The Bad Boy ✔

Chapter Twenty-Love really does hurt

Chapter Twenty

I’ve only been kissed five times.

The last three kisses had been shared with John who by my standards and book of the ‘list of kissed’ were the best kisses a girl could have asked for. I mean, John knew what a good kisser was. He knew how to press his lips softly onto mine and slowly let his tongue in. However, the only thing that his French kissing ever did was remind me that yes, I Marilyn Jenson, did actually have something known as a lady garden.

When Jace Collins kissed me, something happened.

It was from the moment our lips touched. Okay, maybe it was a few seconds after. I was still in too much of shock to understand what was happening. My eyes widened as I stared at Jace’s face. For a while, we just stayed in that position, half-standing and half-hunching as our lips merely kept contact.

And then that was when something really started happening.

Jace’s eyelids began to flutter closed and I felt his mouth grow ever so firmer against my own. It was strange and delightful and all the other words that people used to describe what the perfect kiss would be. Only, it was so much more. As if I had been an expert for my entire life, my eyes closed too and I moved closer to Jace.

I felt his lips moving ever so slowly, soft and lulling and warm. It sent tingles across my skin and caused my mouth to ignite with fire. Somehow, it felt natural, like this was what I had been waiting for my entire life. As I breathed in, the scent of strong musk and spiciness filled my senses with headiness. It felt right.

Parting his lips, Jace breathed softly against mine. It caused a low gasp to escape and instantly, Jace’s mouth was on mine again. This time, he explored my mouth. He took time in searching and making note of what was me, what made me react more to his touch and tongue. The kiss was something out of this world and unbelievable. It made fireworks go off.

When people used to tell me that they knew that it was right when fireworks exploded before their eyes, I had always thought that it was just a fantasy, some dream that didn’t really exist. But at that moment, with Jace kissing me, I felt it. It rose from the pit of my stomach and travelled to my mind. I grew dizzy as lights and stars and sparks crashed and popped across my vision.

It was truly amazing.

And then, I pulled away. I needed to breathe. Kissing a guy like Jace took more effort than I had thought and there was only so much air my nose would permit me so close to the bad boy’s face. My eyes slowly opened and it was as though I was seeing Jace for the first time. He seemed so beautiful and striking in the night’s glow that I almost felt like kissing him right then and there again.

Sucking in a breath, I prepared to tell Jace how I felt. I wanted him to know that it was okay if he didn’t want to tell me about his mother or his past. I just wanted him to know that I’d be there for him. But just as I opened my mouth to say any of those things, Jace beat me to my own words. Except, his words were very different.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. “I mean that shouldn’t have happened.”

Despite my best efforts, I felt my face falling. It sagged slightly so low I was sure that it was touching my feet.

“You’re drunk,” he explained, “and I here I am taking advantage of you. God I’m such an idiot.”

Did Jace expect his concern for my state of drunkenness to comfort me? Did he expect me to feel better? I merely stared at him, my eyes wide and wondering whether he was going to tell me that he felt the same about me. I wanted to know if he had felt all those things that I had when we kissed. But hope was an emotion that should have stayed sealed in Pandora’s Box.