Page 52 of The Kiss Connection

I bite my tongue. How could she think that? “You paid for a date with me for the charity. I delivered.”

“Right. I just—never mind.”

She truly thinks that little of me?

There’s a heavy awkwardness forming once again, the hallway stifling, and I clear my throat. “Have a nice night.” I lean in and she freezes; her body stiffens as I graze her cheek with my lips.

It’s barely a kiss, and sensing her reaction, the horror on her face when I pull back, I’m hoping she’s not about to knee me in the groin for coming on to her.

Fourteen

Juniper

My phone buzzes, and I roll over in bed. It’s Saturday, which means I don’t have classes, and there’s no reason to get up early.

Grumbling as it buzzes again with another text, I reach out, my eyes squinting as I grab the phone, noticing three missed texts from Rowan.

I open my messages to see what’s going on.

Rowan: Good morning, Sunshine. How was the date?

Rowan: Did you see the Ice Dragons’ social media account this morning?

Rowan: Are you awake yet, or banging Myles?

I rub the sleep from my eyes and sit up in bed.

Me: Why the hell would I be sleeping with Myles?

Rowan: He’s hot? He likes you? Do you want ten reasons why?

Me: No.

My phone lights up and Rowan is calling. I put her on speaker so I can properly wake up and get dressed this morning. “If you’re calling about the date, it went fine. Mostly.”

I wince. It took me two hours to fall asleep last night. I keep going over the kiss on my cheek and me dangerously crawling across the elevator to him. His hands on my bare hips, our foreheads touching. That was one hell of a game. Thankfully, no one else could witness it.

I can’t even blame it on liquor, because he wouldn’t let me drink last night. Although, technically, he wouldn’t let either of us drink on our date.

“Fine? June, I saw the social media posts. He looks smitten with you.”

“It was probably just gas.”

“Funny.” Rowan cracks up laughing. It wasn’t entirely a joke. I’m not sure that he is smitten with me. He’s got a lot of feelings toward me and vice versa, but smitten doesn’t describe those emotions. “Get online and see their social media; you’ve got to check out the pictures that were shared.”

My breath catches in the back of my throat. “Are they bad?” I ask, my stomach already doing somersaults.

“No, I’m telling you, look at them. Trust me. I’ll send you a link.”

I click on the link and Ice Dragons’ social media page opens up with a post filled with pictures of the two of us. The caption includes a link to the charity that held the event and another link to donate to their organization.

“I don’t look too bad in the photos,” I say, scrolling through them. There are two from when we were inside the restaurant and two from outside.

I’m afraid to read the comments. I scroll through the rest of the hockey team’s social media page, but it doesn’t look out of the ordinary. They also have a post from the charity event.

“Did you notice #MylesDax is trending?” Rowan asks.

“Oh gosh. Like he doesn’t have a big enough ego already,” I grumble, not liking that he’s getting this much attention over a date with me.