Page 55 of Unstoppable You

“Oh, you’re welcome. It seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe next time you go out, you should go with someone. Just to be safe.”

I hadn’t felt like I was in danger or anything at Sapph, but I guess she did kind of have a point about not going out alone.

“Ugh, fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. It was a mistake to come up here. Why was I here? I didn’t need to see her apartment that bad.

“Delaney?” James asked as I tried to come up with an excuse to leave.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“There was…there was something on your list that I think I can help with.” Oh shit. I’d shown her my list last night. I’d told myself I wasn’t going to show it to anyone, and I’d had a few drinks and handed my phone over to James.

“Yeah, what was that?” I quickly ran through the options. Gambling? Dancing on the bar? Sneaking into the movies?

James paused and gazed at my face so intensely that I almost wanted to take a step back from her, but instead I stepped closer. She took the empty glass and set it on her desk.

What was happening?

“This,” she said, stroking my cheek and leaning down so slowly that I had a lot of time to understand where this was going. Had a lot of time to stop her.

Why wasn’t I stopping her? My list didn’t say “kiss James”! It said “kiss a girl.” Any girl. Anyone other than her. I could go outside and find one right now. I could. I was going to.

Right now.

But I wasn’t moving. Well, I was. I was pressing up on my toes just the tiniest bit to move closer to her mouth. To her. It wasn’t a conscious thought, a decision that I’d made.Hey, I’m going to kiss James St. Clair right now.What?!

I hadn’t thought it, but I sure did it. One minute I was flipping out and the next I was kissing James.

I hadn’t kissed a whole lot of people, but I would have told you before this moment that kissing was fine. Pleasant, even. It was nice in the way that ice cream on a hot day was nice. In a way that sliding into fresh sheets was nice. Very normal, average nice.

Kissing James wasn’t nice at all.

It was terrible and wonderful and awful and incredible. It was so many things at once that my brain overloaded and shut down until all I could do wasfeel.

The heat of her skin. Her touch, gentle but insistent on my cheek. The way she smelled, intensified by our close contact. The shape of her plush, warm lips on mine. The pressure of them against mine. Firm, but not too firm.

Just right. The Goldilocks of kisses, you could say.

And then it was over before I could even realize it was happening and James was pushing away from me. My back hit the bookshelves.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Her hand flew to her mouth, as if to hide it from me.

“Uhhhhh,” I let out. Words. Form some words. Any words. “What the fuck was that?”

Not the best words. Find better ones.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, her face draining of color. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why?” I swallowed, my throat unbearably dry. “Why did you do that?”

She shook her head, still looking as horrified as if she’d killed someone.

“You wanted to cross it off your list and I took advantage. I’m sorry.” She kept saying it and I was starting to get annoyed. I’d had enough apologies from this woman for a lifetime already.

“Stop,” I said, putting my hand up. “Just…give me a second.”

I touched my lips, which were the same. Huh. I guess kissing someone the same gender as you didn’t result in any immediate physiological changes.

Still. My skin was hot and tight and tingling with energy.

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