse with need. My skin’s on fire, and I tingle all over.

I plant my ass
more firmly into his thighs, pull him closer to me, feeling his big, warm hands come to my hips, then span my waist, thumbs so
so
close to the undersides of my breasts – just resting at the upper span of my ribs, telling me that they’re there, ready for me to say yes.

“I’ve been told I’m a really bad kisser.” His eyebrows punch low on his face, and his chest lets out a rumbled sound of disbelief. I’m dizzy from his complete conviction that I’m anything but. Oh God, please don’t let me suck at this. Please, please,
please
. “And I want you to teach me how to be a good one.”

His fingers spasm around my waist, thumbs digging into the almost-undersides of my breasts. I didn’t know they would feel so heavy, that they would tingle, swell, even, like they’re begging for his attention.
But this is what he does to me.

A growl rips from his throat,
that primitive male coming out.

“Baby, g
ood kissing is about wanting to kiss me.” I shiver on his lap, my heart stuttering, my breath coming in pants. I’m pulsing and throbbing, dampening my panties further and further. “Do you want me?”

“
Yes
,” I moan, tugging on his neck, trying to bring him closer to me. His face is dark and dangerous, the navy in his eyes an abyss of knowledge that I’m dying to learn, waiting to be taught. I shiver harder, eyes pinned to his mouth, watching him lick his lips. My hips buck on his lap, and I watch his nostrils flare, color staining his cheeks.

My forearms slide on his shoulders until my underarms are settled there, our foreheads touching as we share the same air. I take a part of
him and he takes a part of me.

“Good, baby. Now come a little closer, fuck-” he groans as we touch in all the right places. Christ,
I love you Corona!
“And give me your mouth.”

Time is infinite – it stretches out; the future a glint on the horizon, the past a faded memory.

My head feels filled with cotton – no thoughts run through my brain. I’m not sure who does it first, who initiates the first luscious bit of contact, but it happens – the touch of our lips.
Finally!

Our lips lightly touch at first, like we’re allowing ourselves just the barest taste of one another, too afraid to become addicted. Hunter is a drug I would ruin my life for. Even as the thought drifts through my mind, and the pang of fear that makes my heart trip over its beat
s, I tentatively move my mouth.

When Hunt pulls away, a crushing failure squeezes down on my chest and I can’t breathe.
I suck at this. He’s going to tell me to get the hell off of him.

I can’t read what’s in his eyes, but the way they search my face, I find myself hoping he finds what he’s looking
for.

“Do you want me?” he asks, voice deeper than I’ve ever heard it. I start to notice tiny things- the way his breathing has accelerated, the way his thighs shift underneath me with the tensing of his muscles, the way his chest pumps up and down with the more air he needs.
And I’m sitting on top of him
.
And he’s not telling me I’m too heavy. Score!

I nod, frowning. I’ve a
lready answered this question.

“Then show me. Kiss me like I’m
the only one you’ll ever want.”

Fraking
hell
, he’s going to make me spontaneously combust. An inferno has built in my chest, blood pumping it out to toes and fingers and everywhere in between. My whole body jerks at his words.

I swallow, feel my belly twist with nerves. Hunt’s body keeps giving off heat like he’s a furnace, throwing my body temperature up higher and higher. My left hand is still touching the side of his neck, the accelerated pumping of his pulse underneath my palm. You can’t fake that ki
nd of reaction, you just can’t.

“That’s all I have to do?” Everyone, and by everyone I mean Katie, tells me kissing’s instinctual – that I’ll just
know
what to do. Well, I don’t
know
anything. I don’t know how exactly to place my mouth on his, or what the
fraking hell
is going to happen when tongues get involved. My stomach jitters around, fine tremors dancing along my skin.

What if I suck? What if I’m so bad at this, he’s never going to want to see me again? I’ll never see Matty! And still live next door and know that my shame will never move away. Alright, my entire future is being jeopardized by this one moment – if I totally suck, I’m
moving back in with my parents.

“You promise you won’t be an asshole if I suck at this?” The words are clear, but said behind a fuzzy wall of my drunkenness where I can deal with any answer he provides.

“Baby, you’re not going to suck,” he says, fingers biting into the sweats at my hips, like he wants me closer.

My left hand squeezes along the side of his neck, my bad hand resting on the back of
the couch, behind Hunt’s head.

“You better remember that after what comes next.” I swallow down my nerves and lick my lips. The way Hunter’s gaze zeroes in on my mouth has those razor-tipped butterfly wings in my stomach flaying me open.
Jesus.
My lips start itching, like a part of me knows that he can take away the discomfort as soon as our lips start touching again.

Still staring at my mouth, a small smile tugs at his lips. It makes me feel better.

“You’re really cute when you’re nervous.”

I frown. “I don’t wann
a be cute. I want to be sexy.”

He laughs, deep in his throat, the rumble vibrating his chest, and pouring into mine, next to my pounding heart
– that’s how close we now are.

“Cute is sexy.” He says, fingers playing with the strands of my ponytail down the length of my spine. I shiver, squeezing his thighs with mine as the goose-bumps pebble along my skin.

“If you say so.” I take a deep breath through my nose, watching his beautiful face, marvelling at the fact that I’m
here
– in his lap, three point four inches from his delectable mouth. It’s enough to unravel me. “Okay, okay. Ready? Here goes nothin’. Three...two...-”

Thank you baby Jesus, he kissed me
before the countdown was over!

Oh, fuck. Oh, shit. I don’t know what to do,
Idon’tknowwhattodo!
Oh...oh, his mouth just moved under mine, and oh god, is that his tongue? I like it, I love it.

I move my mouth under his, and
frak
that’s even
better
. Holy Tardis of Gallifrey, I
love
kissing. Hunter sips at my bottom lip, nerve endings I didn’t know existed flaring to life, like fireworks being ignited. The itching, the buzzing along my lips rubs against his and stars explode behind my eyes, travelling down the length of my body, tightening my nipples, making that throb between my legs even sweeter.

I need more
of him. I need more of Hunter.

I may have made a noise, like a moan or a whimper as I press myself closer to his big body, squeezing us closer, abs to abs,
chest to chest. My left hand goes to the back of his head, holding him to me before his tongue swipes along the seam of my lips and my belly drops out. I didn’t know kissing would feel like bungee-jumping without the rope.

His kiss consumes me, until it’s all I want, all I need in my life. Fuck nerdy shirts, movies, my books,
my future. This, this is a drug I’ll take all too often if he lets me. Lava has replaced the blood in my veins, and the commands my brain is pouring out are to pull him closer, to open my mouth, to taste, to lick, to suck.

Our tongues tangle and stroke each other, the rasp of his tongue against mine pulling another moan out of me. I’m dimly aware of his fingers biting into my hips... were they moving
?

He tastes like
sweetness and cool metal - what a hero tastes like. I swallow down his strength, needing it to move forward. I know if he asks me, I’ll let him have everything.

With that, I pull away, heaving in air. Oh Christ, he’s gorgeous. A blush tinting his cheeks, eyes closed, mouth wet from me, lips parted to deal with his own rapid breathing.

Please don’t tell me I’m awful. Please, please, please.

“It was that fucker Tommy, wasn’t it?” Hunt opens his eyes and stares at me, sucking on his lower lip, as if still wanting to taste me after we’ve stopped. My panties are ruined forever and ever now.

I shake my head, wondering what dimension I’ve landed in. “I’m not following.” I unlock my arms from him, settle my ass more firmly on his thighs so our crotches are nowhere in the danger-zone. His hands are still on my hips – proprietary, possessive. Why do I like that so much?

“That fuckwit, Tommy. Your friend with the mouth.
He told you you were bad?”

My jaw unhinges and my mouth hangs open. “You think...? You think...Tommy and
I?” Jesus, Sera. It’s not hard. Tell the man the fraking truth. “No. It wasn’t him.”

“Which one of your boys did it? Who
lied
to you?” His eyes blaze, and his mouth sets into a grim line. A thrill passes through me that I’m causing this reaction from him.

I’ve gone and swallowed my tongue. This must be the reason why I can’t tal
k, why I can’t answer properly.

“Not...not them. I swear. We’re just friends. We’ve never... that’s never happened. Ever.” Could I sound any dumber? Kissing
Hunter has damaged my IQ.

Hunter frowns,
staring down at my mouth again.

I have to ask, even though it curdles the beer in my belly, and builds that awful pain in my throat before tears start coming.

“So... the verdict?” I stop breathing.

His fingers dig into my hips again, urging me forward on his lap. My knees hit the back of the couch, and I settle more closely on him, like I
was before we stopped. His eyes roam my face. Shit, he’s trying to find the nicest way possible to let me down easy.

“It’s fine. Let me get up, Hunt. Just... let me get up, would ya?” My hands hit his chest, and push, but he won’t let me go. Frak a duck, m
y eyes are burning. No, no, no.

“Sera, stop. S
top for a second.”

I stop and wait, head down, looking at where our bodies meet. Two different pairs of sweats, his t-shirt and mine; his plain, mine nerdy, two very different people. The line has been drawn, and I was never meant to cross it, only look fr
om afar and covet.

“By the power of Grayskull
, let me go!” The tears fall on my cheeks. “Please, just let me go. I want you to leave.”

“And here go
es thinking you were perfect.”

I freeze, ice coating my insides. “Are you
high?
What the fuck are you smoking?”

His thumbs gently
swipe along my cheekbones, palms on either side of my face. I’m cradled again – he’s not just holding my face. Damn it all to hell.

“I wasn’t complaining. Nor will I ever complain. You can use that
mouth on me anytime you like.”

Maybe I
have
been transported to another dimension.

“How is that even possible?” The words pop out of my
mouth before I can stop them.

“That I want to kiss y
ou again?” His eyebrows have jumped high on his forehead, and he has the sweetest grin on his face. A grin I want to spend hours and hours kissing.

I stare
at Hunter out of the corner of my eye. He appears to be human.

“I plan on doing a lot of it. For long periods of time. In different places along your body.” I’m sure I’ve swallowed a volcano, there’s so much heat building inside of me. Hunter gets closer so our bellies touch and we shar
e the same air.

“I plan on making those sweet little noises come out of your mouth while I kiss you. I plan on touching you when I do it.
Everywhere you’ll let me.”

“So I didn’t win the Guinness world record for s
ucking at kissing?” I ask, blood pounding in my ears.

He laughs, tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and kisses
me, the lightest touch of lips.

“Frak no.”

My heart melts. “You said frak,” I whisper, and watch him grin. Jack Sparrow’s grin when he steals the Interceptor from the under the Commodore’s nose has
nothing
on Hunter’s.

“Ma
tty’s started saying it, too.”

I smile, the warmth in my chest set to explode. “Yeah?
I read it in a book once, and then I started watching the show,” I explain.

“Yeah,
” Hunter smiles, the skin at the sides of his eyes crinkling. Because I can, I kiss him there, on both sides and pull away when his hands cup my shoulders.

“I
better go. You’re going to watch another movie?” He asks, moving me so I’m sitting on the couch and he’s now standing.

“
I’ll probably re-read
Ender’s Game
, and I don’t know why ‘cause I have like a million books on my TBR list.” I wiggle in my seat.

Hunter looks down at me with a look of confusing affection. I’ve gone and spoken another language again,
and he’s lost in translation.

“Forget it,” I say, sta
nding to walk him to the door.

“I can’t
believe I landed myself a nerd,” his smile is sweet, and my heart wants to explode with happiness. “I’m liking it a lot.”

My nose starts to sting. “Thank you,” I manage, hoping he hears what he said means a lot to me. Walking to the door, I keep my head down.

Hunter grunts, and turns me into the door before I can get my hand on the doorknob. My back against it, I look up in his face while he stares at me.

“What did I say? What put that look on your face, baby?” he asks, plastering his body to mine. My hands go to his pecs, and I feel his pierci
ngs hit the center of my palms.