Truth or Dare: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Collection by Laura Burton (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗

eyes are searching mine. What can he see? Fear? Excitement? A bit of both? I have no idea how readable my eyes are, but if anyone can interpret them, it’s him.

The lure of his lips is too much to resist. I lean forward a little, just enough to lightly brush my lips over them. Ryder Black was my first kiss. We were under the bleachers during a baseball game and neither of us knew what we were doing.

I flipped my tongue around in circles like a washer and our teeth bumped. But after a few awkward laughs––and a lot more practice––we became pros at it.

I wonder if we can still kiss like we did back in school. Can we be in sync again?

Ryder presses his lips against mine with more force and wraps his arms around my body, lifting me into the air. Can a body sigh? Every muscle relaxes and I melt into his embrace with a flood of joy.

I’m running around in my head shouting, “I’m home! I’m home!” A rush of familiarity washes over my whole soul, making my heart squeeze so hard, I'm sure it might stop beating altogether.

But that’s fine with me. I’ll die happy.

A primal, purely biological side of my body takes over and my newfound joy turns into insatiable hunger. I want his lips connected to mine, his hands around my waist, and our noses nuzzling forever and ever.

He plants soft kisses all over my cheeks as if to heal invisible wounds. And against all reason, it works. Every tear I ever shed for him is gone. Every sleepless night of hating his guts, erased.

All of it.

Man, kisses are powerful. Or maybe it’s just this kiss.

I find his mouth again and drag my hands through his hair, moaning with abandon. He moans back and it’s the most beautiful sound in the world.

The two of us are so lost in the moment, neither of us pays any attention to the click and squeal of hinges. But we break apart at the sound of a gasp.

“Oh. Sorry!”

Ryder lowers me to the floor, and I jump back to lock eyes with my sister. The three of us stand in shocked silence for a moment, then Ryder grabs his bag and bolts for the bathroom door. Now alone, Debbie mimes a victory dance, pointing at the bathroom door and silently screaming.

“Shh!” I say, even though she’s not making a sound. I glare at her, trying to act annoyed. But no matter how hard I try; I can’t hide my grin. Then Holly and Michelle stumble into the room, each holding a bottle.

“Katia and Ryder hooked up!” Debbie says to the girls.

“WHAT?” Mark’s voice floats in from the hall. I groan as he and Cameron walk in, closely followed by Jonah. The blood in my face is burning with so much intensity, I swear I must look like a flaming torch by now.

The bathroom door reopens and a fully dressed Ryder casts a look at all of us with wide eyes. His cheeks turn rosy. The sight makes my stomach squirm as I think about how much I want to pinch them and kiss him again.

“What are you all doing here?” I say, placing my hands on my hips and trying to sound angry. Everyone files further into the room and finds a spot on the bed. Ryder and I stand dumbfounded by the bathroom, watching our friends make themselves comfortable. Clearly, none of our friends have mastered the ability to read the room. Because if they did, they’d all take one look at me and Ryder and back the heck out.

“We thought all that noise was the storm but turns out it was just you two,” Holly says, grinning wickedly at me. My eyes bulge as I inhale my own saliva and cough. No. This can’t be happening right now. Not only are my friends refusing to give us privacy, but they also want to discuss our intimate life. These things are not up for discussion. I follow my mom’s mantra. Private activities between couples should be just that... Private. Besides, nothing happened. We kissed.

“We didn’t…”

“Come on, you don’t expect us to believe that? Ryder was naked when I walked in!” Debbie says with a chuckle.

“No he wasn’t!” I argue back. I shoot Ryder a look, wondering why he’s not backing me up. But he seems to have lost his voice. Again.

I roll my eyes. The chemistry between us might be off-the-charts, but our communication skills need some work.

“I had a towel on,” Ryder says finally. He says it far too seriously and it does nothing to convince anyone that nothing happened.

“So... you two didn’t hook up?” Michelle asks, not even trying to hide the disappointment from her voice.

“I... we would never!” I stutter, blushing furiously now.

“Never?” Ryder asks, turning to look at me with a hurt expression.

I open and close my mouth several times like a fish out of water as everyone turn to me. Somebody needs to pass me a shovel, I’m going to bury myself in the ground and dig a tunnel to China. Meanwhile, Cameron rises to his feet and begins to clap.

“Come on everyone, Debbie and Mark are getting married in six hours. Time to have a toast!”

Jonah passes out glasses and Holly goes about filling them up. But just as Michelle hands me a glass, the lights go out.

“Who did that? Ouch, that’s my foot!”

“Can somebody please turn the light on?”

“The power’s out, you donut.”

“Everyone calm down. The backup generators will kick in any minute.”

Sure enough, the lights come on again. I take a breath, listening to the violent rattle of the windows.

“We’ll never be able to get to the venue if it’s like this tomorrow,” I think aloud.

“Right. Where was I? Yes... A toast,” Jonah says raising his glass again. “To Mark and Debbie, and the wedding that must go on!”

Everyone clinks glasses and I force a smile at my sister, wondering how there’s going to be a wedding tomorrow. Then all