Page 125 of Just for the Cameras
Not close enough.
“Soooo…” Everly presses.Think, Maple.
Except I’m struggling to think up anything because his every stroke tantalized me. Short-circuited my brain.I loved every momenthetouched me.I’d wanted more. I’d wanted him to remove the dress…
“That was, uh…that was just for the cameras. We knew they were going to be there. Gretchen wanted to have the relationship leak last night.”
“Uh-huh.” Everly plops a piece of French toast in her mouth while Hardy sips his orange juice. “I understand the leaking of the photos, but there is no way you’re just pretending in those pictures. So spill.”
God, nothing gets past her.
I drag a piece of French toast around some syrup. “Well, I don’t really know what’s going on.” I look up at both of them. “But I did kiss him on the lips last night.”
“What?” Everly shouts, her eyes bugging out.
“Oh shit, really?” Hardy says, a smile playing on his mouth.
“You kissed him? How much? How long? How was it? Did he cop a feel? I need all the details.”
She takes my fork away from me, sets it down on my plate, and then pushes the plate away. She then props her chin on her hands and waits intently for my answers.
So I guess we won’t be eating right now.
“It was in his car, after the event. The kiss was maybe like five seconds, no longer than that. Nothing else occurred, and there was no tongue, just lips. But it was…” I let out a dreamy sigh. “It made my stomach flutter.”
Everly claps her hands together excitedly.
“Who initiated it?” Hardy asks.
“Um, I guess maybe both of us?”
“So you attacked each other together?”
I shake my head. “No, I’ve been thanking him when he drops me off at my apartment every day with a kiss on his cheek. And yesterday, he was, God, he was so amazing at the event, getting donation after donation, relating countless facts about flamingos that I’d shared with him but hadn’t thought he was paying attention to. And it was just…” My smile stretches across my face as my skin tingles with the memory of how engaged he was, how sweet and protective.
“Is that what it looks like to have hearts in your eyes?” Hardy asks.
Everly chuckles and nods. “It sure does.”
I bring my attention back to them and clear my throat. “Anyway, Ikissed him on the cheek and thanked him and then he barely let me pull away before he said, ‘If you’re really appreciative, Maple, then thank me properly.’”
Everly’s hand goes to her chest as she whispers, “Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“I mean, I’m a straight man and even I got a bit sweaty on the upper lip,” Hardy says as he dabs his napkin over his face, causing us both to laugh.
“So then you kissed him?” Everly asks.
“Yes, it was brief, but oh my God, it felt like…like all the other kisses I’ve experienced in my life meant nothing.”
“Hey,” Hardy says, a pinch in his brow. “I resent that. We had some good kisses.”
“Not like the one I had last night.” I smirk at him, causing Everly to burst out in laughter and Hardy to grow more irritated.
“You’re saying that the smallest whisper of a kiss from Graydon was better than all the times I had my tongue all over your mouth?”
“Yup.”
