KATIE MOVED SLOWLY over to the door of my room, but she didn’t open it. “Thank you for the notes. And for taking me to that wacky party. And for inventing a game that distracted me from feeling like a moron.”
I smiled at her. In fact, I’d been grinning like a mental patient all night, probably. But she had that effect on me. “You’re welcome. For all of it. Best sorority party I’ve ever been to.”
She gave me a teasing eye roll. “Very funny. You told me earlier that it was the only sorority party you’d ever been to.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
For a second, I got lost in the happy look on her face. Also, I expected her to move away from the door. But she didn’t. Katie put her back against the door instead. Raising her chin, she looked up at me with soft eyes.
Hold up. Those weren’t just soft eyes. They were eyes that asked for something.
Whoa. Time out.
I’d heard Bridger use the phrase “fuck me eyes,” before. But it was a safe bet that I wasn’t getting “fuck me eyes” from anyone. Like, ever. And I wouldn’t know them even if I saw them. These, however, seemed to be “kiss me eyes.”
I was pretty sure, anyway.
Oh, hell.
A couple more precious seconds were wasted while I did the math one more time, just to be confident I wasn’t about to make a terrible mistake. Girl steps in front of door, so you can’t leave without pushing her out of the way. Girl stops, head against your door, mouth tilted up toward yours…
Okay. Not too many ways to read that.
I stepped closer. Then, stalling, I lifted a hand to smooth that silky hair away from her face. She leaned into my hand slightly, and that tiny gesture gave me the courage to tip my face down to hers. Even then, I almost chickened out. I’d wanted to kiss this girl since the first time I saw her. This couldn’t possibly be happening.
But it was.
Our lips met softly. My heart was a freight train in my chest, urging me on. But I fought the impulse to rush. Because Katie deserved better than that. I kissed her slowly. Teasingly, even. Once. Twice.
It was glorious.
She made a sweet little noise of approval, and the sound shot through me like a sonic boom. Feeling bold, I deepened the kiss. I scooped one hand into the silky hair at the back of her neck. And when she opened for me, the first slow slide of my tongue against hers sent my brain on a week-long sailing trip around the Caribbean.
Leaning in, I lost myself in Katie’s sweet mouth. She tasted like wine and honey. Her hands slipped around to my back, and I practically died of happiness.
Still, after the most amazing ninety seconds of my life, I made myself pull back. Because all my blood had departed the thinking regions of my body to run south. And I needed my brain to come back online, before I somehow found a way to wreck this perfect evening. “Katie,” I said, my forehead resting against hers. “Thank you for this awesome night. You are excellent company. I hope we can do it again sometime.”
God, I hoped that was the right thing to say.
She was quiet for a moment. “Andy?”
“Yeah?” I whispered, my voice thick.
“Can we do it again right now?”
