Page 43 of Somewhere Only We Know
It was my first kiss.
With a complete stranger in front of other complete strangers. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered washim. Everything else disappeared and I was absorbed into pure feeling. His lips on mine, his hands on my face.
I understood now why the proper ladies in my books threw caution to the wind and got swept up by those hot scoundrels.
Jack was guiding me with each touch and I couldn’t get close enough. I dropped my hand from his neck to his back, pulling his body in, feeling the warmth envelop me. The second I did it, something switched, and his kisses weren’t so soft anymore. His right hand slid from my jaw to the nape of my neck and his other hand pressed into my lower back.
Scratch that—thiswas what it was all about.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
JACK
Kissing this girl was going to kill me, and I couldn’t stop.
And then the tram stopped. With a teeth-grinding halt. And it all ended as quickly as it happened.
When I opened my eyes, I was staring right into Lucky’s. Wide, startled, and dilated to full black.
The shoulder-tapping girl was long gone and everyone was getting off the tram. They moved around us like water. My hands dropped from Lucky, heart pounding.
I took a deep breath, trying to regain some of my senses. This was not a part of the plan. Flirting, yes. Kissing, though? And feeling likethisafter kissing her?
Totally, 100 percent not anticipated.
Her cheeks were pink and getting pinker by the second. I couldsee her trying to think up a phony explanation. She couldn’t hide it because her defenses were so completely blown.
I knew why she kissed me. Somebody recognized her. But I had to pretend like I didn’t. I pulled myself together because I had to create a diversion for her diversion.
Knowing that I was being a total ass, I let a shit-eating grin stretch across my face. “Was that your first kiss?”
Whatever explanation she was trying to cook up flew out the door. Her mouth dropped open and the color in her face deepened from a pale pink to red. “Pardonme?” she sputtered.
I cocked my head, the universal sign of patronization. “Wasn’t it, though?”
She stood stock-still, staring at me with arms hanging down by her sides. For a few seconds I wondered if she was having a stroke.
“Yeah, it was my first kiss!What of it?” she finally yelled.
What.
The tram was empty now and it was just me and her and the weight of her words surrounding us.
“Wait. What?!” It was my turn to sputter.
She glared at me. “Happy?” Then she tore out of the tram, jumping off the steps, feet landing hard on the pavement before she stalked off.
I stood there for a second until I heard someone clearing their throat. The conductor. The young dude shook his head at me. “Smooth move.”
“Okay, creep!” I blurted out before chasing after Lucky.
First kiss. I was Lucky’s first kiss. I had joked because she had seemed so nervous, and I thought it was because of the situation. Teasing her was only supposed to distract her.
Way to go, Jack.
I saw a green cap bobbing in the crowd, headed toward the visitor center sitting at the base of the peak.
“LU—”Crap. “FERN!”
