Touch & Go Read Free Page B

couldn’t
handle
it?
    Ava blinked up at her best friend of more than twenty years, her hardest crush and best-kept secret, about 98 percent certain the guy had just thrown down the gauntlet. Intentionally.
    Giving in to her own laugh, she looped her arms around Sam’s neck and flashed him a merciless grin. “Do you
want
to kiss me?”
    Sam met her stare with that same easy confidence he brought to everything else. This guy wasn’t ruffled. He wasn’t concerned. He was just…Sam. Taking whatever opportunities life granted him and having fun with them. Not taking things too seriously, and reminding her not to either.
    “Come on, you can’t tell me you’ve never wondered what it would be like? To try it.
Just once.
”
    Tonight, in this context, it was a truth she could afford to share, even if the flippant, casual tone she wrapped it in was a lie. “Sure, I’ve wondered…you know, what all the fuss is about, because girls talk and with you there are a lot of girls and, well, a lot of talk. And heck, I mean we’ve been friends a long time. So yeah, I’ve wondered. From time to time. A little.”
    A lot. For years. But it was a curiosity she’d kept under control.
    He was nodding, keeping his tone low. “And here we are with the perfect excuse. We won’t even have to worry about it being weird after. What do you say, Ava?”
    “One real kiss and then we’re done?”
God,
this was what she wanted, but the way her heart was slamming against her ribs made her think it might be a mistake with catastrophic potential.
    “Yeah. One kiss and then we’re done. But it’s got to be the real deal. No chintzing out on me.”
    He was right. This was the perfect justification. Her one chance at living out a fantasy with zero risk of the repercussions that had kept her in check for more than two decades.
    “Okay,” she whispered, half breathless at the idea alone. Because she was in. “Show me what all the fuss is about.”
    “Brace yourself, Ave,” he warned, giving her his cockiest, most devastating grin.
    The first thing Ava figured out was “the fuss” was about more than the kiss itself. It was a complete package that began with an intensifying of Sam’s focus. His eyes seeming to drink her in as his hands started a slow, migrating roam through her hair, down her neck, and across her back, with his arms picking it up from there. The tightening embrace bringing her into a full body contact so warm and solid and right, this time there was no choice but to melt into it.
    And why resist? This was her chance. Her stolen moment.
    In fact, what the heck was she doing just staring up at him like some passive, waiting recipient?
    This was her chance.
    Unlinking her hands from around Sam’s neck, she speared her fingers deep into the tousled mess of golden-blond temptation previously allowed to her only under the pretense of determining the need for a cut. But not tonight. Tonight that unruly bit of wave was hers for the taking and as she sank, full-fingered, into the silk of it she couldn’t contain the soft purr of pleasure slipping past her lips.
    That too-telling sound at any other time would have left her terrified by the prospect of being discovered, but tonight they would simply chalk it up to being a part of the show. Just like Sam’s answering groan when her fingers tightened, burying themselves deeper still in the thick strands she never wanted to be free of.
    Sam’s brows pulled together, his eyes darkening beneath the glittering backdrop of the nighttime cityscape behind them. And the fluttery awareness in her belly promised this was it. No more teasing. No more opportunities to back out.
    No more waiting.
    When Sam’s mouth came down on hers, there was nothing gentle about it. The kiss he delivered was hungry, an insistent pressure so crazy right, all she could do was open beneath it. Welcome him into her mouth with the soft flick of her tongue, and then cling to the solid anchor who had been there